The expectation is that a post will not be a mere one-liner except for extraordinary circumstances or during combat; it does not, however, need to be a scrolling-required masterpiece of multiple paragraphs; it should contain some sort of reaction to the situation presented  (including the actions and statements of other characters) and leave room for forward motion.  Much of what I have to say here is drawn from my response to experiences in prior games (whether I was player or DM),  so while it may seem to be common sense, it seems worthwhile to mention these guidelines from the outset.

Out of courtesy for others, please be mindful of your fellow players—if you are posting multiple times a day (for example, after each other character's post) and others are posting only once a day, the resulting “wall of text” of new posts can be very off-putting to the once-a-day poster.  Two characters should not have a back-and-forth conversation with 3+ posts apiece while the rest of the party is present; while it is true that the conversation might take little time, the other characters present may have input that would alter the conversation or leave other players feeling put out that they did not have the opportunity to have useful input just because the players didn't happen to be on-line at the time.

Posts are preferably to be written in third person past tense, using quotation marks for speech and italics for instances in which thoughts are included.  I note here that I have chosen settings that entirely suppress colorized text.  If you really must, you may colorize your speech—and for the benefit of those who do see the colors, please maintain consistency with the color chosen and select a color that is equally visible against light and dark backgrounds, but note that doing so does not substitute for using the proper technique of quotation marks surrounding the speech. The absence of quotation marks makes it much harder for me to read a post.  Thoughts may be included in italics, but please refrain from either the paragraphs of thoughts and grunting speech (which leaves little for anyone else to legitimately react to, and extended italics can be difficult to read) or using thoughts to convey an insult while maintaining innocence because “I never said that, I only thought it”.  Psionics/mind-reading is not something that is part of this world (while there are ESP spells and such, they are limited in scope and require specific casting), but the overall emotion of one's thoughts are highly likely to be detected through various physical signs (but would be limited to knowing that a character is experiencing a given emotion, but not the particulars giving rise to the emotion).

OOC included in an IC post should be separated by a hard rule and restricted to things like a skill check die roll result or otherwise directly related to the IC situation (eg asking for/providing clarification on a description).  A post that is purely OOC should be in the OOC thread.

Barring compulsion from some magical effect, a PC is never to attack another PC.  By and large, I am not interested in a game filled with intra-party conflict.  You don't have to immediately fall in line with the plans of the first-to-post in a given situation, but the party should not fall into bickering every time there is a decision to be made.

XP is awarded inline in a post in the active IC thread (identified as “XP line” with private lines to each player), and represents all xp gained since the prior xp line.  Players are responsible for adding xp and keeping track of when the next level is achieved.  All xp rewards are the straight xp, so you are responsible for adding the bonus xp if entitled to that.  Note that standard mathematics rules (0 through 0.4 = 0; 0.5-0.9 = 1) apply for rounding so that xp is always expressed as a whole number.

XP Sources:

Clever idea/Critical thinking (even if the results aren't favorable or it otherwise doesn't work out)

Role play (including use of class-based abilities or developing the character personality)

Overcoming foes (this is not restricted to killing them if you otherwise neutralize them)

Posting (story-advancing) – variable, based on post quality.

Combat posts, of course, can be much simpler.

When rolling combat, you may include modifiers (if known—if you acquire a magical weapon, multiple successful hits will be required before learning the exact bonus) or leave the roll bare and I will apply the relevant modifiers.  For each round, roll iniative unless specifically foregoing a combat action (attack or spellcasting), for example manuevering for position or attending to a fallen companion.  Roll a d20 for any weapon attack or relevant dice for spells (like the number of HD affected by a sleep spell or damage for a magic missile, etc).  Unless it is a very obvious miss (in other words, your character would miss even if the opponent's AC is 10), go ahead and roll damage.  If it is actually a miss, I will disregard that roll, but it makes things easier for me if your character scores a hit and the damage roll was already made.  So if, for example, your attack roll would hit the foe if the opponent AC is 6, but the enemy AC is actually 4, that would be a miss and I'll ignore the roll; on the other hand if your roll would hit AC4 and the opponent is actually AC6, that's a hit and I can just use the roll you already made instead of needing to pause and make that damage roll on your behalf before completing the “wrap” post.

The combat post should include a line or so of narrative as to what your character is doing, identifying a specific target if there are multiple foes, and be open-ended (unless it is an obvious hit, like a natural 20 or an obvious miss, as noted above).  For a natural 20, the damage will be full damage by weapon + roll damage (and re-roll any 1s).  For example, if using a longsword, that damage would be 8+1d8 (but minimum outcome is 10 + STR bonus); to avoid re-roll potential, you could also make that 9+1d7 for that long sword critical hit damage.  Insert a hard rule and then copy your die roll results below that line (if you're using a device that makes copy/paste difficult, you can just put the numbers in place).

When everyone has let me know their intended action for the round including non-combat actions like trying to aid a fallen friend or maneuvering for position only, I will post a combat “wrap” which includes all of these actions and their actual results in the order that things happen (so if the first person to post rolled a 10 for initiative, those actions will end the round rather than start it).  I am not requiring that you “wait your turn” in the combat to post, because combat already becomes dreadfully slow in play by post without going into first rolling initiative and then waiting for each person to post in initiative order.  There may be some confusion/contradictory actions, but that will get cleared up in the “wrap” post and seems to be consistent with the relative confusion that can develop in a combat.

Movement in combat—if you are using a melee weapon, you may make the move to your movement rate with an attack at the end of that move.  Missile combat, you may move half your move rate and still fire.

When combat breaks out, the posts should be daily.  You can make multiple rolls and indicate general actions if you're unable to check in that frequently (“will attack nearest foe” for conditional actions) and I'll slot that into the “wrap” post where it belongs.

If you are speaking in one of your other languages (Trozanese is the base language), use the language group (lowest option) [Language unknown: "Artoreest ureardonswhe."] rather than the private/secret to options unless you are speaking in a whisper/under your breath.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:54, Thu 06 May 2021.