By and large most players tend to do the right thing however in every game I have run on RPoL there is always a percentage of players that for whatever reason end up causing problems or slow the game down or just ghost the playing group.  It is possible this is partly because I may not have clearly explained what is expected of players in my games so I hope the following will address some of these issues.

Posting Rates: I do not expect players to post every day however if you want to post that often you are most welcome.  At the very worst you should be trying to post a couple of times a week.  Any slower, then you will either hold up the game for the rest of the playing group or fall behind on the storyline.  Obviously Real Life commitments overule a mere game however if you cannot play for an extended period of time it is not unreasonable for the group to expect you to at least take a couple of minutes to post that you will be unavailable for a certain amount of time.  This is just old fashioned common courtesy.

Inactive Players: If any player is MIA for 2 weeks they will be considered retired. This could result in the character being written out of the story, put up for adoption by another player or coming to an untimely and often gruesome end.  Play by post games are slow enough without having to deal with players who ghost the group.

(In Character Vs Out Of Character): In the majority of cases there will be (IC) threads and (OOC) threads. The game will be played (In Character) and the (Out Of Character) threads should be used to discuss game mechanics issues, ask the Referee questions or discuss other topics not story related. Once players have discussed their issues/topics then they should make appropriate posts (IC) to include their actions or discussions In Game.

Role Play & Real Life:  Sometimes interactions between characters can become heated and sometimes interactions between players can become heated.  There is a difference, be careful not to blur the lines. Disrespecting or insulting other members of the playing group will not be tolerated. This is a game and games are supposed to be fun so keep the discussion civilised.

Teamwork: My role playing games largely rely on team work for the players to succeed.  If you don't play well with others or want to constantly be the centre of attention, this may not be the game for you.  If you enjoy co-operative, collaborative gaming then you should fit right in.

Most important of all, have fun :)

This is not intended as criticism of any players, rather an effort to standardize posting to avoid delays.  In order to try and streamline the slowest aspect of play-by-post games, combat, each player should address the following circumstances during combat.

When you post your actions for any round, please roll:

1) Initiative - no initiative roll means you will go last.

2) Roll 'to hit'.

3) Roll for damage.

Players also need to specify the target of their attack or spells etc to ensure X Points are awarded appropriately and spell areas of effect can also be determined.

In order to avoid confusion you should avoid 'left' or 'right' as these directions are relative, please use north, south, east, west and if there are landmarks or other players or enemies that can be easily identified.  "I am attacking the nearest..." is subjective and can change within a combat round so please be specific.

Another tip, when you write your post, state which weapon you are using, this may help avoid rolling the wrong damage dice.

If players can get into the habit of putting this information in each combat post it will save time if I don't have to get clarification on any part of a post.

Also note that once a target has been declared in any given combat round you cannot change targets until the next combat round.  If an archer fires two shots per combat round then they can fire both at one target or fire at two separate targets, you cannot say you are attacking one target and then switch targets in the middle of a combat round to a new target unless you have declared such at the beginning of the combat round.

  Several players have recently edited some of their posts after I have replied to them.  Please do not re-write history without my permission.  I am not going to re-write my posts because players decide they want to change their words or actions after the fact so I am going to nip this behavior in the bud now to avoid any issues in the future.  If you think something needs to be altered, please run it by me first.  Thanks.

This is more of a personal preference than a hard and fast rule but I prefer to keep the main story threads AND your solo threads (IC) as much as possible.  If you have questions or (OOC) things to discuss, just PM me folks.  When you are writing your actions, try to do it (IC).

Thanks
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:13, Tue 11 Apr 2023.

I am not going to ask anyone to re-write their backgrounds, in most cases if there were any issues I would have addressed them in character generation however I have probably been remiss in not clearly explaining my view on 1st level characters.

Greatness is ahead of all of you, not behind you.  By this I mean that you don't have a great store of knowledge and experiences prior to your adventuring careers.  None of you are what we would consider 'well traveled'.  Up until you traveled to Narwell, which is likely the biggest adventure of your lives so far, you would probably never have traveled more than 50-100 miles from your hometown.  Even long lived demi-humans.

Up until now you were effectively boring, 0 level people but you have each acquired 1st level status in your chosen fields (character class) making you 'above average', what happens from here on makes you extraordinary.  By the time you have played through a bunch of these modules you will all be some of the most well traveled folks in the entire world :)

(I also just wanted to bump this thread and hope everyone gives it another once over!)