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The Game Protocols
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Here you'll find the rules for posting and etiquette.
Players must accept and conform to these protocols to play this game.
A lot of these rules may seem self-evident, but they're meant to make everything completely, 100% crystal clear so that all potential confusion is averted and the game runs as smoothly (and the archives require as little editing) as possible.
In addition to what's here, it's also a good idea to read the tips in issue #145 of the Roleplaying Tips weekly e-zine. Much of the following is based on Jim Beach's article on PBEM protocol.
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KFR0 Game Protocols
DM's Fiat
If you have a problem with something in the game, you can discuss the matter with the DM in private. However, once a ruling has been made, all DM decisions are final. If I agree to change a ruling, the effect will not be retroactive.
No Hijacking
Your character is the one thing you control in the game. Don't piss people off by usurping theirs. Also, see below.
Player Etiquette
Everyone's in the game to have fun, so don't wreck it for anyone. Flaming will not be tolerated, nor will ignoring or usurping the actions of other characters, or having your character think insults about them, which is knowledge they have no IC chance of responding to. Try not to let your character get into fights with the other characters if it can be avoided (slant your character's actions for the benefit of the party). If you have a problem with someone, TALK TO THE DM. Do not make it an IC problem.
Tilt your actions
Try to help the game go smoothly. If your character could go off and do something alone, give it a reason to stay with and involve the group instead. Make your PC inclined to cooperate with the party.
In the same vein, consider your actions before posting. If you ruin the game because you stayed completely in character, the game is still ruined. Your actions can contribute to the group enjoyment or take away from it. Work with the rest of us, here.
Keep Up
Players are expected to keep track of their character sheet, where the various characters are, and what's going on. If your character isn’t with the rest of the party, do NOT let the character give them advice on how to proceed or otherwise have your PC converse with them (see Firewalling). I recommend keeping a personal journal with your current goals and pertinent information, mainly because it's a pain to forget who you're supposed to be dealing with (or whatever) and have to read through the archives. I work hard on the archives, but due to the constraints of the free search service, they're not search indexed. Well, maybe by Google.
Knowledge and Possessions
If the DM doesn't know you had it or knew it, you didn't. Only skills and possessions "officially" listed on the DM's copy of your character sheet exist.
Editing Posts
During play, I may have to edit your posts for various reasons - maybe you didn't succeed at an action you thought you did, or maybe an NPC broke into your conversation, etc. I reserve the right to do this, but I won't do it without a good reason.
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KFR0 Posting Protocols
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What you need to know is in bold; if you have any questions, keep reading. If you need them, there are examples to make everything clear. If you're still confused, feel free to ask.
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1) Posting
1.1)
Posting speed is roughly twice a week. As a rule of thumb, you have about 24 hours to reply before events move on. When I collate the posts, they're no longer open to reply except where marked with "***" or otherwise indicated. Do not jump back in time to answer something in the collation unless it follows that marker.
If you know you won't be able to post for a while, let me know when and, if possible, for how long. Kindly do this asap, not after you've vanished for a while.
1.2)
Planning ahead: To speed things up, clearly state your current plan of action and any relevant contingency plans at the bottom of your post (under the [OOC] heading). Also, if you know you won't be able to post for a while, include some standing orders. Cut and paste from your last post if you want, but remember to keep your standing orders current.
Contingencies (and standing orders) go under the OOC heading at the bottom of the post. In the OOC segment, always use the game terms for spells, feats, skills, hps, etc. Be as specific as possible - specify skills, feats (and their target), spells (and their target or location), abilities, distance (using the map coordinates when possible), gp amount, etc.
Contingency plans:
Contingency plans are options you want to take if things don't go the way you've planned. It's particularly important to list these in combat, where things often shift unexpectedly. They don't need to cover every possible event, just your subsequent actions in case of your current actions failing. The contingency plans should be included in your combat posts.
Ex.1:
[OOC]
Kendrel makes a Stealth check to blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
Action summary: Stealth check +8, blah blah.
Standing orders:
Kendrel always tries to get into a position to Sneak Attack. If he can't, he hangs back and makes ranged attacks, targeting any obvious officers. He'll flee any closing opponents if he can, and only makes melee attacks as a last resort.
Contingency: If someone pins him before he can flee, he drops his weapon in surrender, but if he can he ditches his thieves' tools without them seeing it first. If they don't accept his surrender, use Acrobatics to try to tumble away. Break if he can't, or if for some reason he can't use ranged attacks.
Ex.2:
"I'm sure you have a lot of work to get done, so I won't take up any more of your time," Dalia smiled, unobtrusively slipping the turnkey a heavy gold coin.
[OOC]
Dalia will try to bribe her way in, and she'll pay the guard as much as 10gp before giving up (if the guard refuses the first time Dalia will give him 5gp, and if he refuses again she'll reluctantly hand over 10gp). If he can't be bribed she looks to see if there's some other way in (a climbable wall or something).
Action summary: Diplomacy check +4
Standing orders:
[General]
Dalia takes any opportunity to get into the castle. If she can't and she sees any patrols, she goes back to the inn to tell the party how many guards are in each group.
Contingency: If anyone outside tries to catch her, she ducks into the sewer and flees back to the inn. If they try it inside the castle, she tries to hide behind something somewhere dark.
[Combat]
Dalia always makes melee attacks if possible, closing in on 1) any spellcasters, 2)anyone making ranged attacks. She'll try to flank opponents when she can, and aids anyone in the party that's looking badly hurt. If anyone falls unconscious, she attacks the foe if there are only a few badly hurt ones left; if the opponent still looks strong, she withdraws, dragging the party member with her if possible, and bandages him/her if she can.
Contingency: If she can't withdraw or the party member is dying, Dalia stands over them and keeps fighting until she's at 30 hps or less. Then she flees if possible or surrenders if not.
Ex.3:
Horga leapt to the attack, slashing at the nearest orc's eyes.
[OOC]
Horga will do his best to kill the orc, and then he'll look for their leader or any spellcasters (they have priority). If he sees any, he attacks uses Power Attack against them. He'll stay out of the shadows, as he doesn't want to reveal that his sword is glowing, and he'll use the Tumbling skill to do acrobatics around the orcs, hopefully confusing them. He ignores any orcs that cower away or flee. Please break if a spellcaster manages to hit him with a spell. Once all the orcs are defeated/gone, he mounts up and rides after the out-of-control carriage, using the Track feat.
Rnd 1:
ME-act: Roar, trying to Intimidate the orc and demoralize him; Intimidate +7
Action: Power Attack orc
1.3)
In combat, always include an action summary listing actions in the order they're performed - this prevents misunderstandings. Usually you'll be asked to provide actions three rounds at a time.
Ex.1: Example action summary
[OOC]
Blah blah intent blah blah tactics blah blah.
Action summary:
Rnd 1)
Action: attack orc (until it's dead)
Move action: Acrobatics to tumble around to confuse orcs (half-speed, DC 15); see attached map in private mail for route
When orc is dead:
Action: Power Attack caster
Move action: Tumble around to confuse orcs; see attached map in private mail for route
Orcs gone:
Move action: mount
Action: Track carriage, Survival +8
KO'd or enchanted or defeated: please break
[Standing orders]
Blah blah blah
1.4)
Quoting: Don't include more of the post you're replying to than necessary. Those messages usually consist of five miles of unremoved quotes followed by three lines of new text. This is incredibly annoying. It borders on spamming. It's a good idea to quote the message you are replying to in your new response, but only quote the text necessary to place the point at which you're speaking.
You should include the particular section of text you're reacting to so that people know what you're talking about; just don't copy an entire post and then reply to a point at the end of it. BALEET wisely.
Ex.1: bad post, too much irrelevant copied text
Re:Mirtul 10, night [Tukas to Dalia]
>>>[Tukas - new]
>>>Tukas skidded to a halt at the sound of Dalia's voice, lunging into the room and towards
>>>the door at the far end. "Dalia! I'm in here!" he hollered.
>>
>>[DM - new]
>>The door was of massive oak, swollen and warped until it was locked in place.
>>There was nowhere to hide, and the dark hallway behind him was filled with quiet
>>skittering noises - quiet, but getting louder.
>
>[Tukas new]
>"Get me out, Dalia! The goblins are coming!" Tukas clutched his lute to his chest, eyes
>darting about the room.
Dalia hammered at the door, hoping she could free Lyman before the goblins the bard was whimpering about found him.
Ex.2: good post, copied text cropped
Mirtul 10, night [Dalia to Tukas]
[Tukas - old]
"Get me out, Dalia! The goblins are coming!" Tukas clutched his lute to his chest, eyes darting about the room.
[Dalia - new]
Dalia hammered at the door, hoping she could free Tukas before the goblins the bard was whimpering about found him.
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PBEM Writing Protocols
A good number of these rules have been paraphrased from PBEM Writing Protocols by James Beach, and an example under Descriptive Text is by J.P. Hazelhoff. Here are a number of useful resources:
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1) Punctuation (This helps me format posts for the archives.)
1.1)
Thoughts belong within *asterisks.* Emphasis belongs within _underscores,_ NOT capitals.
Ex.1:
"That's what I said," Dalia grouched.
*I wondered about that,* Kendrel thought.
Ex.2:
Dalia leaped, but the rope slipped from her grasp."NO!" Kendrel wailed as she fell.
Dalia leaped, but the rope slipped from her grasp._"No!"_ Kendrel wailed as she fell.
1.2)
When emphasizing text, all adjacent punctuation goes inside the underscores.
Ex.1:
Kendrel frowned. What? "What are we supposed to be _doing?_"
Kendrel frowned. *_What?_* "What are we supposed to be _doing_?"
Kendrel frowned. _*What?*_ "What are we supposed to be _doing?"_
1.3)
When your character uses a foreign language (non-Damaran), the foreign languages should be enclosed in sharp brackets, double quotes included. If it's done any other way, the brackets are read as HTML when I upload them to the archive, and the words aren't shown. (Ex.1)
When a foreign language is used ("translated") in a post, mention what language it's in.
Ex.1:
<I do speak Chondathan,> she said.
"<I do speak Chondathan,>" she said.
<"I do speak Chondathan,"> she said in perfect Chondathan.
Ex.2:
"Of course we will return," the elf said with a smile, adding in Espruar to his companions, <"Let's leave them to the wolves.">
Ex.3:
"Of course we will return," the elf said with a smile, adding in Espruar to his companions, <"Let's leave them to the wolves.">
<"We can take their horses,"> another added.
<"Typical elves,"> the dwarf muttered to himself in Dethek with a sour glance at them.
One of the elves spun around. <"What did you say?"> he demanded in accented but understandable Dethek.
<"What did he say?"> the others asked.
<"What are they saying?"> Kendrel complained in Illuski.
1.4)
Put a blank line between your paragraphs. Since Yahoo doesn't need our steenkin' like tab indents, it keeps the writing easy to parse. Note that if you use a word processor, sometimes they make it look like there's a blank line between paragraphs when there actually isn't. (I'm looking at you, MS Word.) Naturally this screws up my formatting of posts for the archives. Please remember to make sure there actually is a blank line.
2) The story
Show, don't tell.
"A PBEM relies on descriptions of what others perceive. Don't be too elaborate, but add some flavor to the post in a descriptive way on what the other characters (and the reader) would see, hear, smell, feel, etc."
- JP Hazelhoff
2.1)
Always use third person, past tense. Anything else makes baby Jesus cry.
2.2)
Avoid metagame-speak. The story should never include gaming concepts such as level, alignment, classes, stats or the like. Game mechanics belong in the OOC field.
2.3)
Think cinematically. Show what your character is doing, feeling, and if possible thinking, so that we can 'see' it and react. If your character does nothing but think to him/herself, how can anyone respond? (In particular, badmouthing others without them being able to respond is considered badassing and will get your bad ass tossed out of the game.)
3) Munchkins
3.1)
Don't start unnecessary trouble. If you're bored or feeling left out of the action or whatever, and you think of starting some trouble to liven things up - don't. Tell the DM instead. Your end of the game can be jump-started if you bring it to my attention, and it won't upset the storyline.
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The Second Cycle
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