Documents




Map of Ir




Charsheets


Airdsgainne (Druid, Rabbit Clan [forest gnome]) Robert
Aldridge (Bard, Monkey Clan [human]) Andrew
Alwanzatar (Sorcerer, Spider-Monkey Clan [half-elf]) Alex
Ryudo (Monk, Ostrich Clan [wild elf]) Joe
Westra (Druid, Monkey Clan [human]) Katherine

House Rules




Play-by-Post Mechanics


Everybody in the campaign has other responsibilities and things they need to attend to from time to time. This campaign is specifically designed to be low-key; you should never feel bad because you can't post. Likewise, don't feel bad if you need to attend to actually important things, like doing your job, feeding your children, or going on a date with your spouse.

Out-of-combat


When the party is not in combat and they are all together, it's generally assumed that they move together. Any player can “move the party” by posting that the party moves. (Requiring a post from each player for every movement of the party causes the game to move considerably more slowly.) In practice, this “moving the party” is often done by one player, repeatedly, in response to either party discussion or obvious stimuli.

If you have reason to believe one or more players would object to a plan of action, then pause and have your character ask:
quote:
Melleladra looks at the wide, placid river and contemplates the way across. “You guys can all swim right?” she asks. “Any objections to doffing our armour and diving in?”


Likewise, if somebody moves the party and your character would like to have done something different, just post it, even if it might change things in the past slightly.

In general, however, lean toward moving the party forward. Play boldly!

Combat


When the party is in combat (has rolled initiative), play will be handled on a turn-by-turn basis. However, to prevent bottlenecks, we will use a minor variant of “Side Initiative”. It works like this:

As combat begins, the DM will roll initiative for the entire party and the opposing side. The players who beat the mobs for initiative will collectively take a turn. Then the mobs and players will take turns acting.

Spells and effects that start working on your turn will begin working at the end of your collective turn (so that people don't have to worry about what order to go in). This makes each buff or debuff affect the same number of people and turns, but synchronizes it for efficiency.

Likewise, healing and damage applies is considered to have applied at the end of the round. (This slightly changes healing and party damage dynamics, but in ways that can be gamed both directions. Notably, it means if you go down, you'll lose a round for sure. This is actually a feature, not a bug. Try not to be eaten by a tyrannosaur.)

You don't have to wait for the DM to announce the results of other people's actions before posting your own. It doesn't usually matter, and when it does, you usually know. If somebody else's result would affect your action (usually because they killed the guy you were hitting), you can edit your action after the fact (usually just to pick a new target). When your substitution is obvious, the DM may just correct it for you and move on.

Additionally, when it is your side's turn, you can post your turn whenever you get to it. The players do not need to post in any particular order.

If it has been a player's turn for 24-hours or, more often, the player has asked for it, another player (or sometimes, the DM) will post a player's turn for them. If you're busy, there's absolutely no shame whatsoever in having somebody else roll your attacks for a few rounds. You can pick things back up when you get a chance.

Narrative Style


This is a collaborative story, so fill in the details! You should write in third-person present tense:
quote:
Regdar ducks into the room as stealthily as he can.


When you do something that requires a die roll or otherwise is a specific game action, put it in italicised parentheses. You can expound on the result to give the number a description.
quote:
Regdar ducks into the room as stealthily as he can. The bones of his armour clank together loudly and Regdar finds himself hoping the nearby orcs are deaf, drunk, or both. (Stealth 3)


If you're rolling an attack roll, definitely include the damage in the game comment:
quote:
Regdar jumps from the shadows at the deaf orc, swinging his axe wildly (15 to hit; 23 damage).


Or if it requires a save, put the DC. In general, don't make the DM go look up the effect of your spell if it's not obvious.
quote:
Mellelandra hurls a fireball at both Regdar and the deaf orc. (25 fire damage; Dex Save DC 14 for half.)


If you already know the results of your attack, you can absolutely post them together with your post. Some players prefer to ask the DM if they hit as they are writing the post, so they can tell the entire narrative.
quote:
Arpat fires three arrows into the flammiferous melee (15; 14; 8). Thwack, thwack, clank. Only the triplet's last refrain fails to find a home in the soft flesh of the orc. (20 dmg; 14 dmg)


If you are just thinking something, using telepathy, or communicating non-verbally, we often use guillemets and italics for that. (Greater- and less-than symbols are acceptable substitutes.)
quote:
Regdar looks across the room at Mellelandra. «You're cleaning the ashes out of my armour this evening!» he says through the telepathic link they share.