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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 7, 2015 0:28:48 GMT
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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 7, 2015 0:30:18 GMT
How the Game Works
The game is divided into two types - Campaigns and Adventures. Campaigns are moderator-run and vast in scope and scale, while adventures can be run by anyone and generally impact only a local area.
Campaigns
Campaigns are board-wide plots that have the potential to affect far more than the characters involved. They are generally run by the moderating staff and have the potential to affect the political makeup of nations or even shatter the world itself. When the board staff puts up a campaign starter, make sure you apply - the risks are great, but the rewards are greater!
Beyond this, the progress of campaigns will also determine the progression of time on the world of Toril. Each campaign will have a defined starting date, and as the campaigns progress, so does time.
Note that only one character may be involved in any given campaign thread at a time, though with permission of the staff you can have two characters involved in two different threads in the same campaign. You may also only participate in one campaign at a time per character (to avoid having a character be in two places at once), though two characters may participate in two different campaigns.
Adventures
Adventures are generally smaller in scale and scope than campaigns, and can be run by anyone willing to act as the Dungeon Master. These can range from a simple encounter to a full-fledged dungeon crawl, but they do not carry the same world-shattering implications of campaigns. However, there is much less risk and generally less of a time commitment in an adventure.
Adventures also do not progress time in the same way campaigns do. They are defined by season, but they are considered to be fit in around the ongoing campaigns.
One benefit to an adventure is that, by allowing sufficient time during an ongoing campaign (usually between campaign story arcs), the character can gain experience and level up. This allows the character to be better prepared for whatever he or she faces in the main campaign.
Rapid-fire Roleplaying
Rapid-fire Roleplaying is a system in which players post several concise posts, without sacrificing quality, rather than one long post. This allows games to progress at a more rapid pace than typical Play-by-Post roleplaying without sacrificing quality or requiring all players to be online at the same time.
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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 7, 2015 0:31:18 GMT
Plot & SettingAs mentioned above, our campaigns and adventures take place in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. If you aren’t familiar with the setting and its lore you can look it up here. The current year is 1372 DR, or the Year of Wild Magic. Years will advance based on the staff’s discretion and the progress of campaigns. Adventures are considered to have been completed in the year in which they are started.
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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 7, 2015 0:31:55 GMT
How to Roll
In the course of gameplay, it will inevitably arise such that a character will need to roll dice in order to determine the outcome of events. To ensure there are no complaints over who rolled what, and to mitigate the potential for abuse, we would ask players to use the following approach when posting.
In character threads are for In character Posting only. Use your adventures OOC thread for all dice rolling, and then simply link to the OOC post at the bottom of your In character post. This will enable you to see the results of all your rolls, and include their outcomes along with any descriptive flourish that you would like, into a single post.
Our Forum makes use of a built in die roller, which can either be used via clicking on the dice icon located at the far right of the posting toolbar. Alternatively, you can simple enter in the following code to your post.
roll range="NdS+X"
entered with bracked
Where N=the number of dice to be rolled, S= the number of sides that the dice to be rolled possess, and X equals any static modifiers that are to be added (or subtracted in the case of negative modifiers) to the total roll.
So for example, a roll of 5d6+3 would look like
[*roll range="5d6+3"]
without the *NdS+XRuwzF72g
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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 7, 2015 0:53:53 GMT
How To DMDMing in conventional tabletop RPs is not an easy role to take on. It requires planning ahead and ability to manage a variety of stats and rolls at once. The nice thing about text-based RPing is that it takes some of the immediacy out of these duties. A DM doesn't have to have everything ready on the spot, they have time to look up stats and make rolls. Of course, it is still a good idea to plan out your adventure beforehand. This allows the thread to progress as quickly as possible. Making RollsMaking Rolls: Since DMs make a great deal more rolls than characters, and some of those need to be secret, DMs are not required to use the integrated dice rolling system, nor are they required to post the outcomes of die rolls in the OOC or IC threads. They are free to do so, if they choose. They can roll dice on their own, using physical dice or one of the many online dice rollers available. If it seems like DMs are abusing this privilege, please alert the staff so we can examine the contested event and intervene to resolve the issue. Staring An AdventureAs the DM, you are in charge of making the first post. Place this form at the very beginning, and then start writing the opening scene. [b]Setting[/b]: PLACE, TIME [b]Party Size[/b]: X / X (Open/Closed) [b]Difficulty[/b]: Levels X-X Actions & ResultsAs noted above, DMs adjudicate player actions as well. They let the player know whether their attempted actions were successful or not. This information should typically be covered through an In Character post detailing the situation and what the player exparianced, but can also be covered in the OOC thread for more formal descriptions of events, if need be. Difficulty LevelsDMs are in charge of making encounters difficult yet ultimately defeatable if the characters are smart and maybe a bit lucky. This Encounter Calculator is a great resource. Ending An Adventure, Rewarding PlayersAt the end of an adventure, the DM makes the last post and rewards the players. The encounter calculator above gives you all the tools you need to determine how much XP each character gets. This page on treasure contains all the information you need to roll treasure rewards (of course, you make take some liberty if you have specific rewards in mind). You must use this template when closing an adventure: [align=center][gg1]Adventure Complete[/gg1][/align] [b]Character 1[/b] Treasure Gained: [a]_____ GP[a], [a]________[/a], [a]________[/a], etc. XP Gained: [a]__________ XP[/a] [b]Character 2[b] Treasure Gained: [a]_____ GP[a], [a]________[/a], [a]________[/a], etc. XP Gained: [a]__________ XP[/a] etc. [b]Since this adventure was run by a DM, rewards are [u]not[/u] automatically added. You must request them in Character Advancement.[/b] The final line can be excluded, in the event the thread is run by a staff member, whom can directly award gold, items and XP to players without needing to first post it in the respective character advancement sections. If this is done, include a note indicating so. DM RewardsDMs get rewarded for completing adventures too. A GM will review the thread and add a certain amount of GPs to your player account, which may be transferred to any character account. This amount increases based on thread length, amount of characters involved, quality of story, etc. If a GM does not automatically look your thread over, just post a link to it in the Loot Redemption page. No need to fill out the form there, just make sure to post it with your player account. After a DM is rewarded, the thread can then be moved to the archives, which indicates it is completed. DMing your own charactersPlease note that inserting your own characters into threads you DM is not recommended. If you choose to do so, special restrictions apply. Your character will not receive any share of treasure or items upon completing the thread, and they will only receive 1/4th the EXP they would have normally gained. You still receive your reward for DMing the thread, and any In character Posts made for the thread will be counted when determining if your character is eligible for Title Awards (See below)
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Post by NineOfSpades on Jan 8, 2015 21:25:15 GMT
Joining the Site & Your First Character
New members should begin by creating a Player account. This account is for general use, and is not directly connected to any of your characters. Once you have created an account, you can then begin working on creating your first character.
Each character you create should have a separate account, with the account name matching that of the character. This is done for several reasons. Firstly, it enables your character to make use of our banking system to track their gold. Secondly, many of the benefits that players and characters are eligible for are connected to the number of In Character Posts that are made. To ease the process of tallying up however many In character posts have been made, we ask that players limit themselves to using their Character account only when posting In character. Use your player account when DMing, Making Dice rolls, or posting outside of games.
Once you have a character account, you are ready to submit your character application. Simply follow the application template, and once it is completed, create a new post in the Application board, where it will then be reviewed by our staff, who will either approve the character sheet, or suggest ways to improve it.
It is important to note that you should only post character sheets that are completed. Incomplete sheets will be deleted.
Once your first character is approved, the staff will automatically move it to the appropriate board. After that, you are free to join up with any open adventures, and start roleplaying from there.
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