RULES THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE BIG LIST THAT I STILL THINK ARE A GOOD IDEA
1) Be nice. You're playing the game to have fun, but the people around you are trying to do the same. Keep any fun that you acquire at the expense of someone else to a respectable minimum.
2) Be helpful. Everyone playing the game has different strengths and weaknesses. Help out those that need help, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Ridiculing another player for not knowing the entirety rules, setting, or related information only slows down the game - please refrain from doing so.
3) Seperate in-character and out of character knowledge (and problems). There are things that the players may know (or think they know) that their characters do not. Whenever possible, please act only on information that the characters have. Similarly, arguments between characters should be hammed up as much as possible, and playful banter is encouraged. Arguments between players are strenuously prohibited, at least insofar as they may result from game events. You may argue politics, religion, or historical facts (etc.) to your heart's content, so long as it does not distract from the game.
4) Be a grown-up if and when your character dies. Any game that I run will include at least some risk of demise throughout the course of adventuring. I expect anyone who has a character die mid-adventure to speak with me as immediately as is possible to arrange for the introduction of a new character.
Accordingly, I will not make any specific or concerted efforts to kill off any particular person's character, save to the degree that NPCs in the game would do so. I will do my best to ensure that no rule or 'out' is ignored when determining if, in fact, a character has died. However, established rules for the game or setting will be strictly enforced for all characters.
Be smart with the risks you (and others) take in the game, and you'll probably live through the greater part of it.
5) Only metagame to the degree that you need to do so in order to have fun. Don't try to second-guess my intentions, or how an NPC will react based on something you know in real life. Not all problems you encounter will have expected (or scripted solutions), and I can guarantee that there are events and encounters designed to be as insurmountable as possible. However, such events will be few and far between.
Alternatively, feel free to try to orchestrate events to correct problems you percieve with your own character. Rather than complaining about how frustrating it is to "have to" play your character in a certain way, simply change the way he or she acts and reacts. Please, try to have it make as much sense within the bonds of the story as is possible. But...
6) Remember that this is not improvisational drama. While the game may share certain aspects with improvisational drama, your key goal is not to entertain an audience, but rather to entertain yourself and the other players. There is no reason to continue playing a character you are no longer fond of, and even less reason to constrain your own actions to things you do not enjoy. Regardless...
7) Things will not always go right for you. Sometimes, it's just a strike of bad luck. At other times, it will be one of the many types of obstacles that you're playing the game to overcome. If you want full control over everything that happens, good or bad, I would encourage you to write a novel or short story.
8) Don't be afraid to ask questions. I don't mind answering them - about pretty much everything and anything. I won't remember everything you might need to know to be able to perform every action, but I'll do my best to tell you. Regardless, the world exists only in our imaginations, so if there's something you need to be sure about, ask before you try, rather than complaining after you fail.
I just follow the interesting-looking links from the "recent postings" on the front page. I'll go now.
