Game Control
First Post
1 - Civility must be maintained at all time. We’re playing a game, let’s keep it fun. PC may bicker; players never insult each other.
2 - Get a new en-world account with the name or codename of your character on it, just like I did.
3 - The expected format for your post is as follow;
A- Italics lettering will be used to describe the actions of your character. Use the third person for this purpose.
B- Dialogues will use normal lettering. If you wish to add a comment on the expression of your character, use parenthesis. Alternatively, you could use the classic literary method:
And of course, you had nothing to do with it? (Sarcastic)
- ‘’And of course, you had nothing to do with it?’’ said Donavan sarcastically.
C- Use Brackets to describe your actions in game mechanics term and to directly ask a question to the GC or another PC. You can add OOC: if you wish, but it’s not mandatory.
Following the Charter, I’ll provide a sample post.
4 - I intend to use a dice roller system to provide impartial and transparent skill check. Instructions can be found here: http://www.pbm.com/dice/ . To use it, you send an email to dice@pbm.com and fill the body of text like this:
#P mail address of a player [up to 10 #P lines allowed]
#S no. of sides on every die
#D no. of dice for every roll
#R no. of rolls requested
#L no. of rolls printed per line in output
#C comments [up to 100 #C lines allowed]
#T subject line of returned mail
I would recommend writing only my two emails in #P (gamecontrol@caramail.com and vincent.lemire@videotron.ca ) so that the other PCs are not flooded by unwanted mail. If any player is interested in witnessing all results, much like as if he were sitting at a gaming table, he can say so. It should be easy enough for anyone to save a template e-mail that contains the e-mail of everyone wishing to see the results. (Note that you don’t need to write your own e-mail in #P, the system automatically sends to author of the e-mail the results)
#S is usually 20 or 4
#D is always 1.
Request as many rolls as required in #R so that you don’t flood my mailbox with dice rolls that could have been resolved in the same batch.
I recommend that you use 1 in #L.
#C is very important if you asked for more than one roll. You can use it to tell me which roll means what. You can also add your skill modifier in the comments, this will save me the trouble of looking it up.
#T is extremely important since it’ll be the subject line of the e-mail. Write something that makes it impossible for me to confuse your dice roll with another. The title of your post for example, if you had one.
I will also provide a sample dice roll e-mail after the charter.
IMPORTANT : I strongly recommend that the players initiate their own dice roll as often as possible. I understand that sometime you can’t be sure if an action is legal, or wish more information before committing to a decision. But if you want to climb a fence or shoot a bad guy, write so and send the e-mail to get a dice roll. This is important because it is the only way for you to effectively use action dice. If after receiving the result of your dice roll (it’s almost instantaneous) you realise that you scored a threat, you can immediately edit your post to declare that you are spending an action die to activate it. Also, if you failed but didn’t roll a 1, you might want to spend an action die to improve the result. In that case, send a following e-mail to get additional dice rolls. Be sure to change 20 to 4 in the line #S (for 4 sided dice) and always write at least 10 in #R. As you know, action dice explode (you re-roll any 4) and you can spend more than one if you want. If you ask for 10 result, you should have as many results as you need without having to ask for additional rolls.
i.e. If the results are;
1, 4, 4, 3, 2, 4, 1, 3, 2, 2
We know that the first action die result is 1. If you spent another one, it would be 11 (4+4+3), the third would be 2, the fourth would be 5 (4+1) etc.
This system makes it possible to know what would be the result of a second and third action die and thus base your decision to take one or not on this information. It would be impossible in a P&P game. My position on this situation is: Play it for what it’s worth.
For expediency’s sake, I will not allow action die expenditure on dice rolls that were not initiated by you. All the more reasons to initiate your own rolls as much as possible. Sometime it is impossible, though. For example, during an ambush I’ll typically send you the results of 2 rolls, the first being my Hide check and the second being your Spot. In such a case it is impossible for you to spend an action die because you were just reacting. In the spirit of fairness, I will never spend an action die of my own on such a dice roll.
To avoid e-mail glut, I will roll in house the damage rolls myself as well as several lesser checks at my discretion. You’ll just have to trust me not to fudge.
Finally, and this might come as a counter-climax after so much talk after skill check, there is a possibility that I’ll simply scrap the dice roller system and do all my rolls in house. For this to happen, a majority of players must simply vote on it. But under this option it becomes difficult to use action dice effectively. You’d have to always write a note describing your action die policy when taking your actions (i.e. ‘’I’ll use an action die if I roll less than 10’’). Think about it.
5 - You can assume the presence of certain elements in the campaign without waiting for my feedback. If you are in a parking lot and need to steal a car, do not ask me to describe the available cars! Just tell me what kind of car you wish to steal (the more expansive, the higher the DC!) and use the dice roller to send me your open lock and mechanic checks. Or take 10 if you can afford to. Then I’ll describe the result.
Similarly, if you are fighting in an office and need a club-like object, just tell me you grab a desk lamp. Don’t ask me if there is one or we’ll waste a day as you wait for my positive reply.
Obviously this takes a minimum of trust, do not abuse it. Using a desk lamp that I didn’t previously describe is more than reasonable. Finding a UZI that I did not previously describe is not quite the same thing.
6 - The realism of my campaign is set at a James Bond level. If it’s possible in a Bond movie, it can be done in my campaign. Of course it might take you some action dice to pull it off… You are still only level 1 after all.
7 - The morality of the campaign is also set at a James Bond level. Your PCs should range from being a little less to a little more ruthless than Commander Bond. You’re not playing either a pussycat or a sociopath. It’s important that everyone understands this so that we avoid lengthy moral dilemma.
8 - I am not a literature professor or even a native English speaker. I will mostly concentrate on being descriptive enough to leave out all ambiguity within the limits of my abilities. I will frequently provide links and pictures attachments to properly convey the situation in which your PCs are involved. If you wish to express dissatisfaction with the way I run the game, I am open to suggestions as long as you remember the rule number one.
The charter could be expanded as needed.
I invite all my players to post in this thread to ask any question they might have as well as to simply indicate they have read the charter and are still interested to participate.
As of the time of thise posting, I have received 3 PCs. Additional poster have indicated interest. I intend to begin when at least 4 players have sent their PCs and posted their consent in this thread.
A link to the first post will be provided in this charter, in the original thread in D20 games as well and I'll e-mail you a notification.
2 - Get a new en-world account with the name or codename of your character on it, just like I did.
3 - The expected format for your post is as follow;
A- Italics lettering will be used to describe the actions of your character. Use the third person for this purpose.
B- Dialogues will use normal lettering. If you wish to add a comment on the expression of your character, use parenthesis. Alternatively, you could use the classic literary method:
And of course, you had nothing to do with it? (Sarcastic)
- ‘’And of course, you had nothing to do with it?’’ said Donavan sarcastically.
C- Use Brackets to describe your actions in game mechanics term and to directly ask a question to the GC or another PC. You can add OOC: if you wish, but it’s not mandatory.
Following the Charter, I’ll provide a sample post.
4 - I intend to use a dice roller system to provide impartial and transparent skill check. Instructions can be found here: http://www.pbm.com/dice/ . To use it, you send an email to dice@pbm.com and fill the body of text like this:
#P mail address of a player [up to 10 #P lines allowed]
#S no. of sides on every die
#D no. of dice for every roll
#R no. of rolls requested
#L no. of rolls printed per line in output
#C comments [up to 100 #C lines allowed]
#T subject line of returned mail
I would recommend writing only my two emails in #P (gamecontrol@caramail.com and vincent.lemire@videotron.ca ) so that the other PCs are not flooded by unwanted mail. If any player is interested in witnessing all results, much like as if he were sitting at a gaming table, he can say so. It should be easy enough for anyone to save a template e-mail that contains the e-mail of everyone wishing to see the results. (Note that you don’t need to write your own e-mail in #P, the system automatically sends to author of the e-mail the results)
#S is usually 20 or 4
#D is always 1.
Request as many rolls as required in #R so that you don’t flood my mailbox with dice rolls that could have been resolved in the same batch.
I recommend that you use 1 in #L.
#C is very important if you asked for more than one roll. You can use it to tell me which roll means what. You can also add your skill modifier in the comments, this will save me the trouble of looking it up.
#T is extremely important since it’ll be the subject line of the e-mail. Write something that makes it impossible for me to confuse your dice roll with another. The title of your post for example, if you had one.
I will also provide a sample dice roll e-mail after the charter.
IMPORTANT : I strongly recommend that the players initiate their own dice roll as often as possible. I understand that sometime you can’t be sure if an action is legal, or wish more information before committing to a decision. But if you want to climb a fence or shoot a bad guy, write so and send the e-mail to get a dice roll. This is important because it is the only way for you to effectively use action dice. If after receiving the result of your dice roll (it’s almost instantaneous) you realise that you scored a threat, you can immediately edit your post to declare that you are spending an action die to activate it. Also, if you failed but didn’t roll a 1, you might want to spend an action die to improve the result. In that case, send a following e-mail to get additional dice rolls. Be sure to change 20 to 4 in the line #S (for 4 sided dice) and always write at least 10 in #R. As you know, action dice explode (you re-roll any 4) and you can spend more than one if you want. If you ask for 10 result, you should have as many results as you need without having to ask for additional rolls.
i.e. If the results are;
1, 4, 4, 3, 2, 4, 1, 3, 2, 2
We know that the first action die result is 1. If you spent another one, it would be 11 (4+4+3), the third would be 2, the fourth would be 5 (4+1) etc.
This system makes it possible to know what would be the result of a second and third action die and thus base your decision to take one or not on this information. It would be impossible in a P&P game. My position on this situation is: Play it for what it’s worth.
For expediency’s sake, I will not allow action die expenditure on dice rolls that were not initiated by you. All the more reasons to initiate your own rolls as much as possible. Sometime it is impossible, though. For example, during an ambush I’ll typically send you the results of 2 rolls, the first being my Hide check and the second being your Spot. In such a case it is impossible for you to spend an action die because you were just reacting. In the spirit of fairness, I will never spend an action die of my own on such a dice roll.
To avoid e-mail glut, I will roll in house the damage rolls myself as well as several lesser checks at my discretion. You’ll just have to trust me not to fudge.
Finally, and this might come as a counter-climax after so much talk after skill check, there is a possibility that I’ll simply scrap the dice roller system and do all my rolls in house. For this to happen, a majority of players must simply vote on it. But under this option it becomes difficult to use action dice effectively. You’d have to always write a note describing your action die policy when taking your actions (i.e. ‘’I’ll use an action die if I roll less than 10’’). Think about it.
5 - You can assume the presence of certain elements in the campaign without waiting for my feedback. If you are in a parking lot and need to steal a car, do not ask me to describe the available cars! Just tell me what kind of car you wish to steal (the more expansive, the higher the DC!) and use the dice roller to send me your open lock and mechanic checks. Or take 10 if you can afford to. Then I’ll describe the result.
Similarly, if you are fighting in an office and need a club-like object, just tell me you grab a desk lamp. Don’t ask me if there is one or we’ll waste a day as you wait for my positive reply.
Obviously this takes a minimum of trust, do not abuse it. Using a desk lamp that I didn’t previously describe is more than reasonable. Finding a UZI that I did not previously describe is not quite the same thing.
6 - The realism of my campaign is set at a James Bond level. If it’s possible in a Bond movie, it can be done in my campaign. Of course it might take you some action dice to pull it off… You are still only level 1 after all.
7 - The morality of the campaign is also set at a James Bond level. Your PCs should range from being a little less to a little more ruthless than Commander Bond. You’re not playing either a pussycat or a sociopath. It’s important that everyone understands this so that we avoid lengthy moral dilemma.
8 - I am not a literature professor or even a native English speaker. I will mostly concentrate on being descriptive enough to leave out all ambiguity within the limits of my abilities. I will frequently provide links and pictures attachments to properly convey the situation in which your PCs are involved. If you wish to express dissatisfaction with the way I run the game, I am open to suggestions as long as you remember the rule number one.
The charter could be expanded as needed.
I invite all my players to post in this thread to ask any question they might have as well as to simply indicate they have read the charter and are still interested to participate.
As of the time of thise posting, I have received 3 PCs. Additional poster have indicated interest. I intend to begin when at least 4 players have sent their PCs and posted their consent in this thread.
A link to the first post will be provided in this charter, in the original thread in D20 games as well and I'll e-mail you a notification.
