Play By Post Rules of Play

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The Narrator or Game Master (that’d be me) will work hard to keep things moving along at a scene every 1 to 2 weeks. Life gets busy, really busy, so that may get slower but also may get faster!

For Game Master posts, I’ll use third person. Probably Third Person “close” which is really kissing cousins to “first person”.

On posting, please try to post at least something every two weeks. Otherwise, I’ll be the proverbial pain in the shorts to you about this.

If I can’t Narrate for Life reasons, I’ll let everyone know when the game goes on a brief pause so it will leave no one hanging (other than a cliffhanger, which delight me to no end :D )

In each post, a character may do two things: 1 move action (walk, run, etc) and 1 "action" action (fight, throw something, etc). No more, no less. Talk? No limit on that, of course!

Speaking of Character Conversations!

If PCs are having a conversation,

It is fine to have multiple posts between those two that are the conversation

We all remember when we used to write as a single post:

"Answer to thing one," I said.

>> quote of other person saying Other Line

"Response response and another thing and while I'm at it my mouth just might be connected directly to the Psychic Hamster playing hopscotch through every thought process in my head"

>> quote of other person saying something else that may or may not have been in the same order or even from that same post

"I'm thinking of Blah Blah." Having said that, I hang up and leave the room.

Let's not do that.

Write in each post what your character says right now in a normal conversation exchange. Players set to Maximum Verbosity probably already recognize that they need to read it aloud before posting to make sure they aren't monologuing.

Answer in sequence as that same conversation would happen in realtime

Yes, this probably means a long thread of short posts! Great! That will still count as One Move for those characters.

This one is important... we're here to ROLEPLAY, not ROLLPLAY. Don't jump to the dice right away. Explain in character what your character is doing. You don't have to go into detail, but give me your character's viewpoint here. It may turn out you do such a great job, no dice roll is necessary!

Now, on using other people’s characters in your move… DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED IT WITH THE OTHER PLAYER FIRST, and LET ME KNOW THIS IS GOING ON. I mean it.

Your 'in character' move should involve your character taking steps to solve the problem. No one here is supporting cast. Only the NPCs are supporting cast.

Now, if you go over 4 weeks without posting and I’ve nagged you until you’re screaming and you aren’t posting… THEN… your character goes up for grabs by the rest of the group as an NPC. This is to keep the story moving.

BUT! If you’re having trouble with a move or action, please get in touch with me or your fellow players over our Discord. Collaborate and brainstorm ideas, then post a move.

Don’t EVER be afraid of a failed roll. Never. Those weak results are a gold mine for play by post. Lean into it.

Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! The best Play by Post games I’ve been involved in are the ones where the players talk their buttocks off about worldbuilding, actions, and moves.

And don’t be afraid of posting moves that don’t involve dice actions. Those can sometimes be as important as the once with dice rolls! I’ll be reading and taking notes off those as well. Post conversations! If you feel like your character should sing and you have terrible lyrics in mind that you like... make a post!

Last, but not least, and MOST IMPORTANT… have fun. If this works as I hope, I will run more of these.

Created by

Kummer Wolfe.

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