GM Giuseppe's page

I will be rolling some dice for you. Most of times, I will be rolling Perception and Sense Motive checks for you. I will also always roll initiative for you. Sometimes I might roll other dice for you if needed, such as skill checks, attack and damage rolls, saves and so on. Please take note that this doesn't mean you cannot roll dice at all.

Please avoid wall of text. Always try properly separate your paragraphs, and use the proper coding depending on the current situation.

For more information about how to format your combat posts, please see "HOW I HANDLE COMBAT"

Yes, just keep that in mind. Sometimes you just don't want to fail that Spellcraft check to identify a potion of cure light wounds, especially if you've already successfully identified one such potion in the past; that would make no sense at all.

If you think a 10 can be enough, you can say in the OOC section of your post that your character is taking 10 on a particular check. Failing can sometimes be funny, and is still going to happen, but it sometimes slows down things a lot in an unnecessary way. If you can avoid to roll for your Acrobatics check for taking that 5 feet jump, please keep in mind you can take 10 on that check if you're not in combat.

As I said above, I will be rolling initiative for you. Once I've rolled for initiative, I put down an initiative order in list form. You shall not wait for other players to act before you post your own intended action: as long as you're acting before a foe, you can make your combat post even if players preceding you have not posted yet. I will then resolve all the player's actions in the right initiative order. If the action you wanted to do is made impossibile by the situation, I will try to resolve your action in the most reasonable way.

Consider the following initiative order:

• Player 1
  
• Player 2
  
• Foe
  
• Player 3
  

In this example, Player 2 is allowed (and encouraged) to post even if Player 1 has not posted yet. When Player 1 posts, I will resolve his action before the action performed by Player 2, and then resolve Player 2 action. Player 3 cannot post before the foe has acted. After Foe has acted, Player 1 can post before Player 3 even if a new round need to begin in order to resolve Player 1 action.

Now consider the following initiative order:

• Player 1
  
• Player 2
  
• Player 3
  
• Player 4
  
• Foe
  
• Player 5
  
• Player 6
  

In this example, Player 1, 2, 3, and 4 can post in whichever order they prefer (usually when they have time to do so), and I will then resolve their actions in the proper order. Player 5 and 6 must wait until Foe acts before posting, but once Foe has acted, all the players can post in whichever post they wish.

Why to use this system? Because combat in PbP is already a pain, and if one should have to wait until the player before him to post, the resulting game would be too slow.

As a consequence, I ask you to include at the top of your post the round in which your character is acting.

For combat maps, I use Roll20. You're expected to access the site before posting your intended action. If you can't, please note it in your post and try to describe in a general way your actions, so that I can resolve them in the most reasonable way available depending on the situation.

To improve the layout of your posts, you may want to use the following format for your combat posts (use this link to get a easy format to copy/paste in your posts):

=========
Round 1
=========

Describe your character's action, marking any reference to Out-of-game Contents (OOC) with one or more blue asterisk(s) (ie. *, **).

______________________________________
* Insert OOC regarding your asterisk.

** Insert OOC regarding your second asterisk.

[dice=Dice roll]1d20+2[/dice]

[dice=Dice roll]1d8+1[/dice]

First of all, to post 2-3 times/day. Yes, real life sometimes just gets in the way: in that case, please just inform me so I can decide whether to wait for you, go on or bot your character.
If you'll not inform me of your absence, I will suppose your character doesn't do/say nothing, and if we're in combat I will have his action delayed. If the situation makes reasonable to bot your character, I will do it; otherwhise, he would just delay his actions.

I also expect you to respect me and your fellow players. Of course, you're not allowed to insult, offend or abuse neither me nor your fellow players. You also shouldn't be giving other players your suggestions on how they should act. If you have to do so, please use the discussion thread.

I expect you to adequately format your post as detailed above.

I expect you to be collaborative, nice and respectful.

Thanks GM Damo for allowing me to copy/paste this.

Put your vital stats, expended charges and active conditions in your forum tag line. It really helps for those situations when a GM needs to make a roll for the whole party (eg. everyone makes a reflex save). That means I can easily do the rolls, resolve all the effects and move the game along in a single post.

When you edit the profile for your alias, anything that appears these fields will appear on your tagline in posts on a PbP thread (in this order):

1. Gender
2. Race
3. Classes/Levels

All you need to do is put your vital stats in these three fields and you are good to go.

To help me out with readability, and to keep things consistent, you must use this tagline template for your character.

It’s your responsibility to keep your vital stats constantly updated. This simplifies my work a lot, and allows me to focus on much more important things such as writing better posts and ensuring you have fun, so please take care of your vital stats and make sure they’re constantly updated.

Thanks again GM Damo for allowing me to copy/paste this.

Use Third Person Limited and write in the Simple Present* tense. Full stop. If for no other reason, it will keep everyone's posts consistent. It is also what most PbP posters use.

* Note that we are specifically using the Simple Present to describe something that 'is true in the present' (ie. what our character is doing).