House Rules
Theater of the Mind
There are some real fans of grid-based combat out there (myself included) but adding grids and maps to Play-by-Forum campaigns is more painful than helpful, and requires either a lot of posting clutter or a second site for the players to check for every combat post. When necessary, I provide tracking that should make it clear whether or not an enemy can be reached.
Initiative
I roll initiative a little differently for Play-by-Forum campaigns (adopted from a GM whose name I wish I could remember). When combat begins I will roll initiative for each player, and each enemy. The averages are then the initiative of the group. This allows for a better flow in combat because instead of waiting for a specific person to post, multiple times in one turn, you will all be able to post before the enemies move, and then I can take all of their turns swiftly. Also, because criticals and critical fails are too fun to let go to waste, these will provide a +5 or a -5 bonus to the group's total.
When Do I Roll?
With any good roleplaying, your character's actions should drive the dice rolls, not the other way around. However in Play-by-Forum, by spending a post asking you to make a specific roll, waiting for another post to make that roll, and then spending a post to explain the outcome, we've added needless clutter and waiting time to the adventure. So, try to stick to the following guidelines for rolls:
Attack/Damage Rolls
These are almost always obvious rolls, so there's no need to wait for my approval for these. If you are attacking an enemy, make both your attack and damage roll in the post. If you are uncertain about whether you are able to make an attack, make the rolls anyway and provide an alternative if it turns out you cannot make the attack.
Ability Checks
If an ability check is obvious (i.e., checking the room for traps, investigating a specific thing, jumping over a gap, applying first aid without a healer's kit) feel free to make the roll in your post; if it's not the correct one, I will take the roll and add the appropriate modifier. If you are uncertain which roll applies, don't make the roll; describe what your character is doing, and I'll make the roll for you and describe the outcome.
Saving Throws
I will make the vast majority of saving throws for characters when necessary. This prevents an extra message and waiting time, and lets you get right back to the action in your next post.
Death Saves
Make these on your turn if you are unconscious and unstable. If you are the last one in the initiative, I can make them for you.
Experience
Experience will be a hybrid milestone/combat system. In the first part of this campaign, experience will only be a milestone system. After this, XP will be given out based on monsters defeated and goals completed. Defeating enemies in a non-combative fashion (negotiating, intimidating, outsmarting) is worth as much experience as destroying them.
Loot
To keep things flowing, we'll stick to the following guidelines:
Valuables
Coins, gems, and valuable items only worth selling will be pooled together until a dungeon/area is explored. After that, we'll take a moment to divide these evenly across characters.
Useful Items/Weapons/Armor
Determine where these go quickly. If more than one person wants a particular item, we can roll to see who gets it.
Generally speaking, I won't point loot out for you if your passive perception is not high enough. Taking an action to search bodies or rooms is a good thing.
Enemies
Enemies' health and damage are not static. Nothing kills immersion like knowing exactly how much damage an enemy deals and knowing for certain whether you can take another attack or not. The same applies to friendly NPCs as well.
Posting/Consistency
Hopefully I run a Play-by-Forum that is enough fun that everybody wants to post multiple times a day, but the minimum that is expected is once a day. If life is busy, give us a heads up how long you won't be posting as often. I will take actions for characters that don't post in 24 hours. If a character is absent frequently for a month or more, I reserve the right to replace them.
Try to avoid speed-posting. Post when you have a minute to think, and provide a "what", "how", and "why" for your character. The "what" is the most important part; too many posts without actions slows the game down. In some periods of in-game downtime (i.e., long rests, travel) I like to give the floor to the characters and take a day or two of real-time to allow some actionless roleplaying and give the players (and the DM) a short breather before action continues.
