About how I run games:
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PbP Matters
1. I expect a posting schedule of once a day during the week and once over the weekend. That being said, Real Life is more important than game![/] I know there are times that this can be difficult - including for me. I just ask that you communicate with me, and I will do the same for you. We will do the best to work something out where we can, but if you just disappear, where absolutely necessary, I will bot your characters for the sake of keeping things moving. Thus, a good idea is to leave botting instructions for combat (preformatted dice roll expressions are a life saver here) and some commonly used non-combat skills in your profile page.
2. Please feel free to use the discussion thread for important OOC matters. For OOC matters in the gameplay thread, please use the [ ooc] tag.
3. If you have any disagreements over some of my GM calls or interpretation of the scenario, please bring it here to the discussion thread or pm me.
4. If you have played and/or GMed a scenario before, please do not metagame or spoil the plot and please let me know.
5. I keep track of images and maps on google slides. I understand there are times where editing them is difficult. In these cases, please be as specific as you can as to where you wish your character to move, what actions to take, etc. If you regularly have issues with accessing the google slides, please let me know. (Incidentally, Android and IOS has a Google Slides app in case you work off mobile devices.)
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[b]Normal Combat
6. I run initiative in blocks. If your character is up, I will bold their name in the initiative list. If your block is up, feel free to post in any order, please don't wait for the person ahead of you to post, as that drags combats out. I will then resolve things in order of posts, so if you are waiting for someone to do something before you, say so!
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Rolls and Skill Checks
7. I will do your initiative rolls, as well as perception rolls for the purpose of determining surprise (if any). For PF2 I also will roll secret checks for you - and I will clearly state when those are. As such, for PF2 PLEASE include your skills (and training levels) on your character sheet.
8. On knowledge checks for general information, I will usually put them in spoilers with the necessary DCs.
If I have posted like this, just go ahead and roll, and I'll trust that you would resist reading them if the roll fails (or least not to metagame Really, please don’t!.) There might be exceptions for plot-critical information though, where I might explicitly ask for knowledge checks. As for knowledge checks to identify creatures, At the start of combat I'll include the type of check to recall information about an enemy and if you take the recall information action you can make the roll. If you wish, you can ask for what information you want, e.g. DR, resistances, special attacks, etc. Otherwise, I will give you what seems to be the most helpful for your group.
9. On skill checks where team efforts can happen, e.g. hacking a terminal with computers or influencing the attitudes of NPCs with diplomacy, please be explicit when making rolls whether you are attempting the check on your own, or whether you are aiding. There might be situations where only one character is allowed to attempt the check (and the rest to aid) – I’ll state so if that’s the case.
10. On skill checks in general, if I feel you have roleplayed well, e.g. gave a good description of what your character does to search for a trail, came up with creative ways to befriend a hostile NPC, gave a very rousing speech, I do give bonuses.
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Roleplaying Matters
11. The maps and handouts link (at the top of the page, and under my GM name) will display all the maps, handouts, pictures, etc as the scenario progresses. The most current map will be at the bottom, and linked in the combat posts while previous pages will be left there in order for your reference.
12. Please have your full character information up on your character's profile page or a link to a character sheet. Also, please have your tag line updated with the key information.
13. Finally, playing by pbp provides many advantages compared to face-to-face games, the chief one being having the time and space to flesh out your thoughts and actions. So please make use of this and have posts that are more than simply dice rolls. :)
