The Wicked GM's page

Doomed Hero's Guide to PbP Gaming
Painlord's Advanced PbP Play
The Forge of Combat: Thoughts on Victory and How the Group Achieves It

• No Guns. Sorry, but I don’t like the flavor of guns in my fantasy settings. The Bolt Ace Gunslinger archetype is allowed, however.
• No Third Party Materials.
• Races: Core only. Again, I am a purist :).
• Classes: Summoners must select the Unchained version.
• Build Rules: 25 point buy. Your lowest stat, after racial modifiers, cannot be below 8. You will be powerful, as will your enemies.
• HP: Max at first level, ½ + 1 thereafter.
• Starting Wealth: Maximum gold for your class.
• Alignments: Any non-evil.
• Feats: No Leadership
• Traits: Two
• Hero Points: In use. Here's a link to Hero Point rules and uses.
• Unchained Rules: Background Skills
• Healing: All out-of-combat healing heals for its maximum value.
  

• Let the players be awesome!: You ARE awesome--you’re a hero! But you’re also beginning at level 1. It will come, I promise.
  
• Err on the side of not killing the PC: If a PC dies, it should be due to poor player choices or good GM rolls, never at the GM’s whimsy.
  
• GM Screen: My rolls will be made behind a “spoiler” in my posts. Please honor the sanctity of the GM Screen. I could make these completely secret, but I choose to use a spoiler so that, in the event of a PC death, the result can be verified. Otherwise, unless I so indicate, you should try to avoid peeking. I know I cannot enforce this rule, but know that the less you know, the more fun you’ll have.
  

The recruitment and application process can be a pain, I know. I have applied to games I was very excited about and faced real disappointment when I wasn’t selected. It’s a reality of this game style. That said, I want to give you a little insight into what I as a GM look for in PCs, in order to (1) improve your chances of being selected, and (2) create an applicant pool full of characters I admire. It’s win-win!

First, note that a substantial part of the campaign will be “urban” adventure. As such, you should probably avoid characters that are entirely lacking in social skills (I’m looking at you, min-maxed barbarians). It’s not that these characters aren’t valuable, but I am anticipating a very gritty, politically-driven campaign, and I want characters with brains. However, also note that you’ll still be doing PLENTY of adventuring and engaging in LOTS of combat, so well-rounded characters are a must. I am a firm believer in the “Forge of Combat” philosophy. That article is linked above under the “Required Reading For All Players” spoiler. That includes you! Did you read it?

Second, I value role-playing over roll-playing. I realize that many players relish the number-crunching game of optimizing builds, but they and I are playing different games. As I mentioned, I’m looking for gritty, complicated, and politically-motivated characters. Are you one of those? I don’t believe that optimization and characterization are mutually exclusive, either. Of course you can play that lethal barbarian/alchemist you’ve been dreaming of building--you just have to do it with personality :).

Third, you must put effort into your writing. I am by no means a great writer, nor do I expect you to be, but you don’t have to be a great writer to be a great role-player.

Generally: When you post, all your actions should be described in detail. Don’t just say “I attack the slug,” tell me what you actually do to it. For attack rolls, separate all bonuses into identifiable components. Separate damage for attacks with a semicolon. For example, if I am a raging barbarian who is charging and power attacking, my roll might look like this:

[dice=Attack,Charge,Rage,Power Attack;damage]1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 -1;2d6 + 6 + 2 + 3[/dice]

Tagging: You should make liberal use of “tagging” in your posts. This means that you should interact with other players or NPC’s. To do so, anytime you anticipate a reaction or response from an (N)PC, “tag” them out of character in the post to indicate that a reaction is necessary or desired (Credit to GM Fabian for this method). For example, if I ask a question and desire an answer, I’ll tag the recipient of my question:

”I don’t doubt your love for your father, Graud, only whether your decision to search for him is rational. Do you believe you can separate love and duty?” Tag Graud.

In general, I will lump everyone's initiative together and take the average. If there are six PCs, I total everyone’s initiatives and divide by 6 to get the group's initiative. Then do the same with the enemies' initiative.

In general, actions occur in the order they are posted, although you can specify that your action goes after someone else in the group, or make your actions conditional if you wish. For example, you might post later than others and cast a buff, but request that the buff take effect early in the round. Should someone do something that makes another's action invalid, I'll either give them a chance to fix it/take a new action or correct it the best I can myself.

When appropriate, please list out exactly what actions you take: Move actions, standard, free, swift, or no-actions, when you take said action and in what order you take them. Dice are rolled in what order you take said action.