Julian System PBP Guidelines

The following information details various guidelines and expectations for participating in play-by-post games as developed over time by Julius Sleazer in the many games he's run over the years on RPGnet. In recognition, this is hereby termed the "Julian System" of play-by-post.

The Bullet Points

• Please take the time to use proper English grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

• Please preface all posts with bolded text announcing your character's name and class (or, alternatively, name and a description of no more than several words). Example Post:

  Ejemplo, Fighter

  Ejemplo shines his lantern into the darkness and attempts to discern what form of creature has been making the wailing noises.

• Lengthy OOC comments belong in the OOC thread. Brief OOC comments may be included in IC posts provided that they are placed at the bottom of the posts and hidden in a spoiler block, i.e.[sblock]Text to be hidden.[/sblock]. However, please don't make IC posts that consist of nothing but an OOC sblock.

  Ejemplo, Fighter

  Ejemplo readies his crossbow and gazes across the river.

  [sblock]Are the orcs on the other side in range?[/sblock]

• Do not puppet anyone else's character. Do not puppet NPCs. If you are unsure what is meant by "puppet", it means that no player should make posts detailing what another character is doing or thinking (those posts should be made by that character's player) or posts detailing what an NPC is doing or thinking (those posts should be made by the DM.)
  Please note that the DM can and will puppet the characters of players who are absent in order to prevent game stagnation. This will be done sparingly.

• Expected posting frequency is a minimum of several times per weekday and preferably more often during combat. If you are going to be absent, please make an effort to notify the group in the OOC thread. In general, I will usually wait until the preponderant majority of the group has posted and then update things. Sometimes this will result in players with a slower posting frequency getting left behind from time to time. While this is unfortunate, in my experience slowing a game down to accommodate the slowest player(s) in the group kills campaigns since the more active posters get bored and lose interest.

• All in-character posts should be written in present tense and in the third person.

• If your character is speaking in a language other than Common, please indicate that this is the case by using italics.

• The DM handles all dice rolls. I've found this greatly speeds along combat in a PbP game.

• During combat, the DM will ask for intentions. Players may describe their intentions and basic actions IC. DM will then post an IC post describing the results after rolling the dice OOC. Players may then make another IC post elaborating on their characters' actions if they wish to, but certainly don't have to do so. Bear in mind that puppeting is forbidden, so no posts like "All of the group are impressed by Brax the Fighter's awesome moves." If the other characters are impressed by Brax's awesome moves, their players will indicate that that is the case.
  Do not post something like "Brax the Fighter fires his bow and slays the enemy." Nobody knows if Brax the Fighter did indeed slay the enemy until the DM has done the dice-rolling.

• Please do not litter IC posts with lengthy conditionals, maybes, and hypothetical actions. All of these things are fine in the OOC thread or, if relatively brief, in an IC post but within an sblock.

• If you feel that I have made a ruling in error, please bring it up in the OOC thread. I cannot promise you that I will agree with your objection, but I will certainly take it into consideration. No DM is perfect. From time to time I make mistakes and I very much appreciate having these pointed out so that I can correct them. Please bear in mind that the DM is the final authority on the rules.

• If a fellow player posts dialogue in the IC thread, please respond to this if at all possible. Response does not have to be in the form of a reply; it could be something along the lines of "Brax the Fighter ignores Corg the Cleric."

• Please avoid IC posts stating about what characters are thinking, feeling, wishing, hoping, etc. Any such statements should be expressed in such a way that other characters can react IC. Basically, the reason to avoid "my character is thinking...." posts is because other players can't really have their characters react IC to such statements. OOC statements about what characters are thinking for purposes of clarification, personal interest, etc. are completely acceptable.

Further Guidance

• It is not at all unusual or outré for characters to announce exactly what they are thinking and feeling. I mean, people obviously dissemble, conceal, and lie with frequency, but announcing intentions or emotions to all and sundry happens with great frequency. Elevated volume is also a thing, too.

For instance, a barbarian might say: "The life of drafty huts and dirty hags shall no more be my own! I intend to strap on a broadsword and wander the wasteland until my attitude has been so seasoned that an adventuring company will accept me with alacrity!"

If given an insulting offer in a negotiation, rather than brooding quietly, a character might well say: "You insult me terribly! The twin serpents of shame and wrath coil themselves around my gall-bladder and spleen, flooding me with ill humors! Modify your meretricious mode of merchanting, or mope mightily as malicious murder mocks your means of mass profiteering!"

Obviously there are exceptions (magic spells or items which allow direct thought-to-though communication, or necessary OOC asides to explain utterly unexpected behavior), but in general characters either speak freely (on the spot or later) or else maintain stolid stoicism.

• Alliteration and exclamation points are very important, and make posts more fun to read. "What is this foolishness when innocent travelers are assailed antagonistically and abruptly? Halt henceforth and say who you are."

• Obvious descriptions of emotion are also a pretty good choice. "Bwarzo the Bad feels mad" is not a particularly great post. "Red roiling rage roams Bwarzo's ferocious face, rearranging it into a rent rictus of roaring wrath" is far preferable; now NPCs and PCs can clearly react to Bwarzo.