Game Specifics

D&D Fantasy- Forgotten Realms

Locale: Thesk, Phent & Telflamm

Theme: Conflicts of interest

Mode: Scene based

Style: Literary posting

Rules: Followed fairly closely

Theme

This campaign is designed to be six to eight months long, and can be extended depending on interest.  It is set to take place in Thesk in the growing city ofPhent, and the port of Telflamm.  The theme and title of the campaign is “Conflicts of Interest”, and will be 75% roleplay/character driven, and 25% “action” driven- noting that action is not necessarily fighting, and role-playing can still heavily involve the rules.

The style preference is a guide, not a straightjacket, but people interested in practicing fiction writing are especially invited to apply.  Literary technique is welcome in posting.  This campaign relies on the core D&D rules, complete with opposed rolls

Organization

This campaign will be a scene-based game, organized thematically into chapters.

A “scene” is a specific time and place where conversation, confrontation, investigation, and/or other actions occur, intended to be a self-contained series of posts.  More than one scene may occur at the same time, depending on circumstances.  Chapters are comprised of scenes, and are finished when certain story goals are accomplished.

Characters

* Characters begin the campaign at level 3.

* Any Faerun race or class may be used (permission necessary for oddball characters).  No psionics.

* Ability scores are assigned manually to a total sum of 75 points.  -2 total points for each 18 a character starts with, and -1 point for each 17 a character starts with (not counting racial adjustment).

* Hit points are 100% at level 1, and increase automatically via PHB rules (instead of rolling a die, at level 2 and beyond you get half your hit die rounded down, plus your CON bonus).

* Characters receive one free Faerun regional feat based on their homeland, (except for Luck of Heroes!).  I am more interested in it fitting your story than how it might help you.

* Give yourself basic gear you feel you’d have acquired by level 3, and 200gp.

* For purposes of character selection, have a very basic personality (a few lines) written up with at least one major motivation, one personal weakness, and three tidbits about the characters family or past.  Characters chosen to be involved in the campaign will be asked to write a one page character history within the first few weeks of play.

* If you supply a race, class, and the above personality description, this is sufficient to apply to the game.  You don’t have to make the entire character until you are accepted.

Experience Points

Since this campaign is intended to be a 75/25 split of roleplaying to action, the experience point awards will represent exactly that ratio.  Therefore, 75% of the XP awarded at the end of each scene will be based on the quality of the posts during that scene (not quantity).  Different people write at different skill levels and styles, but I can tell when someone is putting a mote of effort into their storytelling and scale it based on individual styles.  It isn’t a contest- simply encouraging a few well thought out posts over a slew of one-liners or few garbled paragraphs.

Game Flow and Posting

The campaign is designed to accommodate up to eight players, but not all players will necessarily be at the same place at the same time.  I will try to keep things organized in a scene-by-scene manner, with each scene lasting 3 to 8 days (6-20 posts per player, depending on the scene).

Post frequency- An average of once per day is good, though two or three are welcome if it fits.  No one player should dominate the chapters (your posts should generally not account for more than 25% of the number or body of posts).  Some scenes, however, will slant toward one character, and that is okay.

Time Down- Vacations, breaks, downtime, and days off by players are gladly accommodated (though please make a note of it), and will be handled in the following order of preference 1) inactivity of the character 2) moving the character into a separate, slower scene 3) in cases where action is occurring, the DM will choose actions for the character for as short a time as possible, based on players’ style.  Characters silent without notice for ten days will be eased out of the story.

Post Length- Use your judgment.  Literary “broad strokes” are preferable to overly embellished prose.  In longer time frames, posts can be a few lines describing a brief interaction with the weaponsmith, or several paragraphs of thoughts, actions, introspection, and self-story involving your character.  In story-time, generally posts should be from a few lines to a couple of paragraphs in length.  In turn-time, posts should deftly describe actions, intent, and turn-based dialogue in a couple of lines.

Game Modes

The header at the top of the DM posts indicates the current timescale.  They roughly equate to hours, minutes, and seconds, and players should post accordingly.

… The Waterclock Turns- This indicates the players are free to do typical “downtime activities” such as shopping at vendors, crafting, busywork, and self-story.  You can take this opportunity to make a post or two advancing your own personal story, if it doesn’t require DM input.

… [The Phase of the Moon]- If the moon phase is mentioned, the game is taking place in “story time” in a scene, and players can speak, act, inspect, and otherwise take any course of action that can reasonably be done in a few minutes (inspect a painting, say something to an NPC, search a wall for traps, cast an identify spell, etc.)  Most of the game will take place in this mode.

… The Sound and the Fury- This is the turn based mode that calls for actions, with each group of posts lasting a typical D&D round (six seconds).  Additionally, if combat-round actions are occurring, players will use [brackets] at the bottom of their post, containing specific actions.

An example of a turn-time post:

“Stevil dives for the battered oak door, blocking its breadth with his own body and pair of drawn blades.  He twists his weapons in front of him in small ellipses, gray and silver flickers darting in front of him, ready to counter any who come near.”

[I stand in front of the door and ready action: attack]

General Rules

*Please stay in character, unless you ((OOC)) indicate out of character.

*Please don't "god mod" other peoples' characters by acting for them- or god modding DM characters (except usable NPCs)

*Be respectful of other players and their characters

*Please try and follow the general theme and current time frame

*Try and post 5-6 times per week