Introduction

Welcome to the thread for my game titled "The Darkened Sky!" It will be fairly obvious from the beginning why it is named as such, so I won't ruin any surprises here.

This game will be set in a home-brewed campaign world using the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 ruleset. I want everyone who will be participating to submit a finished character to my e-mail address Roguegm@yahoo.com. The game will allow for a 28 point buy, and starting character level of 3. The higher level start-up is to allow players to either give themselves a template, or will allow them to play a monster race. All types of characters are allowed, even psionics (for those who play in my table-top games, you should realize how much it pains me to allow this). There are no alignment restrictions, and a majority of the game will be played in a single city, and its surrounding area. Please list any books you used for the creation of your character, and feel free to use private messaging for any other questions or secret activities. As far as gear is concerned, be reasonable. I won't put a gold limit, but I will ignore any attempts for your 3rd level character to have a vorpal bastard sword. If you have specific requests, please message me and we can discuss it. No more than 2 pieces of magical gear, and you may have masterwork-whatever. After character creation, add 100 gold onto your character sheet, and that gold will be used for your character's living expenses. There is a limit of 10 players, and I will start the game after I have 4 players.

While I am asking for a finshed character sheet, there will be little to no rolling on your part. If I deem that a roll is needed, I will be the one rolling with your stats. Primarily, though, if you describe something that is within your character's skillset, there is a good chance that the action will succeed (but there are always exceptions, please keep that in mind). What I mean by your character's skillset is this: an elven monk is likely to have a skillset that would allow them to run across rooftops and to jump from rooftop to rooftop, while a gnomish paladin will not have that skillset. A dwarven barbarian is likely to be one of the last ones standing during a barroom brawl, but a halfling bard is not likely to last long in the brawl. Once again though, there are exceptions to any expectation. Your descriptions are very important to the game. Be detailed, be thorough, and be creative. While your book-worm of a wizard may not be able to jump from rooftop to rooftop naturally, he can cast fly to get him where he needs to go, or he can cast jump to give him the capabilities to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Even a featherfall spell and a stiff breeze can aide you in your endeavors.

This is a role-playing focused game. There is a plot, you can participate or not, at your leisure. I will be editing posts for grammar/spelling, but I will not change content. Anything you type that your character says will be left alone. I will assume that is how your character is speaking. So if you type that your character says "Ello, guvner," I will assume that is your character's accent. Feel free to do what you want, just be courteous to others around you. Have fun, and enjoy yourselves!

Thanks,

Shayne124

After the previous post, I have had some confusion as to how things will progress in this play-by-post, so this post is to clarify. At least every other week, on Sunday, I will be posting a new "scene." From the time I post the scene, until the next "scene" is posted, you may make any number of posts in that scene's thread, and I shall endeaver to answer your posts, or explain what has happened in response to your actions, so that your story can unfold around you. I will be logging onto the forum at least twice a day, so your posts should be responded to in a timely manner. Notice I said should; if your requested action requires input from another player, or requires me to pull your character sheet up for dice rolling, then I will take more time to answer your post. This shouldn't happen too often though, so if you have a story, or just a chapter in your story, that you want to complete before the next scene, then it is usually easily done.

I know this seems a little confusing, so let me try to clarify: I have already posted the Intro Scene for "The Darkened Sky." You have two weeks of game time to go through, and you want to have your character find the local church of Yondalla. You would post that desire, as well as how your character might obtain the information of where the church of Yondalla is. I shall respond in kind, acting as the world around you would act, and describing whether or not you have obtained the information you sought. Assuming you found someone who was able to give you directions to the church, you would then make another post saying whether or not you follow said directions, and what your character may do on the way to the church.

That is the basic outline of how posts should be submitted, and obviously I would like more detail, as that gives me more to work off, and we can have a true story going in no time.

Have fun!

Shayne124

I've had some interest in the topic, so I shall elaborate upon the most vile of deeds.

Player Killing. In most games, Player Killing is grounds for level loss all the way to removal of the player from the game. But not in my play-by-post. In a play-by-post setting, you do not have combat in the traditional sense. Players will send private messages or emails to me with their intent to Player Kill, and then I will complete the rolling aspect of the "combat." Each player will then be sent a private message of what has happened from their point of view, and then they will respond to me in a private message. When someone either backs off, or dies, then I will then post a "mini-scene" which will describe the actions that have occured from the point of view of a spectator. If your character dies, then please realize that is just how the game goes, and you are more than welcome to create another character, or quit if that is your desire. The Player Killer will not be penalized by anything I directly cause, but if they are being dumb about the way they kill another player (or NPC for that matter) I will have the game world take care of them for me.

I will not tolerate meta-gaming. Meta-gaming is making it to where your character has knowledge of something that they couldn't possibly know. Just because you, the player, knows that Bobby killed your last character, that doesn't mean your character would have any reason to even know what Bobby's character looks like. Don't make me remove you from my game just because you got upset that someone killed your character. Don't let this prevent you from joining the game, but realize there might be a killer among you.

Thanks!

Shayne124