Roleplay Style Guide

## Division on the Day

A given day is divided into 4 parts:

1. *Morning*
2. *Afternoon*
3. *Evening*
4. *Night*

During each time period, a given character can be in one (1) scene. Two scenes can run concurrently at different times, so long as they aren't at the same time in character.

For example, Tansy can be in an important Imperial Armada meeting that's occurring in the "morning" slot, while also having tea with someone in the "afternoon" slot. Things are set up to ensure that less-active players can still engage in scenes with more-active players without the more-active players being penalized by being unable to engage in scenes that occur later in an in-game day because they're still waiting to finish a previous scene.

If a special event is planned, the GM will make sure to announce it in the **#announcements** channel. The Announcement will include what time slots the event will cover,

For example, the Welcome Supper the Empress is hosting will take up the Evening slot, so the announcement post would look something like this:

**Imperial Welcome Supper**
**Date:** June 18, 14337
**Time Slots:** Evening
**Host:** The Empress
**Location:** #imperial-palace
**Description:** The Empress is hosting a formal dinner, with dancing, to welcome the Heirs and their entourages to the Imperial Palace.
**Notes:** Soft Mandatory. I'm not going to kick you from the game if you don't show up, but the Empress will be in a fucking snit if you don't come to her fancy party. It's your first chance to meet a lot of NPCs!

**Note:** Interactions in **#texts-and-group-chats** are not bound by time slots, and only need to be dated, as they're considered to occur in the background of or between major scenes. That being said, if the GM feels like players are abusing the privilege to chat freely in character by speedrunning things like it's a marriage in the Sims through texts, that privilege may be revoked.

## Establishing a Scene

You all don't need to wait around for the GM to start scenes. You're welcome to do it yourselves. To do so, a few things need to happen:

1. Two or more players need to agree to have a scene between their characters OOC.
2. They need to determine a date/time slot, a location, and if a scene is *open* or *closed.*
	1. If a scene is *closed,* it should occur somewhere that the characters have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
3. They need to check if the location they want for it and see if there's a scene already in progress.
4. If there isn't, they're welcome to create a new thread.
5. If there is, some OOC planning will be needed to either ensure the active scene can be joined, or if a different location needs to be selected.
6. When creating a new thread, the title should establish the following information:
	1. Scene name (bonus points if it's a pun/reference)
	2. Date
	3. Time slot
	4. A specific location, if applicable, ex: in the gardens you might be in the hedge maze or the orchard, etc.

Once the first post in a scene is made, you then need to get the message link for that post and post the scene in **#scene-index**.

The format for that post should be:

**Name**
**Open/Closed**
**Link to first message**

Here's two examples of scene posts:

**Imperial Welcome Supper**
**Date:** June 18, 14337
**Time Slots:** Evening
**Location:** The Ballroom
**Open**
**Characters:** Hopefully everyone!
**Description:** The Empress is hosting a formal dinner, with dancing, to welcome the Heirs and their entourages to the Imperial Palace. [Link to thread]

**Making Friends**
**Date:** June 19, 14337
**Time Slot:** Morning
**Location:** Private City Markets
**Closed**
**Characters:** Ivy Hirinia, Darius Novilliers, Violet Risal
**Description:** Making friends can't be that hard, right? The kids are about to find out. [Message Link]

### Open vs. Closed

The only real difference between Open and Closed scenes is if other characters are welcome to drop in. For example, if two characters are having a picnic in the gardens, they don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and other characters might show up. This doesn't mean your characters can't be cranky about being interrupted, but other players (and NPCs!) have the ability to show up.

A closed scene should be somewhere the characters can be reasonably sure they won't be interrupted. The most likely places are living spaces in the imperial palace, where you can make a thread for your character's House's apartments, or even their bedroom. Other characters generally can't join the scene, but the players can still watch. Of course, some exceptions may be made - but there may be in-scene consequences between other characters (disagreements, etc).

### Scene Hopping

Nope. Don't do it. Once your character shows up in or has agreed to be in a scene for a certain time slot, that's where they are. They can leave early, of course, but the time slot is still "spent."

### Merging Scenes

If two scenes are occurring in the same location at the same time, and the players would like to merge their scenes, they just need to close out one of their scenes with a note where they are continuing, a link to the first post after the scenes are "merged", then proceed as normal.

### Changing Locations

Let's say your characters are walking and talking and would like to move from one location to another. You'll need to make posts showing where the action continues.

1. In the new location, make a quick post that says "Continued from"
2. Get the message link for that post.
3. Go back to the old location, and make a post that says "Continued at [Message Link]."
4. Get the message link for that post.
5. In the new location, Edit your "Continued from" post so it now says "Continued from [Message Link 2]".
6. RP as normal.

### Closing Scenes

Once a scene is done, one of the players in it just needs to post "--- End Scene ---" in the chat. This lets other players know the scene is over and lets the GM know there's nothing else to be said.

## Rolls and Rolling

At this point, everyone should have a little experience using FateBot. You do not need to wait for the GM or ask her permission to roll for things when it's between player characters. The player initiating the roll needs to explain what they're rolling for before they roll, and if it's a contested roll, the other player then rolls the contesting roll.

For example, if Morris and Sigmond are having an arm-wrestling match, it would be contested physique rolls:

* Morris would make a comment like "Rolling for the Arm-Wrestling match."
* Then do a physique roll with any applicable stunts or aspects. This makes him the 'attacker', as he's the one initiating the roll.
* Sigmond would then roll the contesting physique, as a 'defender', and the person who gets the higher roll is the victor.
* If there's a tie, then the defender wins. However, the attacker gets a +2 boost on the next roll of the same type against the same person.
* In this example, Sigmond would win a tie, but Morris would have the boost on his next physique roll against Sigmond.

When rolling something, you should put the *total* modifier in the Modifier slot, and the description should say what skill is being rolled. If you are applying an Aspect, Stunt, Extra, or Boost, you should say so in the description as well.

For example, if Morris has the Aspect "Arm-Wrestling Champion of Earth" in his Aspect 2 slot, his physique roll might look like:

/roll modifier:6 description:Physique + A2

If the roll is a reroll, please put that in the description as well.

## Second Characters

If they're so inclined, players may have a second character join the game. In an effort to ensure fairness between all participants, players will need to keep the following rules in mind:

* Players may only have, at most, two characters at a given time.
* Players who choose to have a second character must create a secondary discord account and join the server with it.
	+ Discord has a feature which permits users to switch between accounts, in addition to opening within its standalone app and within its web version.
	+ By having two separate accounts, it helps keep a division between character knowledge and other character-specific information.
* A player cannot have both of their characters in a given scene at the same time.
	+ This is to prohibit exclusionary RP, metagaming, and building advantages for yourself using your other character.
* Second characters cannot come from the same house as the player's original character, and must exist within a different "faction" than the first.
* While both characters may become a Khnemu or a Candidate, only one character can be attached to a combat-focused Khnemu to ensure a variety of plot threads.
* Second characters must interact with other player characters, and should not rely solely on NPC interactions.
* Players **must** maintain consistent activity with both characters.
	+ If one of a player's two characters ends up being left by the wayside, that player will be asked to go back to having one character.

## Metagaming/Cheating

If you suspect another character of metagaming/cheating, please do not try to start something publicly. You (generally) do not know the contents of each other's sheets, and things may have happened in DMs or text messages or a thread you haven't read yet that are relevant.

If you think something fishy is going on, please copy a message link to a relevant roll or comment made by another PC, and DM the GM about the situation, with what you suspect, and what leads you to suspect it. The GM will go through it and determine if something was done incorrectly, and deal with it directly.

The occasional mistake is fine, and we'll gloss over it and move on, but if metagaming/cheating prove to be a problem, the GM will take action up to and including removing someone from the game.

## Reactions

If you see someone do/say something cool/neat/awesome, don't hesitate to react! Positive reinforcement is always good. Please save negative reinforcement for NPCs. When it comes to your fellow players, if you don't have something nice to react with, don't react at all.