RULES, PART THREE: PLAYING ONLINE

The rules are pretty simple in terms of putting this all on-line. Basically, it’s a "round robin" story in which we all have a part in telling what happens. I’m your Narrator, and I will post every Sunday. I may post on Thursday as well, and/or depending on if Narration is needed. As players, you can respond as you wish. Sometimes, the story will dictate a response that is required, such as if a character is talking to you or trying to hit you (or both!)

As one of the main characters, however, it’s up to You Guys to really provide the meat of this role-playing experience. Use your characters’ quirks to become a colorful addition to this menagerie-- especially if yours happens to disagree with another player’s character (think if there were players behind Kurt’s version of Simon and Vision!) How much we get out of this depends on how much Everyone puts into it!

NARRATOR’S POST:
This will usually be the intro to a scene: Detailing what your characters see and hear, and what non-player characters are doing. The Subject line will usually detail the scene, and may have either "INTRO" or "CON’T"


Example:

(In Subject line) "EVENGERS: The Marvel Bullpen-- INTRO

It’s just another typical day in the busy production office of the Marvel Bullpen. Steve Rogers calmly sits by, politely nodding at all the rushing people passing by where he sits, even if they don’t acknowledge him back. It’s a wonder that anything gets done here-- it seems like no one sits at their desk if they are all running back and forth. To the supply cabinet, to the fax machine, to the photocopier, and back! Steve just quietly drums his fingers on his portfolio, waiting for the editor to finish his important tasks before calling Steve in for an interview.

The shapely young woman sitting next to Steve blissfully ignores the hustle and bustle. She had come in after Steve and was directed to sit down with him. She tries to primp her hair back into place, and puts a little makeup on.

After what seems like an enternity, the editor’s assistant comes out, announcing that "he will see you know," and point to the young woman! She gets up and shakes the assistant’s hand, her porfolio in the other hand …


PLAYER’S POST:
The player playing CAP in the situation above has an opportunity to respond before the next Narrator Post. The Player can choose not too post (and if the player doesn’t get around to it, I’ll just keep going IF APPROPRIATE as a Narrator to keep the story flowing.) The Player can respond by relplying to the above message (and even , preferabley)
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please put yhour character’s name in the Subject line when you reply.


Example:

(In Subject line) "EVENGERS: The Marvel Bullpen-- CAP

(SNIP INTRO)
"Steve Rogers calmly sits by, politely nodding at all the rushing people passing by where he sits, even if they don’t acknowledge him back."

CAP:
"Excuse me!" "Uh, Excuse me, miss?" "Sir?" Steve sighs. It’s a good thing he’s a freelancer!

As the young woman comes in, Steve nods her way. ("Ah, the competition!") "Hi there," he tries to introduce himself, "I’m Ste---"

But she doesn’t want to respond beyond the polite "I can’t be bothered right now" smile.

(Snipped INTRO)
"After what seems like an enternity, the editor’s assistant comes out, announcing that "he will see you know," and point to the young woman! She gets up and shakes the assistant’s hand, her porfolio in the other hand…"

CAP:
Steve stands up quickly, "Hey! Wait, excuse me! Uh, I mean… I do believe I was here first. My name is Rogers, STEVE Rogers?" Steve draws himself upward, putting his hands on his hips, trying to look intimidating…

(Should I play a card? I have a 5W, for a Willpower total of 15, with Trump?)


Notice that you can write third person-- this will us all distinguish between In-Character action and Out Of Character quesitons. (Or use "IC:" or "OOC:" to preface.)

The format of how you reply/how you snip isn’t important, but please make it clear what you are responding to.

You can interject anything into the Narrator’s or other character’s post, such as Steve’s reactions to the Bullpen and the Lady, not just to the obivous confrontation. It’s a non-linear story but it helps round out what everyone’s doing. Of course, you can’t put words into another’s mouth, so the Player couldn’t write his own conversation between the Lady and Steve, but could highlight her hurriedness.

As players, you have to write part of the story, too! You can’t just say "Steve wants to intimidate or persuade the Assistant, here’s a 5 of Willpower." Instead, write out what Steve does and then have the card back it up. The player could have detailed Steve’s threat a bit more, or even have made him more politely persuavie-- I was just getting tired of typing so didn’t go into much detail.

If you role-play the situation well enough (and this includes combat and using powers) I put that into consideration as a Narrator, and may adjust your characters’ success accordingly..

TAKING TURNS
Your character should take one ACTION at a time. As CAP did, above, by playing a card for an Intimidation action. CAP shouldn’t try to take another action until this one is resolved. THIS DOESN’T mean that he can’t POST again! By all means, continue posting Steve’s thoughts and dialogue if it’s appropriate. For example, if this LADY is antoher player, the two of them can role-play a little argument without help of the Narrator. Steve shouldn’t try to do anyting that requires card-play, however, until we see how his card-play worked out with the editor’s assistant. (I’m not forbidding extra cardplay, but it helps keep things organized.)

In battle, I’d be a bit more restrictive. Basically, one physical action (perhaps requiring cardplay) and a limited number of verbal ones (total perhaps no more than 3 posts until the next Narrator post. )


Example:

Narrator posts: Zemo’s Satelite-- INTRO
(The Avengers break in under Zemo’s brain control)

Jolt posts: Zemo’s Satelite-- JOLT
(she reacts verbally, no card-play)

Atlas posts: Zemo’s Satelite-- ATLAS
(he tries to push Thor back out of the satelite- card play)

Moonstone posts: Zemo’s Satelite-- MOONSTONE
(she blasts at Cap and shouts battle orders-card play)

Jolt posts: Zemo’s Sateltie-- JOLT
(Jolt tries to take out Techo, starts argument with Moonstone-card play)

Moonstone posts: Zemo’s Satelite-- MOONSTONE
(continues argument with Jolt - no card play)

Narrator posts: Zemo’s Satelite, CON’T
(villain’s counterattack and battle results)


As you can see above, Combat flows like this: Narrator’s intro, Player’s posts/reactions, Narrator’s villains’ counteractions/battle results/next "rounds" intro, and so on.