New Player Guide

Welcome
(Editor's Note: Most of the contents of this article are written by Lynora before we had a wiki. Any mentions of "me" or "I" refer to her.)

Welcome to the game! Hopefully this guide will help you take your first steps to begin playing. First off, this game doesn't have the standard adventure structure. It's a bit more like the story structure of an anime. There is generally a big bad for each 'season', but most of the game is concerned with side quests and character interactions, which are very much the focus of the game, whether it's friendships, rivalries, romantic interests, mentor/student,siblings, or whatever. Also, with the exception of the occasional 'field trip' the game revolves around a central location, that being, of course, Avalon Academy.

Side note: this game is LGBT friendly. I wouldn't even include this note except that I did have someone take issue with this once, so now I want to just make sure to clearly state this up front.

Player Code of Conduct
It's not really that complicated. 1. Be excellent to each other 2. Be excellent to each other 3. I really mean the first two.

On a more serious note, I do expect that players in this game will treat each other with courtesy at all times. Cooperation and compromise are essential ingredients to any successful human interactions, and a game is no exception. It's better to have fun with friends than be right all by yourself. I know that everyone won't always get along, and everyone has a bad day now and then. I don't expect perfection, but I do expect effort. If a conflict arises, keep it civil. Much like the PvP rules, if it's escalating ask for the discussion to be paused until a GM can weigh in. Inside the game, remember to be courteous to your fellow players as well by keeping in mind things like not assuming other people's actions/reactions for them and keeping in-character conflict from bleeding over into out-of-character interactions.

There will be times when a player breaks the code of conduct in some way. People make mistakes, bad days happen, and I understand. This is why I employ a three strikes rule. If someone is engaging in a problem behavior I will give them a warning (privately via PM because I don't want to make it a spectacle or embarrass anyone in front of their peers). If that same behavior is repeated it will be met with a stronger warning and a reminder that there are limits and they are at them. If the behavior is repeated again I can only conclude that the person is not going to change the problem behavior and I will ask them to leave. I do not enjoy asking anyone to leave the game, but I will not sacrifice the enjoyment of everyone for any one person.

Before Character Creation
It is recommended before you begin to conceptualize your character that you familiarize yourself with some of the settings we are using. Recommended reading includes: Agartha, Avalon Academy, and Dragon Empire, However, because of the nature of the multiverse, space travel, dimension hopping and other related things, your character does not necessarily have to be part of the setting, and can be a complete outsider.

Character Creation
Rule of Cool applies here, in spades. Come up with a concept, then using gestalt rules, recreate it as best you can. We are really flexible and open minded when helping players reach as perfect a build as possible for the PCs

Most 3.x/Pathfinder book is allowed, as are most things on d20pfsrd. {Note: the exceptions here are no Book of 9 swords (its Pathfinder equivalent is still under review and not currently open for use), Mostly no Occult Adventures (conflict with psionic already in use, but can bring in some stuff with special GM approval) and no Mythic. These don't mix well with the system as we're using it.] Of course we can veto. If I don't have access to the book I will ask that you put a write-up of what you can do from that source in your character profile for easy reference.

For stats, just assign as you see fit. Be reasonable. You will be asked to tone it down if your stats are too crazy. Stats below 30 are generally not questioned. You get max hit points.

You may have one or 2 key magic items for your character, that are central to the concept. Customization is allowed with approval from the GM.

Mundane gear is as much as you want, but remember, you are student and thus, are not going to actually be carrying around all that much. If you go on a field trip, gear is provided for you.

Important stats to have on your sheet would be Attack, AC, HP, Saves, CMB/CMD, and, if you want, some key Skills, though these can be more or less assigned on the fly, so skills are optional.

When you have your character ready you'll need to get a greenlight from a GM to make sure everything is in order and then one of us can provide an intro. Depending on what's going on in game at that point you may have to wait a bit. Given the size of the cast it can be difficult to manage intros during say a mass combat. But don't fret. You will get in the game.

Posting & Combat Notes
In general PvP is not allowed except in certain very controlled situations. If both players are agreed to it and they have GM okay, some PvP situations can happen. Duels, competitions, even outright combat in certain pre-approved story situations. My one condition here is that players need to keep it friendly out-of-character. This is a game and I don't want to be putting out fires and playing referee every time I log on. The GM gets to have fun too. Trust me, it's more fun for everyone that way. :) Should you find yourself in a PvP situation there are some things that you can do that will go a long way towards keeping things friendly.

Make sure you know what you're doing in an action before you post it. If you have a question about how something works, please ask over in the discussion thread before you use that in combat. The folks in this game are super helpful and will be more than happy to offer the advice you need to make things work. Multiple edits in a combat situation is considered bad form and frequent ret-conning can be interpreted as cheating even when it's just poor understanding. The best way to avoid this is just to take a little extra time at the outset to make sure of what you want to do.

If you have questions about the other person's abilities or something they've been doing seems wonky to you, please call for a time-out and ask for GM assistance. "Hey, time out, that seems off to me. I'd like to have a GM look that over before we continue just to be sure we're both understanding things correctly." That puts the burden of figuring out what's up on the shoulders of a neutral third party where it belongs and avoids unpleasantness between players. Also, it's perfectly fine to ask for an OOC (or IC for that matter) referee to make sure that everything is handled on a PC/GM level rather than one PC trying to adjudicate another PC. It's about what you're comfortable with, and in my opinion if even one member of the conflict isn't comfortable with it then PvP shouldn't happen.

And most of all, assume the best of your fellow players. I don't believe that anyone in this game is out to cheat or get one over on another player, but if that situation does occur it will become obvious on its own and I will handle it by asking the offending player to leave. This is an extremely uncommon occurrance. Almost every conflict I've had to step in and manage turned out to be a misunderstanding that was easily solved once tempers cooled. Everyone has a bad day once in a while. And we're all here to have fun. If a situation is interfering with your ability to have fun, please ask for an out and I will step in and find a way to get you out of it. But I will only step in if asked.

When in combat please put all current buffs under a spoiler in each post. It makes it so much easier to keep track of who has what and makes the job of whoever is running the bad guys so much easier. This also helps with the large number of potential abilities that PCs may have - no GM can track all that!

Initiative. We don't use it. Whoever posts first, goes first. That said, I expect people to not be jerks about it. Give a reasonable amount of time for everybody involved in the combat to respond before you take a second action. When facing down NPCs or GM-controlled monsters, generally all the PCs and NPCs will be grouped together for ease of posting.

Cinematic combat: because sometimes you just want to have a cool fight without bothering with rounds and dice rolls. This is fine, but needs to be agreed on by all parties ahead of time as it takes an extra level of trust in your fellow players. Can be a good option to save time and trouble when the purpose of a combat is just to advance the story.

Multiple Characters & Guest GMing
Finally, each player begins with one character. However, since this game is a little different from some others, once one gets a feel for the style of the game, they may bring in other PCs, and even guest GM for an arc here or there. I still have to approve PCs before they enter the game, and I ask that you just give me at least a rough outline of what you want to do if you are planning to run a story arc so I can figure out how best to place it to avoid conflict with other already planned story arcs. (Example: "I want to run a mini-arc where an accident in the alchemy lab leads to the school being overrun with tribbles" Possible answers: "Sorry, Player So-and-so is already planning an arc almost just like that", "Sure, but we have something else about to start. I'll let you know when it would be a good time to start your story", or "Sure, go right ahead. You can start whenever you like.")