A Few Ground Rules
Establishing Posting Standards

by Mike Kelley


One of the absolute first things that any GM needs to do when starting up a new online campaign, be it a PBeM or on a message board, is to clearly lay-out some simple guidelines as to a standardized format for the game's posts.

Why, you say? Well, why not! If established early, a few simple rules can really help to minimize confusion and keep the game running smoothly. This article is a quick run-down of a few of the suggested standards that you should definitely consider putting into place in your own campaign, and which you'll find are common to most of the games you'll find online.

The Subject Line

Obviously, a post's subject is the very first thing the rest of the group is going to read of any given message, and because of this, the line is invaluable as a means of quickly conveying important information. There are a number of different ways that the line can be utilized, but here are three of the most widespread methods:

  • Numbered: Individually - (Ex: "#21 - Tirog Takes A Gamble...") By this rule, the first post of an adventure is marked #1 by the GM, the first player to respond to the post writes #2 as their subject, the next post is #3, and so on. As each following post is sent in, the number is marked up consecutively higher.

    While the benefit of this may not seem readily apparent, this method is sometimes used (most often in freeform games) to protect against missing or conflicting posts. For instance, if a player puts up #57, then a minute later, another player sends in a post as #57, it's immediately obvious that the second player didn't catch the first message and that any conflicting actions were unintentional. Also, if a player notices that the posts jump from #113 to #120, they know that they must have missed a few somehow, and can ask the GM for the lost posts.

    I should note, however, that this system can sometimes be a hassle, since each player has to keep track of the numbers on their own. In some groups, especially fast-moving ones, it will often cause more confusion than it was meant to prevent.

  • Numbered: Turn-based - (Ex: "Turn 21 - Tirog's Actions"). This method is quite similar to the one detailed above, however here the number only increases once every turn, instead of each post being individually-numbered. Since only the GM increases the post number, the messages are automatically organized into logical groupings, and the system is much easier to maintain.

    This is of particular advantage for combat-heavy games, since it allows the game to flow easily into combat rounds, and then just as easily transition back into ordinary play once the fighting stops. However, make sure you note to your players that the number system is just for organizational purposes, and that they can actually post as much as they want in any given turn. Otherwise, PCs may get confused into thinking that they can only post once per numbered turn, which can drastically cut down on the game's running dialog, among other things.

  • Descriptive - (Ex: "Tatooine: Cantina: Bar Brawl: Tirog > Roark") This is the most common subject line format that you'll find in PBeM games, and the one that I personally recommend. With this standard in place, players have the ability to scan through dozens of messages, and immediately be able to pick-out the ones that affect their characters. A typical descriptive subject line is in a format similar to the one above, with the name of the planet, followed by the name of PC's current location, the event that's taking place, the name of the PC, and lastly the character(s) that the PC is interacting with.

    The benefits of this one are obvious. Even if the group is split up into more than one scene, or perhaps even on more than one planet, its still easy to keep all the action separate, just by taking a quick look at the subject line.

Of course, with any of these three rules in place, you're going to want to encourage your PCs to put new subjects on every post, even if its a reply to another message. Otherwise, things will get muddled up, and the whole purpose will be defeated.

Point Of View

Generally speaking, though it may not be a PC's natural reaction, it's always a good idea to have all of the game's writing be in the 3rd person. This is the case for many reasons.

First of all, must people find that writing in 3rd person as simply easier. Description is much less awkward than in 1st person POV, and you don't have to worry nearly as much about shifting between past and present tense. Also, if players are playing multiple-characters, the 3rd person POV is a must.

The 3rd person point of view also has the added benefit of making reply messages much more readable.

Over-Quoting

Speaking of reply messages, its a good idea to set a standard for the amount of text that gets quoted from previous messages.

Over-quoting can sometimes be a problem. If that happens, a common rule of thumb that you may want to mention to your group is: Don't quote more than you post. Of course, in online gaming, that sort of thing is sometimes unavoidable, especially if long conversations or complicated actions are taking place. However, you should at least keep quoting to text that is directly relevant to what you're saying or doing in your message. Ordinarily, quoting an entire message is virtually unnecessary. After all, the players are expected to keep up with what's going on in the game -- chances are, they'll know what you're talking about without needing the previous message as a preface.

Useful Symbols

Besides you're commonplace punctuation marks, there are some other symbols that any online gamer really should know and use. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory

  • In-Character/Out-Of-Character - Denoted by "IC" and "OOC". Very, very important. Out-of-character comments or questions should always be marked as such in an online campaign, and if you switch between OOC and IC in the middle of a post, it should be clearly noted.
  • Speaking - Needless to say, character dialog should always be placed in quotation marks, just as if you were reading it in a novel. In some BBS games, spoken words are also set apart from narrative text by a change in the color of the text.
  • Thought Marks - A character's internal thoughts are usually enclosed in arrow brackets ["<" and ">"] to differentiate it from speech. For Jedi characters, thought marks are also used when speaking telepathically.
  • Action Marks - In most games, actions are written in as normal text, as part of the description and narrative. However, some GMs allow small actions (like gestures or facial expressions) to be marked by action marks, either double-colons [e.g. ::frown::] or asterisks [e.g. *shudder*].
  • Running Translation. For conversations that are taking place in languages other than Basic, players usually provide "subtitles" by giving a running translation, in brackets. (For example, "Ena cha doosa, slaymo!" [Eat my dust, slime-ball!])

Other Advice

While I've just spent all this time talking about rules, I should also mention that you shouldn't be too rigid about these things. While standards for post is a good idea, don't get all bent out of shape if someone goofs up from time to time. You need to let your characters simply be creative and have fun, so whatever rules you decide on, make sure that they don't get in the way.

With that same thought in mind, I'll advise that you should think very careful before imposing strict rules as to the length or frequency of posts. Be flexible; it's a game.

Lastly, you should always encourage your players to write in as clear a manner as possible, and as a GM, you should really lead by example. Words are everything in an online campaign. If you're posts are strewn with typos, or any way difficult to read, you're automatically loosing face in the eyes of the group.

Otherwise, never forget the #1 Rule... Have fun!




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