This one-shot game will be a "closed island" mystery with strong elements of hard-boiled fiction, film noir, and "How to Host a Murder" games. There will be a strong political element in the campaign, and you should expect to interact closely with each other and the NPCs. The game will emphasize roleplaying and character interaction. Characters will begin as guests of a prominent aristocrat in Saldon, staying in his house as his guests for the duration of the game. More information about this will be provided later, but assume during character development that whether or not you normally have your own house on Saldon, you have temporarily moved into the aristocrat's mansion.
You can read about this game's setting in the Saldon writeup on this site.
Reading the information on Saldon provided in this area or elsewhere on the Samru site isn't required before you play the game. You do not need to read the suggested resources listed at the bottom of this page, either. I may or may not refer to events or people mentioned in other parts of the Saldon writeups or the World of Samru site.
If this game goes well and enough players are interested in continuing, the game may be expanded to a continuing full-length email campaign set on Saldon.
Caveat Lector : This site is archival; this is not an active PBEM!
LEX LEGIS:Who Gets to Play?
This is an invitation-only PBEM. If you haven't been invited, but you want to play, you may ask, but you need to be able to show me that you're a creative, intelligent roleplayer. I will currently accept only 20 players. That's a lot, but I'm assuming some will drop out or be irregular participants. I will not delay turns for tardy players. If you don't respond to a Turn before it's time for me to write the next one, I will assume you are standing back and doing nothing or following the others.
I reserve the right to ask players to leave if I feel they're not positively contributing to the game or if they are extremely negligent about keeping up with turns. You may drop out temporarily or permanently whenever you want, but I reserve the right to keep your character active as an NPC or to assign it to a new player interested in joining the game. If you're going out of town, are down with the flu, or are about to have a baby, email me to warn me that you'll be offline for a while so I won't drop you from the game. If your computer crashes, please ask a friend to email me to tell me why you're offline.
Please remember that PBEMs move slowly, and expect to commit yourself to the game for possibly up to a full year!
How Often Will We Post?
I ask players to be prepared to participate at least once a week. I will do my best to write up at least one official Turn per week, but I hope to see multiple interactions—player-to-player and player-to-DM—in between. This means that you may need to brace for a flood of email messages over the course of the campaign.
How Will We Post?
See De Oratore for posting information.
How Do I Create a Character?
This is an AD&D game. The campaign year is DR 902, one year after the Theophany in 901. Your character should be created according to Samru house rules. If you have any questions about the house rules, please write to me. Any edition of AD&D will be fine; just specify what rules you're using and don't cross editions (note that I have separate rules for Player's Options and Combat and Tactics). If you want to use any nonstandard classes or rules, you must provide me with the writeup. I'll make my decision to accept or not accept after reading through the writeup, and if I accept, the new rules will be posted here for other players' reference. I'm pretty mellow, so go ahead and try.You have 4 character class levels total (thus you can be 4th level, 2/2, 3/1, etc.) and 1 fate point (see the Samru house rules for details on fate points). If you wish to write up your character according to Player's Option rules, give yourself 5 character points per level (for a total of 15 character points—remember, you don't get any at first level). You should be familiar with Samru's races and with the Saldon city files. Preferred races for this game are human, half-elven, and elven. Please only play another race if you have an extremely good reason—it may inhibit your ablity to interact with others. In general, the more you try to tailor your character to fit in a highly interactive dark political campaign, the better. Please feel free to ask me for any details about Saldon that will help you create a character. The other pages of this PBEM site will be updated periodically before the start date of New Year 1999, so please check them on a regular basis. Information I provide in reply to player questions may end up on this site if it seems likely to be relevant to others.You have 5,000 gp to spend on supplies and potions or to keep for spending money. Assume that you have the normal clothing and possessions that your character should own according to his or her background, and use this money for unusual items (weapons, armor, potions, herbs, charcoal, etc.) Remember that you cannot own a horse or any other large animal on Saldon! You may choose one magic item. No artifacts and relics, Rings of Wishes, or the like, please—I reserve the right to forbid an item that I believe is too powerful for this mystery. Your possessions are unlikely to be very important to the game, although in some cases they may matter.If you need some help sketching out a character, answer the questions on my Character Questionnaire and use them to help you brainstorm.Please try to avoid creating a character who will disrupt the game or be likely to offend other characters—this is a mystery, everybody will be likely to have a piece of the puzzle, and you'll need to work together to succeed.
Note: I will assign all characters a number of Dark Secrets before gametime. These Dark Secrets may alter or elaborate the history you've provided me, so please be aware that your history may change slightly before the game begins. Do not plan on joining this game with a squeaky-clean character! Yes, even if you're a paladin, you can expect to have things in your past that you're ashamed of—or at least not proud of—and that you'd prefer not to be revealed during the course of the game. Some characters' Dark Secrets may hold keys to the mystery, so the nosier you are, the better ... as long as you can keep your own dirty laundry hidden while you're rummaging through everybody else's.
DE GUERRE:
I will arbitrate all combat. Plan to describe your actions in text, providing a few "if/then" statements but not assuming that everything you do will succeed. Expect that sometimes what you state you do will be altered because of unknowns or the actions of others.
You have two options for rolling dice—let me do it or do it yourself. To roll your own dice for a saving throw or for combat, go to The Secure Dice Roller. Type in my email address (and make sure you spell it right!), in the form to have your roll securely emailed to me. Make sure you've indicated your own name and for heaven's sake, make sure I know why you're rolling dice! If you choose to let me roll the dice, just tell me OOC in your post.
I will keep track of your hit points, non-negotiable.
If you want to roleplay a scuffle among yourselves "after hours" (say, an arm-wrestling match after dinner or a midnight pillow fight), then feel free to do so. You can send each other rolls via the Secure Dice Roller or just stage the combat any other way you like. I only care about combat that will affect NPCs and your hit points.
This is primarily a play-by-email game. However, background information, clues, hints, character/NPC sketches and descriptions, maps, and so forth will all be provided on this site. This site will be updated regularly, so keep checking around.
Your Turns and other messages will be sent to saldon@eGroups.com. You must be subscribed to the group before you can send it any messages.
Each Turn will be recorded at http://www.eGroups.com/list/saldon/, so you can go back and refer to what has been said or done in the past. You do not need to be subscribed to the group to read the game's progression, so anyone interested in lurking should just check that page rather than ask to be subscribed on the eGroup.
(1) Public email should go to EVERY member of the game, plus the DM. (As long as you send it to saldon@eGroups.com, you should be OK).
TURNS: I will number each official Turn, e.g. "TURN 1: Meeting Amescua." When you respond to a Turn, please keep the number but feel free to indicate in the header who you are, e.g., "TURN 1: Ian Introduces Himself" or "TURN 1: Meeting Amescua (Ian)."
A Turn may include (1) general information and scene-setting, (2) NPC-to-PC dialog, (3) PC-to-PC dialog, (4) investigation results, (5) combat results. Your replies to each Turn should include (1) your comments to NPCs and other PCs, (2) what/where/when/how you intend to investigate, (3) what/where/when/how you intend to engage in combat, and (4) other important information players should know, e.g., "as the full moon comes out you'll notice that Ian's hair starts to grow and he's getting decidedly long in the tooth."
DIALOG: Please type your character name in brackets, along with any other relevant information. Quotation marks are not required. For example: [Ian, nervously shifting back and forth as he addresses Amescua]: About the scratch marks on your parquet door....
OUT-OF-CHARACTER: Please type in OOC: and then your message. OOC should be used for any comment, question, or description that cannot be handled in dialog. For example: OOC: I'll be gone this weekend, folks or OOC: Did Ian see the shadow, too? You can also speak out of character at Speaking Out of Turn, a forum for you to chat with each other out of character (perhaps to discuss clues or schedules) or chat with each other in character but in ways that are not appropriate for posting to the PBEM Group List. Such in-character discussions might be flirtations, accusations, rummaging through each others' dirty laundry (see my notes a little further down), telling each other your life stories, and so forth. Fun roleplaying but liable to really bog down one's emailbox, so better put someplace else. Thanks to player Jaime for hosting the Speaking bulletin board for me!
MISCELLANEOUS CHIT-CHAT: Please keep random chat off of the eGroups list—just email the person privately for the conversation.
(2) Private in-character conversations should go to whoever you're talking to privately, plus the DM. (You can cc: the DM a transcript if the conversation is carried out over ICQ or in a chat room) If others could overhear your conversation, go ahead and post it to the list, but please use a header that will let people know they can ignore the private messages if they want, e.g., PRIVATE (Ian to Lady Grey): More Talk.
(3) You can use my Mining Co. chat room or any other chat room to chat with each other, or in a group, if you want. Just put the transcripts or a summary of events on the bulletin board or email them to me. If you want to set up a chat date with me, email me—I expect I won't be available, but you can always ask.
(4) If you have a character picture, a map, or any other artwork you'd like to have put in this PBEM archive, please send it to me either as an electronic photo or in snailmail so I can scan it in for you. Character descriptions and artwork will be put on Dramatis Personae 1. If you need a snailmail address, email me.
DISPUTATIO:
Disagreements are part of roleplaying. Please try to work out differences between yourselves/your characters, and ask the DM to interfere only as a last resort. Disagreements with the DM are another matter—I'll be happy to listen to your arguments in private email and will do what I can to alleviate your concerns. However, I reserve the right to be a dictator. Saldon is not a democracy.
| TRACTATUS ARCANA | CARTOGRAPHIA |
| DRAMATIS PERSONAE 1 | DRAMATIS PERSONAE 2 |
| ARCHIVES | THE RULES |