Newbies

[Shosuro Zhelazo]

Per Evil Bob's request:
The Newbie Topic

raise both hands in the air if you are a newbie!

Roop-roop!

[Shinjo Shu]

I'm new in the sense I neved did pbp.

[Shosuro Zhelazo]

That is, in fact, the sense I mean.
Now, raise your hands in the air!

[Shinjo Shu]

Pass

[Akodo Heisuke]

Raising your hands betrays your position, giving your enemy valuable intel on your position.

Anyways, I am also a newbie, and quite frankly have absolutely no idea (besides what I been searching) regarding PBP. Maybe a Knowledge Transfer would be in order.

[Evil Bob]

If you want to ask questions about PbP play I'd be happy to answer them.
Some frequently asked stuff or things that can get confusing:
The day has changed yet I still have open threads/scenes from previous days.  Is this okay?  Can I start new threads in the next day?
Yes, with one exception.  You can go ahead and continue old scenes as long as they don't interfere with new scenes that you create or join.  This is perfectly acceptable.  The exception would be scenes that could possibly disrupt all your future scenes.  The most notable would be combat.  If you die or lose an arm or something of that nature it's going to effect everything down the line.  Work to get your combats resolved as quickly as you can so everyone can get back to posting.

Does everything have to be out in the open?
No.  You can run private scenes via PM or IM without the GM being there.  I just ask that you save these scenes in case things come up later because of them.

Metagaming?
This is where your character acts with knowledge he doesn't know.  Your character DOES NOT know information from other scenes unless he was there himself.  Sure you can read those threads OOC (out of character), but just because you have read them doesn't mean your character knows what happened.  He will have to be told IC (In character).  The one exception is proclamations and orders.  If the governor of the city makes a proclamation, even if you are not there, assume word gets to you.  Same with orders from higher up, but only if those orders are blanket orders that effect the entire squad/company/legion.  If you are not part of that squad or company assume you didn't get the order.  Otherwise, enjoy reading other people's threads.  They can get quite interesting.

Any more questions feel free to ask.

[Akodo Heisuke]

What if a scene occurring during Day A is apparently harmless, but a revelation later (during the time of Day B) makes the aforementioned scene fairly important, with the chance of affecting the future scenes that occur in Day B?

Retcon?

[Evil Bob]

That has happened, but it is a fairly rare occurrence.  Maybe once a game if that.  Each time the circumstances surrounding it are different and have to be handled in unique ways.  The most common way is to put all future scenes on hold until the first scene is ended, then start up each scene since then with the added information.  Sometimes entire threads just drop out of reality but we try to avoid that.

[Yoritomo Virendra]

Not unless it would have legitimately come up during the Day A thread.

[Akodo Heisuke]

Not unless it would have legitimately come up during the Day A thread.

I think my english wasn't stellar there, I meant events during the scene of Day A, not in any scene of Day B, yet these events affect Day B.

[Yoritomo Virendra]

In that case, yes - pause the Day B thread until A is finished. Also, if that happens, make sure you get ahold of everyone still in the Day A thread to make it their priority.  

Some other tips:

Be aware of the tense you're writing the posts in, and try to be consistent throughout the thread. I realize it's harder for non-English as a first language speakers, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

If you're responding to a post you have questions about (and this goes for anyone), please PM the poster for clarity. Nothing like starting a blood fued over a bowl of rice because someone wasn't clear in their post and others took it the wrong way.

Be sure to clarify when you're speaking, when you're performing an action, and when you're thinking. The differences between speaking and thinking are sometimes nothing more than italics or a change in color for some people. Same goes if you have some sort of Haunted/Ancestor/kami that actually speaks to you.

No god-modding. You cannot force another's character to do something, so try not to say in your post: "I leave the room and Virendra follows me." Well, what if I don't want to follow you?

[Seppun Shin]

All the players should try to avoid such things, and if we work together it won't be a commonality. In general, I find these to be agreeable steps if you feel a scene from Day X might affect another scene from Day X+n

• Stop posting in the latter scene. Contact with the players involved there either by PM or IM so they know what's going on. It's okay if the former scene is something their character wouldn't know about. Trust them to make the distinction between IC and OOC.
• Try to resolve the former scene as soon as possible. Inform the players involved that it might affect a posterior scene so that you can all work out the way to play it with as few retcons as possible.
• If retcons are unavoidable, contact the GM. If you feel like you're unsure of what to do, contact the GM.
• If your character is about to make an action in the former scene that would put the latter scene in danger of retcon, or just endanger another character, let their player know. Trust them to separate IC from OOC. This is the case of assassination attempts, for example.

Try to resolve any scene where physical harm can come to your character as soon as possible. Sometimes it's impossible to predict, but most of the times it is.

[Kakita Miki]

Also, you sometimes have to agree to an outcome for a discussion, even if you haven't RP'ed it out yet.

I had a couple where I had to agree that a discussion would end a certain way, just to avoid Time Paradoxes.

[Yoritomo Amano]

I rather enjoy time paradoxes, it gives me an excuse to use my sonic screwdriver.

[Seppun Shin]

Do not cross the time lines!