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Dungeons & Dragons Play by Post Newcomers

Important NOTE:

Update November 2018: Please note that we no longer service Dungeons & Dragons / Pathfinder games here as our focus will be on our in house custom systems like ROK II. Support for that and our future in-house custom Role-playing Games will be had in their respective Boards.

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JPatt's Complete F.A.Q. Of Wondrous Enlightenment, or
"Okay, I signed up, how do I play?"

Newcomers, please read through this FAQ to familiarize yourself with how things work, to avoid potential problems. I know it looks long but posting in the wrong places and questions that are already covered can wear on the moderators, as they have a ton of forums to police and questions to answer, and you don't want visits from the forum bots - I.D. Is exclusive because of their high standards, which includes removing posters who appear consistently incompatible with the community.

Thank you and good luck!

0. PROPER SPEECH. Remember to type in real, proper English, not leetspeak, not weblish, not chat or text shorthand. "You" Is spelled "Y-O-U", not "U" And "*laugh*" Is not a word.

1. SLOW. DOWN. As extremely busy Administrator JB says,

Try not to be one of these people he's referring to.

2. READ. Don't understand something? Have a question about something? The absolute, number one, very first thing you NEED to do, and this is NOT optional, is to look around and find FAQ, Help and How-To threads and topics that might be relevant to your issue, and read up on them, to see if they might have the information you're looking for - DO NOT just start making posts and threads asking for help on how to do something without reading first - this gets mod attention of the undesirable, annoyed kind. Seriously, this is THE "Make or break" Point of how things are done here, so even if you don't do it on other sites, invest time HERE in developing your self-help FAQ reading skills, because asking common questions about things already clearly explained somewhere is not smiled on.

3. ASK CONCISE QUESTIONS. If you can't find any threads or posts close to what it is you're trying to find out, THEN post in the closest related thread, or at worst, your own Intro thread, and ask a question - be CLEAR and explain precisely what is is you want to know or are having trouble with. "How do I do it?" Is not a valid question, and people are not going to spend time trying to drag answers out of you and guess at what you're asking.

4. LEARN THE "RULES." Just like in real life, people that don't know a game's rules don't know how to play, and usually get confused and frustrated and won't have any fun, and cause the other players to not have any fun either.

5. INFORMATION DOESN'T SPOIL. It would be a good idea to, at the very *least*, read the first few posts (I recommend first page) of a thread/topic, and the last few (Or last page), so you'll have an idea of what the original intent of the thread was/is, and how it has changed and what the latest relevant info is. On longer threads, it wouldn't hurt to also just pop in and at least skim every few pages, just in case you come across something by chance that helps provide additional info or brings up something you'd like to ask about.

6. SUGGESTIONS TO NEW PLAYERS. These are tips and information that players should take advantage of.

* Favorite button - See that little heart icon on every Thread? That Bookmarks Threads you want to remember. Then click on the little heart at the top of every page next to "Hello (Your username)". Members can also view your favorites.

* Bookmark via your browser (Bottom Bar gives that option).

* Within your profile I believe there is a text box you can use to keep private notes.

7. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE Advance Dungeons & Dragons THREADS/PAGES.

Advance Dungeons & Dragons "Stats" Page - Keep this handy.
The MOST important Advance Dungeons & Dragons Member Wars "Hub" Page and reference. BOOKMARK THIS - it is simple and has links to everything and is extremely useful and informative.
Contains links to: Character Generator | Play By Post Board | Basics | Races | Classes | Skills | Feats | Combat | Equipment | Adventuring | Spells | Psionics | Monsters | Divine
Source 5

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Rules
The GM's introduction to people interested in signing up to play in the Advance Dungeons & Dragons forum/play-by-post roleplaying game.
Important for people to read to know what's needed to participate, what to expect and how the GM will run the game.
Source 1

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Questions
Where the GM or other players can ask about and help each other with game-related questions.
If you HAVE to ask a question about the game itself, ask here.
Source 4

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post How It Works
The exact steps or sequence of posting in the game itself and who posts what and where.
Source 1

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Characters - Normally the first thread you post in.
See Step 8 below for further information on using the Character Generator.
Post your newly created character here, and character-related issues.
Source 2

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Equipment - Refer to this when buying gear.
The items available for purchase in the current game.
May differ from core list here: Source 8
Source 7

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Character Development (Optional)
For fleshing out your character's background, history, quirks and other information that isn't directly game-specific or related.
More in-depth than what belongs in the Play by Post Party thread for in-game inter-character discussions.
Source 9

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Game - Check this for game updates frequently.
Adventure/scnario updated here BY Dungeon Master ONLY. This is the actual story or plot itself and choices presented.
Make sure to keep updated with what is posted here so that you can know what to Discuss in the Party Thread.
Source 8

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Party Discussion - Primary roleplay/discussion thread.
In-character roleplaying and discussion between party members - the GM does not read this for each person's "Turn".
Party Leader notes each character's game-relevant actions and summarizes them all into one post in the Party Leader thread.
Source 5

Advance Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post Party Leader - Only the PL posts here.
Only the party's Leader, who summarizes everyone's actions into one post, posts here, for the GM to read.
Source 5

8. CREATING A CHARACTER. Third Edition (3.5) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Character Generator, used only when making a new character. Use this to create your character, save it to your PC and submit it for the GM in the Characters thread. This is NOT a cut-and-dried affair, you will need to manually copy and paste and arrange some things.
Source 5

All Characters Must Start At Level ONE

8a. After the last step of character creation (Languages, Notes, Spells, etc.), click the Display Character button.
8b. Starting left of the "C" In "Character", before the first form field, click and drag across and down, highlighting all character info.
8c. Copy and Paste this info into the Character thread - it WILL be missing some numbers and look disorderly, but skills, etc. Will be ok.
8d. Rearrange the aspects (Name, Class, Religion, Hit Points, etc) as you prefer, in a single column (As shown in example 9 below)
8e. You will need to copy and paste or look at the Displayed Character and type the relevant info where it belongs in the Characters Thread.
8f. Streamline and finish arranging and filling in the info in the appropriate places on your character in the Characters thread.
8g. Optional but strongly recommended, copy and save your newly finished character info to a text file on your PC for possible later use.

8h-1. Optional: Click Save Character and select, copy and paste the info and save to a text file on your PC.
8h-2. Do NOT post the info from the Save page to the Characters thread - this is used ONLY if you ever need to use Load Character.
8h-3. If needed, Load Character will load your Save Character data into an online sheet. You cannot load the Display Character info this way.
8h-4. Submit/post your Reply of your finished character in the Characters thread, and wait for the GM to approve it so you can start.
8h-5. In the How It Works

9. EXAMPLE CHARACTER. Finished character selected, copied, pasted, rearranged and fillied in info from Display Character page.

Character: Joe
Player: Ted
Classes: Fighter
Level: 1
Race: Human
Alignment: Lawful Good
Religion: None
Experience: 0
Hit Points: 9
Base Attack Bonus: +1
Strength: 15 Fortitude: 2+-3 =-1
Dexterity: 12 Reflex: 0+ 1=1
Constitution: 4 Will: 0+ -1=-1
Intelligence: 15 Initiative: 1 +0=1
Wisdom: 8 Melee: 1+ 2+0 = 3
Charisma: 14 Ranged: 1 +1 +0 = 2

Money: pp -0 gp -51 sp -0
Armor Class: 1+ 10 + 0=11 (You figure this fully manually for armor etc)

Skills:
Appraise 1 + 2 = 3
Climb 1 + 2 = 3
Decipher script 1 + 2 = 3
Handle animal 1 + 2 = 3
Intimidate 1 + 2 = 3
Jump 2 + 2 = 4
Knowledge arcana 1 + 2 = 3
Knowledge architecture 1 + 2 = 3
Knowledge dungeoneering 1 + 2 = 3
Knowledge local 1 + 2 = 3
Knowledge religion 1 + 2 = 3
Perform 1 + 2 = 3
Sleight of hand 1 + 1 = 2
Survival 1 + -1 = 0
Tumble 3 + 1 = 4
Use magic device 1 + 2 = 3
Use rope 1 + 1 = 2

Equipment:
Gauntlet (1)
Mace, heavy 1d8 (1)
Sling 1d4 (1)
Glaive 1d10 (1)
Greatsword 2d6 (1)
Longspear 1d8 (1)
Kama, halfling 1d4 (1)

Feats/Specials:
Acrobatic
Armor proficiency light
Armor proficiency medium
Combat casting
Martial weapon proficiency
Shield proficiency
Simple weapon proficiency
Fast movement, illiteracy, rage

Languages:
Common
Goblin
Orc.

Newcomers Post Play Dragons and Dungeons

Other Role-playing Games

If you joined to participate in another type of Role-playing Game or genre then please look at ROK II.