The Dark Frontier FAQ

What do I need to know to play this game?

• I just want to hang around and read the posts as they come out.
  That's fine, lurkers are welcome. You'll have to join our Yahoo Group. Joining is free.

• This looks like fun - can I join in?
  We're usually full up on slots to play, but asking never hurts.

  If there is a slot open, I'm looking for people who understand spelling and grammar - people who write like monkeys with keyboards need not apply. If that hasn't scared you off, you can see the character creation rules here. When you've gotten a concept ready (no stats needed), shoot me an email at hotmail.com under the name k_amaloo.

• I don't know if I have the time to play. How frequently do I have to post?
  PBEMs are fairly slow by necessity, but it's best to post as early and often as possible (see the posting protocols). That said, we average 1-2 posts per player a week at the moment, but can speed up according to interest; characters generally have at least 24 hours to respond to a post before we move on. That said, if you're in the middle of a conversation between several people, whoever speaks first goes first.

• Are there any other rules on playing I should know about?
  Yes. Some are necessary to know, while others are just FYI. Note that this is an adult-oriented game, and players should be 21 or older.

• What sort of character has the best chance of being accepted?
  I look for characters that fill an empty niche in the party, so you might want to look at the Cast before building your concept. That said, a really cool concept will be accepted before a boring but niche-filling one.

  The most important thing to consider is that the character needs to have a reason to be with and STAY with the party. A character that wants to run off on its own isn't such a good choice.

  Other things that will red-flag a concept: being in some way unable to interact constructively with the rest of the characters (PC is a lone wolf, insane, traumatized, overly aggressive), etc. Basically it needs to be a team player.

  It's a good idea to find a way to link your character to the ones already in the game somehow. If you have the time, you might want to skim through the archives to get an idea of where you might insert a link. I realize this is a little hard to do, but it's not a requirement, just a bonus. If your concept is accepted, we can work together to find ways to link the new character to the old ones then, too.

  When all is said and done, though, I'll take a standard character whose player has good writing skills over a showy character whose player writes like the internet vomited them up in a hot second.

  If you need inspiration, please read the the revised class and nation descriptions. You can also examine the portrait forum, or the excellent articles below.

  Why Some Character Concepts Work Better Than Others MARKET-PC (Or, Creating the Best PCs You Can) Building & Playing A More Unique & Memorable Character The Problem with Loner Characters in Roleplaying Games Things to Think about During Character Creation Character Questionnaire

  Character Concept Generator Creating a Skeletal Character An Introductory Survey of Character Creation Methods Character Generation in Roleplaying Games Creating Useful PCs Providing Ammunition for Your Game Master Character Self-Motivation How to Get Under Your Character's Skin How to Get Along with Your Gaming Group

• I have this great character all ready to go! Can I send it to you?
  Do not send whole character sheets. They would only suffer.

  Please take a look at the PC generation page before you do anything, and then just send me your character concept - a few paragraphs or even just a line or two is fine. Three pages of inner ramblings by the character, not so much.

  A physical description of your character, a one-line concept to boil down what it is you want to play, and a more in-depth explanation of your concept and character's history would be great.

  I'm k_amaloo, and you can send the submission to me at hotmail.com. I'll get back to you as soon as possible - but sometimes I'm busy, or I get swamped and forget. If you haven't heard from me in a week, it's not because I've rejected your character; chances are RL has pulled me under. You might want to send me a reminder.

• My character was rejected! Why?
  Here are the top examples of why submissions are rejected:
  • Look, I sent you a great character - what's the problem?
    Often people don't bother to read the character generation page. If they can't be bothered to read a page of text, this game probably isn't for them anyway. One sent me a First Edition ninja, for Christ's sake.

  • i did'nt do any thing worng but my caricter wasint exeptid!!! your just beiing meene!!!1!
    Go back to elementary school and learn to use at least an approximation of English spelling, grammar and punctuation. People who inflict their chimp-like writing skills on others are slope-headed hilljacks, and they make my teeth grind until they explode like popcorn. You know who gets to fix that half-assed writing for the archives? Three guesses.

  • My character has an alignment of (whatever), but you rejected it as being evil!
    The characters in this game are measured against these alignment descriptions, not what's written in the book. If you describe a character as having values listed in a segment of the alignment chart, that is your character's alignment.

  • My character is a tortured soul because s/he was beaten and raped and beaten some more and then his/her parents were killed and s/he was betrayed by the people closest to him/her and s/he escaped but is tormented and hunted by his/her enemies who are really powerful!
    Your character is a wangst monkey. You'd better get it onto a wahmbulance right away.

  • Can I use material from any sourcebook?
    No. Stick to the Pathfinder Core rules. Other official Pathfinder rules I accept on a case-by-case basis.

  • I have a character from another game that I want to play.
    This game is meant to have a very specific regional feel. If your character can be modified to fit in with that, great! If not, please come up with a new one.

  • I want to play an unusual race/class.
    Only the core races and the core classes are available for play in our game.

  • I want to play an unusual race/class/alignment combination.
    No problem. The only restriction is that I accept no evil characters (see 'My character has an alignment of whatever' above). Go crazy with your CN dwarven sorceror or gnome barbarian or halvorc wizard or whatever. Okay, one more restriction: I'd like to see a plausible reason for the character's choice of class and alignment other than "s/he was born that way."

  • I want to play a non-Moonsea character.
    No problem - so long as you have a reason to stay in the Moonsea and stay with the party. If you do choose to play a foreigner, you have to accept that you won't be treated well by the locals - and if you choose to play a cleric of non-Moonsea deities, things will go badly if it's discovered. You can get a better idea of the Moonsea culture on the Nations page.

  If you followed these directions and none of the above apply, chances are that either a) your concept doesn't suit our game, or b) your writing style just doesn't mesh with ours. If your style doesn't match ours... well, these things happen. No offense.

• Where do I find the complete PC sheet?
  Once your character has been approved, you need to fill out the full character sheet. The sheet is in the Files section of our Yahoo group. You can find our group here. If you aren't a member of Yahoo groups, you'll have to sign up (it's free).

  Under Files, zipPCsheet.zip is at the bottom of the page. It's an .rtf (Wordpad) document, and I prefer that it be filled out and returned as one.

  • If you need help with your character's height/weight ratio, you can find it here. All races mature at roughly the same pace, after which some cease to age as quickly as others.
  • If you have particularly high/low abilities, it'd be a good thing to address that in the character's description.
  • Please keep the three fields - Physical, Personality and History - separated with a space.
  • Reputation: A lvl.6 PC gains two points of Reputation. This is a description of what others think of your character. The reputation may give your character both benefits and penalties in some situations.
  • Skills: Here's what your character knows. Don't erase the skills you haven't put ranks in. Enter the ability mod for ALL the skills. Under Misc. mods you put down any modifiers you get from feats, class features, racial bonuses, etc. Temporary mods, such as from a spell, don't belong here. Finally, highlight each non-class skill (the whole line) with the shade of gray. If you're trained in a skill with a strikethrough line, you can remove the line. ACP stands for Armor Check Penalty.

    

  • Once everything is ready to go, send it to me along with a 200x300 jpg of your character, a 120x150 jpg of you, and a short introduction for the Cast page so that we know who we're gaming with.

  Here's where you discover the horrible truth: I handle all the game's rules framework, but you still have to write down the game info for your character! It's too late to escape. I'll wait while you recover.

  What I mean by game info is: current hit points, any ongoing effects (spells, curses, whatever), ammunition, rations, encumbrance/speed and the like.

  READ THE GAME PROTOCOLS BEFORE YOU POST.
  This is important! It will give you an idea of what we focus on, and the way we do things.

  

  
  
  
  Not scared off?

  *eg* Welcome to the Moonsea.
  Just remember: Beware the boots.

Some advice:

• Break your writing where it's likely that anyone else will break in; otherwise you'll just feel cheated when you've written a long speech and no one gets to hear it because someone else broke in near the beginning and derailed it.

• ALWAYS POST YOUR CONTINGENCY PLANS DURING COMBAT. EVERY TIME. It doesn't hurt to speculate a few moves ahead, either (make a tactical plan).

• Don't look at each post as something discrete to be answered. Look at it as an ongoing story, in which abruptly going a bit back in time to comment on something is annoying as well as specifically banned in the protocols.

OH NOES!!!

Well, you've done it. The DM is mad at you, the other players won't talk to you and you're about to be booted from the game. What went wrong?

• I was just bored, so I left the party/started trouble to liven things up.
  If you're bored, either invent something creative to do, talk about with the party, or tell the DM. Don't grief the game (cause conflict in the group or extra work for the DM on a whim). At the very least, tilt your actions.

• I can't help it if my character is causing trouble! This is just how s/he would react!
  This is the worst excuse on the face of the Earth to grief a game. You are in charge of what your character does, not the other way around. The game will not always revolve around your character. When it doesn't, you have the choice of acting in a way that everyone will enjoy or throwing an in-character tantrum by digging in your heels and causing trouble. Every time you think of using this excuse for your character to lay down an ultimatum, make a threat to the party or any similar "I want what I want and I want it now" scenario, decide to react differently and tilt your actions. Be considerate of the rest of the group and don't wreck their fun.

• I'm not trying to be pushy or rude or anything, my character just wouldn't put up with this shit.
  Lovely. Now we have badassing (trying to show off how tough/mean/special your character is) as well as griefing. If your character acts in a way that is detrimental to the party just so you can show off, you'll have to return the boot when you land.

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