How to Play Lincoln Academy...

How to Play
Lincoln Academy has a number of roleplaying areas. Under normal circumstances, players will have access to only one as Lincoln Academy is a co-operative system, requiring the players to work together to achieve the goals. There may be occasions, however, where the team is split up from each other (a PC goes to physically meet a contact, a PC is captured by the enemy etc.). In these circumstances, a separate roleplaying area will be opened for any character who is separated.

When the relevant forum is available to you, you should check to see if there is a topic already open that relates to the location you require. If there is, you should post your character 's arrival, and can then interact with that topic and other individuals therein. For the want of better terminology, a topic can be described as a "scene" for the purposes of powers and other effects that last for one scene. If there is no topic/scene for your chosen location, you shoud start one by posting your characetr's arrival, and then interacting with the scene.

Please can you try to date stamp a topic if you start it? This forum uses an archive procedure that relies on game dates. Example: If your character is visiting Director Strife's Office, and a thread hasn't been started, please try to label it something like Director Strife's Office - 22nd July 2012.

Metagaming
Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game, which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. In other words, sometimes using out-of-game information, or resources, to affect one's in-game decisions. Sometimes it happens deliberately, sometimes it happens by accident (an ambiguous post for example).

Deliberate Metagaming in Lincoln Academy will not be tolerated and may result in a ban.

Time
The passage of time is a little fluid in Lincoln Academy. An assignment that the characters are given could take a matter of in game hours, or a matter of in game days. The Storyteller will make every effort to keep the passage of time as up to date as possible, though you should be aware that there may be circumstances that cause this to be overlooked.

Preferred Posting Format
In order to maintain some sembelance of order on the forum, it would be appreacited if you could adopt the following posting format:

Descriptive Actions
When posting things like entering, or leaving a location, or even some gesture that your character is performing, please enclose things in [square brackets] or in plain text. Examples:

[Strife looks up from his desk, at the characters, a grave look on his face. It is obvious that he's about to say something that he would rather not.]

or,

Strife looks up from his desk, at the characters, a grave look on his face. It is obvious that he's about to say something that he would rather not.

Spoken Text
When posting something that your character is speaking, it would be helpful if you could use a font colour, or apply "quotation marks" to the text. Examples:

"Of course, I shall make an lab available for your exclusive use."

or,

"Of course, I shall make an lab available for your exclusive use."

Languages
If your character can speak different languages, it's fine to post them up. However, as Storyteller, I don't speak/understand many langauges. In certain instances, I can generally get a meaning of something, but it would really help the flow of scenes if you could adopt the following procedure:

If you wish to post in a specific language, feel free to do so, but please put a translation in spoiler tags so that I can quickly get the meaning rather than have to look for online translation software.

The other option is to post like this: <Name of Language>"Spoken text."</Name of Language>. I realise that this may be a little clunky, but it will definitely improve the flow of any scenes involving linguistics, and other players will react to the post in the appropriate manner (confusion if their character doesn't understand the language, or response in kind if they do).

Private Conversations
If your character's are having a private conversation, please feel free to use Private Messages. If you use Private Messages, please copy in the Storyteller at the very end of the conversation with all the relevant things that the character's discussed. If the Storyteller is not made aware of such communication, it will be deemed to have not transpired.

Whispering
If your character is whispering something to another character, please send the whispered message in a Private Message. Please also remember to copy in the Storyteller. If anyone has a relevant heightened sense, please PM the Storyteller to see if your character detected the whisper. If they did, the Storyteller will let you know what was said.

Out of Character Comments
When posting an Out of Character comment, please add some narration into the post and try to surround it in (round brackets) and use the phrase OOC: beforehand. Also, please consider if it is necessary to post an OOC comment before doing so. Asking for a ruling in a scene is a good example. Example:

Blade wants to use his sword to slice open his opponents belly.
(OOC: Is it ok to perform that action ST?)

or,

Blade wants to use his sword to slice open his opponents belly.
(OOC: ST, what roll do I need to do?)

Please try to keep Out of Character Comments to an absolute minimum as they can be disruptive to the flow of the game if overused.

Arrival/Departure
When you join, or leave, a scene, please ensure that you post your arrival, including the method of securing your transportation (iff applicable).

Example: Blade enters Director Strife's Office and takes a seat, waiting for the Director to brief him on an assignment.

Or,

Phoenix arrives, parking his motorcycle on the steps of Floral Mansion. He dismounts and walks in.

Rolling Dice
Players are responsible for rolling their own dice. This can be done by using the reply feature on the forum, or by typing in the relevant dice code, which are detailed below:

Code:

[roll="d10"]number of dice[/roll]

Code:

[roll="Location"==1]1[/roll]

Please remember to input some form of text to say what the roll is for. Examples:

Physical Actions
Climbing [Dexterity + Athletics]
Driving [Dexterity/Wits + Drive]
Intrusion [Dexterity/Perception + Security]
Jumping [Strength or Strength + Athletics for a running jump]
Lifting/Breaking [Strength]
Opening/Closing [Strength]
Pursuit [Dexterity + Athletics/Drive]
Shadowing [Dexterity + Stealth/Drive]
Sneaking [Dexterity + Stealth]
Swimming [Stamina + Athletics]
Throwing [Dexterity + Athletics]

Mental Actions
Hacking [Intelligence/Wits + Computer]
Investigation [Perception + Investigation]
Repair [Dexterity/Perception + Crafts]
Research [Intelligence + Academics/Occult/Science]
Tracking [Perception + Survival]

Social Actions
Carousing [Charisma + Empathy]
Credibility [Manipulation/Perception + Subterfuge]
Fast-Talk [Manipulation + Subterfuge]
Interrogation [Manipulation + Empathy/Intimidation]
Violent interrogation [Strength/Manipulation + Intimidation]
Intimidation [Strength/Manipulation + Intimidation]
Oration [Charisma + Leadership]
Performance [Charisma + Performance]
Seduction [variable]

Combat
Close Combat [Use Dexterity + Brawl (unarmed) or Dexterity + Melee (armed)]
Ranged Combat [Use Dexterity + Firearms (guns) or Dexterity + Athletics (thrown weapons)]

Resolution
Damage [Strength/Strength + Modifier/Weapon Damage]
Damage Resistence [Stamina + Super Endurance (if activated and applicable)]

Botches
The rulebook defines a botch as a dice roll that yields no successes, and at least a single 1. That is not the interpretation for Lincoln Academy. A botch occurs when all of your successes are cancelled out by 1's and there are still 1's remaining.

Example: Blade attempts to slice up his opponent, and rolls 10, 5, 3, 4, 7, 1, 1, 1, 1. Since his difficulty is 6, he has 2 successes. These are cancelled by two of the 1's, leaving two more 1's. This means his result is a botch.

10's are always removed from a dice roll first. Any that remain are counted as two successes if a relevant speciality applies.

Example: Blade attempts to slice up his opponent, and rolls 10, 10, 10, 6, 4, 7, 1, 1, 10. Again, his difficulty is 6, so the two 1's cancel out two of the 10's, leaving two 10's, a 7, and a 6. Blade has a relevant speciality in Melee, which means he achieved 6 successes on the roll (Two 10's make 4 successes, add the 7 and the 6).

Earning and Spending Experience
Earning
Experience is awarded for each assignment that is completed at a rate determined by the Storyteller. Please note, you can only receive Experience if your character has regularly participated in the assignment. If you don't log on and post, you don't earn. Out of Character posts do not count towards Experience Point awards. On occasion, some Experience Points may be awarded for outstanding roleplaying, or reaching a plot milestone.

Once the testing phase of the game is concluded, you can also earn Experience Points for referrals. Referring a friend to the site and getting them to state who referred them will earn you an additional 1 Experience Point.

The Storyteller will update an Experience, Willpower and X-Factor thread, in your character's personal forum, at the beginning of each assignment. The previous alotment will be visible, as will the updated. This allows you to bring to the attention of a Storyteller any inconsistencies which may exist.

Spending
When you wish to spend Experience Points, you can do so by making a post in your character's personal forum which the Storyteller will look at. We want to keep things at a believeable level, despite the fact we're all playing Supernormal characters, so if you have any justification for the increase, you should make the Storyteller aware of it. If your expenditure is deemed inappropriate, you will be informed by reply, including a reason why the Storyteller deems it inappropriate.

As a general example:
Wrath's player wants Wrath to learn Occult 2, but he has not been in a position to use his Occult skill. This expenditure would be vetoed by the Storyteller as there is no relevant In Game justification for the increase. Wrath's player also wants Wrath to learn Brawl 3. The character has been involved in several fist fights at various points throughout the game, so the Storyteller rules that this is an acceptable expenditure and would update the character sheet accordingly.

When spending Experience Points, the following table should be addressed, as well as the specific rules for Necromancy and Thaumaturgy Paths and Rituals, detailed later:



Storyteller Characters
The Storyteller Characters will all be handled by the Storyteller Account. If you wish to communicate with a Storyteller Character, please use the Storyteller Discussion Thread in your Character Forum.

Retainers
Please do not roleplay Retainers without prior ST permission. Retainers are NPC’s with a link to your character, not additional characters for you to play.

Time Between Posts
Obviously, there are people who can post with greater frequency than others. This is unavoidable in any PBP environment. As a general rule of thumb, I am available to attend to scenes between 4pm and 11pm (GMT), depending on my own personal commitments (family life, school holidays, etc). During this time period, which I am aware is mainly US office hours, I will monitor the "Members connected during last 2 hours" display at the bottom of the board. This is the cut-off for action declaration. If your Forum Username becomes removed from this list, or you log on but fail to address a scene in which you are involved, you may find that the scene will move, or has moved, on without you.

I understand that some people will consider this to be unfair to them due to circumstances beyond their control, but some form of control measure needs to be put in place to prevent a scene stalling, especially for a considerable length of time. I concede that this is going to be hard to enforce, but I honestly believe that most people will be able to check the forum during this time period and update their scene accordingly so the enforcement may not become necessary.

Also, whenever you attempt something that is considered a "Resisted Action" (i.e. Any action that requires the rolling of dice), wait for the Storyteller to update the scene with the results of your dice roll, and provide you with the appropriate information. Please roll your own dice, stating what you are attempting to do, and the dice pool you are using to do it. Any posts involving the rolling of dice which are not clear and concise will be deleted. Most importantly, if you are in any doubt as to what dice to roll for your action, just ask. You can do so by making an OOC comment in the scene, or by PM to the Storyteller.