Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Recruitment Thread Formatting


Adapted from a post by Michael Rai.

I'd like to propose using somewhat of a standard format in subject lines for recruiting for DALOC games on the Google Group. This helps when searching through forum posts for games and puts most of the necessary recruitment information in the subject line.

Subject Line: [R20/G+] LMoP Part 2 Phandalin (Level 1-3): Thursday July 31 2014 @9:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

After discovering the kidnapping of your employer, Dungrin Rockskeer, the group followed the trail to Cragmaw Hideout, took out most the goblins, and formed new friendships with some others. Though they were unable to rescue Rockseeker, they were able to rescue his comrade and protector, Sildar Hearthwinter. And now the party continued their journey to Phandalin, still seeking clues as to Rockseeker's whereabouts, and run into another problem. The town has been taken over by bandits!



Players
1) Michael Fighter/2
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Alternates
1)
2)
3)


So, let's brake it down:
[R20/G+] - This tells us where the game takes place. In this case it will be on Roll20 and use Google Plus for voice chat. Where the game takes place is up to the GM. For example this could also read [R20/Skype], or [Fantasy Grounds/Teamspeak], wherever you want. Stating this helps the players know what, if any, software they need to download or sites to register for before the game.

LMoP Part 2 Phandalin (1-4): Basically the name of the encounter/scenario/chapter you will be playing; in this case it's the second chapter of Lost Mines of Phandelver.

Thursday July 31 2014 @9:00 PM EDT (GMT-4): Pretty self explanatory. This is the day, date, and time of the game.

The italicized description describes the continuity that you, as DM, are trying to follow. In organized play, it's common that players will have experienced different parts of an adventure and this is where you can give guidelines to players to help them decide if this is good jumping on point or not for them.

The trickiest part is the recruitment block. In this example, there is one player that already has a 'seat'. And there are 5 spots open (and 3 spots for alternates, in case one of the seated players doesn't show up). The next player that responds should respond with copying the most recent roster and add their own name (along with class and level of the character they want to play) in an empty spot.

The next email/post, by Ari, should say something like this:

Players
1) Michael Fighter/2
2) Ari Wizard/1
3)
4)
5)
6)
Alternates
1)
2)
3)

The third response, from Susan, would look like this:

Players
1) Michael Fighter/2
2) Ari Wizard/1
3) Susan Rogue/2
4)
5)
6)

Alternates
1)
2)
3)

The next player will do the same until all the spots are filled.

Once the roster is complete, or the DM is satisfied, the DM should post further instructions, such as their email, skype name, or other method for communicating off-thread and within your group.

The DM may also request Character Sheets and Adventure Logs, and ask players to send in the token they would like to use. Otherwise the DM will try and find something suitable.

Then all the players should log in at the specified time, or ideally 10-15 minutes prior and be ready to game.

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