The Campaign Procedure

Here is how a Guardians campaign gets started:

1. The prospective GM comes up with an idea for a campaign.  He writes it up as a proposal and sends it to the Campaign Director.

2. The Campaign Director reads over the proposal and decides whether the campaign is appropriate for the Guardians Universe.

• If she approves the campaign proposal, it is is forwarded the proposal to the Continuity Director, who then composes a note telling the prospective GM what he needs to do in order to finalize his campaign (in general, this mostly involves writing up any pertinent DNPCs, vehicles, bases, and packages, plus the campaign logo, but could potentially involve making minor adjustments to the concept of the campaign in order to bring it fully in line with the background universe).

• If she rejects the campaign proposal, she notifies the prospective GM, providing reasons for the rejection and (usually) suggestions for tweaking the proposal to make it more acceptable.

3. The prospective GM creates all requested material (base writeups, DNPCs, logos, etc) and sends it to the Continuity Director.  Once he receives the material, he notifies the Campaign Director that the GM's campaign is ready to call.  The Continuity Director then processes the created material as follows:

• Campaign pages are coded, and the campaign logo is added to the Campaign Index page.

• All packages are audited by the Continuity Director, then added to the Packages house rules page.

• All headquarters and vehicles are sent to the Webmaster for coding.

• All DNPCs are sent to the Auditor for auditing and coding.

Once the various pages are coded, they are returned to the Continuity Director, who uploads them to the website.  The Continuity Director also creates the new campaign's mailing list at this point.

4. The Campaign Director contacts the GM and requests a draft submission for the planned call for players.  This draft should include a description of the campaign, a rough estimate of what sort of characters the GM is looking for, how many players the GM intends to accept, whether he wants players to send him backgrounds only, or backgrounds and character sheets, and a close date for submissions.  Once the call draft is finalized, the GM is given a position in the call line and is officially "on hold" until his turn to call comes up.

5. When the GM's turn arrives, he posts the call draft to the Admin List.

Always Write In Third Person: You know... say "he", "she", and "it".  Avoid first person like the plague; never write your narration with "I did this" and "I did that".  You are trying to tell a story, not write a diary.

Use Proper Spelling And Grammar:  Regardless of what language you are writing in, choppy paragraphs and badly constructed sentences make your writing hard for other people to read.  They are also prone to never read your posts if they continually cannot decipher what you read.

Avoid Bad Posts:  There are several different types of posts to be wary of.  Each has its own problems:

• Non-Game-Related Messages:  If you feel you've got to say something to the people on the list, say it quick and get to the point and make sure everyone knows its an out of character post.  Use OOC to indicate such things.  If you get the compulsion to respond to one of these OOCs, be VERY careful - it's bad etiquette to respond directly to the list.
• Rambling Messages That Say Nothing: These messages are usually five miles of unremoved quotes followed by three lines of new text.  This is not only impolite, its incredibly annoying.  It borders on spamming... and for the record, spamming on one of the GG mailing lists is something that will get you banned from playing.  Its usually a good idea to quote the message you are replying to in your new response, but only quote applicable text.
• Messages From The Willingly Oblivious: These messages come about when one player totally ignores something posted by someone else, be it another player or the GM.  If you don't like something that's been posted, you are NOT allowed to just ignore it and move on... especially if it came from the GM.  Feel free to voice your objection to the GM, in a private message.
• Super-Hero Syndrome: I know, this is an ironic problem to have in a super-hero campaign, but it's actually a serious issue.  Basically a post of this sort involves your character doing things he simply isn't capable of doing, and not responding correctly to his weaknesses.  The best example would be a character who should be hobbling around in pain after being wounded, but instead is prancing around like he was Errol Flynn in Captain Blood.
• Flames:  Now, when I say flames, I don't just mean two players hurling insults at each other.  That's enough to get you booted, obviously, but its not all I mean.  I also mean the dirty trick known as the In-Character Flame War.  In such a flamefest, two or more players will use their characters to fight each other over problems they are having in real life.  You can tell this is going on when two characters who have no reason to be hostile to each other suddenly start fighting.  Not good.  It screws up the GM's storylines and annoys the hell out of everyone else.
• Assassin Posts:  To put it simply, do not kill, maim, or otherwise destroy another character without the express permission of both the GM and (if it's a player character you're aiming to hurt) the other player.  It really pisses people off when you try to do this, so much so that you are inviting retribution by merely considering it.  If you really want to seriously hurt a character, remember that the only one you don't need permission for is your own.
• Plot Changers: Do not post a message which drastically change the plotline the game follows.  The GM is there for a reason, after all, and it's his game, not yours.  If you have a good idea for a plotline, contact the GM.

When Presenting Dialog, Use The Correct Encapsulating Characters To Help Identify How The Dialog Is Being Heard By Others:  The correct dialog conventions are as follows:

• "Use quotation marks here," the speaker said aloud.
• *Asterisks are used here,* came a voice over the radio.
• <<Double angled brackets are an indication of a foreign language being spoken,>> said a voice in perfectly accented Russian.
• ::Typed text, such as that appearing in a book or in a newspaper, should appear in double colons::, the hero read.
• (Parentheses are used here) the man thought to himself.
• {Squiggly brackets are used here}, came the mysterious telepathic voice in your head.

In His Own Game, The GM's Word Is Law: The Game Masters of the various games are always willing to listen to opposing opinions, but never, ever present your opposing opinion to them on the game's mailing list. And if a GM ever says something along the lines as "my decision stands", let the issue go.  We mean it, let it drop. Continuing to argue after one of us has reached a decision is not a smart thing to do.

Jack And Becky's Words Are Law Everywhere: At least within the context of the Guardians Universe, that is.

Don't Be A Rules Lawyer: We hate this.  The only place its allowed is on the GGQuestions list.

Treat These Games As If They Were Games:  No one is going to come up with a cure for cancer while typing away at these stories... and these stories don't promote world peace.  They're just games.  This actually has three meanings:

• First, it means never forget that your life isn't changed just because your character gets reamed.
• Second, remember that your actions can either contribute to the group enjoyment or take away from it. It's up to you whether or not you have fun.
• Third, if your real life is interfering in your game play, see to your real life first.

Be Heard, But Don't Shout Others Down:  If you're naturally quiet, try to post often enough to at least be recognized as being around. If you're a big talker, shut up once in a while and let someone else get a word in edgewise.

Avoid Time Crunches.  Basically, this means reply to a new move in a timely fashion. Sure, sometimes it's impossible, but at least make the effort.  It also means avoid spiraling timescales.  It is rare that an action CAN and MUST take place at such and such a time and no later.  If you can do something later and thereby avoid wedging in an unnecessary action now, you'll be the GM's friend for life.  The game cannot move forward if everyone is always trying to get the last word in.  Don't do this if you can help it.

Remember That The Phrase "Team Leader" Means That Character Leads The Team.  Sometimes the team leader will make decisions you don't agree with.  Fine, that happens.  But in the meantime, let them be the team leader.  Don't be snotty or rude just because they tell you to do something.  Remember to respond to their orders and commands, whether or not you agree with them.  They are there for a reason, you must obey them as your commanding officers.

Always Remember The Most Important Rule of Posting Etiquette: If You Become A Problem, You Will Be Removed.  Be polite.  It's not that hard.  In the words of Benjamin Franklin, occasionally doubt your own infallibility.  This has nothing to do with what your character does with the other characters- that should be whatever it takes to keep him or her in character. It involves other real people and whether or not they're enjoying the game with you in it.  Be considerate and polite whenever possible.