The game runs fortnightly, with gaps at Christmas and Easter. There are two deadlines per turn, one for announcements and challenges (usually Wednesday at midnight) and one for orders (usually the following Monday at 1:00 pm). The turn is usually run on Monday evening, and the results sent out the next day. (These times are EST time, or EDT in summer.)
Note that the order deadline is not rigid: the actual deadlines is 'when the GMs start running the turn', so if you are a little late do not worry. There may be occasional delays in turns or deadlines due to GM commitments.
The game generates a lot of e-mail and hence we ask you to keep to the following subject fields where possible when sending mail to GMs:
where XXX is your character's initials.
For information on what the various sorts of orders are, please see the various sections below. Please don't mix various sorts in the same message as this causes us extra work. In particular, the main orders are not kept for long after the turn.
Press, announcements, and challenges should be sent to the mailing list at <>. Please use ONLY this list: there are two other lists which are used for sending out the digests and for GM sendouts (the turnsheet and other important mail: e.g. major corrections) - sending to these lists annoys those players who need to keep their number of messages down, and also the GM, and offenders may be docked SPs.
To subscribe and unsubscribe:
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Visit http://www.realmsofsilver.com/register
We regard the press as essential to the role-playing aspects of the game, and hence award bonus SPs for any that we consider good. You are also encouraged to include 'role-playing information' in your orders and we may give extra SPs for this as well. Feel free to send copies of mail messages between players to the GM (particularly those written in character). If you wish to submit anonymous press, then please do so via the GM.
The GM will send messages to the mailing list from time to time with comments based on the press, SP awards etc. A couple of days before the orders deadline we'll usually send out a list of players whose orders we have received, so you can make sure we've got yours.
Please note that, with the exception of official announcements and challenges, the press you have submitted is ignored when entering orders. In particular, if you have put a press message to someone saying 'I will admit you to my regiment', it won't count unless it also appears in your orders. (The GM does not have time to search the 300k or so of press each time for such comments.) Things such as 'hold a party with the conditions given in my press' are allowed, however.
En Garde! is a fairly complicated game and mistakes can arise, especially when transcribing the orders into the computer. The GMs are not infallible, but we undertake to correct any mistakes we make (or give appropriate recompense if for whatever reason they can't be corrected). Please let us know as soon as possible if you think we've made a mistake, or don't understand something that's happened, or have any other query concerning the game. Please remind us if you don't get an answer within a couple of days since we do from time to time mislay or forget to answer queries.
We have a mentor system, to answer basic queries about how the game works and give advice, particularly to those starting out. Your mentor is determined by the first letter of your character id, to spread the work out evenly. However, if you don't wish your mentor to know your question (e.g. if they are a rival), feel free to ask one of the others or, if necessary, the GM. The mentors are:
More technical questions should go direct to the GM. Mentors may forward your question if they can't answer it anyway. If you think the GMs have made a mistake or there may be a bug in the program (there are some...) then please contact them directly.
Suggestions as to modifications to the house rules, etc, are always welcome (although our time for modifications to the adjudication program is limited, we'll keep them on file for the next time we look at that section of the program). Please send them to the GM rather than the list, to prevent lengthy discussions on things which are either impossible to implement or the GMs think would be a very bad idea. We believe in consulting with the players on rule-changes, and will from time to time solicit opinions on certain areas.
The GMs welcome feedback on these house rules: in particular please let them know of anything which is unclear or confusing.
As this is a fast turnaround game, we appreciate that you may not have time to get orders in every week, and are hence tolerant of NMRs. If we have 'NMRorders' from you then we will use those, otherwise we will float you (you sit in Paris doing nothing and don't go down an SL).
NMR orders may be fairly vague if you wish: the GMs will interpret them as best they can. For example:
would be accepted.
If you are going to miss one or more turns for any reason then we will do something similar. We will in general throw people out of the game if they do not submit orders in a reasonably long period of time (their characters will become NPCs). If you are going to be away for a long while, please warn us so this doesn't happen to you.
These are orders which will be put through every week (where applicable), things like 'Admit everyone to the regiment', 'If at the front bravery to 11 and poltroon 9 and below to 9' etc. Please keep them as short as possible (<10 lines) since they are printed out every time.
Certain things must be announced in advance to allow other players to use influence on them if they wish. They are:
Other things may be influenced (see notes on specific actions): you'll only use the influence if the action is attempted (e.g. use level 8 influence against XdX joining the DG).
If you announce something, you must order it also (unless you cancel the announcement before the announcements deadline): this will be done automatically.
You may not announce more 'asking an NPC to do something' actions than you have pieces of influence. (This is to prevent you hiding your true intentions by asking vast numbers of NPCs to do things.)
PCs should be referred to by their initials (in the form seen in 'The Players'). Mistresses should be referred to by their Christian name. NPCs can either be referred to by their name or initials (if known) or by their appointment or regimental position.