March 26, 1999

     Well, turn 1 was as lumpy as I thought it was going to be.  Hopefully, turn 2 will have these lumps ironed out, and everything can run smoothly.  Please note that I have merged the turn form & the domain sheet into a single document (SEE BELOW).  (Some of you had actually already done this.) Only about half of you remembered to include the domain sheets, so now that they are a single document, there should be no more confusion.

Here are some things I noticed:

• Court Expenditures:  Be sure to pay something for your court.  A 2 or 3 Gb court might be enough to keep things running, but here's a hint: The MORE you spend on a court, the MORE you chances for success will be.  I see a high valued court not only as a fancy, luxurious setting, but also think it is well run and organized, with plentiful servants, advisors, ambassador's and agents with which to maintain your realm.  The lower your court expenditure, the harder it will be for you to get the things you want done... done.

• Income Formulas.  Be sure to include this, and double check the math.  Include the RPs you will accumulate as well.

• Offensive/Defensive Rp Pools:  You must assign RPs to these separately when you wish to do so.  The RPs are 'banked', meaning they are not for use elsewhere in your turn sequence.   These will be used when you try a contest action or defend against one, or if you oppose a rival holding's growth or creation.  You can 'withdraw' RPS from these pools whenever you wish, but be sure to notice that these are kept separately from your RPs which are used in the turn!

I.E. During turn 3, Bob the King has a total of 35 RPs accumulated for use.  He decides to place 5 RPs in both his offensive & Defensive Pools.  Thus, he now has only 25 RPs to use in the turn.  In turn 4, he decides to withdraw all RPs from his pools, (reducing them both to zero), and so has an extra 10 RPs over & above his normal RP generation for the turn.  (If he gets contested though, he is in trouble!)

• Contest, Agitate, & War Responses:  This is what you want me to do if any of things happen to you over the course of the turn.  If someone agitates, how many RPs am I allowed to use (from your Pools) to oppose the action?  What will you do if Neighbor Joe invades you?  What if George the Guilder tries to create a law holding?  Not many players filled these in, or included any specifics, so if they would have been invaded, or contested, the bad guy very likely would have won!

• Please put your domain name on the turn form & in the subject heading of your email!!

• Please delete the portions of the turn form that you do not use.  (I.E. If you do not have any war moves or free actions, please delete these from the turn form.)  Both Tommy & myself print the turns out, so this simple favour will save us both lots of paper & litres of ink.

• Include your domain password!

• LT actions can not be affected with extra regency points.  LTs must make the roll unmodified!

• You cannot claim provincial support unless the province holder has specified you having it!   (The players which you support & oppose MUST be included on the turn form!)   If your realm is not listed, then you don't get prov. support.

• If you have multiple LTs, you may specify what each is up to over the course of the turn.   You still only get a single LT action, but your remaining LTs might be included in the game via 'insignificant role playing actions'.  (I.E.  Henry the LT. remains in the mines and continues to lead the search for the elusive gold vein.  LT Roger joins the navy and leads the patrols around the shoreline. etc.  Notice that none of these examples are 'traditional domain actions.  (Adventure actions are considered a domain action!)

• Carbon Copy your e-mail to the Brecht Dm list!

• Do not ask Tommy or myself 'If such & such action ' would work.   Simply try it and find out.

• Finally, turns will no longer be accepted after the due date.   I will always give you at least a week's notice between turns, so please, do not leave it for the last minute!   Do your diplomacy ahead of time, not on the final day, as we cannot possibly answer all the NPC responses in a few hours.  If you require more time, please let us know in advance so we can work something out.  We are reasonable people, but keep in mind that there are only two of us, and nearly 25 of you...

February 24, 1999

       OK, most players have sent in their characters.  I still have a few to do, but these should be done by the end of the week.  The deadline for any characters is Feb 26, and after this time, any realms still missing a character will be open for play once more.  (There are a few people waiting in the wings already, so if you want to play, be sure to have your character into me by this date!)  The newspaper will (with any luck) be done and up this Sunday as well.
     Tommy, Neromez and I have begun dividing the realms between us, and once we have a finalized list, I'll post it here so you can see who your DM will be.   (This should be done by the weekend as well.)
     Ummm... what else.... the Vosgaard region will likely *NOT* be ready in time for turn one, but since I am 'modifying' that region as a result of the Eastern Chronicles game, I do not expect this to be much of a problem. 
It is my intention to have Vosgaard rolling for turn 2.
     Also, life is biting me in the butt, so I will be pretty much unavailable until early next week.  If you have any questions or concerns, you can e-mail me, but it will take a day or two before I can reply most likely.  You can also contact the other two Dms for help as needed.
     I think that is about it.  Some reminders though:

• Be sure to CC game related mail to the Brecht DM list below.
• Be sure to include your domain sheet when you submit your turn 1 orders.
• Be sure to join the Brechtür & Cerilian Mail List if you have not done so already.
• Have fun, play nice, and let's leave the whining and arguing out of this game please!

February 14, 1999

     We have two new Dms for the Brechtur region!  Cincardo has agreed to move to Anuire, and will be helping out there.  The Brechts now have 3 Dms.
     Tommy Ashton, Neromez, and myself.  Both Tommy and Neromez will be invaluable members of this game, and I look forward to working with them both.   All three of us are in different time zones/countries as well, so hopefully there will be at least one of us available most of the day.  We have yet to sort out realm assignments and responsibilities, but the added help is much appreciated, and can only benefit the game as a whole.  Welcome to the game guys!
       Everyone whose name is listed below should be ready to play!  Of note, is the domain page.  I have organized myself into a disorganized state I fear.  If your domain page isn't updated with your character info, please email me!  I have lost track of whose is done, and whose is not I'm sorry to say.  It's easier for you to mail me and give me flack about it than it is for me to go through nearly 20 web pages to find the ones I need.  :)
     Also, I have begun work on the mail tags.  If you have an alternate e-mail address, please send it to me, otherwise I will use the address which you used to apply for the game.
     There are still many players who have signed up, but seem to be missing in action.  I *really* want to get this character stuff behind me, so once more, PLEASE expedite.  (Or else, email me and let me know that you need more time.)
     Finally, I will urge everyone to join the Brechtur list & the Cerilian list.  I have already sent out a few mails to both these, so if you are not signed up, you have missed some info.  I will post the *really* important stuff here and on the announcement board, but the list is the best way to get it all.

Thanks for listening,
Morg

February 11, 1999

   Well, except for a few characters, the Brechtür region is ready to begin play!!!   As for updates, I plan to begin putting up mail tags later this week.   Also, the Brecht pregame rumours portion should be done by Saturday, but I want to wait until I have received news/events from the other regions before I debut the newspaper.
     A few people have contacted me about the character deadline.    If you can't have your character in by the 12th, then please have it in as soon as possible.  Once the game starts, I want to concentrate on the turns and newspaper, not characters.
     As for the other regions, I am uncertain of their status or when they will be ready to begin.  If you wish to know what is happening in Anuire or Khinasi, please E-Mail those Dms.  I can longer answer mails about what other people are doing. Sorry, but I have my own regions & players to worry about.
     Vosgaard will be opening by mid - late next week I expect, and I will be running this region as well until Fredrik is able to return from his real life duties.  Just as the other regions gave their original players first pick of the realms, so too shall Vosgaard.  I have already mailed the old EC Vosgaard players, and they will get first choice of the realms before the rest become open to public auction. 
     In other news, a few people have offered to join on as Dms/assistants, and once I have verification from them, they will be introduced.  We are always looking for more help, so if you or someone you know is interested in joining the Dm team, please email the Dm list at:  shadowsdms@egroups.com.
     Also, I have changed the Shadows Of Brechtür list to allow players to post messages. Please use the key words "{Shadows of Brechtür}" in the subject line of your mails so that those who like to auto  sort their  mail may do so.   If I get complaints about useless mail, etc., then I will change it back to moderator only.  Please do not use this list as an in character forum.  Not everyone enjoys a stuffed mailbox I am told....
    I have decided to keep track of character posts on the message board, and will be awarding XPs for this.  A few other PBeMs I am in do this, and I think it works quite nicely.  Basically, you get  XPs for quality, meaningful posts.   Stuff like "Ya, me too", or other one liners won't get you anything, but a thoughtful, relevant, and otherwise 'useful' post will earn you some experience. This goes for newspaper submissions as well.  I haven't decided on any numbers yet, and will probably leave it as a pure judgement call.
     Finally, if your name is on the player list, please take a few minutes to send me a mail if you ever plan to drop the game.  I don't need explanations or apologies,  but I would appreciate it if players could let me know that they are leaving, so that I may open their realm for others to enjoy.  My thanks for this courtesy in advance.

Thanks for listening,
Morg

February 6, 1999

    I have noticed that people are completing the domain info that is included on the character form which is posted on the main site.  This is fine, but be aware that I am using the domain form (from this site) over this character form.   Thus, you do not need to fill out the holdings etc on the character sheet, but DO need to do this on the Brecht domain form.  (Clear as mud?)
     To date, I have only 9 characters.  If your name is not in the list below, please submit your character ASAP.  I want to get all the blood abilities, history, rules, changes, yadda yadda out of the way well before the game begins.  If you're one of the original players from the old BBS game and want to use the same character, that's fine, but I still need you to resubmit your PC, as  my hard drive is a complete shambles.  Also, for these players, please adhere to the new forms and formats.  (This might mean you have to retype the character with the new sheets!)  Note also that I will be reassigning your blood abilities & reviewing any magic items you may have gained from the BBS.
    Also, please submit the character sheet and the new domain turn form as separate RTF file attachments.  The character sheet will be filed for reference, while the domain sheet will be submitted/returned with your turn submission/results.  Do not forget to include your Income Formula results!!!!
     Of the sheets I have received, several have listed Trade Routes which borrow another regent's guild holding at the  receiving end.  If the receiving guild is an NPC, then I will work out an agreement with you.  If however, the receiving guild is a player, then you must work out an arrangement with that player.   Due to this, some trade routes may need to be changed prior to game start.  If you need to discuss this with a player, please send a message to me, and I will forward your mail to the player in question.
     I am also beginning to write the pre game rumours/news.  If you have anything you would like added to this publication, please submit it to me prior to February 12, 1999.  Please submit this as an attached RTF file, or plain text if you can't figure out how to write an RTF document. 
     I have received several mails asking who will DM their areas.   To date, Cincardo and I have not divided the players, and likely won't until just prior to game start.  I am handling the HTML and programing stuff, so send anything you might need to me.

Thanks for listening,
Morg

January 9, 1999

     Greetings Players!  I hope everyone is keeping an eye on the game pages, as updates are being done on a daily basis.  Things are progressing well, and I expect play to begin within a few weeks.  (Still a few house cleaning duties left to perform).
     All 'important' information will be posted on the main announcement board, and I will use this space to babble and gurgle.
     Several of you have already started your characters and joined the Brechtür mail list, & I thank you for your promptness in these matters.  For the rest, I will no longer be maintaining my address book list, so you either have to join the mail list below, or check the announcement boards to get the game information.
     Also of note, is the Main Shadows Mail List which has just been added.  This list differs from the Brechtür list in that the Cerilian List is usable by All Dms, and it is recommended that All players join that one as well.  Only the group moderators are able to post to the main Cerilia list, in an effort to minimize needless mail to your mailboxes.
     Lastly, I will remind everyone to keep an eye on the rules & structure of the game, as some of this may change prior to game start.  Some of the sites are still being created, and the organizational work of the game is ongoing. 

Thanks for listening,
Morg