Greetings and Salutations! We would like to take this opportunity to extend a most jubilant welcome to our humble game! Gaslight Legends is now officially open for business (as it were) and we now find ourselves poised and ready to embark on a strange and wondrous journey together. But before we take those few bold steps, we should observe some of the basic formalities, wouldn't you agree?
I speak, of course, of introductions. While it's true that many of us have already had the pleasure of being acquainted, this may not be universally true. And so in order to spare ourselves any awkwardness or embarrassment in a few weeks when you're hoping to establish plot with another character but have no idea who their player is, we humbly request that everyone post a brief introduction! In addition to learning about you our players, we would also welcome the opportunity to learn about the characters that you are bringing into our game. This will help when it comes to co-ordinating plots and linked concepts, not to mention giving everyone ample opportunity to properly exhibit their Steampunk 'badassery.'
In terms of the game itself, we will ask you to remember that players' individual journals are exactly that: journals. As for what the journals contain, that is entirely your prerogative. Some may elect to use the journal simply to store a character's profile and various sundry character development information. Others may choose to treat these journals just like the actual pen-and-paper variety. Although friending the other journals in the game isn't required, we recommend it. Any comments that are made in journals will be considered out of character and cannot be referenced in game, though they may naturally provide inspiration for future scene ideas - which is what it's all about. We do encourage you to reply in one another's journals in character because it is an excellent source of what the layman may term "The Lulz."
As for actual game play and the question of dates, we have happy news to report! Thanks to a most fortuitous coincidence, the days of the week and dates of the year between 2008 and 1889 line up rather well. November 8th, 2008 is a Saturday while November 8th, 1889 was a Friday. So in order to perform a conversion for the purpose of dates, one need only take the current date and move the day of the week back by one. The calender used to determine this may be found here. As far as dates go, we will attempt to operate on a 1:1 ratio, that is: one day of real life translates to one day of IC time. Of course we are also quite lenient when it comes to back- and forward-dating scenes. As long as it is clearly indicated when the scene took place, we don't really worry ourselves with when the log is posted.
And speaking of logs: you should feel free to begin posting them! Or to begin sending correspondence or any doing scenes via comments or any other way to kick things 'into gear' (as it were). When posting to the main community, the subject of the post should indicate what the post is, for example: 'Letter to Dean Winchester' 'Log: Inara and River attempt to cook' 'Thread: Christmas Shopping with Crowley and Anyanka' 'Narrative: Selina's night on the town' and so on. We aren't necessarily sticklers for a particular form when posting a log or thread, we just like for the basics to be covered: who is involved, when does it take place, what is it rated and what is it to begin with. We also ask that body of logs as well as scenes and letters of substance be placed behind cut tags. Something short like a telegraph or sometimes an introduction to a thread-based scene can be left outside of a cut - use your best judgment.
We do ask that you limit yourselves to more or less casual scenes and interactions for the next few days - your moderators are still preparing plot for you but would like you to have a chance to 'get your feet wet' before it begins. Of course if you have any suggestions or plans for plot, please share them with us as we are always hungry for new ideas! Likewise if you have any questions, please direct them to either of us.
And so in closing: we look forward to hearing from each of you and also to seeing your wonderful characters out there in the world we've created. Let us take those first steps and blaze a trail through this bold new gaming vista! Huzzah and good hunting!