This page serves as the central hub of information for Roleplaying Activity in the Brotherhood. It contains the policies, links to resources, and is home to the shared systems and rulesets used in the Brotherhood.
- The Exarch Staff can be reached at: exarch-staff@googlegroups.com
Shadow Academy Exams
The Shadow Academy is a great place to get started learning more about the Brotherhood's RP activities. The exams are not required, but are a great resource for getting started with either running or joining your first RP.
Activities 104: Roleplaying
- Course Notes and Exam- This course will show you how to quickly and easily join a roleplaying (RP) activity, set up an RP activity, as well as what to do when participating in a session, and how to run one yourself if interested!
Exarch Resources
You can find a folder of all the Exarch Resources on Google Drive at the link below:
Adventure Kits
The following "kits" were made to help you run your first RP with some visual aides.
Players Tokens & NPCs
Tokens are popular to use when using a map for your roleplaying activity. Use the site below to drag and drop an image, adjust it, and save it to use in any of your games and maps!
Map Making
Creating an RP
It's highly recommended that you take the Activities 104: Roleplaying exam to better familiarize yourself with the technical steps needed for starting up your session, but it is not required. Any member is able to host or create an RP, but if you have any questions, please reach out to a member of the Exarch staff or email us at: exarch-staff@googlegroups.com.
Here is a quick list of commands and what they can do for RP activity:
| Command
|
Function
|
| /rp create
|
Create an RP session. Can be initiated from any channel.
|
| /rp edit
|
Edit the RP session parameters.
|
| /rp joins
|
Enable or disable the join button on the advertisement message.
|
| /rp advertise
|
Will let you pick a channel to advertise your RP
|
| /rp snapshot create
|
Will let you select from your available character sheet loadouts and attach it to the session.
|
| /rp snapshot list
|
Will show you a list of attached snapshots
|
Dice Bot
If you choose to utilize dice for your roleplaying session, you can do so by adding Dice Maiden to the RP via the "Add Dice Bot" button.
Some popular ones that come up a lot:
| Command
|
Function
|
| /roll help
|
Displays basic usage instructions.
|
| /roll help alias
|
Displays alias instructions.
|
| /roll 1dX+Y
|
Rolls one dice, where X is the number of sided dice you want to roll. +Y adds a modifier value
|
| /roll 1dX+Y ! Description of action
|
Any text following the "!" will post with the role.
|
| /roll 2dX d1
|
Advantage roll where X is the dice sides value. Rolls two dice and keeps the highest.
|
| /roll 2dX kl1
|
Disadvantage roll where X the dice sides value. Roll two dice and keep the lowest.
|
Types of Roleplaying Activities
When running and setting up the RP Typefield, for your RP these are the recommended "game types" or archetypes that can be used to help organize the types of Roleplaying activity you are running.
SOCIAL
- Suggested size: 3+ players
- Suggested run time: 1-4 weeks
- Optional: Voice Session (2-4 hours)
Social RPs can be set up in a cantina, an event space, or any venue, really. They are usually treated as casual sessions, and are a good way to get as many members involved as they tend to be more free-form and less structured. They’re also great for focusing on interpersonal character drama and not getting bogged down in mechanics, turn orders, or awareness of Star Wars/Brotherhood lore. While dice rolls are not required, they can be used to help play games that make use of “drink points”, or casual attribute checks such as arm-wrestling, darts, billiards, etc.
ADVENTURE
- Suggested size: 3-6 players
- Suggested run time: 1-3 weeks
- Optional: Voice Session (2-4 Hours)
Adventures function more like a conventional TableTop/DnD session. There will usually be a venue, an objective, and a more hands-on structure set by the DM and an overarching plot/story. While dice rolls are not required, they are what most TableTop players are accustomed to and tend to help keep members engaged and with more indication of what they can/can’t do.
CHARACTER
- Suggested size: 2-3 players
- Suggested run time: N/A
Character focused RPs can be anything that focuses on character development and interactions with other characters in the Brotherhood. These can range from an overdue conversation between two characters meeting at a given location, to a slice of life outing, to sparring or training matches, and even for duels. The idea with Character RPs is that there is no impetus for scheduling or a DM, and the onus is placed on a small group of members to self-manage and enjoy writing together in RP format.
OTHER
- Covers anything that falls outside the previous three archetypes.
Finalizing
Once an RP is complete, the DM (Leader) can close out the session. This will automatically generate a URL with an HTML transcript of the RP, and submit the word count to the Exarch Staff for review and processing.
Roleplaying Policy
The following section contains policies created to help maintain the operation and integrity of Roleplaying Activities so that members can have fun and be safe while running and participating in these activities.
DM Etiquette
As seen in the Activities 104: Roleplaying Exam:
Being a part of a roleplaying group can be a very intimate thing. The characters that have been created are held dear to a player's heart. So putting them out into the world for potentially bad things to happen to them is a kind of trust-fall in an RP activity. As a member of the group, players are encouraged to be respectful of each other and their characters when telling a story together using each of your respective characters.
When waiting for other players to post, be kind! Everyone in the Brotherhood is here for entertainment and enjoyment, but real life does happen and can throw off your plans to post. It’s okay to @mention another player to remind them or follow up, but you never know what might have come up for them. Likewise, if you know you’re going to be unable to post for a period of time (a few hours, a day, etc.) you should tell your DM and fellow players so that they know.
If you ever feel like a DM is being unfair or you feel like they’re creating a negative experience, please reach out to a member of the Exarch Staff and they can take a look into the situation for you.
Co-DM/GM Policy
By default, Golden Envoy Marks are awarded to the member that creates an RP activity as the DM of the session. This member is designated as the “Leader” role for the administrative abilities of dbb0t for the RP thread (as they are the only one that can Add Dice Bot, and finalize the session). A second member can act as a "Co-DM" if necessary for your Roleplaying activity. A Co-DM is not required but may be helpful especially with larger or more ambitious activities.
Some good examples include:
- A busy work schedule that prevents you from answering players for a long stretch of time during the day.
- Help with keeping track of larger groups through maps, resources, or lore dumps.
- Help reverse-shadow a new DM.
- Time zone coverage.
When selecting a Co-DM, an email must be sent to the Exarch Staff (exarch-staff@googlegroups.com) at the beginning of the session. This creates a paper trail and ensures that when processing the RP on the backend, we attribute credit to the Co-DM.
As part of the review process the Exarch staff already does, Exarch Staff will check the RP thread to make sure that the co-DM contributed in a meaningful way, and manually append the additional dossier when submitting the activity. In general, the Exarch Staff will trust the DMs, and only take action if there appears to be blatant abuse of the system.
Processing Roleplaying Activity
Roleplaying activity is awarded based on the cumulative word count from your posts in the RP session. 500 words are equal to 1 Cluster of Ice (CI). As a result, RP activities must utilize the Brotherhood character sheets system in some way, and stay relevant to the Brotherhood’s lore within the Star Wars universe.
Additionally:
- 100 words minimum are required by a DM or a Player to qualify for Golden/Envoy Marks.
- DMs must allow at least one week for any joined players to post before closing. If a week elapses with no posts, it is then at the DM's discretion.
For more on the Cluster of Ice, see: Cluster of Ice: Text Roleplaying
Exarch Staff Oversight
The Exarch and their staff review every RP before it’s submitted, and coordinate with the Voice Staff to process RPs for both Clusters of Ice and Golden/Envoy Marks.
During this process, the Exarch and their staff reserve the right to make case-by-case decisions on if member(s) are engaging in activity that goes against the spirit of RP Activity.
As part of this oversight, the Exarch Team reserves the right to close out RPs that have not seen any activity for over 30 days, but not before talking to the respective activity organizer.
Rulesets and Systems
DM/GM's have the option of deciding what system they will use when running a session. The following list is a collection of suggested guides for running different kind of RP activities.