Elan Engarde

Game Master (or GM) Carol Kocian: aquazoo(at)patriot.net

The game runs on a three- to four-week cycle. Once per game month, characters' announcements -- engagements, parties, challenges, and open letters -- are published in Le Sport de Paris, the city gazette. Subsequently, players notify me of their characters' intended actions during the month -- duels, attendance at events, seductions, and heroism at the front -- which I will compile and publish as a narrative with supplemental tables in the monthly "resolution." Players are responsible for submitting their monthly orders (and announcements, if they have any) to me, your friendly neighborhood GM, by the appropriate deadline. The two deadlines will be announced at least a week in advance.

This game uses a free list service, All_Of_Paris@yahoogroups.com, for game-wide communication. Players and lurkers may subscribe by sending a message to All_Of_Paris-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The list is monitored, so submitted messages will not be sent until approved. Most_Of_Paris@yahoogroups.com is for rules questions and any out of character discussion.

An example of the format I prefer orders to be submitted in is included with these rules.

The most rewarding aspect of En Garde!, however, is the interaction between characters. This is a role-playing game that involves a great deal of player-to-player communication. Verbal sparring with enemies, conferences among friends, cultivating alliances with your betters -- this is the joy of the game. Send messages between players at will. This can be done in three ways:

1. You can e-mail another player directly. 2. You may send the notice to me for inclusion in the gazette Le Sport de Paris. 3. You may send an "in character" message to All_Of_Paris@yahoogroups.com, where all players will see it. This method is intended to simulate the current talk on the streets of Paris, or open letters from one gentleman to another, to which all are party.

Note, please -- letters to Le Sport may be signed (by your character), unsigned, or signed with an alias. Messages to All_Of_Paris@yahoogroups.com will have your email address in the reply-to field, so other players will know who sends these notes. So, if you desire an anonymous submission to the game, use Le Sport.

I request that all players copy me on player-to-player e-mail notes. This helps me paint the characters correctly in the narratives and keeps me amused.

Although some of the NPCs are female, all of the player characters in this game are male. I have often been asked about playing female characters. Regrettably, the game is not structured to include women in any meaningful roles from a role-playing standpoint. (Of course, while all the player characters are male, the game is open to anyone who cares to play.)

New characters will be entering the scene at all times, due to the attrition rate that frequent swordplay unavoidably entails, as well as new people joining while the game is in progress. To join the game, simply send me an e-mail request. I will generate the character's stats for you. You then send me the character's name, and you're ready to start.

If the game becomes too wildly popular I may find it necessary to limit the number of active players in the game and establish a waiting queue for new character allocation. I will inform all the players if I begin to do this.

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