Please note that all times given are in BST.
Downtimes refer to the periods of time between Uptime sessions. During this time, players can communicate via email and take actions as conveyed to the GM team through Turnsheets. Between each session of New Game Plus, about a week will pass in-character.
As with previous Society Games, there is an email system which allows players to communicate with each other and with GMs after a session ends. In-character, these emails may represent in-person conversations, letters, or other forms of communication available to the inhabitants of Mydreign; such conversations can be had with either PCs or NPCs. A full list of player character email addresses can be found on the Player Characters page. All email exchanges should end by 21:59 on the Friday after session (3 days after Uptime). We encourage spreading out emails, to help avoid burnout.
GMs are copied into all IC emails so as to keep track of plans and developing themes within the game, though these are no substitute for Turnsheets, and GMs are liable to miss things only contained in emails. Importantly, in the event that your Turnsheet does not contain enough information about your Downtime plans, the GMs will not have time to search through their inboxes for additional information, and this may lead to a rather disappointing Turnsheet response.
You can also direct OC emails to GMs if you’d like to ask us anything you weren’t able to mention during Uptime, though your main method of communication should be through your designated private channel on the game’s Discord server. Please be sure to ping your assigned GM (i.e. @<their server nickname>) so that we don’t miss your message. IC communication with NPCs during the email period can also be done by emailing the GM who plays that character. In either case, please add “[FAO: GM name/NPC name]” to the subject line so that we don’t miss your message. Outside of the email period, you cannot email characters, but you can email GMs OC.
If you’re having trouble receiving emails from GMs or players before or during the game, try checking your Junk/Spam inbox - if game emails tend to be filtered out, you may want to whitelist the email domain.
Finally, please note that any emails sent by you will appear to come from your in-character email address rather than your OC email address. However, other metadata contained in the email may be visible, such as whatever name you’ve set for your email. In addition, if you reply to your own email, it is possible that email metadata will contain your OC email address. Further information can be found in the Privacy Policy.
A Turnsheet details what you would like to do in the Downtime between sessions, after IC emails have taken place. In New Game Plus, we are giving players one Major Action per turn, which should include the main goal of your character during Downtime. The GMs will then respond before the following Uptime with information about how your character’s actions have turned out. Your Turnsheet may also include any number of Minor Actions. Minor Actions are significantly more limited in scope than the Major Action, and will usually only receive a one-line response from the GMs, if anything.
Your Turnsheet and the GM-written response are only visible to you and the GMs.
Once your character has been approved by the GMs, we will send you a link to your private user page – this can also be found by clicking the human-shaped icon at the very top right of the Wiki. At the bottom of your user page will be a series of red links, named “Turnsheet #”. These link to pages that don’t exist yet, so when you are ready to begin writing up your Actions, click on the link for that week and then click the “pencil” icon on the right-hand toolbar to get started. Hovering over it will bring up the “Create this page” dialogue.
Once created, the Turnsheet page will have a handy template to save you time and to allow your GM easy reading. You don’t have to stick to it 100%, but similar layouts allow us to quickly and easily see what you are attempting to do with your time. Also, please don’t delete or edit the tag1) at the bottom of the page or else we won’t be notified that you’ve submitted it!
While we enjoy reading what players come up with, it’s usually best to keep your Turnsheets concise so we can clearly see the focus of your Action. A single sentence with no detail isn’t helpful, but neither is a very long plan that aims to do too much in one go.
When you’re happy with your Turnsheet, click the save button in the bottom left and you’ll have a Turnsheet that both you and all the GMs can see. It’s worthwhile to do a quick preview before saving to check that everything reads how you want it to, but don’t forget to then save.
You can continue to edit your Turnsheet until the deadline (23:59 on the Friday after session) as nothing will be taken as final by the GMs until that point. If you need it, you can ask for an extension, but please do try to make the deadline.
The Major Action should be one thing or goal your character is trying to achieve during the Downtime period that you want the GMs to write a significant amount about. Major Actions do not necessarily have to be whatever our character is spending the majority of their time doing, but rather whatever you think is most important to them and their story. Some examples include:
Your Action should include an overarching goal of what you want to achieve, a plan of how you intend to achieve it, and a note of what Skills and Quirks you think might affect or be useful to the Action. Be sure to note other PCs or NPCs who are involved in your Action in the relevant section of the template too.
Try to be as concise as possible when writing your plans. Don’t try to achieve too much with one Action, and remember that longer plans don’t always mean better plans.
If in doubt, ask. Please contact the GMs and we will do our best to help with any Turnsheet-based queries you may have.
A Minor Action is something that is either minor or relatively easy to achieve, even if it would require much of the Downtime to do so. It should not advance the plot significantly. These actions can cover a longer period of time than the Major Actions, but the GMs will not write much in response to them (a short paragraph at most). Examples include:
You can have as many Minor Actions as you want, but they should each be limited to a few sentences of description at most. The GMs may ignore some of your Minor Actions if they become too numerous or plot relevant.
If you are giving something to another player, please note this in your Minor Actions, even if the exchange occurred as part of your Major Action. It can also be helpful to list any items you are expecting to receive from other players, but if you put it in your Turnsheet and the sender does not include giving you the item in their Turnsheet, the response will likely be along the lines of “You wait patiently, but it does not show up”.
As mentioned on the Skills page, you will be given one Skill Point per Turnsheet. This can be used either to increase one of the G.A.M.E. branches by one, or to gain a Specialty. Please let us know in this section what you’d like to improve.
You do not need to include an IC reason as to how and why your character has gained this improvement (although you can if you’d like), and you do not need to spend an Action to gain this advancement. You will gain access to the new Skill level or Specialty at the start of the following Uptime.
There are also a couple of sections in the Turnsheet template for OC information. The first of these is to cover any particular email threads that you think we should know about. Perhaps they are particularly relevant to your Major Action, or maybe you feel that you got a lot of interpersonal character development done that you’d like us to know about. You can mention such threads in this section. Please note that, if these become too numerous, the GMs will not have time to consider all of them. In addition, as mentioned above, emails are no substitute for Turnsheet plans, even if you list them here. If there are relevant details, make sure to include them in the plan for your Major Action.
The second is for your OC thoughts. If you have any particular ideas regarding how you would like your Turnsheet to go (or not go), feel free to mention them and we will do what we can to take them into account. This can also be used to mention any particular themes you’d like to touch upon or just anything else that you would like the GMs to know OC.
The deadline for Turnsheets is 23:59 on the Friday after session. We know that life can sometimes get in the way, and late Turnsheets do happen, but you must request an extension if you are expecting to hand in your Turnsheet late so we can accommodate it into our plans – we may get a bit grumpy if you fail to let us know. If writing Turnsheets between 21:59 and 23:59 is an awkward time for you, we encourage you to submit Turnsheets early.
We will aim to get a response to your Turnsheet before each session. These responses will be added to the end of your submitted Turnsheet on the Wiki. You will be informed on Discord when the GMs have published your Turnsheet response, but it’s worth checking your Turnsheet to be sure. If you have any questions about your Turnsheet response, please contact your GM before the start of the session and we’ll try to clear everything up.
If you would like to take a look at some sample Turnsheets, please visit this page.