“Bright sunlight holds hidden dangers. Sunburn remains deadly even after it heals.”
—St. Otto, March 657
Between each session of Conviction, your characters have a week to go about their lives outside of church, and enact any plots they may have come up with. During this time, players can communicate via email and take actions as conveyed to the GM team through turnsheets.
There is an in character email system, which represents all forms of IC communication from actual IC emails to in-person conversations and prayer. This means that each character has their own email, which is based off their name – the complete list of player IC emails can be found on the player characters page. 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. In most cases, the content of these emails is also being monitored by the autorities IC.
You can also use the email system to contact the GMs, either for asking OC questions or contacting NPCs. If an NPC has an email address (that you've seen on the wiki, or received emails from), you can use that like PC email addresses. If they're a minor character we haven't set up an address for but who you'd still be able to contact IC, include “[FAO their name]” in the subject, and send it to either the GM who's playing that NPC, or gm@conviction.oxfordrpg.com if you don't know who that is.
Please note that your OC email will never be displayed to other players when you email them, as any emails sent by you will appear to come from your in character email address. However, other metadata contained in the email may be visible, such as whatever name you've set for your email. Further information can be found in the privacy policy.
At the bottom of your user page should 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 and plus sign' 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 allows us to quickly and easily see what you are attempting to do with your time. (Please don't delete {{tag>turnsheetX}} at the bottom of the page or we won't be notified when you've submitted it!)
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 doing 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 (midnight between Thursday and Friday) as nothing will be taken as final by the GMs until that point.
This may change later depending on the amount of players and GMs, but players will most likely be able to take one major, one secondary and several minor actions over the course of the two weeks.
A major action is something that it would take your character significant time and effort to accomplish. It can be anything they would IC be able to attempt, whether it relates to plot that the GMs have introduced or a personal goal your character has. Examples include:
Your actions 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 quirks you think might be useful to or affect 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 an be as concise as possible when writing your plans. Don’t try to achieve too much with one action (a goal such as “investigate whether my neighbours are demons” is one action, “investigate whether my neighbours are demons so I can make a deal with them to murder my rival” is two) and remember that longer plans don’t always mean better plans. Breaking a bigger plan into two actions may make it easier for you to achieve the results you want.
If in doubt, ask. Please do contact the GMs and we will do our best to help with any queries you may have.
Secondary actions are similar to major actions in scope IC, but OC you will only receive a more limited response giving a general summary of the results rather than the detailed responses major actions will receive.
A minor action is something that takes little time or effort to do, and doesn't advance the plot significantly. Examples include:
You can have as many minor actions as you want within reason, but they should each be limited to one or two sentences of description. The GMs may ignore minor actions if they become too numerous or significant.
If your minor action is to accompany other players on their major actions (e.g. “I follow Nathan to the fens for moral support”), you will not be very useful to the action (i.e. your skills will not be taken into consideration), and will not get any personal benefit from the action. If the action would require significant time or effort just to tag along, the GMs may simply say your character is too busy to attend.
If you are giving something to another player please note this in your minor actions, even if the actual passing over of the items happens in session, in emails or in another major action. This makes it much easier for us to keep track of who has what. It can be helpful to list any items you are expecting to receive, but if you put it in your turnsheet and the sender does not turnsheet to give the item to you, the response will likely be along the lines of “You wait patiently, but it doesn't turn up”.
The deadline for turnsheets is midnight between the Thursday and Friday after session. This is to allow the GM team time to read through and prepare in advance for our meeting. There is an email deadline an hour ealier, at 23:00 on Thursday. This is also to benefit you as it’s really not fair to be kept up waiting for that crucial plan-defining email until 3 in the morning. We do know life gets in the way sometimes and late turnsheets do happen, but please do let us know so we can accommodate it into our plans and we may become grumpy should it become a regular occurrence or if you fail to let us know.
We will aim to get a response to your turnsheet to you on Monday before each session. These responses will be added to the end of your submitted turnsheet on the wiki. Your GM will email you when they have completed 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.