Playing a Discord Game

That's All Folks! will be played using Discord, a platform that’s sort of like Teamspeak and Facebook Messenger mashed into one. It has both voice and text capability, though this game will be conducted through text. The following is a basic guide on how to use Discord Society Game, and the specifics of how That's All Folks! will make use of the Discord format.

Here's a quick guide to joining the That's All Folks! Discord server for the first time. For a definition of some of the terms used here, please see the Glossary.

1. Create your character. Once approved, we'll email you a link to our Discord server.
2. Sign up to Discord using an email account (this should be a personal address, not your IC email address). You can do this by downloading and installing the Discord desktop app, or by simply using the browser version.
3. Click on the invite link that the GMs will have sent you by email (it'll look something like: https://discord.gg/Zrk2cj) and it will automatically give you the option to join the server.
4. You can see all the servers that you are part of in the Discord sidebar on the left-hand side, where they will be represented by circular icons. Select the That's All Folks! server from this sidebar.
5. Once you've joined the server, right click on your name in the user sidebar on the right-hand side and select “edit server profile”. Here you will find a “server nickname” field that you can edit. Change it to your character's name along with their preferred pronouns, in the format: name (pronouns).
6. You can change your profile picture by clicking the gear icon (User Settings) at the bottom of the channel sidebar on the left-hand side. This will take you to the 'My Account' tab where you can edit your username, password and profile picture. Like Discord nicknames, profile pictures will not be general IC knowledge, though they can be helpful for distinguishing who is talking - although if that User is talking to you, then it is probably fair to assume your Character can see what theirs looks like!
7. By left clicking on your name in the user sidebar, you can see which roles you have been given. These represent sets of access permissions that the GMs have given you. Discord roles do not exist IC and do not convey IC information. If you think there is something wrong with your roles (e.g. you're missing one that you think you should have, or you have one but don't know what it means) feel free to ask a GM.

During Uptime, you will have access to text channels, both IC and OC. They will be listed in the channel sidebar on the left-hand side and will be appropriately named so it is clear what they are for. Channel names always start with a # (hash) symbol. Selecting one will allow you to view them, and if you have permission to do so, type in it. Some channels you may be able to only type in sometimes, or view but not type in. If you feel there are errors, contact a GM (who will be listed under the “GM” subheading in the user sidebar on the right-hand side) in the channel labeled “#oc-tech-support” by tagging them in your message with “@GM” or “@<their username>”.

During the game, new text channels may appear to you, and old ones may disappear. This may mean the location no longer exists, but it could instead mean you can no longer view them. This may reflect a change in location, status, or another in-game occurrence. If you believe there has been an error, message a GM before messaging in the channel. There may be opportunities in play to gain access to special channels with others. These will be arranged and monitored by GMs.

Remember, access to the internet can vary significantly in quality, as can the functionality of peoples' computers, so please don't become frustrated if someone doesn't respond to you immediately: they may be experiencing technical difficulties!

Private messaging within Discord is not an IC mechanic and should not be used unless you need to speak to a specific GM in confidence. This is because GMs need to be able to see what you are writing in order to moderate the game properly!

Usually messages sent in channels represent actions that your Character is taking. For example a player writing:

Howdy, folk!

in an IC channel during uptime would be interpreted as their character saying those words. Similarly a player writing:

Winsome Windmill begins to rotate at an alarming rate.

would be interpreted as the player's Character beginning to rotate IC. Players will only be able to describe their own actions, with rare exceptions for example they may be able to also describe the actions of their pet, say. On the other hand, Crew will often be required to narrate actions taken not just by the NPCs they play but also of Player Characters, usually to outline an outcome in conflict or plan.

Finally, messages in square brackets sent to channels in Uptime are interpreted as OC commentary, for example:

[That's concerning…]

or

[OC: That's concerning…]

Both are valid ways of indicating a message is out of character.

This is a Discord text roleplaying game, which to those who haven’t tried it before can be strange. The following are helpful things to know whilst roleplaying on Discord:

• To have a message be in italics, underlined, bold, strikethrough or spoilered (blacked out), highlight the text and select the appropriate option(s).

• Alternatively, text can be formatted by surrounding it with the appropriate characters as illustrated in the image below: a single asterisk (*) or underscore (_) for italics; a double underscore (__) for underline; double asterisks (**) for bold; double tilde (~~) for strikethrough; or a double pipe (||) for spoilertext. Spoilertext has a special role in IC channels in That's All Folks!, covered in more detail here.

• You can also reply to a message by selecting the three dots that appear when you hover over a message that has already been sent and selecting the “reply” option. This will allow you to send a direct reply which quotes the original message and notifies the person who originally sent it.

• Replying to a message posted by a bot will not notify anyone. Instead, you can notify the relevant GM by reacting to the message with a bell emoji.

• A message that is blacked out is spoilered. All spoilered messages in That's All Folks! will be preceded by a non-spoilered text indicating what they might contain and/or who can view them. You can view these messages by clicking on them. Please make sure only to click on spoilered messages if you know they are intended for you to read. For more information on how spoilered messages are used in That's All Folk's, please see the spoilertext section below.

• To address a message directly to someone in a public channel, type @ before their handle, and this will notify them, taking them directly to your message. This is also referred to as “tagging” them in your message.

• To start a new line without sending the message, hold shift and press enter.
  

• To create a thread click the “+” icon to the left of the message input field and click “Create Thread”

Discord makes use of 'roles' to allow an admin to easily control permissions such as access to hidden channels and the ability to send messages rather than simply reading them. You can see a user's roles by clicking on their profile picture: this is an OC feature of the game, as roles only contain OC information. Roles can also be assigned hierarchies and colours. A user's username or nickname on Discord will appear in the colour of their highest ranked role. This is useful for example to distinguish GMs from players.

The roles in That's All Folks! in hierarchical order are:

• Curtain Call
• GMs
• Crew
• CHILD
• TEEN
• our handy dandy bots
• current players

Now that you know the basics of using Discord, lets look at how we will be using those functions in That's All Folks!.

Threads have exactly one function in That's All Folks!: to let players coordinate and calibrate out of character. This may include:

• Checking OC about plans for the next session
• Confirming with other players they're interacting with are comfortable
• Discussing potential backstory characters might have had with each other before this season

For more information on this, see Messages on the Downtime page.

To create a thread:

1. Navigate to the #messages channel. This will be opened up after the end of each session
2. Click the “plus” button on the left in your new message box. You will have the option “Create Thread”
3. Give your thread a title that's relevant to what you want to discuss in it
4. @ the relevant player(s) as well as @GMs and @crew to make sure that we know the thread exists!

Threads will be locked at 23.59 on the day Downtimes are due.

Spoilertext serves to communicate information that is not suitable for all players. In That's All Folks! spoilertext serves an IC purpose, and hence spoilertext messages should always be preceded by a piece of normal text indicating who the message is appropriate for.

The primary OC use for spoilertext is to indicate secrets a person may not want to know or to indicate that the message's content is potentially upsetting and requires a content warning. While OC spoilertext can be sent in IC channels, players should remember to place the entire message in square brackets to emphasize the OC nature. In OC channels the square brackets are unnecessary.

Content warnings should be indicated using “[CW (contents): ||message||]”, for example:

[CW (bugs): ||BUGS!||]

while spoilers should be indicated using “[Spoilers: ||message||]”, for example:

“[Spoilers: ||That Character you like has their Curtain Call this week||]”

By default Players should not read any IC spoilertext unless their character has an associated ability that allows them to read messages with the associated tag. This is most commonly the case with two Effects associated with Sneakiness and Gorm that allow players to send spoilertext messages describing things they do stealthily, and other players to read those messages. In this case it is indicated by the preceeding message: “Sneakily: ||message||”, for example:

Sneakily: ||Steals jewels.||

On the user sidebar, you may notice some users with a 'APP' icon. These are not Players, Crew or GMs but Discord bots programmed to automate tasks within the server. That's All Folks! will be making use of several Discord bots to enable a smoother and more interactive experience. This includes some custom commands which are available for players to use.

More bots may be added over the course of the game, but this is the list of bots that will be in use at game start. Full details on how to use each of the features listed here will be provided on the Discord server for all players to consult at any time.

• That's All Folks Bot: An OC bot written by the GM team to do the following:
  • Adjudicate conflicts between two player characters that have no clear winner based on character attributes. The related command: /run_conflict [person1] [person2]
  • Get help on adjudication where needed, or ask questions. The bot will post these requests to a specific crew channel to avoid your request going missing¹⁾. The related command: /get_help [message]
  • Inform the GMs that you intend to craft an Item, with Components that you have obtained. The related command: /craft_request
  • (Crew and GMs only) End the current scene and start a new one. This will send a message increasing the scene number in that location channel and update the #scene-register channel as well²⁾. Related command: /scene
  • Creates a Scene register within a specific channel. Related command: /scene_register
• Pluralkit: An OC bot used by the crew and GM team to allow them to use multiple aliases for different NPCs. You can read more about PluralKit on their website, as this is not a bot written by the GM team.
  • Since GMs and crew will be using Pluralkit to post messages as NPCs, replying to a message posted by Pluralkit will not notify the relevant GM. Instead, you can react to the message with a bell emoji, which will automatically notify the relevant GM/crew member
  • For ease of reference, common PluralKit commands/operations are included in this PluralKit section below.

To get the full list of available Bot commands, simply type a “/” into the message box of any channel. The full list of available commands will appear, along with some information on how to use each. Since this includes default Discord commands as well as the ones unique to That's All Folks!, here's a quick list of commands unique to this game:

• /get_help [message] - After “/get_help ” enter a message describing what you are trying to achieve, get help with, or ask about, in the relevant channel (likely a location channel where you are trying to do something). The bot will post a message @ing you and giving you a copy of your message. This is visible for everyone in the channel, so do not post secret things in there! At the same time, the crew will receive a new message in the #crew-adjudications channel with who sent the request, what the request is, and a link to the channel the request was made.
  • This makes it much easier to avoid losing request made by directly @crew or @GMs - the notification will disappear once viewed, but the crew and GMs know to check the #crew-adjudications channel.
  • A member of crew or a GM will react to the bot message in the #crew-adjudications channel to let other crew members and GMs know that they're looking at it. Again, this makes it much easier to avoid losing any requests, and to quickly let the gamerunners know which requests are being looked at and which still need attention!
• /run_conflict [person1] [person2] - This command requires you to type out the names of the two people participating in a conflict. The stakes for it and the decision to engage in the conflict should be agreed beforehand. The bot will then send a message to that channel saying who won against who. For more information on conflict, see the Core Rules Conflict section.
• /scene - Within a specific channel, moves from one Scene to the next. This creates a large “Scene” message with the number that it is for that channel, letting players know that their injuries will have recovered and some resources can be reused. The most recent “Scene” message is automatically pinned in each channel for easy access. For more information on scenes, see the Core Rules Scene section.
• /scene_register - Creates a Scene register within a specific channel. This is a record of what all the scenes that each channel being used are on, which updates as the Scenes in those channels are updated. This is useful for at-a-glance information about where things have been progressing, and a way to help players track their Resources/Injuries.

You will need to send a message with the command to use the command. For example, sending

/get_help Where can I go to appraise this pretzel component?

will activate the command. However, if you do not send the command, nothing will happen.

If, for whatever reason, you are having trouble or would prefer not to use a particular bot, please let your GM know, and they will be able to take over the bot's actions for you.

PluralKit (pk) commands are only accessible to crew and GMs. All pk commands start “pk;”, not with a “/”, as with other Discord commands. Below are some commonly used pk commands:

• Create new pk:
  • pk;member new charactername
  • pk;member charactername displayname Character Name [they/them]
  • pk;member proxy charactername:text
  • pk;member charactername avatar (then copy-paste or upload the avatar image you want to use into the same message as the command)
  • Pro tip 1: Make your character name something easy to remember, and ideally all lowercase! You can change the display name later - the display name is the name that'll show when you post.
  • Pro tip 2: Instead of typing “member” you can instead just use “m”. For example, when creating a new pk, you can do pk;m new charactername

• Post as pk character:
  • proxyname:blah blah blah my message here
  • In the above example, would do the following to post as your cool NPC, charactername:

charactername:blah blah blah

All player-facing Discord bots have been written and tested primarily by our GMs, and are dependent on the internet connection of the GM running it. If a bot goes offline temporarily, you will not be able to use its associated commands until it is back online. This is most likely due to an internet outage, and should be resolved as soon as it has been re-established, or when another GM begins running the bot instead.

In the event that a bot is offline, or if a player is unable to use it for whatever reason, GMs or crew will be able to respond to your specific help requests directly where you are @ing them in a channel. We are aware that this is always an option, but runs the risk of taking longer to get to your request, or losing it in the collection of other requests incoming. We would very much like to not do that - please use the bot whenever possible!

If you notice any other issues with any of the That's All Folks! bots, please tag GM Harry or GM Elynor in a message in the #oc-tech-support channel to let them know, and they'll get back to you about it as soon as possible. In general, please be mindful that crew and GMs are juggling many different things behind the scenes and may take a while to respond - we are here to help, but may need a moment!

The That's All Folks! Discord server will feature a list of clearly marked OC channels for out of character information and communication. This will include a tech support channel, a general OC chat, and a place to post bot commands so as to avoid spamming other channels (we recommend muting this by right-clicking the channel and selecting 'Mute Channel > Until I turn it back on'!).

OC channels will remain visible to players at all times, and will be the topmost channels in the channel sidebar so as to be the most easily accessible.

During uptime, player movement is represented by switching between physical location channels. As a player, you will be able to see many location channels, but your character can only physically exist in one at a time. To convey this, please don't post in more than one location channel at once. You don't have to let people know when your character is leaving one location channel and going to another, but we encourage you to put a quick line in to let people know your character has left.

Finally, every player will have access to a private channel accessible only by them and the GM team³⁾. This channel will be presided over primarily by the GM assigned to you. Your GM may ask that you tag them in your messages so that they will be notified (GMs have an extremely large number of channels to moderate!). This is a good place to…

• Ask GM questions that may otherwise get lost in an OC channel, or that you don't want other players to see.
• Roleplay private interactions between PCs and NPCs to eliminate the need for excess text channels. Please bear in mind that many NPCs will be played by Crew, so we encourage you to use a public channel whenever possible for these interactions. Depending on the NPC, the GMs may not be able to facilitate your request - Crew do not have access to your Player-GM channel, after all!

…is that it's not the end of the world if you're new to any or all of this! If you're unsure, you can always refer to this page or to the OC rules channel which will be set up on the server, or you can contact one of us (the GMs) privately if you'd like us to explain something in more detail. We hope you enjoy your That's All Folks! experience, and we'll hopefully see you on the server very soon.