Downtime, Emails and Turnsheets

Between each session of Romancing the Toaster, one week of in game time will pass. During this time, players can communicate via email and take actions as conveyed to the GM team through turnsheets.

As with previous Society Games, we have set up an email system which allows players to communicate with each other and with GMs after a session ends; in character, these emails represent remote communication and side conversations sent between bots everywhere. This means that each character has their own email address which is based on their original name - the complete list of in-character email addresses can be found on the Characters page. As a result, when you receive an email from another character, you learn their original name. This is IC knowledge. We ask that all email exchanges be wrapped up by the turnsheet deadline (23:59 on Thursday), partly so that no one's turnsheet plans end up changing at the last minute, and partly so that everyone can get a break from their inbox for the rest of the week!

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 emails to GMs if you'd like to ask us anything you didn't get round to mentioning during Uptime, and this should be your main method of OC communication with GMs once a session ends - we won't necessarily be checking our Discord messages between sessions! IC communication with NPCs can also be done this way by emailing the GM who plays that character. In either case, please add “[FAO: GM/NPC name]” to the subject line so that we don't miss your message!

If you're having trouble receiving emails from GMs or players before or during the game, try checking your Junk inbox - if game emails tend to be filtered out, you may want to whitelist the 'toaster.oxfordrpg.com' domain.

Finally, 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.

A turnsheet details what you would like to do in Downtime after session and after IC emails have taken place. In Romancing the Toaster, 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 choices turn out. Your turnsheet may also include any number of Minor Actions, which are significantly more limited in scope than the Major Action and will usually only receive a one-line response from 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 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 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!)

While we very much enjoy reading your writings, 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 obviously isn't very 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 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 (23:59 on Thursday) as nothing will be taken as final by the GMs until that point.

A major action is something that it would take your character significant time and effort to accomplish. Examples include:

• Going out to explore the physical world.
• Surfing online to explore the Network.
• Upgrading oneself with suitable parts.
• Investigating other characters or participating in PvP.

This Major Action will receive a write up by one of the GMs, taking place over a week of time, although it is important to note that you can only achieve in one Major Action what you could normally achieve in a day in total (this could include several small actions over a few days). The rest of that time is left for the consequences of your action to take place and percolate.

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 Skills and 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 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 action or Skill based queries you may have.

A Minor Action is something that takes little time or effort to do, and doesn't advance the plot significantly. Examples include:

• Introducing two bots.
• Going to a party.
• Trading some items.

Some characters with sufficiently advanced Skills may also perform repairs or upgrades using their Minor Action - this is not possible for all robots, and attempts to perform repairs or upgrades without the required Skills are likely to go poorly.

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, and should usually be able to be responded to by the GMs with “You do this”. 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 join the underwater exploration team”), 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 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 exchange occurred as part of your Major Action. 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”.

In Romancing the Toaster your character will not automatically advance, meaning that they gain new Skill levels only through upgrades (requiring a major action) or forming Bonds. See Character Advancement for more details.

The deadline for turnsheets is 23:59 on the Thursday after session. This is a strict deadline as the GM team need time to read through and prepare in advance for our meeting on Friday evening. 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 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 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.

See sample turnsheets here!