Not really, no.  As it is described in the FAQ, role-playing in
ad-i can be described as "collaborative storytelling."  We don't use
character stats or roll dice; the events that happen in the stories are
determined by the players.  The role-playing here is not competition, it's
cooperation, and there are some basic rules governing how role-play should
be conducted in this newsgroup.
 

2. SO WHAT ARE THOSE BASIC RULES?

        a. NO FIGHTING IN THE RED DRAGON'S INN:  The Dragon's Inn exists
as a place for new characters and old to meet and interact.  The Dragon's
Inn and Montfort itself are considered "public areas," and anyone can
write their characters or stories in those locations.  (Other places, such
as Jord or Rosehaven or Grimmalka Keep "belong" to their creators and
cannot be used without their permission.)  In order to avoid the bar-fight
scene that some people are fond of (hey, I've done some of them myself),
the proprietors of the Inn have established strong magical wardings to
prevent fighting in the Inn itself.  You can't attack anyone in the Inn,
and if you do, you'll find yourself wrapped in a magical bubble.  For more
details about the Inn's wardings, read the Beginner's FAQ and explore the
Web page.

        b. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO ANYONE ELSE'S CHARACTER WITHOUT THE OTHER
PLAYER'S PERMISSION.  This principle is the heart of ad-i.  It doesn't
matter if your character is the most powerful deity ever to exist and mine
is a lowly ditch-digger -- your deity can't hurt (or brainwash, or
capture, or rob) my ditch-digger without my permission.  Likewise, you
can't invade a city or country created by someone else, or co-opt their
NPCs, or anything similar without clearing it with the other person first.
In short, contact the other person via email and *ask* if they'll agree to
your idea.  If they decline, then you will have to find something else to
do.

        For greater elaboration, see the Beginner's FAQ, which can be
found (along with many other FAQs) on the Web page at
http://dragon.io.com/
 

3. WHAT SHOULD I DO FIRST TO GET INVOLVED?

        The first thing you need to do is read the Beginner's FAQ, which
will give you the basic information about how the newsgroup works.  The
FAQ is posted a couple of times a month to the newsgroup itself, and also
is available for reading and down-loading on the Web page.

        The Web page address is:  http://dragon.io.com/ The folks
responsible for putting it together have done a terrific job (huzzahs and
all that to Dave Womack and Johny Enright).  You'll also find tons of
information there, including listings of characters, and ASCII and GIF
maps.

        Next, you should lurk for a bit to get a feel for how things work,
and to see what possible storylines might be opening up for you to
participate in.
 

4. WHAT DO THOSE WORDS IN BRACKETS IN THE SUBJECT HEADERS MEAN?

        There are a number of storylines going on in ad-i at any given
time.  In order to indicate which storyline a post to the newsgroup
belongs to, the players put a title in the subject headers of the posts.
Some of the on-going storylines in ad-i at this time include [Church],
[Throne], [GRIM], [Sapphire], [Tower Guard], [Caravan], [Deception],
[Silver], [Saga], [Warrens], [Politi] and many others.  Each storyline is
called a "thread", and all posts concerning any storyline would include
the thread's name in brackets in the subject header.  Some of the threads
are connected to one another, and a post might concern characters involved
in more than one thread; thus, you might see a subject header with
[Throne/GRIM], indicating that both threads are involved in that post.
Likewise, [Church/Politi] indicates a post involving those two threads.
This makes it possible for players and readers alike to follow the
storylines.
 

5.      WHAT TYPES OF PLOT-LINES EXIST IN AD-I?

        Risking over-simplification, I would say that ad-i divides into
two basic types of storylines.

        First are the more traditional "quest"  stories.  These generally
are started by someone who has a goal they want to achieve -- overthrow an
evil king in a distant country; explore a mountain for treasure; seek a
cure to save the comatose beautiful princess; find a magic chalice.  The
"lead" character comes to the Dragon's Inn to recruit adventurers to help
in the quest. Everyone gathers, then leaves Montfort on the quest, making
up whatever geography is necessary to get them from Point A (the Dragon's
Inn) to Point B (wherever the target place is). (The Web page has both
ASCII and GIF maps with rough outlines of Claremont's layout and greater
surrounding areas).  These generally require no more coordination than
with the players actually involved in that quest itself. Such threads
currently going on are [Star Dreamer], [Ogres] [Sapphire], and others.

        Second are the more complicated storylines where a number of
threads are inter-related.  The events in each thread are, to a certain
extent, tied to the events in other threads.  Stories based in Montfort
which intersect with one another are [Church], [Politi], [Tower Guard],
[Citadel] and the various [Refusers] and [Resistance] threads that pop up.
These also are related at least tangentially to a number of threads based
in the Elven kingdom of Tynntangial and the on-going war between the Elves
and the Dark One:  [Throne], [GRIM], [DB], [CEF], and [Dark].  These
stories involve literally dozens of players, most of whom play multiple
characters. Characters can appear in more than one thread, and events in
one thread affect what happens in another thread.  Because of this, these
stories require a lot of behind the scenes coordination.
 

6.      NOW I KNOW ALL THIS, HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

        First, if you don't already have one, you need to create a
character. The Beginner's FAQ has some pointers on how to go about this
task.  Now you need to get that character (or characters, if they come in
a matched set) involved in a storyline.  The "traditional" way to do that,
and the method used by most newcomers to the newsgroup, is to introduce
the character in the Dragon's Inn itself.  Write a post under the subject
header of something like "[Inn] New Character," in which your character
shows up at the Inn looking for adventure.

        If you have an idea for your own storyline, have your character
make an announcement of some sort for people to join him or her or it on
his or her or its quest.  Keep your eyes open for other people posting in
the Inn itself; if another person's character asks for companions for an
adventure, have your character approach them.  (It's probably best to send
your response via email, also, since some news servers can be incredibly
slow).  Also, read the Bulletin Board, posted by Boyd Boedeker a couple of
time a week, which lists the email addresses of people looking for other
players.

        Most importantly, don't give up.  It can take a while to get a
character or new quest launched.  People will disappear after a few posts
when they find that ad-i doesn't hold their interest, or they don't have
time to stay current with it.  You may have to make several attempts to
find a storyline that actually makes it out of Montfort and on its way to
fulfilling its quest.  The thread might peter out for lack of
participation after it is launched.

        Another way to get involved is to find an existing thread that
interests you and ask if you can join in.  Yes, you have to ask -- don't
just jump in without warning, because you might very well be disrupting
pre-planned scenes.  Send an email to someone in the thread with a
proposal of how your character can get involved.  It helps to have an idea
of what your character could add to the storyline.  Some in-Montfort
threads that usually are open to new characters are [Church], the various
[Resistance] or [Refusers] groups, and the [Tower Guard].  Other threads
may or may not be accepting applications, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  I
post something called "FAQ:  Thread Directory" in both long and short
versions; these include synopses of some of the current threads in ad-i.
The summaries were prepared by the various thread "admins" -- those folks
who are responsible for thinking up the storyline and running it.  Each
admin has indicated whether the threads are open to new players or not; if
you're interested in a particular storyline, and it says it is open to new
players, then contact the person who is identified as the admin.
 

7.      WHAT ARE THE MECHANICS OF WRITING A THREAD?

        There are two ways to actually go about writing a storyline.
First is the free-for-all "post-directly-to-the-newsgroup" method.  When
you want to make an addition to a story you're in, you reply directly to
the newsgroup, and maybe send an email cc to others in the thread.
[Caravan], [Deception, and [CEF] are examples of threads which use this
method.  Smaller bits and pieces of the story appear more frequently on
the newsgroup as a result.

        The other method, and the one I favor myself, is the "draft via
email" method.  This works by having all the players in a thread circulate
among themselves a continuing draft; when it reaches a suitable length, an
entire installment is posted to the newsgroup, and everyone starts working
on another draft.  This allows greater coordination, eliminates
inconsistencies, and makes it possible for readers to see a sizable
portion all at once -- i.e., they get to read a scene as a whole rather
than in snippets across several days.  Or even weeks.  (Of course, they
have to wait longer between installments.)  Examples of threads using this
method:  [St. Yerron], [Politi], [Star Dreamer], [Circus].
 

8.      CAN I POST ADS TO THIS NEWSGROUP?

        Well, yes, I suppose you can.  After all, it's not possible for
anyone to stop you from hitting that "send" command and spamming the
newsgroup with off-topic garbage.  The newsgroup administrators do try to
catch advertisements and delete them before they propagate, but it isn't
always possible to catch the trash before it makes it through the mailing
list or hits a few news-servers.

        In short, off-topic material is not welcome.  If it isn't
role-play, or "admin" about the newsgroup, then it doesn't belong here.
 

9.      I REALLY DON'T THINK I'M A GOOD WRITER ...

        It can be kind of scary to put your writing out on a public forum
where it is open to criticism (both valid and invalid).  The point of
ad-i, however, is not to produce publishable material (though there are
some folks on here who can come pretty close to publishable quality).  On
ad-i, the goal should be (in my opinion, anyway) to have some fun writing
with other people, to develop characters, and to concoct plots to
entertain one another.

        Yes, you may very well be criticized by some people who don't
think your writing or characterization is up to snuff.  Don't let that
scare you off -- the more you do it, the better you'll get.  And though
there will always be those who will feel the need to throw their two cents
worth in, remember that it isn't your job to entertain those folks -- if
they don't like the job you're doing, they should (1) simply not read what
you write; and (2) do their own writing and impress us all with their
superior skills.
 

10.     MY NEWS SERVER IS UNRELIABLE ...

        As a final note, ad-i also is available via a mailing list that is
much more reliable than the average news server.  I read ad-i thru the
mailing list myself -- I get everything posted to the newsgroup echoed to
my mailbox, and post things to the newsgroup by sending an email to the
mailing list mirror.

        If you would like to subscribe to the mailing list, send an email
message to:  majordomo@Orb.Nashua.NH.US

        The body of the message should read:  subscribe ad-i (To
unsubscribe, send an email to the same place, saying "unsubscribe ad-i").

        There also is a second newsgroup/mailing list for ad-i, designed
for out-of-character discussion.  To subscribe to alt.dragons-inn-misc,
send a message to the same address as above, with the only text:
subscribe ad-i-misc (and unsubscribe by sending a message saying
"unsubscribe ad-i-misc").

        You will receive a "confirmation" message from the automated
majordomo, and a request to respond with an "authorization" (which will be
supplied to you by the system) in order to confirm that you requested a
subscription.  Just follow the directions.

        Once you have subscribed, you can post to the ad-i mailing list by
addressing an email to un.ad-i@Orb.Nashua.NH.US, and to ad-i-misc by
addressing an email to un.ad-i-misc@Orb.Nashua.NH.US
 

11.     I HAVE SOME MORE QUESTIONS...

        Send me an email at talorina@maniac.deathstar.org.  I may not know
the answer, but I probably can point you in the right direction to find
it.