OK, here is the text of an email I sent out to everyone who gave an address to DaveK.
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Hi guys. My name is Sage, and I'm emailing you all because Dave tells me you've expressed interest in playing Shadowrun online.
As the situation stands I'll be going out of country on the 6th of September, and Dave has a big scary physics exam covering years of material in mid-September. The consequence of this is that while I might be able to run a 5-hour-or-so game or two between now and September (I'm pretty busy preparing to leave), it would probably be Dave who would eventually take over regular GMing after mid-September.
At this point in time, we need to come up with dates and times that can accomidate everyone at once, so that we can actually have a game. For the long run, it is probably best to come up with and maintain a regular time slot for the game (i.e., "9 PM EST every Friday, till 1 AM", or what have you) but in the short run for the sake of giving everyone a chance to play and see if they like the IRC format or not and considering that it's the summer we can probably be flexible and just pick one spot in time that works for everyone.
So, in other words, when replying to this email, please say what dates and times would be good for you to try out an "introductory" game.
Secondly, Dave tells me that there is a mixed bag of experienced players and new players. If you feel like it, you should probably respond to this email and say what style of game you like, or what your expectations/hopes from gaming are. That way, we can avoid a situation where the game that is prepared is inappropriate for the audiences, and it can also help me and Dave get a handle on what you all want to do in general.
Thirdly, you probably don't want to spam everyone on the To list with your reply, but if when replying to the email you made sure that Dave's address is on the CC list, that's probably a good idea, since that makes sharing information easier.
Lastly, Dave suggested to me that we can get things moving more solidly if I throw out some specifics about an upcoming game. Since we have a mixture of experienced and inexperienced players, and we probably all want to get a feel for each others' playing styles, I will lay down the following general guidelines for an upcoming exploratory or "exhibition" game:
*The game would be basic Shadowrun, without using house rules.
*Please refrain from using advanced sourcebooks to generate your characters. If there are newcomers to Shadowrun, I wouldn't want them to wonder why they have the Armored Jacket and the Uzi III while the guy next to them has layered FFBA, AV rounds, and Wildcat martial arts.
*You can use either the Priorities system, or 123 points, to generate a character.
*The setting of the game would be a basic Seattle setting
Please note that these guidelines aren't long term; they're just for the purpose of setting up an exploratory game where we can see who is playing, what their style is, and understand what their expecations from a game are.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing back from all of you. I hope that much happy gaming lies in the future!