Here are some words from your list manager about how to get most out of the
Reckoning list. You get them as a free bonus with your pending subscription, and
they're posted to the mailing list itself every so often.

THE PRINCIPLE

Everything that follows builds on one principle: be polite. If in doubt, read
Miss Manners books.

THE PRINCIPLE, EXPANDED

This list, like every list I run, is my Virtual Living Room. I welcome all
points of view as long as they're expressed in ways that don't make the other
guests angry or uncomfortable. If anyone should feel unwelcome, I'll take care
of it. I exercise no official authority on White Wolf's behalf, and I have no
monopoly on the power to start mailing lists and other discussion forums, which
means I have no duty to tolerate everything that someone might think
appropriate. You can and should start a new list if mine proves sufficiently
unsatisfactory.

Here, I hope to find ideas and attitudes and speculations and humor and many
other good things. Several people who have worked or will work on the game are
on here, and I believe they share my view that interaction with the public is a
good thing. This doesn't mean just dealing with the handful who can shout
loudest, but with as many points of view as possible, and with as little
destructive noise as possible.

DETAILS AND EXAMPLES

It is okay to like Hunter, and okay to dislike it. It's okay to like some parts
and dislike others. It's okay to have wishes and preferences. It's just not okay
to abuse others for disagreeing.

This list is for people who want to learn about the game, talk about it, _and
use it_. If you really hate Hunter, this isn't the right place. Take your flames
to alt.games.whitewolf, or a hole in the ground, or some place that's not here.
If you persist in angry tirades after I tell you to tone it down or stop, I will
remove you. You do not lack other places to go and congregate with people who
also think Hunter sucks.

Hunter is a World of Darkness game, but it is also its own game. Inevitably
we'll talk a lot about how Hunter interacts with the rest of the WoD. That's
fun. We'll have different views about what should be high or low priority, and
that's fun, too. It's not fun to flame people because they have different ideas.
If you persist too vigorously in shoving everything in Hunter into your
understanding of Mage (or Werewolf, or whatever) cosmology, and most
particularly in telling others they're doing wrong if they disagree, then I will
remove you. The only requirement for a Hunter game is that it work as a Hunter
game. Keep that in mind and things will go more smoothly.

In addition, Hunter lends itself to variant readings of the WoD and the
incorporation of other material. Some people are mad syncretists who like
creating unholy hybrids in their game labs, while others prefer pristine
conceptual purity. Both of those are fine ways to game. The only wrong answers
are the ones that lead to your group not having fun. The fact that something is
declared thus and so on page X of book Y for some other WoD game carries no
automatic weight of authority here. If you think you've got the superior
understanding, demonstrate it through persuasion and the power of example.

Like every new game, Hunter has some errata. It also has design choices which
may or may not please you. Keep your discussion framed in terms of your
perspective. "I dislike X because I like 1, 2, and 3 in my games, and this makes
that harder" leads to many more productive conversations than "X is just bad".
It's good to have preferences and to explain them; it's bad to insult the
character, integrity, or intelligence of people who disagree with you. (Nor am I
amused by disingenuous efforts to weasel out of responsibility for attacks
hidden behind indirection and weasel words.) Keep it focused on ideas.

Remember that when you do spot problems, the best redress you can hope for is
acknowledgement in errata and corrections in upcoming releases. No amount of
shrieking can change books in print; you'll have to take a marker to your own
copy. Once you identify something that seems like an error, focus on solutions.
"But it's still broken in my book" is not a useful or interesting answer to "How
about trying X, Y, or Z to work around this?". It's only necessary to identify a
problem once, while the discussion of possible solutions is open-ended.

I like writeups. Few things add as much to online gaming discussion as actual
examples. Let us know what you do with the game - gaming creators write this
stuff to be used, after all. Obviously we can't all play every new game (he
said, eying shelf after shelf of scarcely-used games), but never let theory
drown out practice.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

Gaming is for fun. If you're just utterly not having fun, for goodness' sake,
put Hunter down and go do something else. If it makes you angry, if it makes you
sad, if it steals your pleasure, it's not worth it. Do what you enjoy and don't
sweat the rest.

SPOILERS

The core rulebook is on topic, without spoiler protections, immediately. All
other books get three months of spoiler protection for general material, six
months for adventures. Please put "Spoiler" or the equivalent in your subject
line and 20 lines or so of blank (or entertaining non-spoiler) space in the body
of your message. When in doubt, feel free to check with me. Promotional and
preview materials don't need spoiler protection, though please do choose good
clear subject lines so that people who want to avoid them can do so.

ATTACHMENTS AND SPECIAL FORMATS

Don't.

Send plain text. Don't send anything else.

Don't send HTML. If you're new or just not technically minded, we'll help you
set your mail client not to default to HTML-formatted mail. If the problem
persists, I will remove you, though.

Don't attach text files or Word files or viruses or applications or anything
else. Don't paste in GIFs or JPGs or MP3s or anything else. Just send text. If
you want to share any other sort of file, please put it up on the Web and share
the URL here.

(If it seems of general interest to the list, I might put it in the Onelist file
space. Talk with me on the side.)

WHEN PROBLEMS HAPPEN

When, not if. We're not perfect.

Sometimes you will disagree with other list members. When this happens (and it
will), do these things in this order:

1. Discuss it with the other person, _privately_.

2. Discuss it with me, _privately_.

Do not under any circumstances start netcopping on your own. If the list needs
it, I'll do it. If you really want to run a list, you can start one of your own
as easily I did.

CONCLUSION

Thanks!

-- Bruce Baugh, bruce-baugh@..., List Manager