OK, this is the real reply.
Should I have said my remark on the gnome was a joke too?
The basic joining procedure is simple. We meet in person to make sure there is mutual compatability. People are different and sometimes styles and interests are different and there just isn't a synergy. It hasn't been a problem so far but we all have stories of past games where expectations of some in the group weren't a good match. This is as much for you to interview us as it is for us to meet you.
In the past we've met for lunch or dinner but now, given the DM's work schedule, it would have to be dinner or you could just go by his place (where we game) one evening during the week. Lunch works better for me but his current job doesn't allow that so I would most likely stop in but not stay long. There we would go over the House rules and talk about the general feel of the game and you could tell us what style/mood you are most interested in and ask any questions. You can get a head start by reading the game log and reading the House rules (see Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to
or
; You can ask questions here of course.
Assuming you join us you will need to meet with the DM to make a character before we game. That could happen the same night or before the next game. You'd need to have a ready character reviewed by the DM before you started gaming with us.
We restarted the game in January. We lost two members due to real world stuff and someone new joined. The group is still more about role playing than anything else. In other word, it is possible the party, in character, will reject your character and we expect your character to treat us like people he just met until we learn, in character to trust each other. There isn't any metaphysical force of "it's a PC so we have to trust him". Its not out of the question for your character to have known one of the current characters in the past so some trust (or conflict) exists as long as all parties are agreeable. You just need to think about the character and treat the other characters 'realistically'.
What race/class you play is up to you as long as its within the limits of the game world. We don't want someone to make a character to fill in a gap and not be as happy about it. At the same time, you don't want to duplicate what the other characters do because that's less fun for everything. The best thing to do is make a character you want to play and just avoid duplicating a party role too closely. Right now we have a druid, a ranger with some psi ability and a fighter with some (combat) magic ability. We don't have a proper mage and we don't have a rogue. We are mostly in the woods so the druid and the ranger can cover the stealth thing but there isn't any sneak attacking. On the down side for a rogue we have a druid and a ranger so its not likely we will want to be in town much. We don't have a mage but the ranger's psi abilties will include some energy projection in the future and he is a bow-ranger so missle fire is covered.
In the previous version of the game I was an outsider and racial tension was a big factor. Race is open but you can expect some in character friction from the world the more non-human you are.
We game on Saturday night and have been meeting around 5:30 lately. We try to meet every week and I get very cranky when we don't but sometimes we miss a session. Sometimes we go out to eat before we start playing but mostly we order out. If you want to bring your own food that's cool.
Feel free to ask questions and post back when you could meet during the week.