What to Expect at Your First Game

Out of Character
First off, expect pretty much lots of people to be really nice and friendly. You'll get some questions about your Kit or your Character as well, people love trading kit & character stories.

The Ref Team will also be sure to put in an appearance, the first one you'll most likely meet will be Sarah who is the Co-Ref and Character Co-Ordinator Ref. She's the one who went through Cha-Gen with you, making sure you knew what was what with everything. She'll then more than likely introduce you to Nic the Ref who's been running the game for the last 25 years now.

By now you're probably already on the Facebook Page so you'll have already met some of the players online as well as seen the numerous posts and updates the Ref Team put out.

You'll be shown the Out of Character Stuff Storage area, sometimes a separate lockable room but usually a corner of the big room we use that is separated off for coats, bags and unused kit to be left during Time In.

Before Time In you'll also be part of a Safety Talk, this is something we do before every game, it covers basic combat, weapons checks and if anyone has some form of condition other players need to be made aware of this is where it's raised (IE Don't hit player Z in the leg because they have a weak knee at present).

Shortly after the Safety Talk the Ref will announce how long before Time In and ask you all to wait in a specific area as well as provide a small brief about the location and give players a cue as to when to go In Character.

In Character
The Prince will have announced in advance when and where the location is, and in dribs and drabs the characters will enter.

You'll usually be met by a small group of people just inside the Main Entrance to the room being used, these guys are usually referred to as the Security Team. They'll probably ask you a couple of questions, then pat you down.

Once they've done that one of them will escort you to a waiting area for New Arrivals and ask if you have any contacts in Court, a Letter of Introduction from other Princes or what Clan you are from so they may inform the relevant parties of your arrival. If you're the only New Arrival you may be sat on your own for a short while, so bring something to do In Character, ie a Laptop, Tablet or even a Newspaper. However it won't be long before people come and talk to you.

For the first half of the game you probably won't get to meet The Prince, unless they feel you have some sort of information to pass on to them that may be pertinent to the Domain as a whole.

The Ref will also alert certain people in Court if you happen to have any Status and the reason, in broad strokes, for the status.

Other members of your Clan will drift over to you and start chatting, trying to figure you out, see what you know, and decide if you're useful to them. They'll likely offer to introduce you around the Court to people they know or respect or even who may have some sort of connection to you through how you act or look.

This is a great chance to really mix it up, and start doing exactly what they're doing. Find out who'll be useful to you, who can be used and discarded and who the secret powers behind closed doors are in the Domain.

Come the second half of the game your character will likely already have decided who to mingle with and steer clear of.

As the day goes on the Prince will possibly ask you to come to their Desk for a chat, they'll ask you lots of questions. This is a make of break moment for the character, if the Prince doesn't like what they see or hear then they may refuse to allow you to remain in the Domain, this is pretty rare but not unheard of. That's why its quite important to make allies through the earlier half of the day, they'll no doubt report back to the Prince their opinion of you.

Usually the Prince will ask if you already have a full time residence in the Domain, or whether you're running on a temporary residence. They'll ask you where your assets and abilities lay and what you bring to the Domain.

You'll usually be granted a three month reprieve to prove yourself as useful to not only them but the Domain as a whole. This coincides with the grace period that all new characters get when they join.

Before the end of the Court the Prince will call a meeting of all those in attendance, this is used to air information, usually generated from Rumours and Downtimes, as well as to provide a safe platform to air grievances openly. The Prince will use this meeting as a chance to dole out some tasks that need doing as well as highlight any changes to the status quo of the Domain.

Once the meeting is concluded the Court gets to mingle, make arrangements, part plan the Out of Character Downtime actions in an In Character way and then make their way out of the Court gathering.

At which point the Ref calls a Time Out.

After Time Out
The Ref will try to have a quick chat with you to ask how you found the event, what your impressions of the game are and whether you'll be returning.

Everyone helps to reset the room to how it looked before the arrived (the Ref usually Sets the room whilst players are getting ready however anyone who arrives early gets to help stack tables and chairs in the morning).

After some events we also go for a meal at a local buffet restaurant, as the table needs to be booked in advance this is always advertised on the Facebook page as a separate Event.

Once the Ref Team get home they do a general post about Downtimes, with lots of useful links, and then upload the pictures that have been taken through out the Event.