1) Your character isn't a magic pack mule, so there is a limit to how much they can and will carry with them at any given time.
Take my character Audrey, for example. She has one rifle, a bullet pouch, a powder pouch, a water skin, a pouch for her coins, and a hunting knife. Add the clothes on her back, and maybe a backpack with a sleeping bag and pillow inside, and that's all she can and will carry.
It will be my responsibility as her Player to track how many bullets she has to shoot, how much powder she has to load into her gun for each shot, and in what condition all of her weapons and equipment are as time flows forward. Once she runs out of bullets, she's out until we stop at a town/city to restock.
Please take notice of the fact that I didn't say she carried any food with her. Where's she going to keep it? Audrey has to hunt for her meals as she has no preservatives or containers to keep them fresh on long journeys. She doesn't have the space or the hands for it. She will have to stop, hunt, cook, eat, and then move on every single day in order to maintain her health and stamina for the journey ahead. If she skips meals, you'll see the effects it has on her as we progress.
Also, her gold pouch isn't infinite. She has a limit, and she will have to abide the prices I have been compiling for ammunition and such whenever she stops in to purchase them. Once she's out of coin, she can't buy anything and will have to either work a job, steal the money she needs, or get lucky and find gold and silver treasure somewhere before she can legally purchase more.
2) Your character is inevitably going to be injured, get sick, and experience all the best and worst of life in this RP. So please don't always dodge opportunities to let them suffer. Overcoming obstacles and rebounding from getting thrown down is part of what makes their stories great.
Also, when they are sick, injured, or whatever, please make sure to pay attention to their performance in physical activities and such. If you're sick or hurt, you're not going to be able to fight or perform physically as well as if you were healthy. So be sure to include the little ways that they get held back by their ailments like wincing and not being able to draw their arm back all the way if they were slashed in the shoulder blade a few days ago and things like that.
3) Natural Reactions are king, both for the NPC's of this world (which I will be controlling for the most part), and for our characters.
Best advice I can give here? Pay attention to details. That's it.
When I set something up in the RP, pay attention to the language I use. If I set something up like an enemy taunting our characters before disappearing into a crowd, the word "disappearing" means he vanished and isn't available to get caught or engaged by our characters. So no charging in to try and confront him, and being successful in doing so. Make sense?
Also, the NPC's of the world are going to react dynamically to what our characters do, and it's not always going to be positive. If all they see is your character pushing another NPC, for example, you might know that they did so in order to save someone else from a mugger or something. But if the NPC's don't see that, and only see the push, they'll react harshly to your character instead of praising them. Make sense?
So just be alert to details and know that the world won't always make things easy or kind on our characters. Such is life.
That's about it for this thread!
Thank You!!
