In order to include it in the conversation, here's my sister's email in response to my original "I'm starting a bloggy D&D" post:

What's an NPC?
What's a PC?
If I don't know what an NPC or PC are can I still play?
If my character dies on the first day, can I get a new character?
Can I be Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Or Trinity? Or a combination of both
(Buffinity? Trinffy?) Can I have a baby panda sidekick?
Can I make anachronistic references to television shows and movies?
As we go through the dungeon, can the map of where we've been be revealed?
Preferably with 3-D topography and interactive hot links to particular
events?

Skipping the first two questions, my answers were yes and yes (although I don't think it'll be necessary), and then it got a bit hazy. (Regarding the last one, I'd _love_ to have that, but I don't want to promise more than I can deliver on. Let's say it's on the planning list.) Perhaps the best question for discussion is the "Can I make anachronistic references to television shows and movies?" Or, to put it another way, what's the tone for the game?

The conventional wisdom is that it's better to have a properly immersive gameworld, where characters aren't named after pop stars and a dragon's last words are not "I shoulda had a V8." But I don't want to be a culture Nazi and correct people's Shakespearean -- I cannot come up with a more effective way to make players run away from a game. And although the original idea might be a joke, I think an elf named Trinffi whose purpose in life is to slay undead, particularly vampires, and can do crazy spin kicks, is the beginnings of a fine character.

My preference is for people to take on board the idea that their characters are really in the game world, and not talking out through the fourth wall at the audience. However, I can't imagine prohibiting players from commenting on the game in their own voice, if they want to -- on dndblog.powerblogs.com, character's speech is generally in quotes, while player's comments (and occasionally player or character "thoughtbubbles") are clearly distinct from the characters.

Furthermore, I rather like the wit involved in manipulating one's character into a situation for which the natural thing for them to say is "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"

So, how "serious" do we want the tone to be? Is there a line past which the friendly banter starts to detract from the storytelling, and if so where is it? I don't feel the need to set ground rules about what's "permitted" and what's not, but it would be good to have a common understanding of how much we plan to repress our natural tendency toward irony.

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