Hi, this is Metal Man, the writer and GM of this RPG. You have have heard of me, or maybe not. This document handles two important things: The rules of the game, and answering frequently answered questions. When I am not in the room (irc.sorcery.net #supersmashrpg) this is to serve as a replacement, alongsides my trusty opped people. Also, this will be referred to in rule disputes, but I reserve the right to interpret things however I want. This is not to threaten your right to speak out and such; it's just that, in the ancient past, some people liked to thwart daily operations with legalese battles and such.

0. The Current Year Is 2020 Or Newer Rule
Hey, you. What the heck are you doing reading this, in 2020? This is all totally obsolete! Ah well. Just know that none of this applies to anything anymore and you'll be cool. (Or just go to the new site.) And yes, I only just added this in 2020, so don't think past me was psychic.

1. Gold-plated Titanium Rule
The GM (Metal Man) is free to interpret things how he wants within these rules, whether or not that involves logic, emotions, ice cream, or mind-controlling soda as an influence. As a part of this, these rules may change at any time.

2. Character Rule
Your character must be your original creation, or at least majorly your creation, have at least a 1% chance of working within a group of mercenaries like the Questers, and must, regardless of alignment, be able to serve as a Quester. Characters who do not fit this criteria may not join.

3. System Rule
The system is to be respected; not in the way of praising it or ignoring its faults, but if you have a problem, you should try to get it resolved, and if you find a loophole, please do not abuse it. People found to be using loopholes are likely to suffer ICly, in proportion to how much it is they appear to have cheated. No modern cheaters have been identified, but that does not prevent this rule from perhaps being used in the future... finally, playing for the sole purpose of gaining power, whether it be ICly or OOCly, is strongly discouraged.

4. Duh Rule
This should not need to be said, but some people seem to ignore it if it is not spelled out: you cannot maliciously harass other people in SSQ, and will not be unbanned if you curse out the people banning you, neither are you allowed back in if you find some way to trick the GMs into thinking you're somebody else.

5. Quester Etiquette Rule
While it may be in-character for your character to be mean, annoying, or disruptive, there needs to be enough tolerance from your character to allow events in the game to progress--otherwise you'll just get left behind as your character shuns potential allies and annoys other Questers.

6. The Extra Rule
Any, all, and whatever new plot objects, abilities, cheese snacks, and/or random explosions must be approved or at least known by Metal before you can introduce them into the plot. Failure to do so may cause the offending or conflicting material to be retconned to whatever works, even if that means disrupting your original vision.

7. The Dice Rule
All dice everywhere have flaws; do not spend your time cursing them out for every bad roll. Sometimes, sure... but if you do it all the time, expect to be kicked around and possibly silenced.

8. Stupid, Annoying, Ridiculous Godmodding Rule
The above is forbidden, as well as any other such godmodding in OOC. It just starts arguments and is dumb. Seriously. People who indulge in it too much will be kicked around.

1. "What is this website about?"
It is an IRC RPG; for those of you who don't understand, an RPG which uses a form of instant messaging called Internet Relay Chat, with which people can send text back and forth and thus communicate. This game is a vaguely video-game based one, in which the original ideas of such games as Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Super Smash Brothers are greatly expanded.

2. "How do I get on this IRC? And with what?"
This is one of many ways, but my preferred way. Go to mIRC's website and download it. It's shareware, so I suggest you donate them some money if you really like it and wind up using it past the trial period. Anyway, set the thing to go to the server we're on, Sorcery.net, by typing /server irc.sorcery.net . (You can do more to make it stick, but that's beyond the scope of this documentation.

Once you're connected, and have a nickname, etc, type /join #supersmashrpg . Once there you can actually talk to the people behind this site, and eventually probably join. Just be sure to obey the rules!

For additional smoothness in character creation, ask Metal to direct you to the char2.php stuff and give you instructions as to using it.

3. "There's this big, confusing, mind-bending plot going on... what is it all about? I can't quite get into this without knowing." "What's the plot about?"
Currently, it takes place 5 years after the original SSQ. This means it involves the Questers, a police organization of sorts, ensuring everything runs smoothly as the new Super Smash BRAWL tournament goes on. It involves them travelling between various Video Game worlds and fighting a variety of enemies, too.

4. "I've got a character sheet completed, but what about my moves?"
You roll for your first four in the chatroom. See SSQ105 for details. (Which, depending upon when you read this, may or may not be up yet.)

5. "The GM is being unfair! These battles are too hard! Other NPCs are doing things I dislike!"
These are all things which happen in any roleplaying game. However, I cannot emphasize enough that whatever happens, happens for a reason; and many an 'unbeatable' battle actually mean you need to try a different strategy.

6. "...But there's not enough fighting! What's all of this talking? I want to smash some skulls!"
SSQ was once almost ENTIRELY fighting; but both GM and players (at least, the older ones) became sick of that. So, some missions have a lot of talking; others have nothing but talking. Get used to it; the real world involves it too, after all.

7. "I feel useless. Why can't you give my character some sort of cool plot object or reason to do things?"
While many characters encounter important plot objects and/or become important, they must stick around to do so. Any character, even a blind/deaf one-legged monkey can be important. You just have to think of things to do instead of saying you're useless. On another note: I will NOT give out anything just because you asked for it; anything I give is usually for a reason.

8. "How dare you take my victory from me! The enemies are escaping too much!"
The enemies technically want to live. Questers do the same when faced with overpowering enemies. If you want to stop them, try to trap or trick them instead of yelling about it--that does little to nothing.

9. "I wanna help you do stuff and be a co-GM! Where do I sign up?"
I will pick you at my own impulse; attempts to garner my attention to do so or such besides showing me what you can do will be brutally ignored.

10. "Okay, so, what about these things I have in mind? Could you just use them?"
The short answer is no, the long one is yes. I can, with some imagination, make ANYTHING work in SSQ. However, due to the mind-bending nature of the past SSQ, I must do a little extra work to see if it makes sense. Usually, it will not be approved anyway, but you can try and see just in case it's really neat.

11. "You've been giving me all this information... how can I possibly remember it all?"
It is suggested you log sessions on your computer; character sheet and such are best put in notepad, on the site, or into similar text editors. Remember, don't expect me to remember -anything- when it comes to your character; I have way too many people to remember it all.

12. "I wanted to talk about something 3 months ago; but you seem to have forgotten!"
...The best way to ensure I do something is to constantly bug me about it; otherwise, I forget. Just try again... and again... and again. I'll have time some day.

13. "Your sessions happen at odd times! I can't be on enough! Arghhh!!!"
Unfortunately, my sessions usually happen at 6 PM PST, which may be some crazy time like 9, 12, or even 3 AM in your timezone. I cannot fix this; the best thing is to only join if you have the time at that timezone's start time. Luckily for you, people like Wolfman and Nick_Caligo are around to do sessions at other times, but I can't be sure when they do them. Ask them if/when they'll do one in that case.

14. "I have a character sheet from a year ago. Gimme back my stuff!"
Only if you agree for their backstory to be retconned to make sense within the new world and also to change them by 5 year's worth of time passing. Even then, you must start from the beginning with stats.

15. "Where are all the story chapters?"
Converting text logs to HTML is a harrowing task, especially with years of backlog. I am in the process of making it easier to finish them.

16. "What's with your unpredictable update/session schedule?"
My life is very chaotic. I can sometimes do an absurd amount of updates/sessions at once, some of each, or nothing at all, depending upon what happens. Also, some updates are done transparently. Additionally, PHP is extremely time consuming, and may eclipse an entire month to do what would seem like a simple thing.

17. "Your nickname is on the room, but you aren't responding!"
During the course of a day, I leave my computer on. Sometimes it accidentally gets disconnected, then reconnects, and... uses my 'Active' nickname. Also, even in the middle of sessions, phones ring, food must be prepared (I'd starve otherwise), and errands must be done. So be patient.

18. "What/who is all that old stuff you babble on about?"
When you've been on IRC as long as I have, a whole ton of old events build up. Sometimes I rant about them. If you dislike them, try to ignore me--It's hard to stop bugging people about old junk. Also, I don't usually babble on such stuff in the OOC room.

19. "Woah, there's this massive rant in the room.. what's that about?"
Although it happens less, I still ramble on about topics. Usually peacefully now. Don't mind them, my brain's just a bit glitchy.

20. "What's with those opped guys? I thought.."
Some are rule enforcers, some are co-GMs of sorts. Yes. Co-GMs. However, the only co-GMs currently were also the founders, so the problems I'd normally have do not exist. This does not mean I'm accepting more of them, though.

21. "Hey, you've been in this RPG's head seat too long. Democracy is the wave of the future! Begin the elections!!!"
As soon as there's a candidate who would actually posess equal time and passion for the game as me, I might consider giving them a trial run. However, they must survive the harrowing trials of being a co-GM and also satisfy me, the players, and some neutral observers that they are competent and do decent plots. Finally, I retain all right to veto anything, everything, and anyone; so, sadly, it remains an Oligarchy in any case. (I share some powers with the ops.)

22. "I hate you! You were a jerk to me in the past! You suck, Metal Man! You told me you were at VGF longer than me, and did dumb stuff!"
I was a bit mean in the past. I don't do that stuff anymore. If you wish to persecute me for it, prepare to meet my reason; it is often that those who carry grudges actually project parts of themselves they hate onto others. I also am very sorry for anyone I hurt.

23. "Where's Klumsy/Nick Caligo?"
Right in the room, currently. He gets busy at times, though, and don't poke him too much--he dislikes that. He also dislikes :p. I'd avoid using it around him if I were you.

24. "Super Smash Quest II? What?"
One of many SSQ 'sequels' and 'spinoffs' which died before it got off the ground. See also 'QUEST.'

25. "Why did you move from SMBHQ?"
The number of ads tripled. I had extra money. This server costs $2 a month. You do the math.

26. "Do you hate SMBHQ? Why did you stop participating in (section x)?"
No, but the politics there stifle my attempts to help them; therefore I am mostly a mailbag responder now.

27. "What's with that redirect from the SMBHQ section? Why did I see that first on the search results, despite this place?"
Beats me, but the good thing is that you got here. Stupid search engines.

28. "What are the Dark Ages?"
A time of SSQ where I had no clue what I was doing; you can search for their essence in the archives... they sucked, I know.

29. "Why haven't you fixed this PHP bug/answered my question/completed log xyz yet?"
Time conflicts, not to mention time spent updating this website, College, and also sometimes I'm not in a 'creative mood', thereby making my attempts to do such vain until I can think of something interesting.

30. "PHP what?"
A language used to generate pages for SSQ automatically. It makes both yours and my lives easier.

31. "Glyph who?"
He used to maintain the PHP. Then he left over a disagreement. Now I control the PHP... and that's all you need to know. Also, please don't bug him about the site's current PHP--chances are the PHP you're talking about isn't even stuff he coded anymore.

32. "Aha! I have found something not written down in the rules! Time to do whatever I want because of *insert excuse here*."
There are no loopholes that you can really use, because I will not acknowledge them as being valid if you try to use them. Do not attempt to abuse any you find--this can result in penalties.

33. "Your name is here, here, here, and here. What gives with (insert thing about name elsewhere)?"
My status with other communities widely depends on how much they may tolerate my sense of humor and affiliations.

34. "Who's that guy named MetalMan88 on AIM?"
Beats me. He isn't me, at least. I wish I knew who he was, though.....

35. "Where is (page x)?"
If you don't see it linked to on the main page, or linked to by pages linked to on the main page, it technically doesn't exist anymore (although old bookmarks will still likely work.) Likely it has been made obsolete by a new page.

36. "You're missing a feature in your PHP!"
Bring it up, I shall rememebr next time I run through the PHP.

37. "Ahhhh!!! PHP errors everywhere!!!"
Alert me to any major PHP errors you encounter. I shall fix them.

38. "What about The Void, Kuja, Denon, etc..."
They were parts of the old SSQ plot, and are now dead. They shall not return. Do not worry--a far tougher, more original crop of baddies are in store for you.

39. "Your site has gaps in its updated content."
PHP causes my updates to be more fitful. You can't half-make a PHP page, unlike an HTML page. Argh.

40. "I wish for you to host my site..."
This is a very selective thing. I may or may not allow such, and I reserve the right to have no reason whatsoever in my choices with such.

41. "Somebody other than Metal Man 88 told me I could put webspace here."
Ignore them. Only I can say such.

42. "Some deal we made 3 months ago is no longer valid with MM? Foul!"
I also change my mind. If you don't act on a deal made, then it will eventually wear out, whether it be from me changing my mind or just circumstances changing.

43. "I heard you think other RPGs are your enemies and should be destroyed!"
No. Not at all. I need the competition to do my best here. I simply look at them as friendly competition--like racing against a friend. I want to outdo them, yes, but not harm them while doing so.

44. "MobiusRP? Huh?"
I also administrate Mobius Roleplay, the opposite of this place. (Freeform, free plot, etc. etc.) I trade off between there and here for variety.

45. "You use improper HTML! Dieeeee!!!!"
I prefer to support all browsers, rather than chase away possible visitors. That said, Netscape users are in for a wild ride if they visit here.

46. "My Question isn't in here!"
Ask me it enough. It may show up in here.