Started in this thread over here, the Lounge is an experimental project to give players a more casual place to roleplay and develop their characters in, compared to the main mission. There are no GMs unless requested -- otherwise, everything's run by the players, whether it's a crew chief doing some maintenance on a dropship between flights, a Corporal inspecting his squadbay, or a fireteam doing short night patrol outside the perimeter and coming back empty-handed.

In general
- Each thread is a self-contained scene. They can be at different times, in different places, as long as they're still in the general setting of the Lounge.
- Characters can be in more than one thread at once; just don't join more than you can handle.
- Threads can be either open (open to anyone), private (open by invitation only) or concluded (all characters have written themselves out and the scene is over).
- Thread authors are, effectively, mini-GMs within their own threads, and can exercise a bit of control over what goes on (but keep it reasonable, fellas).

Creating a new thread
1. Before you begin, check the Lounge's current setting in this thread and make sure you're in the right IC location.
2. Create a thread with a short, descriptive title. Include (Open) or (Private) in the title and, if it's a private thread, mention which characters are invited in the first post.
3. Write an opening post to set the scene, and wait for people to respond.
4. If you start a private thread and you let someone else in who wasn't on the invited list, edit 'em in, please. Makes it easier on the moderators.

Joining a thread
1. First, try to keep yourself down to one or two threads, eh?
2. Check if it's open or closed first. If the thread's private and you're not invited, PM the author and ask if you can join him.
3. Write yourself in. Unlike the main game the Lounge is intended to be fast and loose with more room for conversation and interaction, so keep posts down to a paragraph or two at the longest, depending on what's going on in the thread.

Playing in a thread
1. Keep up with the threads you're in, 'cause it ain't fair to the other players in the thread if you join and promptly disappear for two weeks.
2. Please, don't make a reply more than a page long (see A Night on the Wall for an example). If you post two pages of exposition while your character is just sitting on a bench, that doesn't give anyone else's characters anything to react to.
3. Same rules apply as the rest of the game. English, third person past or present tense, don't act for other people's characters, et cetera.
4. Be courteous about posting a lot. It's polite to wait until all or most of the other players in the thread have had a chance to reply after you post again.

Closing a thread
If everyone involved leaves by writing their characters out of the scene entirely, it'll be locked and marked as concluded. That's... about it, really. If you're the last one in an active thread, don't forget to mention it so a moderator can shut it down.

Any questions? Post here.