A.  The Prime Directive
    All rules shall be construed so as to maximize the fun of playing.

1. A mage is a mage is a mage.  No specialties are used.
2. With the exception of powerful, special use non combat spells, no tangible components are required.  If you want to cast a special-use spell ["Find Familiar", "Become a Dragon", whatever], talk to me first.
3. Instead of components, the magic power is coaxed from the universe by a rhyme. Try to include the actual rhyme in your writings, it's much more interesting that way for the rest of us.
4. After 8 hrs of rest, you are assumed to remember and use any and all of the spells in your spell book.  You may, in fact, use the same spell more than once, up to the maximum allowed per spell level in the Mage Tables [in the Player's Manual.]
5. Cantrips are allowed and encouraged.  They do not require a rhyme, merely a hand gesture with the appropriate thought.
   

C. Religion / Alignment

1. "Alignment" as used in the AD&D rules does not apply.  The way you behave is your own business.  If you expect to have any sort of dealings with the Gods, keep in mind that They will remember your transgressions.
2. The actions of a Cleric, Druid or Paladin will need to be more in accord with the ideas and strictures of her/his God.

D. Weapons, Armor & Equipment

1. Any character may use any weapon and any armor.
2. Gunpowder and other explosives are out.  
3. Feel free to invent things that are not in the "standard" manuals.  The only requirement is that you need to be able to explain the manufacture of the item to a medieval craftsman, so forget tungsten broadswords.

E.  Skills and Attributes

1. We use the standard 6 attributes, in the usual way. However, with continual practice and training, a character may improve his skills, or by doing the wrong things consistently, they may deteriorate.  He may become stronger, or more agile by physical training, a course at the charm school could improve charisma, constitution may suffer by prolonged periods of pub-crawling, etc.  All these plusses or minuses are temporary modifiers.
2. Secondary skills are encouraged.  Do not feel constrained to the "standard" list, if you can think of a useful skill, and a reasonable reason that your character may have it, it will probably be allowed.

F.  Identification of Magic items

1. A 2nd level mage always has the skill to detect non-religious magic items simply by concentrating on the item briefly.
2. A 2nd level Cleric or Druid always has the skill to detect religious magic items simply by concentrating on the item briefly.
3. There are 3 ways to identify the nature of a magic item:
   a) Take it to a high level mage/cleric, mage school/cathedral.  If the identification is successful, you will be charged about 40% of the appraised value of the item.  If you are unable to pay, the item will be forfeit.
   b) Cast the Identify spell yourself.  This will almost never work properly, unless you are much higher in skill than the item's magic level.
   c) [The favored approach.]  Try to use the item in the way it was itended to be used: swing the sword, put on the magic turban, take a small sip of the potion.  If you are using it properly, you'll get a strong indication of what it's supposed to do.  Be careful with those potions, tho... you might want to have one of those "universal antidote" elixirs nearby in case it's a virulent poison.

G.  On the killing of characters

1. The Gods do not automatically protect the foolish.  Do enough really dumb things and you'll get killed.  
2. This is not Deathworld, with packs of Dire Wolves behind every turn.
3. WARNING: the DM has completely discarded the "standard" characteristics of the monsters in the manuals.  Unless you have met them before, or had them described to you, you won't know what they can do nor how tough they might be.

H.  Paladins

1. Paladins are made, not born.  If you wish to be one of the Paladins of Illuvitar, first work up to a 5th level fighter, then take on Clerical studies.  When you have achieved 5th level as a Priest of Illuvitar as well, you may be chosen.
2. If you are interested, contact the Arm of Illuvitar. They run a training program / guild hall for soldiers who pledge themselves to the War God.
3. There are very few Paladins of Illuvitar.  Each has been personally contacted by Illuvitar and selected by him.

H.  The Turns

1. We will aim for turns at least 2-3 times per week... depending on the real-world committments of the players and DM.  Normally, I would like at least one response from every PC.
2. You already know to speak & act only for your own character, so I won't mention it. *s*
3. We will all exchange email directly.  All email addy's will be confidential within the game. All mail should go to all the players, but private chats between players or even PC's can take place... just CC: me so I can keep track of what's going on.
4. Write in the third person, present tense, so I can cut & paste more quickly to put the final turn text together.  Use quotes for the things you say, and italics for your thoughts.
5. Leave the turn number in the heading, and if there's lots of text, just insert your actions in the appropriate place. Otherwise just send your actions.
6. A "turn" may be a single combat round, or a whole day, depending on what's going on.
7. The DM will roll dice whenever necessary, to simplify and speed things up

I.  Random FAQ

1. * Inventory & money. I dont really keep track of exactly how many of what things you have. That's up to each individual. I *do* keep track in broad terms... especially of items... and if ever anybody gets something that has some number of charges, I'll track that.
2. I **WONT** remind you about some magical thing that got found that you're forgetting to use.
3. * Combat You wont get a "Orc hits Daggda for 7 hp" from me. Instead it will be "Orc stabs Daggda, and the wound is pretty serious." or "minor wound" or etc. If you get to "seriously wounded" then you can figure you're down about 50% of normal. "Nearly dead" is pretty obvious in meaning. "Unconscious and dying" means at or below 0, and you may still be losing blood--usually at the rate of 1hp / round. -10 = hope for resurrection. I expect every PC to be able to do basic first aid, so can stop further damage for someone who is dying. They'll stay where they are until they get a cure... after an hour or so, they'll head for death again.
4. I do fumbles and critical hits, which you'll be able to tell from what happens to your attempt to attack. In the bugbear battle, there were several fumbles [Tav got hip checked into the pit, Quill's arrow went nowhere], and one critical hit [Myr's magic missile blew the head off a bugbear]