Each week, you have the opportunity to submit a turnsheet. The turnsheet represents what your character does in the period of time between meetings (this is sometimes referred to as downtime). In character, this period is two weeks.
Turnsheets can be found on your user page towards the bottom. There will be a list of hyperlinks to pages called 'Turnsheet 1', 'Turnsheet 2' etc. If you click on these, you will be directed to a blank wiki page with the option to create the page by clicking on the pencil icon to the right hand side of the screen.
You will then be able to edit the page! The edit window will come with a template that you just have to fill in with what your character wants to do. Please don't delete the headings and tags - they help us work out what you're trying to do! (you can delete the 'A one sentence (OOC) description of…' etc bits though!)
In each turnsheet, you may take up to three major actions, in which you can put your plans into action.
They can be anything you can think of that your character might reasonably do. We will try to interpret your plan, along with any external factors involved, when adjudicating what happened in your turnsheet response. Telling us what outcome you want is often a good way to be clear about what you're trying to achieve.
Generally, anything that hangs together coherently as a single subject can be counted as one major action. But two plans may be better turnsheeted as two actions if their scope is widely different - trying to fit in too much in a single action may not give you the results you want. Concise plans that are easier for the GMs to understand and keep in mind when resolving turnsheets are preferable to multi-paragraph epics. If possible, keep plans brief, and remember that longer plans are not the same as better plans.
If you want to ask any questions about actions, please contact the GM team and we'll do our best to help.
The most important part of any plan is having the resources to pull it off. In Underlings, having a quirk enables you to rely on a certain range of skills, character traits, or other assets as part of your plan. Simply having a Quirk is not helpful unless you can exploit it as part of an action. “Throw my Giant Doom Laser at X problem” is not a plan and won't get you very far, especially if X still needs to be alive at the end of the matter. “Use my Giant Doom Laser to eliminate their bodyguards/cover/possessions one at a time until they have no choice but to agree with my ultimatum” is much better.
Positive or neutral quirks which you are relying on for an action should be listed below that action. You can also list negative quirks which you think are likely to come up in that action—this won't change how often your negative quirks affect you1), but it can make the GM's life easier.
Resources are things that you may have started with or picked up in play that aren't represented by your skills. This might include, for example, a password to a locked door, compromising material on a diplomat, or a nice gadget that another character has leant you.
Other people are going to be crucial to your actions. They may help you or hinder you. If you are relying on another character to help you, make sure to note their assistance on your turnsheet. If an NPC has agreed in session to do something for you, note that down as well - we play a lot of different people and may forget, and the person writing the results of your action might not be the person who played that NPC. It can also help if you tell us how you think the other characters are likely to respond - this helps us judge your actions and responses in kind - and to distinguish between genuine miscommunications and deliberate betrayals.
In addition, you have minor actions. Your character may need to pass on an item in their possession to someone else or receive an item from someone. Or you may get invited to parties. To register that your character is doing this, but without putting in the effort that a major action would imply, you can use a minor action. A minor action should be possible for the GMs to completely answer with no more than a sentence (and preferably just “you do this”). There's no hard limit to the number of Minor Actions you can take, though we will appreciate it if you can be sensible about it.
If your minor action is to accompany other players on their major actions (e.g. “I join the expedition to search for the Abominable Snowman”), you will not be very useful to the action (i.e. your Quirks will not be taken into consideration), and will not get any personal benefit from the action. If the action would require significant time or effort just to tag along, the GMs reserve the right to say your character is too busy to attend.
If you are giving an item to another player please note this in your minor actions, even if the actual passing over of the items happens in session, in emails, or in another major action. This makes it much easier for us to keep track of who has what. It can be helpful to list any items you are expecting to receive, but if you put it in your turnsheet and the sender does not turnsheet to give the item to you, the response will likely be along the lines of “You wait patiently, but Mario never arrives with your princess”.
The deadline for turnsheets is 23:59 the Monday after each session.
Ideally it would be best if you could resolve your plans for the turn in session, but you can use the period between the end of session and the deadline to correspond with other players via email.
Please contact the GM team if you believe you have extenuating circumstances (we understand if real life gets in the way sometimes), but please don't expect to be able to hand in your turnsheet late on a regular basis.
We will aim to get a response to your turnsheet to you before session begins each week. These responses will be added to the end of your submitted turnsheet on the wiki. Your GM will email you when they have completed your turnsheet response, but it's worth checking your user page to be sure.
If you have any questions about your turnsheet response, contact your GM before the start of the session and we'll try to clear everything up.
See an Example Turnsheet.