How to Play by Post Roleplay (forums rp)

[DeAnna]

Play-By-Post Roleplaying or PBP, is a text based style of roleplaying done on message boards in which players write the actions, words spoken, and thoughts of their characters in various scenes of their own, other players and the storyteller's creation.



Locations In The Game World
Our online game is conducted on a message board which represents places in our fictional world of darkness. The message board consists of forums that represent the major locations which characters tend to frequent across the cities of our world as well as one board which represents any location that does not currently have a forum made for it.

Within each forum players and storytellers alike have started (or will start) something called threads – or a linear collections of related posts – representing different dates or times when something is occurring at that location. You can think of each of these threads like different scenes from a movie.




Writing In The Forums
All roleplay in our online game is done in the third person (he, she, they, etc.), just like you would read in a storybook or your favorite novel & you may either use past or present tense such as in one of these two correct examples:

Correct: Bob the Vampire walked into the bar looking for his next victim.

Correct: Bob the Vampire walks into the bar looking for his next victim.

WRONG: I walk into the bar and look for a victim.

Notice how the character's actions in the “correct” examples occur in the past (walked) or present (walks) tense and how the sentence refers to the character by name rather than by saying “I” as it did in the “wrong” example. With a bit of practice, this style of writing will become natural to you and will allow other players to feel more immersed as they interact with your character.




Writing Your First Post On The Forums
Introducing your character to the other characters in a thread is about understanding what type of entrance to the story that you want to make and then posting about it. For example, maybe you want your character's first time being seen in the story to take place on the crowded dance floor of a night club or perhaps you want the high class flair of a five star restaurant to be the backdrop of your character's arrival.

No matter what your desire for making the scene with your new character, we probably have a location that works... for descriptions of what each location looks like, look inside each forum for an announcement post that tells you what each place looks like or go to our website's wiki and look up the location you're interested in.

Once you've picked a location that your character will first be seen at, choose a date and time which they will be first scene and then go into the forum representing the location you've chosen and click that “Add a Discussion” link at the top of the page inside the forum.

For your scene's title you'll want to put the date and time as well as a catchy name which hints at what sort of thing might happen in the thread. In the case of your first post you might just keep it simple and call it “Meet Bob the Vampire” or whatever your character's name is.

Additionally, if you want to make sure that everyone knows that they are welcome to join the fun, add “Attn: Everyone” as this lets all the players know that everyone is welcome to join the scene. Keep this in mind because if you ever see “Attn: Bob the Vampire” (or whatever your character's name is) that means someone is waiting for you to join them and the scene is ONLY for you. This also applies when you see a scene where someone else has put an “Attn” to someone else – don't join it.

As you start off your first scene, describe what the place you're in looks like tonight. Sure a restaurant or nightclub doesn't change much but maybe the restaurant is very busy or the club is having a ladies night and so is particularly full of skimpy dressed girls!

Next, every new player wants to describe their character for the other players/characters (since they've never met your character before, you need to tell them and the other readers what he/she looks like.) There is really no right or wrong way about it.

Describe what your character looks like, being consistent with details (for example don't describe your character as short in one scene but tall in another) allow readers to experience your character through your eyes. What is notable about your character? Does he or she have any distinguishing features or characteristics? What clothing is he or she wearing? How well does he or she pull off the style they are shooting for? Are they nervous, awkward, confident, beautiful or ugly?

As you end the first post of your first thread, be sure to leave it open for others to join you, maybe even include a specific opening for someone by saying that your character spots someone watching him or her, or notices someone walking in who catches his/her eye. Other players can take this as their opportunity to meet your character!




Interaction With Other Characters
At the heart of playing in our online game is interacting with other players and staff. When you post a thread you should try to be mindful of providing an opening for other players to join you - whether it is an explicit opening by having a character available for interaction or an implicit one by providing context clues about what can be seen in that location at the time of your thread.

Generally speaking, many threads in our game consist of players interacting with other players, without the need for storyteller interaction. This is because most of the time Vampires don't run around attacking, destroying and killing things if they can avoid it and instead work to learn each others secrets and one up each other socially in front of their peers.

However, if you find yourself in a thread where you might use a power or ability on another player's character, private message the other player and try to talk to each other & decide how the conflict would likely resolve. It's polite to allow your character to have things done to them if it's in the interest of good story... even if that something isn't always a good thing. Remember, the best characters aren't the ones who always come out on top... conflict makes the best characters!

However, if two players can't agree on how a conflict would resolve than the aggressive action being taken will simply fail (a gun misfires, a punch thrown will miss, a discipline simply fails to work as it should) and it falls to the players to decide how they will react to the failing of an attempted aggressive action. In the case of disciplines, most often the potential victim won't even notice (as most disciplines don't require anything visible to work.)

Players may request a staff member to arbitrate a situation between characters if the disagreement between players becomes too great but, we strongly recommend players try to resolve their own issues between themselves keeping the focus on building a better story before all other things.

Forums roleplaying etiquette states that you always wait for ALL the other players to respond before posting again, however, it's also polite to let others know if you know you'll be away for a few days so they can find a way to move the scene forward without your interaction. If a player doesn't respond within 48 hours, it's okay to send them a private message on the site asking them if it's okay to continue without their character (many times life has just gotten the better of people and they will tell you they'll be able to post soon) and if you get no response within one week you can speak to a staff member about finding a way to end the scene without the player if necessary.




Staff Lead Storylines
Occasionally the staff will use the forums to tell a part of our world's "meta-plot" ... a part of the story that may shape the face of the world your character lives in and when we do, any online character is welcome to join.

The posts involved in this story may take place on any number of boards and will be clearly labeled with similar names so that players know what order the posts happen in.

These posts will be started by storytellers and characters will be expected to use their powers and abilities in these posts to resolve issues. If, at any point during one of these threads, your character would use a power or ability that requires a challenge find a way to write this into your narrative and then put a request for a challenge at the end of the post in ((double parenthesize, like this)) so that the storyteller knows that you're speaking as a player making a request or asking a question.

Example: Bob the Vampire types like mad trying to hack into the computer security system. ((Storyteller I'd like to use my hacking ability to try and get past it's security system.))

The storyteller will make a test for your character using the stats you have on file and will respond with a post telling you if he/she was successful in their attempt.

Typically speaking storylines will come to a definitive close (with some sort of success or failure on the parts of those involved) but it will not always be obvious just how successful the characters may have been... such is the problem with living in a world of mystery like the world of darkness. Sometimes the enemy isn't seen and isn't easily defeated in one meeting...

Players who play online do not HAVE to take part in the meta-plot storylines and can choose to only take part in the ones that interest them or their character. However, these storylines present opportunity for great success and... epic failure. Either way the story is always stellar!



Formatting Your Posts
Use of capitol letters at the start of you sentences, using spell check and proper grammar are all considered good form; however, different players and storytellers have differing styles of writing. Some users will post lengthy texts that go on for numerous paragraphs, while others will post a couple of sentences; both styles of length are equally as enjoyable. As long as you communicate what you would like to communicate, and feel good about your writing, then you are participating in a rich creative experience that should reward you and encourage others around you to post back.

Please note what these formatting options mean in IC posts:

• Normal text = description of scene, actions, or events.
• "Quotation Marks” = what your character is saying.
• Italics = Your Character's Thoughts
• "Quotation Marks & Italics” = Your Character's Inner Dialog
• BOLD AND CAPITOL LETTERS = your character is shouting
• ((Double Parenthesis)) = What the player is saying to the other players or storyteller normally used to request a challenge.

Final Thoughts...
Our game can be overwhelming at first, because just like the real world, your character can do anything you can imagine; the only limits are those set by your own creativity. As your character travels throughout the city, interacting with the characters, visiting establishments, it's a good idea to keep a few things in mind about moderation.

Read posts carefully.
Nothing more distressing (and insulting) than having put together a few paragraphs or even sentences into a scene only to have your partner(s) completely disregard everything you wrote by writing something completely different than what you'd set forth. For example, if your writing partner's says it's raining outside, you don't want to say it's clear... or if your partner's character trips and falls, your character should offer to help them up or at least make note of the fall.

Avoid controlling other characters.
It's okay to assume that other characters might do expected or ordinary things (such as shaking your hand when it's offered or sitting down when you pull out their chair for them) but try to write what other characters are doing as little as possible. Let the owners of the other characters post their responses to you, after all, it's possible that the character you're writing a scene with might never shake hands because of an oath they took in their history... or maybe they dislike you and don't want to sit down, but you don't know that yet! It's considered incredibly rude to say what other characters are doing unless your writing partner gives you permission to do so.

Action versus Reaction.
Unless dealing exclusively with NPCs not listed on the wiki, you should only post what your character is doing and not what happens as a result of what your character has done. You must wait for another player or storyteller to tell you whether or not you were successful when dealing with main characters (characters played by other players) or supporting cast (those npcs listed on the wiki)

Be realistic.
Roleplaying is all about immersing yourself in the experience, and even though our game's setting is in an imaginary world, populated by fictional creatures, the story still has to make sense. Please do not use out of character information -- things that you know in real life, but your character should not -- to give your character an unfair advantage. You will find yourself having more fun if your character grows and evolves from the challenges and experiences that he or she faces.