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OH BOY ARE YOU IN FOR A TREAT but not as much of one as my LiveJournal from when I was thirteen to twenty
So, storytime. When I was younger, I loved
to blog. I'd get home from high school, plunk down in my chair, and
blog about whatever. And my friends would, too. On LiveJournal. Some
on DeadJournal. I also made a uJournal and an InsaneJournal. Heard
that LiveJournal got "compromised", though, so I sort of stayed away
from there. Sad, too, but it is, as they say, what it is... I've still
got all of the login credentials, and what-have-you, too.
I'd
also go on America Online Instant Messenger, and chat with my pals on
there. Then, I moved over to Trillian, and finally Pidgin. Watched
AIM's servers go offline, on 2015. Everyone thought it was silly, but
hey, it meant something to me. 'Sides, if they can squall and wail
about some schlocky show getting canned after six or seven seasons, I
can squall over a chat client going away.
Anyways, in this here blog, I'm gonna talk about things. There'll be tags for them all, too, so you can skip stuff you don't wanna read about. Category will always be Blogging.
Gonna avoid politics and all that, because while I have my beliefs, that can turn shit ugly, fast. Also gonna avoid talking about work, because boy howdy can that fuck you sideways if someone you work with finds out!
For
the most part, I'm gonna go on about my gaming. I do most of it on
tabletop, on message boards. I work nights, so even if we weren't in
the middle of a pandemic I'd be up the creek without a paddle in terms
of finding a damned group to play with. Scheduling is also a problem, so that precludes Zoom/Discord/Ventrilo/Roger Wilco groups. AT THE END OF THIS BLOG, AND EVERY GAMING BLOG, I AM GOING TO SHARE LINKS TO THE MESSAGE BOARDS ON WHICH I PLAY!
Check them out! Why, before I tell you all about my neat adventures,
I'll even tell you what I like and dislike about play-by-post
role-playing games. And for the things that I dislike, I'm not just gonna bitch and whine, I'm gonna let you all know what you can do about them if you encounter them!
Play-by-Post Pros
-You can play more or less on your own time, with people from all over the world. Sure, you still have to post regularly;
you can't just post one month, be gone for five, and expect the game to
go on without you. Most reasonable Game Masters set a reasonable
posting rate of three to five posts per week, understanding that people have lives outside of gaming.
-There
are more opportunities to role-play, since it's all text-based. If you
want, you can really immerse yourself in your character. It's not at
all uncommon to see as many "short and sweet" posts as there are really
florid and detailed ones.
-Wanna play something "obscure" or "outdated" that no one else really seems to know how to play anymore? Ask. I can guarantee you, you will find a Game Master or players willing to play with or run a game with or for you!
-Dice
are rolled electronically, and are more or less tamper-proof. Same
goes for card-drawing scripts on some of the forum software.
-LOGS. Everything's saved. Sure, you can edit posts, but I think Administrators can see edit histories, or something. That way, no one can cheat.
-Some
people have mad anxiety and might really want to play, but can't do the
around-the-table experience. This is great for them. I actually told
my therapist about this, so that he could help people.
Play-by-Post Cons
-PLAYER
ATTRITION, PLAYER ATTRITION, PLAYER ATTRITION! There is nothing more
annoying than that! You'll get a player who'll make a couple of posts
in a game, and then bolt. Or, someone who never shows up to begin
with. Sporadic posters. The best way around this as a player, is to take the thirty
seconds it takes to tell your Game Master that you might not be able to
post more regularly, or to tell them that you want out of the group.
Other people are waiting for things to keep moving, tooo, so it's only
fair to them. As a Game Master, the best thing that you can do is set
clear boundaries and expectations, and enforce them. All parties need
to communicate, even if it's in Private Message channels.
-Sometimes,
you get drama in your group. In-character stuff is fine, so long as
everyone is on the same page; out of character is where the problems
begin. It's best to just sort of brush it off as best you can. Trust
me, those types don't last too long, because it all catches up to them
eventually, and they find themselves with nowhere to play. If it gets
to be too much of a problem, take your Game Master to the side and tell
them, "hey, so there's a problem..."; or, if you're the Game Master,
talk to the problem player. If things get out of hand, contact site
Administration.
-It's rare, but sometimes databases
will fail and need troubleshooting... but that's why I go to more than
one place to play! A bored Toa is a sad and frustrated Toa.
With that being said, here are those message boards I was telling you about!
Myth-Weavers:
myth-weavers.com/ Whoa. Wanna play almost any system you can think
of? Check this place out! The userbase is friendly, and they have
character sheet software that other places use, too!
RolePlay
onLine: rpol.net/ Boasts an AMAZING dice roller, and some really cool
software on which to host and play games! You can find players for almost any rules, here!
Giant
in the Playground: https://forums.giantitp.com/forum.php Pretty
active, all things considered. You're better off sticking to Dungeons & Dragons games using Revised 3rd Edition and 5th Edition rules, as well as a few other systems; players can be a little flighty!
RPG Crossing: https://www.rpgcrossing.com/index.php Good for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons
games. There's a West Marches-style campaign, which is best explained
here (
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/120770/what-defines-a-west-marches-campaign
). They have their own character sheet software.
By the way, if you're looking for materials with which to play, I hear that someone's stashed a lot of things in the trove... Safe travels, adventurers!
Comments
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SCARY WIZARD
@Byron Glad to help! I just kind of started this in 2009, when the World of WarCraft the Roleplaying Game forums tanked and the community migrated somewhere else. Someone was going to run a game, but that fell through and I was itching to play since my group had fallen apart three years prior, so I just searched and found Myth-Weavers. I'd also started reading Order of the Stick (not too much of a fan, though), signed up on the forums for the funsies, and ended up finding RPoL and I believe RPG Crossing through there. Now, especially, I like to really, really tell the RPG crowd about these places. I just have to mind my verbiage about the trove that I keep talking about, and all the wonderful, swell things you can find there...
Lord Byron Silverhand
YOOOOOOO this is the hookup for an aspiring ultra-nerd like me, kudos!