OngoingWorlds blog

News & articles about play-by-post games, for roleplayers & writers

Dec
14

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Using Your Roleplaying Skills to Improve Your Creative Writing

Category: non-PBP roleplaying, Roleplaying community, Writing tips Leave a Comment

This article was written for us by Marcela De Vivo. It mentions tabletop RPGs throughout, but applies also to play-by-post roleplay. 

Daring swordfights, fantastical adventures and questing, oh my! For the creative, innovative and artistically inclined, these things tend to magically drag us into turning our world upside down– making the impossible possible. And what better way to test our imagination than with a friendly (or not-so-friendly) enticing roleplaying game?
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Dec
2

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11 Reasons Why Play-by-Post Games are better than MMORPGs

Category: non-PBP roleplaying, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay Systems Tags: 2 Comments

Star Trek Online away team

I realize that this statement may be controversial, if not heretical. Many fans cling to their MMOs with great pride, whether it’s Star Trek Online, the Old Republic, World of Warcraft, or Elder Scrolls Online’s Beta. However, as cool as it is to have that level 60 Paladin/Jedi Knight/Klingon Captain/Battlemage, there are a few downsides you should be aware of. Read More

May
25

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Challenge Accepted

Category: Inspiration for writing, non-PBP roleplaying, Play-by-post discussion Tags: , , , , , 4 Comments

Why do we roleplay?  What point do I dictate by typing these words upon this screen?  To explain, to confined, to emphasize?   What point is there in continuing to come back to this reality when the real world is so beckoning, so insisting that I take out the trash?

I’m sure many have tried this, to explain why we tend to write, to live outside ourselves through some off handed dwarf, elf, commanding officer, or some other conceived creature of creation.  Many have come to assume it’s an escape, a means to leave the stress and sometimes confining reality we live in.
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Apr
16

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Rough Riffs by Tweet RPG

Category: non-PBP roleplaying Tags: Leave a Comment

Rough Riffs RPG - Tweet RPG

I’m always interested when roleplays do something different, and Tweet RPG is definitely different. Ran by Sam Richards, Tweet RPG allows players to control the story by voting on Twitter. I interviewed Sam a while ago, and there’s some more articles about using Twitter for roleplaying here. Read More

Apr
3

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Sam Richards – Tweet RPG

Category: Interviews, non-PBP roleplaying Tags: , Leave a Comment

A while ago we featured an article by Sam Richards, who runs a text-based roleplay on Twitter called Tweet RPG. I caught up with Sam again to ask him more about how he uses Twitter for roleplaying, and now the players control the story. Read More

Dec
5

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This holiday, give the gift of a drama-free gaming group

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, non-PBP roleplaying Tags: , , Leave a Comment

Kim from RP Repository

Written by Kim from RP Repository

Drama destroys gaming groups. It happens all the time.

There’s a popular wisdom that would have us think that this is because “nerds” or “geeks” aren’t the most socially apt, but in fact, petty conflict breeds misery all over the world. From school rooms to board rooms, from church groups to hockey teams, tough talks are still tough talks, and even the most well-adjusted individuals don’t enjoy rocking the boat. EVEN if they don’t like the boat!

Over on the RP Repository, the social network for Roleplay Gamers and their characters, we’d like to propose a different theory:

1) Gaming is only genuine fun when you’re playing with people who you like, and who like you back
2) Most damaged relationships can be repaired, with a bit of work
3) Most people, nerd, geek or normal, want to be friends and are willing to make changes if they know what they are Read More

Dec
1

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OtherSpace – Story arcs in a MUSH

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, non-PBP roleplaying, Play-by-post discussion Tags: , 2 Comments

Otherspace

I received an email the other week letting me know that the space-opera MUSH OtherSpace is starting a new story arc, and they’re asking for money contributions to help out with funding their hosting, marketing expenses and production costs. You might have heard of OtherSpace, we hosted an article about them earlier this year interviewing Wes, the creator (you can see it here).

Whilst OtherSpace is a bit different to the types of roleplaying games ran on OngoingWorlds, they’re remarkably close and still have members who contribute to an ongoing story, just like our play-by-post games. I interviewed Wes again, asking some questions about his new story arc called “Broken Web”. Read More

Jul
26

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Tweet RPG, roleplaying on Twitter

Category: Interviews, non-PBP roleplaying Tags: , Leave a Comment

DavidThe following article was written by Sam Richards, a Creative Writing graduate and geek from Wiltshire, UK. I’ve known about Tweet RPG for a while, always seeing fragments of their story on Twitter, but never truely understanding what they do, so I asked Sam for more detail.

Tweet rpg

Tweet RPG uses Twitter to provide users with an innovative new way of enjoying text-based adventures

If you want to enjoy fun, free, follower-defined adventures on Twitter, then get involved with Tweet RPG! All you need is a Twitter account and an imagination.

Tweet RPG takes the create-your-own-adventure format of roleplaying games and morphs it into a truly social and multiplayer experience. Stories progress through updates posted on Twitter, with a set of options at the end of each update. The players then have a twelve-hour window to cast their vote as to how the adventure should continue, with the majority choice shaping the story. All it takes is one tweet to change the hero’s destiny! Read More

May
26

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The Truth About Having A Truly Character-Driven Roleplay

Category: non-PBP roleplaying Tags: , 1 Comment

DavidI spotted this article on RPG-Directory written by Drae from the roleplaying forum Sizael, which hits upon some home truths that resonated with me. I got permission to repost it here for your pleasure and education 🙂

As a few guys and girls might know, I run/own/painstakingly-work-on Sizael, which is an original fantasy WRPG that’s been online for a good few years. Since running it, I’ve been asked a few times how I go about running a character-action driven board. Those whom I advise or who join Sizael then attempt it themselves seem to think it’s a piece of cake, and as nice as the rewards are, a board reliant on character actions is heavy in admin-work and is in constant threat of dying. What’s worse? You’ll be getting a bad reputation because of those other sites that say they’re character driven but are actually linear and/or plot driven.

1. Character Actions are Needed, but not Always Found
I’m not sure if people are simply intimidated by the amount of information Sizael provides about its world (it’s not the biggest in lore but neither is it the smallest), and I know its current version’s guidebook (V1.9) can be confusing. However, even when it is encouraged that members not be afraid to affect the storyline, to purposely pursue an attempt to affect it, there are many members who will shy away from it or roleplay actions that though they’re not shying away, don’t really affect the storyline. Read More

Mar
7

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OtherSpace – A Multi-User Shared Hallucination

Category: Interviews, non-PBP roleplaying Tags: , , 2 Comments

DavidEver heard people talking about MUSHs or MUDs in the same breath as PBEM or PBP? They’re actually quite similar, and I was able to interview Wes Platt, the creator of OtherSpace, an original space-opera MUSH. He’s been running OtherSpace for 14 years and has a following of over 200 members. 

So what is a MUSH?

Wes PlattA MUSH – also known by the rather silly name “Multi-User Shared Hallucination” – is a text-based platform that players can go online to connect with from all over the world.

If you like reading and writing stories in real-time, improvisationally, with other people, it’s the sort of thing you’d probably enjoy. It’s a lot of fun if you get a kick of developing characters and crafting dialogue on the fly, reacting to situations, and following chains of action and consequence toward not-always-predictable territory. Read More

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