OngoingWorlds blog

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

Feb
28

By

From TV to RPG – How Our Favourite Shows Can Enhance Our Roleplaying Experience – Part 2: Juggling Characters

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Inspiration for writing, Writing tips Tags: Leave a Comment

This article was written for us by Diego Herrera from the Star Trek game Outpost Eden.

Lots of futurama characters

Welcome back to the second in a series of articles designed to look at how sci fi and fantasy TV series can prove useful for writing roleplays (read part 1 here). In this article, I’m going to focus on what we can learn from the way TV shows manage large casts of characters when running adventures with our players. Read More

Feb
14

By

From TV to RPG – How Our Favourite Shows Can Enhance Our Roleplaying Experience – Part 1: Plot

Category: Inspiration for writing Tags: , , , Leave a Comment

This article was written for us by Diego Herrera from the Star Trek game Outpost Eden.

equinoxpt2_072

We’re living in a world where science fiction, for most people, is defined by television series.

Sure, we’re lucky enough to be able to dip into the world of books and films, but speak to someone who you roleplay with and they’ll most likely have a list of shows that they’re hooked on. They’re probably the reason why they joined your group, especially if it’s based in or on a particular franchise. Read More

Feb
11

By

Beyond the Senses

Category: Inspiration for writing, Writing tips Tags: , , 1 Comment

Spidey sense

Just because we use five senses in our everyday life, and even do describe a scene in our games, this doesn’t mean we should stop with them. “Never ignore your gut feeling” is a saying that refers to your sixth sense. Read More

Dec
18

By

Taking 5

Category: Inspiration for writing, Roleplaying community, Writing tips Tags: , Leave a Comment

When we need to reach a certain word count set by the mod, it can be difficult. But not everything needs to be said or even thought. Sometimes, bringing in our five senses gives two characters something to do or talk about. Read More

Dec
8

By

5 ways to describe a Mary Sue (according to Fallfest attendees)

Category: Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , 1 Comment

Fallfest was a few days ago, which is a chat bringing all different types of online roleplayers together. In a chat titled Mary Sue – Model Citizen or Menace to Society? by Sal Taybrim, people were asked to define what a Mary Sue character is. Read More

Dec
5

By

2015 Simming Fall Festival

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Events, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay Systems Tags: , Leave a Comment

2015 Simming Fall Festival
image by Jalana Rajel

FallFest V is here. See you there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read More

Dec
2

By

Inner Child: Young Characters

Category: Character Development, Inspiration for writing Tags: , Leave a Comment

hey arnold

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and make things better in your childhood? Do things differently? Tell the bully on the playground to shove off? Luckily, you are a roleplayer! Even better, you’re on OW! But simply putting a young age on your character and a cute picture of a kid as the character profile picture does not a child make. It’s all in their mannerisms and speech patterns. Read More

Nov
29

By

Characters v. Worlds

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Character Development, Roleplaying community Tags: , , Leave a Comment

Superman

When mods create games, they think of two things: the setting and the character. Without a good setting, the world lacks substance enough to hold interest for players. Without good chapters, the story can’t progress in an interesting way. But what do we do to insure a good story? Read More

Nov
27

By

Developing long term players

Category: Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

This post is a part of Senile Rapture, a periodic installment by Chas Hammer. In it, he revisits, mostly, his era of online role-playing, the 1990s and 2000s.

people magnet

Charles Star, David Ball, and James Drysdale recently tackled the issue of recruiting and retaining players in a series of articles. Thanks to them, the gears in my head started turning, all be it slowly.

There’s a fickle element to our quest to attract and retain players. People may join your game, but become too busy to post. Read More

Nov
25

By

Adding details to secondary characters (aka NPCs)

Category: Character Development, Writing tips Tags: , Leave a Comment

Police chief Wiggam from the simpsons

I found this good article with advice for creating characters by Lori L. Lake, and there’s a great section about creating secondary/minor characters (in roleplay we normally call these NPCs because nobody specifically controls them). Read More

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »