OngoingWorlds blog

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

Mar
8

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What is Open Role Playing?

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Character Development, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Captain Dick Sprague, Commanding Officer of the USS Chuck Norris

That’s a question I get a lot when people read or hear about my game, the USS Chuck Norris, as it’s quite different from most other sims out there.  But before I answer that question, I should first explain what the Chuck Norris is to set up the proper context.

The USS Chuck Norris is a play-by-email sim, but we use the NOVA system from Anodyne Productions that came out a few years ago.  Play-by-post seems to be the most popular term today for this type of game.  We launched on January 2nd, 2012, and are a member of Independence Fleet.  There are currently 16 active players on the Chuck Norris, and many have been with us for more than a year.  Although, we also have quite a few players that have been simming for less than six months.

With that out of the way, I’ll finally answer the question! Read More

Jan
26

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Interview with Anodyne Productions!

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Interviews, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , 4 Comments

Nova is installable software by Anodyne Productions for play-by-post games

Nova is installable software by Anodyne Productions for play-by-post games

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with two leaders from Anodyne Productions, the company behind the most popular and most widely used software for Play-by-Post games on the net.  From their humble beginnings several years ago, they’ve ascended to producing the premier simming solutions package.  Instead of putting words in their mouths, here’s what they had to say… Read More

Jan
9

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Tib’s Corner – Interview with Elena Vasilescu, Creator of “Before The Mast” #BeforeTheMast

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Inspiration for writing, Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community, Uncategorized, Writing tips Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

pirate__1221836287_8352Yo ho ho Ongoing Worlds! Tib here with a special interview! Note that this one is actually TC’s first out of site interview. This week I interviewed Elena Vasilescu, creator of the notable RP game, Before The Mast. The game, Before The Mast is an 18th century naval themed play by post forum game opened on August 6th, 2010. The game has been running for more the two years, and just like us the players in the game have just entered their New Year. So let’s get this interview started and delve into the world of swashbuckling shall we? Read More

Dec
18

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Tib’s Corner – Chat Ettiquette #LikeaTib

Category: OngoingWorlds guide, Roleplay Systems, Writing tips Tags: , , , , , 6 Comments

TIBBsWhy hello there Ongoing Worlds. Tibby here. If you haven’t noticed, OW has gotten a new Chat Room. Sadly, our buddy Cbox is no longer with us. We have a new fangled chat box thingy! The new one is called Chat Wing which Dave has been so nice to add. Now Chat Wing is great, many new features that Cbox never had. Since the chat is a little different I thought I might do a little bit on chat ettiquette! Now I’m not saying we’re all horrible, it’s just that we need a refresher once in a while! So let’s learn some manners! Read More

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

Nov
6

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How to roleplay on Tumblr

Category: Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: 5 Comments

I don't really know what "get out of the tag" means, but this was the only Tumblr image I could find that wasn't animated

I don’t really know what “get out of the tag” means, but this was the only Tumblr image I could find that wasn’t animated

I’ve been curious recently about the people roleplaying on Tumblr, and asked a roleplayer to send me a good help guide. With an initial reaction of “duh isn’t it obvious” she probably assumed I was an old fogie who didn’t know how to use the internet (it’s true, I’m over 30 now). Thing is, it’s NOT obvious. Tumblr is a minefield of horribly animating GIFs and blinking text that’s enough to give a squirrel a seizure.

Tumblr is very popular for roleplayers though, so I persisted. I was given this link, which I’ll paste some of the important sections here in case you’re also curious (but I recommend reading the full article if you are of course). Read More

Nov
2

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There’s millions of roleplayers. They just might not be where you’re looking

Category: Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: , 8 Comments

I noticed recently that RPGlibrary has closed the section of their forum for PBEM games, citing “the era of PBEM roleplaying has come and gone”. Utter nonsense, or is that true? Read More

Jul
2

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A nail in the coffin for Yahoo Groups

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Roleplay Systems Tags: 8 Comments

CoffinYesterday I received an email which makes me worried about the future of Yahoo! groups.

Yahoo! Groups have been around for over 10 years, and before that they were called eGroups. This was where I played my first roleplaying game, as Yahoo! Groups was popular with roleplayers as it was free and easy, and allowed users to send emails out to members of the game. This was a proper PBEM (play-by-email) game.

I used a Yahoo Group to run my Blue Dwarf game for 10 years and in that time there were no new advancements made to the system, giving me the impression that Yahoo had abandoned the service, only continuing to run it for legacy purposes. That’s when I moved Blue Dwarf over to OngoingWorlds (If you want to know more about this process, here’s an article I wrote at the time). Read More

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