OngoingWorlds blog

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

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How to write a newsletter for your roleplaying game/site

DavidRecently on our Facebook page I asked what sort of articles you’d like to see on the blog, & several people asked asked for more helpful advice for roleplayers & game owners. Elena (who runs her own roleplaying site “Before the Mast”) volunteered to write us this article. She talks about a game as a “site”, but this is totally relevant if your game is part of a larger site, like games on OngoingWorlds.

Woman with newsletter

How to write a newsletter for your site

The marketing concepts would tell you that newsletters are one of the least expensive – and most effective – public relations tools that exist for drawing attention to a website. I’d say it is very valid for the RPG world too, as it happens on sites. Read More

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Some secrets for an effective villain

Final boss

I saw these tips in the newsletter RPT#624 by Johnn Four. Read More

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Become a Hero and be entwined in OngoingWorlds’ tentacles forever BWAHAHAHA

Squiddie grabbing heroOkay I admit I just wanted an excuse to use this cool graphic I made.

This article is a bit old now. Hero Membership is still a thing, and is the best way to support the website. But the details have changed, so here’s a link to a much more recent article:

Become a patreon & get Hero Membership

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Way With Worlds: Heroes and Villains – Dark Mary Sues

This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog, but has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles. -David

Looking through glass

NOTE: I am addressing Mary Sues in this column, which often involves questions of definition. As Mary Sues (and the male counterpart Gary Stu) are often a continuum, I wanted to clarify my defintion. My definition is of an “author’s pet” – a character who gets vastly preferential treatment by the author in a way that distorts the story. Thus I am discussing them entirely in the negative. Read More

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Need a Scifi Avatar for your character? There’s a website for that!

Last week I discovered a website that seemed very useful for people roleplaying in a scifi setting. Called Sci-Fi Avatars, it’s a large database of Photoshopped character images you can take and use as your character.

Star trek avatars website screenshot

With photos of loads of different aliens from Star Trek, Klingons, Andorians, Bolians etc, you can just pick one and use it to represent your character without having to trawl the internet or attempt some dodgey Photoshop yourself.  Read More

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New category: Adventure

Indiana Jones

A new category of “Adventure” has been added to the list of types of games. Read More

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Hero membership

Hero membership

Hey dudes, I’ve added a new way to highlight & reward users who donate. As a way for me to say thanks, and for donators to have something a bit special. Read More

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Way With Worlds: Heroes and Villains – The Deadly Hero

This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog, but has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles. -David

Duke Nukem standing on pile of bodies

So we’e talking heroes and villains. Usually at some point we’re talking conflict and outright violence in this case, even if its not physical. However when it gets physical, I want to address a rather poorly handled archetype which I call The Deadly Hero. Read More

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11 things to think about before starting a time travel plot

Downton Abbey Primeval time travel

  • Make sure you mention or include a way of the characters getting back to their own time. Think about this before taking them on a one-way trip. Read More

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Thanks Threnody for donating – & introducing the recent donator highlight box

Highlighting the last donator

Hey roleplayer dudes, I wanted to specially thank Threnody for donating recently, which has helped significantly with our ongoing hosting costs! Read More