OngoingWorlds blog

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

Jul
29

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Way With Worlds: Dystopia Time!

Category: Writing tips Tags: , , Leave a Comment

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

Dystopia - Blade Runner

Previously I discussed Utopias. They’re not always popular, often poorly done, and are best handled by doing real world building first. Seeking to force a Utopia into your world tends to be about as successful as forcing it in real life.  If you don’t get that joke, please avoid any participation in politics until you do. Read More

Jul
27

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How do you stop people from godmodding?

Category: Roleplaying community Tags: , , 10 Comments

trolling godmodders

I noticed that RPRepository posted a news article about godmodding – which remains a constant problem in roleplaying games. I’d say it’s probably the biggest problem – would you agree?
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Jul
25

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Mr Xanadu’s Inspirational Inspiration

Category: Inspiration for writing, Play-by-post discussion, Writing tips Tags: 1 Comment

Xanadu CrestThe Xanadu Report

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with a good idea for a post. I for one usually end up writing numerous copies of the same post before actually putting it up (I’ve also got OCD, but that’s for another blog article). Sometimes we can’t post because we’re lost in the stories, other times it’s because real life is draining us, but one of the all time biggest problems is because we have no inspiration. I don’t need to go on a tirade about how essential inspiration is when writing, because you’re all aware of it already.

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Jul
24

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3 ways to reward your players with prizes

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

Bender holding an applause sign for awesome roleplayersMany roleplayers put a lot of thought and effort into their posts, something that it’s nice to reward. Here’s some ideas to reward your players, whether it’s as part of a competition you’re hosting, or just for the sake of being nice: Read More

Jul
22

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Way With Worlds: The Power of Timelines

Category: Writing tips Tags: , Leave a Comment

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

back to the future delorean

So let me be honest upfront. I love timelines in worldbuilding, in writing, in game design. I love history in general, so I’m biased, but there’s many reasons to love them in your creative endeavors.  Mine is probably just a bit more irrational.

When I write, I often create timelines as a form of writing, and in worldbuilding they’re very important to me. So I wanted to cover their value for you as worldbuilder, writer, game designer, and so on. Also it sort of justifies my love so I don’t feel weird. Read More

Jul
21

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Role-playing-games – are we playing a role, or writing a character?

Category: Roleplaying community Tags: 2 Comments

Puppeteer

The social aspect of play-by-post games can be a bit tricky. For as long as I’ve known, some roleplayers like to hide behind a character, and pretend to BE the character. I noticed this first a long time ago on a Star Trek game I was part of, where lots of the out-of-game chatter wasn’t necessarily out-of-character. People would still chat as if they were the characters.  Read More

Jul
20

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How to post to a Facebook page from OngoingWorlds

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, OngoingWorlds guide, Uncategorized Tags: , Leave a Comment

Post to facebook

So you might have a Facebook page for your game on OngoingWorlds. If not, it’s a really good idea because:

  • It helps people find your game
  • It gives you a place to announce stuff
  • People can follow your game easily, even if they don’t have time to play (usually called lurking)

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Jul
19

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Way With Worlds: Welcome To Utopia

Category: Writing tips Tags: , Leave a Comment

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

Future-City

Let’s talk Utopias in the worlds you make.

Utopias seem to be less popular in fiction of all kinds as I write this in 2014. Sure we’ve got plenty of dystopias; it seems that there’s always a fire sale on at the Life Sucks Dystopia Department Store. But Utopias, not so much. Read More

Jul
19

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Expanded Universe: Giving Your Game Depth

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Character Development, OngoingWorlds guide, Writing tips 7 Comments

Xanadu Crest

The Xanadu Report

 

If you’re in the Role Playing community, chances are that you’ve encountered expanded universe content before. flagsofTSABe if from your favorite TV show, a movie that you’ve loved your whole life, or a novel you’ve read a few thousand times. In fact, fandom games are part of a franchise’s expanded universe. As a writer, I tend to be obsessed with detail, so much so that for every post I’ve ever written there’s at least a few paragraphs of detail that got left out just to keep it within a sane amount of words (I say sane because my first Blue Dwarf post’s word count would have been up in the tens of thousands if I hadn’t regained my sanity and decided “maybe a novella doesn’t make a good post”, telling an entire life’s story doesn’t really work well). Read More

Jul
16

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3 weeks left to enter the Ambassador of Awesome competition

Category: Uncategorized Tags: Leave a Comment

Ambassador of awesomeYup that’s right, only 3 weeks left. If you haven’t heard of Ambassador of Awesome, read the original article here. But basically you need to tell someone about OngoingWorlds to enter. The more people you tell, the more chances you have of winning.

So spread the love and be awesome!

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