RolePlayGateway: WeBlog!

Yax was very generous, placing RolePlayGateway in the Top 50 RPG websites. Yax runs a great dungeon mastering blog, with a ton of great tips, resources, and links - we recommend that you check out his blog, and don’t hesitate to subscribe to his RSS feed. Thanks again to Yax, and special thanks to our community for making us so great.

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Running a role playing game online presents a large of amount of flexibility in the way you run the game. You no longer need individual sessions where all players are present, and there are a plethora of options as to where you are going to run it - if you want to run it in any one place.

One of the number one questions I receive relates to the medium for online RPGs. There are tons of different ways of communicating online, mainly grouped into a few categories. We have instant messenger, chats, message boards, and emails. There are a few custom services out there, but I’m going to touch on the four that I’ve mentioned.

On RolePlayGateway, we have a set of roleplaying forums as well as a roleplaying chat. When you’re running an RPG, there are a few items you should consider when deciding where you’re going to keep everything.

Forums have the benefit of being static and always available - users can post to forums at any time during the day and be sure that other users (and roleplayers) can see their message. Forums are also very flexible, they allow you to embed images and other multimedia within your posts, allowing you to share any experience with your players. However, it is post based - forums are often not the quickest way to communicate, as it is not a live feed of information like a chat.

Chats, on the other hand, have the benefit of being real time. Games can be run in chat (and instant messenger) on a moment’s notice, and work best when all of the players can be available at the same time. Because it is real time, short blip-based sessions such as character conversations and interactions work extraordinarily well with chats. Players can get the chance to interject into other player’s actions and statements without the worry of too much time going by. It is for this reason that the longer posts, such as those that exceed a paragraph, are often too large and unwieldy for chats - players end up waiting too long for each post, and will get bored.

Longer posts do very well on forums, where writing an individual post can take half an hour or longer to refine and perfect - just enough time for the players to go look at other games and other topics before they come back and begin formulating their response.

If you’re running a game with a detailed and/or complicated storyline or characters, it is always good to post something on a forum for player reference. This lets the players have a place to communicate out of character (OOC) - such as when they won’t be able to make a chat session, or when they want to discuss plans for character interaction, growth, or development. Even if your game is already on a forum - it is a good idea to create a place for OOC discussion. For chat-based games - this gives a perfect opportunity for players to jump in at the middle of a game with little trouble, as they simply need to read over the history of the game on the forum, which they can do at any point in time, and less time is needed explaining the game to the player.

Instant messenger works well when dealing with one on one sessions, such as when two characters are the only ones in an interaction or a meeting needs to be private. These interactions can be summarized or written into a cinematic format and then posted to the forum, for other players to enjoy as well. Instant messenger (as well as Private Messages) does very well at asking questions of the other players, which is convenient when you have a question about how they’re playing a role or a reference they made in character.

There are also emails - many games aren’t run by email anymore, but email is still a very valuable tool. RolePlayGateway like many forums offers you the ability to subscribe to topics. Subscriptions will let you receive an immediate email update whenever someone replies to the thread. This is extraordinarily helpful when there’s an RPG with only a few players that can only reply every once in a while, but it requires that people, y’know, actually check their email. RolePlayGateway also has the special ability to instant message you when there’s an update to a subscribed thread. All you need is a Jabber account (GMail accounts work, too) and to set up the notifications. We’ll send you a message as soon as there’s an update.

What methods have you used to manage your online roleplaying games? Are you a fan of forum or chat? Both? What helps you determine where you’re going to hold your game? Discuss!

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I’ve always loved Eve Online. It’s a space MMO, with ridiculous levels of immersion. They tout that it’s the world’s largest game universe, and let me tell you - it’s absolutely huge.

One of our new members has posted her intentions to work on an Eve Online Roleplaying Journal. I think this is an incredibly awesome idea. It’s not new, I’ve seen character journals before, but it just seems to fit in with Eve’s extensive world and role playing experience.

Character journaling is a great way to extend the world of a game and add more depth to both the character and the plot. Be careful that you don’t fall victim to the inactivity that often plagues real journaling! Stick to it, and you’ll reap the benefits of fleshing out your character and having a solid history of the thought processes involved.

Be sure to check out Emywn’s Journal from Eve Online Roleplaying. It looks like it’s going to be something I’m going to have to follow using my trusty Google RSS Reader. Good luck, Kethro - and thanks for the idea!

P.S.: Google Reader is an amazing tool that lets you follow your favorite sites and their content without ever checking the page. You can check out my shared items list to see what sort of things I follow, but check out the official Google Reader page for more information.

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On our forums, we have a resource list of places to roleplay. It’s a great list, but as I’m sure you know - there are tons of places that we have no idea exist. Some are underground, and you can’t find them in search engines, others are private and are only for those who’ve been given the link.

Where are your favorite places to roleplay online? Forums, Chats, MUDs, MMOs - it doesn’t matter, give us the link!

Oh - and don’t forget to send this to your friends. The more people, the better. Please don’t forget to add the link!

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Establishing great gaming relationships with your fellow role-players is an integral part of enjoying the experience.

These days, the rosters of local gaming groups change frequently. Gone are the days when you got together with your close friends and started a gaming group. Role-playing game shops and the internet especially, make it much easier to join gaming groups of people you’ve never met. This leads to a whole new age of problems.

And if you think joining an established group is hard, try forming a new one; it’s much harder. Most people overlook the obvious reason this is so hard; in order to effectively role-playing game with a new people, a high level of trust is fundamentally necessary. The truism is “you can’t game with strangers.”

The Obvious That Needs to be Mentioned
You’ve probably heard it all before, but it bears re-thinking. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Introduce Yourself - a name and a short description are much better than being ‘the new guy’.
• Be Polite - even as much or more than you are with your parents’ friends. (It works!)
• Learn Everyone’s Names - believe it or not, the more you say someone’s name, the more they like you.
• Share Your Interests and Remember Theirs - beyond gaming. What made those old-time, role-playing games so good were the outside friendships they were built on.
• Treat Everyone with Obvious Respect - even if you have to go out of your way to show it. (Why? Read the next line closely.)
• Give Trust to Get It - it’s a fact of life and yet so many people forget it. Everyone gets the benefit of your doubt, no matter what! If you trust everyone in the group explicitly, the rest of the group will defend you if you are taken advantage of. Honest!

Real Quality Goes Beyond the Gaming Table
I’ll say it again; if you want a great, role-playing gaming group, you must be friends with these people away from the table too. Do things together outside the sessions. Remember those interests I made you remember? This is what you can do with them. The important part is to learn to think of them as people (and especially as friends), not as gamers (or even just as their characters).

The best way to carry yourself is to be considerate, but tough enough to be honest. Make yours an equal relationship with neither taking advantage of the other. This is the best avenue to any friendship.

If you feel you are having trouble fitting in and may be upsetting the people in the group, keep an eye on the quieter members of the group. They usually reflect the feelings of an established group the most, just not verbally. If they look uncomfortable, do what you can to throttle back and be more sensitive; if they look happy or excited, you’re doing fine.

Because everyone has such a personal investment in the game (especially in their characters), avoid all conflict with players and be careful in conflicts with characters. Players often identify quite closely with their characters and take insults and injury to them quite seriously. Remember? “Treat Everyone with Obvious Respect.” This is where ‘tough, but honest’ is most necessary. Make it clear where you stand, focusing on the outside of the game situation. (Such as, “Only my character hates your character’s guts. I like you.”)

Possible Problems
You can go all over the internet and find real articles on how to deal with these: Favoritism, Best-Friend-itis, Turtle Players, Rules Lawyers and Month Hauls. The fact is almost every problem at the gaming table stems from someone not wanting to be taken advantage of, mostly a matter of being subversively defensive or overly generous. Be charitable and in order win their trust!

Finally
The most important thing to remember is that you’re there to share the fun! Nothing more, nothing less.

“This is an exhibition, not a competition. Please, no wagering!” — David Letterman

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Well, there’s a good writeup of what we know so far about D&D 4E, thanks Michael. Here’s everything in a nutshell:

• Classes are going to have a lot more internal variation from character to character. Fighters are singled out as the example for this, with ’sword and board’ fighters being substantially different than a flair Fighter or an two-handed axe Fighter.
• These characters’ abilities will stem from the Martial Power Source. Unlike Wizards and Clerics, Fighters draw their strength from endless training and personal resolve. These characters are about ‘mastering their inner potential’ and externalizing it in the form of combat.
• Races will have more efficacious abilities, with some pieces coming into play as your character goes up in level. Again, the intent is to have characters differ from each other even if they’re the same race and class. Racial feats will allow special tricks, tactics. Half-elves will get something called ‘inspiring presence’, which has to suck less than what they’ve got now.
• Monsters are going to have far more in the way of options when it comes to combat, as seen in an article about what it’s like to fight a dragon. New dragon abilities include: AoE attacks based on their energy type, the ability to attack as a free action, and the ability to use a breath weapon in response to an attack.
• Clerics will somehow be able to heal allies while doing damage, as described here: “Calling on the power of her god, she swings her halberd at the dragon—a critical hit! The damage isn’t bad, but even better, the wizard gets a nice surge of healing power.â€?
• Dungeons will be designed with that earlier stated goal of ‘more monsters, more movement, more tactics’ in mind. Instead of having players go from room to room fighting a couple of enemies at a time, groups of monsters will be interconnected. They’ll come to each other’s aid, and generally make things more messy for the players.
• Character classes now fall into one of four Archetypes: Leaders, Defenders, Strikers, and Controllers. Bards and Clerics are Leaders, and Bards are going to be more specialized than they are in 3.5. Parties that choose to double up on certain Archetypes while leaving others out will face different challenges than a ‘balanced’ group … but should still be able to play.
• Though it’s not entirely clear, one of the Playtest Reports hints that loot will be handled differently for NPC encounters. This would be something I’d greatly appreciate, as I love sending NPCs at my players but hate them walking away with six +1 longswords as a result.
• Tieflings are implied as a core PC race by the PHB cover art, and a Playtest Report implies that Eladrin will be as well.
• Ranged melee attackers are going to be much more effective in this version of the game: “[The player’s] second impression [of Fourth Edition combat] came squarely from the three arrows with which Heron skewered the hapless goblin sharpshooter in the loft. That poor goblin fired on Heron, missing but triggering an immediate counterattack from the ranger, who followed up with two more arrows on his turn. The sharpshooter was dead before the third arrow struck home.â€?
• Rogues will have a group buff ability of some kind, described as ’shouting encouragement’.
• A wizard, hitting a wolf with her staff, not only did damage but ‘moved it away’, implying knockback as a basic combat element. There is also an implication that a long weapon like a staff can hit more than one enemy with a single blow.
• The concept of ‘Second Wind’ is used in a Playtest Report, which is a game mechanic lifted right from Saga Edition Star Wars. From that book: “If you are reduced to one-half your maximum hit points or less, you can catch a second wind as a swift action. The action heals one-quarter of your full hit point total (ruond down) or a number of hit points equal to your Constitution score, whichever is greater. You can catch a second wind only once per day.â€?
• Rogues can attack such that their opponents are vulnerable to other ally attacks, possibly an Attack of Opportunity.

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A few months back, Rob MacDougall posted an awesome article on the origins of modern roleplaying. It’s definitely worth a read!

RAND analysts revived the practice of serious wargaming in the 1950s, but they moved away from miniatures-style gaming with model ships and airplanes towards more free-form political games where participants role-played world leaders in crisis scenarios. Herbert Goldhamer, in RAND’s Social Science Division, ran four major “role-playing crisis games� between 1955 and 1956 that will sound awfully familiar to anyone who’s ever slain an orc. Players sat around big tables covered with maps, rules, tables, and dice. They took on the roles of various world leaders, while Goldhamer, as game director, played the role of “God� or “Nature,� devising the scenario to be played, adjudicating player actions, and introducing chance events.

This is the same move away from hex maps and miniatures that Gary Gygax and the Daves would make in the late 1960s. Instead of having a strictly limited set of options–move this piece or that piece, fire this missile here or there–players in these games could order any action that might be taken in real life. Briefs for Goldhamer’s simulation games read a little like the back of the Red Box D&D set I got for Christmas 1980: possibilities were limited only by the players’ imaginations.

There’s a lot of information that’s new to me in his post, and it has been a great experience looking over the rest of his blog. Go check him out!

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Yep, so that’s basically it. Write a post on your blog about RolePlayGateway and include a link to us, and you’ll be entered into our contest to win a copy of BioShock on your choice of platform. Trackback or comment with a link to your story to enter.

We’ll be picking the winner September 14th, so get on it!

Oh, and you can get a demo copy of BioShock for the PC over on the forums. Enjoy.

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