From Google's sewer transit system... - Writers Forum

Anvilsmith · 02-02-2004, 05:10 PM

I had been looking for PBP* theory forums for a whole two hours when I first found writingforums, and realized that nothing stops this board from hosting a good discussion on RPing and "multiplayer writing". So far, I haven't found a single PBP site where I could start such a discussion, and by the looks of it, none exists... Though I'd like to be proven wrong. Thing is, I need to do as much research as I can before the summer, when I'll start building my own PBP.

Even if I don't manage to get any discussion going, I'll probably end up being a regular of your writing tips section, though I'm not sure if I'll add much to your story archives. I'm already in the middle of writing a piece of IF, and there's a huge, half-forgotten project I'm planning to unearth after the exams this summer (also an IF), so I won't have any time for grandiose novels. I will, however, post pseudo-books, stories and diaries that will go into the IFs, as soon as I write them.

*If you don't know it, PBP (play by post, otherwise known as PBF or play by forum) is a literary form of RPG that tends to attract good writers because of its asynchroneous and fully text-based format. Unlike most types of RPG, PBPs usually avoid solid rules and rely on courtesy (or moderators) for deciding the outcome of an action.

northerain · 02-02-2004, 05:21 PM

hello...im a roleplayer myself, never tried PBP though...i dont think people around here will be much interested for that kind of thing around here...cant be sure of course.me, id be interested in participating

Spudley · 02-02-2004, 06:52 PM

Greetings!

I know there's a few role-players hiding away in this forum, so although it's not the normal topic of conversation, I'm sure you'll feel at home.

I haven't done any roleplaying in years - in fact, last time I looked, they called it "play by mail" or PBM. I guess the gaming world has moved on while I've been away... but I can see why they would have changed it to 'post' - the word mail doesn't mean quite the same thing as it did ten years ago. hehehe.

It's definitely an interesting perspective to bring to writing though - I used to be the gamesmaster myself, and coming up with the plots for the team to play, and then keeping it all together, is very creative art.

Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing what you've got to say. Hope you have fun here!

hollyoake · 02-03-2004, 07:36 AM

i like role-play, but i have never done it like you described before, i had the costumes and props...

how is it played?

oh and welcome to the forums!

Anvilsmith · 02-03-2004, 01:55 PM

Spudley> Actually, PBEMs are still popular (if that can be said about any "real" kind of RPG)... I suppose that, back when mailing lists abounded, there wasn't any distinction between the two kinds of RP. The difference with PBPs is that they're played on a forum, so a lot of players (Alleria has a thousand of them right now) can take part in it. Most, however, play like ordinary PBEM campaigns, with only five or twenty members. I'm aiming for about one hundred players myself, and that's still a lot by any standards...

hollyoake>PBPs and PBEMs are a bit like groups of relay stories, with the exception that every player (usually) controls a single character. You just write what your character does, what he things, what happens around him etc.

It's really too bad that there are only a few role-players in a writer community... I regard the literary sort of role-playing as one of the most interesting ways to co-author, and it's one of the things that could make writing a lot more popular (since it becomes a social activity when role-play is thrown in).

hollyoake · 02-03-2004, 04:36 PM

that sound like a load of fun, hey Spud, do you think we could convice Chrispian to set a forum up for that sort of thing?