Hello and welcome back to The Ultimate Play-by-Post Blog. GaryD20 here with Part 5 of “Where Can You Play-by-Post?” This is the final entry in this series of introductory articles on some of the different PbP sites that are out there for you to check out and get started with.
As I’ve said before, this is by no means a definitive list. Just some of the most popular sites that are out there. Each one of these sites will get a more in-depth review in future articles.
My main mission, with these first several articles, is twofold. One, to just get your feet wet (and hopefully your curiosity and interest up) in this play-by-post medium. Second, to get my feet wet with this blogging thing. By no means do I consider myself “a writer.” This whole blogging thing is new to me. I’m just a guy that loves playing RPG games and has come to love this weird and wacky thing called play-by-post. I hope to share my love of PbP with you. I truly mean for this to be the definitive site helping players and Game Masters alike achieve the ultimate play-by-post experience.
Ok, enough of that! Now on to the topic at hand. This final article in this series isn’t going to be so much about PbP sites, sites that are specifically made for PbP, as much as it’s about a few different mediums where you can play-by-post. With that said let’s dive right in.
Discord
I’m sure most of you are familiar with this one. Discord is a voice and chat-based messaging platform. It is already a popular site amongst VTT (virtual tabletop) players. With the ability to create multiple rooms inside your “server,” upload images and maps, et al. Along with bots that allow you to add dice rollers, the ability to upload character sheets, and a ton of other things, Discord is getting more and more popular with the play-by-post crowd every day.
The one downside to Discord is that there isn’t a centralized area, like on all the sites designed specifically for play-by-post, where you can meet, chat with, and recruit players to your game or find a game to join. So, you’d have to either play with people you already know or recruit from other forum sites. Discord is a promising site though for the future of PbP, in my opinion.
Check out Discord here: https://discord.com/
There will be a GaryD20 channel on Discord in the near future. Stay tuned!
Now this is about as old school as it gets. Email was one of the very first ways to play-by-post. Of course, this was way before the internet became what it is today. I do know of a few folks that still play this way. It works best when playing with an already established group of friends. And although you have the ability to add maps and such to your game, having an integrated dice roller is an issue. You would just have to allow, and trust, players to roll at home and add the results to the email. Not that big of as issue, in and of itself, as most people can be trusted not to fudge rolls, but it is something to consider. But let’s be honest, why play by email when there are all of these amazing play-by-post sites out there that make the PbP experience so much more enjoyable?
Snail Mail
Now this way of playing PbP is old school even for old school. It has all the same pros and cons as playing by email just slower. Way slower. Probably to slow in today’s fast paced world. Although there are some professionally run play-by-post games still being run today. Games like Hyborian War and Forgotten Realms by Reality Simulations come to mind. Professionally run so obviously you have to pay-to-play. Usually, several dollars a turn. Turns ranging from every couple of weeks to monthly, depending on the game. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I know people that play Hyborian War and love it.
These professionally run PbP games will get a more in-depth look in a future post. Until then, you can check out Reality Simulations and all they have to offer here: http://www.reality.com/
Ok, I think that’s going to do it for this article and this series. My feet are wet with this blogging thing and hopefully yours are wet with this play-by-post thing. From here on out the articles and posts will get longer and more in-depth. There will be player and GM tips and advice, book and system reviews, site reviews, tutorials, Q&A, interviews and more. Also, a more frequent posting schedule.
That’s it for now. Until next time, roll high, roll often, and get your game on!