EN World The Play By Post FAQ: Last Updated 11/16/03

Imagicka · Nov 28, 2006

I have a question...

Q: What if we would like to recruit our players here, and play on another BBoard? How does EnWorld feel about that?

hafrogman · Nov 28, 2006

Imagicka said:
Q: What if we would like to recruit our players here, and play on another BBoard? How does EnWorld feel about that?

In general it's suggested to use the Players seeking Players forum for that.
http://www.enworld.org/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Create a post detailing your game and mark it as Play by Post.

It does happen here from time to time, and nobody gets burned at the stake, but in general this forum is for ENWorld games.

Jerrand Redband · May 20, 2008

Questions

Hi, I have a couple questions:

1.) How do i go about changing the name of my thread i see that it can be done people editing them to say closed or full i would like to do that with my threads and who do i see about deleteing a thread after i'm done with it?

2.) Would like to learn how to hide info in the little boxes in post i believe that could come in handy.

3.) I see people taking links and changing how they appear on the posts like they will make the link look like IC or OOC and you can click on those to go to the thread would like to know that as well.

That's all for now wish me luck as i finally start in my first pbp adventure.

HolyMan · Jun 19, 2009

Jerrand Redband said:
Hi, I have a couple questions:

1.) How do i go about changing the name of my thread i see that it can be done people editing them to say closed or full i would like to do that with my threads and who do i see about deleteing a thread after i'm done with it?

2.) Would like to learn how to hide info in the little boxes in post i believe that could come in handy.

3.) I see people taking links and changing how they appear on the posts like they will make the link look like IC or OOC and you can click on those to go to the thread would like to know that as well.

That's all for now wish me luck as i finally start in my first pbp adventure.

all those are my questions to is there a Tech manual somewhere???

Leif · Jun 29, 2009

HolyMan said:
all those are my questions to is there a Tech manual somewhere???

No "tech-manual" that I've ever found. But here are your answers:

1. to change the name of a thread: go to the first post of a thread that you've created, and then edit that post #1. Once the edit screen comes up, press edit a SECOND TIME! When you do so, you will see that you have the option to edit the thread title.

2. hidden text: These are what we call "sblocks," short for "spoiler blocks". Now, obviously, I can't show you how to do this exactly, because the text of my peplanation would be hidden as well. So, I'm going to stick an extra asterisk in the code. Remember to omit the asterisks when you actually do this.
[*sblock=the title of the hidden text]the hidden text itself[/sblock]

2A. In the future, if you see some text or effect in a post that you wish to replicate in your own posts, the way to see the code used to create the text/effect is to QUOTE the message in a reply. You don't have to actually POST the reply, just act like you are going to do so to see the code, and the use the back button. (Unless you actually want to reply that is...)

3. altering link text: Ok, this one is a bit more tricky, and involves quite a bit of typing. I know it can be done, and I've seen how to do it, but, for me personally, it's just not worth the hassle, so I have hardly ever done it. But, find the effect you're looking to learn, QUOTE the message in a reply post, and you'll instantly see how it's done, just like I said above.

All better now?

On Puget Sound · Jan 30, 2010

The link above to Rogue's Gallery leads to a blank page.

Creamsteak · Aug 19, 2015

This thread needs a post about how to use the current incarnation of the dice roller.

jmucchiello · Dec 31, 2016

Creamsteak said:
This thread needs a post about how to use the current incarnation of the dice roller.

I think parts of the FAQ, esp. those refering to gaming here on ENWorld, need rewriting. Die rolling now exists. how to use the [ OOC ] tag, etc.

It would also be nice if a "standard" format for thread titles were enacted: IC, OOC, RG are kind of standard. But a fourth LFP thread titile would be nice. After that the existing OOC thread could have it's title edited for LFP. And LFG for gamers seeking a game.

But other stuff like the three threads should, in their first post, contain links to the other two threads, esp since RG threads tend to disappear down the page rather rapidly. And since the IC and OOC threads are in separate forums.

As for the dice roller: [*roll="description of roll"]xdy+z[/roll] (remove the asterisk)
where the =description is optional but the quotation marks are required if there are spaces in the description:
x is the number of dice of size y and z is added afterward. The plus sign could be a minus sign.

It is common courtesy to roll both the attack and the damage at the same time to save time: [*roll=longsword]1d20+4[/roll][*roll]1d8+5[/roll]

Do not use the dice roller for chargen. Use an external die roller Coyote Code[/roll] or something similar. I recommend Coyote Code only because it doesn't require a login and it has a help page that works. (Yes, this relies on the honor system. If you care, coyote code has a name field, give players a code that they have to put in the name field so that you can verify they only rolled once. But this is more trouble than it is worth.)

seriousmoonlight · Feb 23, 2017

Apologies if this post should go somewhere else.

I'm interested in DMing a PBP game. I'm not sure how battle initiative would work in this format. Say you had the order below:

Player 1
Monster A
Player 2
Monster B
Player 3
Monster C

Would Players 2 not be able to post until I made one for Monster A or do I do make one post encompassing all of the villains' actions? Sorry if I 'm missing the obvious.

Creamsteak · Feb 24, 2017

Well the answer is that it's really up to the GM or the group to decide how they want to do things. If you absolutely must, you can insist that every single action happens in order by turn and nothing else can happen in-between.

I will say though that given the medium, there's nothing wrong with making some kind of compromise to make rounds faster. In a lot of my games, I quite literally do "Players go" then "NPCs go". I do this because it means that if players 1 and 2 are around first, they can just post what they want to do, I'll resolve it, and move forward. This has obvious flaws and disadvantages as well, but it's a compromise I choose to make.