How can I find people / websites to play by post? And how does it work with the dice? Trust to each others 'words'? Or does the DM roll for every single action, whether it is a monster's or a PC's?
I do all my PbP on EN World, and so can speak only about the PbP environment here (there are other websites that offer PbP, though). Here's a link to the Talking the Talk forum, which is where games recruit and we have our out-of-character chitchat threads:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?64-Talking-the-Talk. I don't think any games are openly recruiting/starting right now, but in the past I've had good luck approaching an existing game and just flat-out asking whether there was space for me to join. And here's a link to the Playing the Game forum, which is where we do the actual gameplay (each thread is a separate game):
http://www.enworld.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?15-Playing-the-Game.
For dice rolling, you can either use the EN World die roller, or you can use offsite rollers, e.g.: coyotecode.net, orokos.com, invisiblecastle.com are examples. My go-to is coyotecode.net because it's user friendly and never broken. Orokos is just fine, too. I avoid invisiblecastle because the site is down very regularly. I also use the EN World die roller very often. Here's the standard language I include in my OOC threads about die rollers:
[sblock]If you haven't done PbP before, the custom for using dice is to either use the EN World dice roller, or use a third-party online dice roller and post a link to your roll. If you opt for the EN World roller, this is the nomenclature you use:
{roll}1d20+3{/roll}
{roll}4d8{/roll}
{rollv}2d6{/rollv} -- displays each roll separately
You replace the { } with [ ]. You can name your dice rolls, too. This:
{roll=Initiative}1d20+2{/roll}
will yield this result:
Initiative - (1d20+3)[22]
Sometimes, however, the EN World dice roller misfires when one attempts to name multiple rolls in the same post. That's why a lot of us don't use the naming feature.
Also, editing posts with a die roll can be tricky. You can edit text in a post that includes a roll, but you cannot: 1) edit a roll; or 2) edit in a roll after a post has been submitted. This comes up, for example, when you roll a natural 20 and need to roll critical hit damage; if that happens, just post a second time with a die roll for your crit. If you have the Great Weapon Fighting style and a greatsword, either use the [rollv] convention, or include two separate rolls for each d6 of the greatsword's 2d6 damage.
If you opt to use a third-party online dice roller, please do NOT use Invisible Castle; that site functions irregularly. Reliable easy-to-use online die rolling sites I like include: coyotecode.net, and orokos.com. Orokos.com requires a (free) user account. Coyotecode.net does not. You will very often see me link to dice rolls on coyotecode.net. There are other online dice rollers, and you are welcome to use any of them that appeal to you.
Read more:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?473086-Out-of-the-Abyss-OOC#ixzz3zi7U4UOL[/sblock]