I'm thinking of running a Pathfinder campaign for Skype (text only) and I don't have a group of players. How can I go about recruiting people for play-by-chat games instead of in-person? Are there any online sites in which you can look for people that are looking to play in an online play-by-chat RPG Campaign?
[RPG] Finding online RPG players for a play-by-chat RPG Campaign
finding-other-playersonline-roleplayingplay-by-chat
Related Solutions
www.roll20.net is a powerful tool and not so crazy complex.
Yes I tested for the fudge dice and it works great. You get GM notes and everyone else gets to see public info on characters, and they do have hand drawn or drag and drop web search built in for various bits.
I'm trying to build something right now, but I am a complete noob to PnP RPG's. This in fact would be my first attempt so I'd much rather get in on someone elses campaign to learn the ropes.
admin side
The singlemost important rule of any forum is consistent moderation. Don't let someone get away with behavior X because they're your buddy.
It's also useful to identify the status of copyright on the board: do you as board owner assert text contributed is:
- copyright the poster
- copyright the board (which may not be legal in some places)
- all content must be under some open license (CC NC SA is pretty common)
- defaults to the board owner unless asserted otherwise
- joint board and poster (which is legal in more places than just the board alone, but still isn't legal in some places)
You need to have a required informed consent to the board rules as condition of use.
As for actually running a game, install a dice protocol on the board. It makes life just so much easier.
Giving the GM a separate subarea helps a lot, especially if they can move others posts around within that area.
Generally, it isn't useful to require specific read access permissions to a particular game, unless the subject matter is controversial (such as a moderns espionage game or a modern drug gangs theme), heavily religious themed, adult themed, or involves certain universes published by certain litigious companies (companies like Paramount and Games Workshop).
It's often of use to restrict posting to those who have requested, but it's not inherently a "best practice"
Game Side
Most online RPG's I've seen use either 1, 2 or 3 threads. The best models are the 2 thread and 3 thread models
Two Thread Models
For each chapter, usually:
- Game and Chat
- Thread one is both the narrative, the declared actions, and if included in the board, the dice rolls.
- thread two is the Out of Character chat, discussions about actions, and often, off topic table-chatter.
- Narrative and OOC
- The Narrative thread is only narrative descriptions of character actions, settings, and outcomes.
- the OOC thread is used for actions, and often also for chatter.
- Narrative and Actions
- The Narrative thread is only narrative descriptions of character actions, settings, and outcomes.
- the Actions thread is restricted to game mechanics discussions of actions
The third style is a bit constrained for many.
Three Thread Models
Again, for each chapter:
- Actions, Narrative, Chatter
- Actions is restricted to game mechanics.
- The Narrative thread is only narrative descriptions of character actions, settings, and outcomes. If it requires a die-roll, that's done in the actions thread.
- Chatter is the OOC conferencing by players, table chatter, and absence notifications.
- Rolls, Game, and Chatter.
- Rolls is just the die-rolls
- Game is both the actions and narratives
- chatter is all other discussion.
I've used version one for my current games, and have seen the other for Burning Empires on Google Wave; the rolls were separated out for technical reasons (the waves with rolls in them got ugly quick...)
Additional Threads
It is a great idea to have public character information in a separate thread, stickied.
It's also good to have any recurrent maps in another stickied thread.
Both of these I've seen and have used, and it really helps.
Best Answer
Let's combine some of this into a compendium.
Play-by-chat has been at least 80% of my time spent as a GM. It is a fun way to play because it allows immersion and in-character roleplaying to have more depth by allowing players to write their words and actions, which most people are quite comfortable with. But like all other RPG sessions, you need players. So, where to go?
Start with those closest to you.
I have to mention this. Personally, though I have had many excellent roleplaying games with relative strangers, my most consistently good experiences are with current friends and family. Many times I have been surprised to discover that people I know are actually interested in the roleplaying genre. A good number of my former "mere acquaintances" have become good friends this way. I encourage you to casually mention this interest with other people to see if they share it -- you might be pleasantly surprised!
The Internet
Beyond that, we move into the great interwebs -- the realm of cats and anonymous personas. The best part about the internet is its size. Unless you're into Barbie Horse Adventures RPG, you are bound to find like-minded people out there somewhere. (Honestly, you would probably find some players for that, too.)
A great place to start is going to the source, if you decide to use a VT platform. When you make that decision, you should visit their respective forums. All of them have a section for setting up gaming groups. Even if you stick to playing by pure text, your choice of ruleset can provide additional players from the game's official forums and fansites as well. As a Pathfinder DM, you can post to and search through Paizo's Online Campaign registrar.
In addition, there are Epic-Level powers available to you in the form of social media. As ladenedge's answer already helpfully points out, Reddit's LFG section is a great example. In addition, you can search:
Just be aware that when recruiting random people from the internet, you are still vulnerable to some of the side effects that come with PUGs in online games, such as random AFKs, bad attitudes, cheating, and conflict. This can happen with friends in face-to-face gaming, too, but at least you have a relationship basis with those friends already. Be prepared to deal with player problems which are made more complex by anonymity.
It is dangerous to go alone. Here, take this.
Beyond that, have fun, and be a little patient and choosy with forming your group. With the vast population of the internet available to you, I think you can afford to do so.