Game mechanics for online message board play

Right now many games I'm in are online, specifically on the D&D Beyond forums, in the Play by Post area. There are some rules and expectations that go along with playing there.

• The game will be on DDB. We will play in a public thread on the DDB forums. Discord has its pluses, and I am dabbling there, but these rules are for the DDB Forum games.
• Daily posts. With the emphasis on role-playing (you grokked that, yes?), the pace may be slow, to give players time to interact. I hope that will provide for a richer experience. That said, I will expect players to post at least once a day. I will, of course, be understanding. Real life happens, after all. It is likely that a couple of players will post several times a day, sometimes carrying on whole conversations while others in the same room are strangely silent. That happens, and I will do my best to make sure everyone feels included.
• You will make all your rolls in public on the DDB game thread. Yes, you have to use the /roll commands to roll stuff for your character. But I don’t. See “Secret rolls,” in the general notes.
• Out of character posts. I find OOC posts fine, and I like to get to know the players. Requiring they be in a separate thread, or a private thread seems stilted and annoying, so feel free to post in the game thread, but preface OOC comments with “OOC” or something. Just like at the table, people make jokes and interact outside of their characters. Just make sure we know that’s what you’re doing.
• Out of game posts. That said, I will provide a whole-party private thread where we can post out of game posts, like about upcoming vacations, or weather, how you dislike cats, or wether we should recruit a new player.
• Private posts. I like using private messages between DM and players for things only some characters would know. It is up to players to then communicate private knowledge (or not) in the game thread. I will expect players to communicate with me privately when in doubt about something. Some games use the DDB Forum Spoiler tags to hide private conversations. That's fine, too, juts be clear about who they are for. But if you really want it private, use a private message.

[ Back to What it's like to play with me ]

[ Back to Main Page ]