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I was once a regular user of RPOL.net. I left for several years and came back to find it a fraction of what it had been. And not a very large fraction at that. Are there any good play-by-post sites around?

To me, a "good" pbp site would include an active population (the larger the better) with quality rp'ers. An easy to use format is also a plus. The variety of game types available does not have to be huge, but broad enough there are options. For instance, 1e, 2e, 3.5e, 4e, Pathfinder, D20, etc. OK, I'm biased. Basically, I'm looking for RPOL.net. Is there anything out there comparable to what it once was?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to the site! Please take a look at the tour and the help; they're a useful introduction to the site. To help us provide useful answers, could you please break down what would make a pbp site "good" for you? And since you have 20+ rep on another SE site, feel free to join the chat! \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Sep 3, 2013 at 3:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Would you consider freeform PBP? \$\endgroup\$
    – Rob
    Sep 3, 2013 at 8:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ Hey all - we don't do lists, so please don't answer this with "here's a site." Answer more generally or using our game-rec "good Subjective, Bad Subjective" criteria. Thanks... \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Sep 3, 2013 at 17:42

6 Answers 6

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The Paizo forums have a large and very active PbP community. Quality varies, and by far the majority of games are Pathfinder, but there are other systems in use (I'm in a Shadowrun 4 game, for instance) and there are definitely some really good posters there.

The forums also support:

  • In-post dice rolling, with the ability to preview your rolls before you post so that you can work the results into the narrative.
  • An easy way to switch between the IC and OOC threads for a given game.
  • User aliases, so each character can have their own profile, with their own name, user icon, and space to put information about the character.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ As I post this, there are 49 game threads which have been active in the last half an hour, and a little over 300 which have been active in the last 24 hours. That's not counting the discussion or recruitment threads, either. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bobson
    Sep 3, 2013 at 14:04
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The only site I've used recently is rpgcrossing.com and it was a bit hit and miss. They have a large player base and a wide variety of games available, so that checks your requirements. They do have some mechanisms in place to try and improve the quality of postings, such as a tutorial you can run through with an experienced GM on the site, and monthly / yearly best post competitions. However even with all that there are a number of low quality games there and it can be difficult to get into the better games if you're new.

Other than that, a quick search on Google brings up more results for dnd pbp online, though I have no insight to offer about those sites.

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TheTangledWeb.net has some fairly active games, although not sure how many, been a while since I tried making one.

If you want pure PbP, OngoingWorlds.com is decent, I've recently started writing there. It's not geared towards tabletop PnP persee, just PbP.

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The GitP Forum has a fairly expansive PbP community, mostly playing various DnD games, but with a considerable variety among them. Quality of Roleplayer varies from game to game, but they are in general fairly decent folk.

You do need to follow the general board rules, which can be restricting for some players more accustomed to a very open roleplaying experience (no overt sexuality, no overt violence, no hazing the other players, et cetera), but there is a large and dedicated group of role-players there, all gathered around a collective love of the game and things based thereupon.

They also have a pretty good dice-rolling system, though they also tend to suppliment or otherwise get around the lack of a grid through various means outside the site itself.

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I've had no problem PBP on RPOL, granted there does appear to be a large number of people that just want to burst through an entire encounter with one post of if/else statements and rolls and just let the GM roll everything for them... which I can't abide. I like playing PBP as if it was table-top but with more time to cover narrative and build a story.

The only other site that I've found worth mentioning is Mythweavers (which seems to be even less activity than RPOL, haven't played on there but their tools are handy)

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I'd recommend both Fates Labyrinth and Whispering Realms Chat.

These are revivals of the freeform chatroom based PBP RPG's that grew from WBS back in the 1990's and are still going with players from those rooms and many new arrivals.

There are a variety of different "rooms" available for each chat place and the games are generally drop in and play whenever you want - most are completely freeform and stat free but they're worth exploring to find the genre you wish to play.

I've played for years in WBS and these forums with dozens of characters, many fantastic times indeed :)

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