[Information] Starting Up

[Jordz92]

OK, here the adventure begins! First thing's first, the boring stuff.

Section 1: What is play by post?
Simply put, the game takes place on this gaming site via the form of a post. You will post your character's actions in response to posts made by the DM and other players. The game, in some ways, reads like a book that each person in the game helps to write.

So now you have an idea what play by post basically is. I guess the next thing to do is tell you a little about posting and what makes for a good post. Many of the people that start out on this site finally get into their first game and post things like:

"I swing my sword at the orc."

"My character will check for traps on the door."

"Yes."

Each of those may answer the DM’s post but they don’t make for very exciting posts for others to read. Once again I want to stress you are posting for others to read and they want to enjoy the posts that you write as much as you want the DM’s posts to be full of neat stuff for you. Be descriptive in your post but don’t feel you have to write an entire book.

"The half-orc barbarian swung his bastard sword in an attempt to separate the goblins head from it’s body."

"Ronthar moved to the door and pulled out his thief's tools. He started to carefully inspect the door and the lock in search of traps that might impede his progress."

You'll note that these ideas are written in 3rd person. Almost all of the roleplaying on this forum is done in third person, and this is the tense that you should use for this game.

The more you post the easier it becomes to write a post that is interesting to read. I hope that helps to give you enough of a general idea about posts and posting to allow us to move to the next thing, character creation. Feel free to ask any questions you want at any time during this game!

Section 2: Character Creation
When you apply to a game, most DMs will tell you what they are looking for in a character. In play by post games most want you to develop a background for your character that fits in with the game the DM is attempting to run. That usually happens well before dice are rolled and character sheets are filled out. The background you write is similar to an audition. It gives the DM a chance to get a feel for your writing and whether you can fit in well to his or her game.

Once the background is finished and submitted you might want to work on that character. Many DMs will give you a place to make those rolls for stats once your character concept is accepted. Don’t roll in a game until the DM invites you to!

Dice are done via bbcode on the site. That means you have to understand just a little bit about how to code things.

Dice are rolled using the following code: [dice]xdxx[/dice)

Replace the last ) with ] instead. The x before the d represents the number of dice you want rolled. The xx following the d represent the type of dice you want rolled: d4, d6, d8, etc. Now let's say you want to roll the dice to hit something. That would mean 1d20+modifier for your character. If your character has a +3 modifier with a short sword then it would be 1d20+3. It would end up being:

Dice * * Roll:

(as this is an older post, these rolls are interpreted by the older (more basic) dice roller code)
d20+3:	(12) + 3	Total = 15

When rolling attack rolls, you should also roll damage. Usually, you do this all in the same post (where you roleplay out your attack). This keeps the game moving.

When making dice rolls, be sure never to edit the post which rolls are made. Many DMs will ignore these rolls (as they can be tampered with) if they are in a post that has been edited. If you make a mistake, just post again, and explain the problem.

OK, dice rolling is fairly easy. Then most DMs will tell you how they want the character rolled up or created. Some use the 4d6 method to generate the six ability scores. Other may use a point buy system. That is explained in the books or your DM can explain that to you.

For this game we will use the 4d6 method to create your first character, so go ahead and roll the dice. The character background is not important for this one but just to give you practice write a short one. Keep it simple, a paragraph at most.

Now go ahead and roll the dice (in this thread) and count "1" as "6" for the purpose of this game's character creation.

You should create a 1st level character, using maximum starting gold for your class.

If you would like to see examples of how to create a character then just follow the link below.
Character Creation Examples

Here is where you find character sheets.


Make sure you make your character publicly viewable. At the bottom of the main character control panel there's a headline that says "Modify Character Details". Select your character on the drop down menu underneath it and hit "Go". On the next page, you hit "Apply Public Permission". That way when people (like your DM) go to look at your sheet, they see the sheet instead of an error message.

To start things out, what is your experience with the 3.5e DnD, and with forums / bbcode?