Who is the main character in your game?

Sorry for the misleading title, because it’s actually a misleading question. There should only be one main character in your game and that’s…

The world. 

In this “Way with worlds” article written by Steven Savage, Steven describes the setting as the main character. He’s talking generally about roleplaying games as well as fiction. But it’s so much more important in play-by-post games, the kind we play here on OngoingWorlds.

No character is more important than another

Roleplaying games are different to books and films, in that we’ve got multiple authors, all writing about their own characters. This means no character should be more important than another. A starship Captain is no more important to the story than a lowly Cadet. A headteacher is no more important than a pupil. Sure, their roles will be different, and their perspectives will be different, but the story should equally be about both and all of them.

I’m not saying btw that characters are unimportant to the story. Of course they are, they’re VERY important! But they’re all equally important.

The world is what all characters have in common

As writers and members of a roleplaying game, we’re all responsible for writing about the setting our game takes place in. Hopefully the game creator has given some initial ideas about the world, but this hopefully can be expanded (check though before introducing something new, especially if it changes something fundamental about the world!).

The world will expand and grow over time, and it’s up to you and your game as to how you do this. You might want to have regular OOC posts about the state of your world, or write important details on the roleplay wiki.