OngoingWorlds blog

News & articles about play-by-post games, for roleplayers & writers

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Some scene setting prompts from Starbase 118

writing-hand

There’s been a good article published recently on the Starbase 118 community blog, with some starting points which might encourage you to think about setting the scene in your own posts. They have some example paragrpahs showing how putting effort into describing the scene can make it seem so much more real, and I encourage you to take a look. Read More

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Way With Worlds: Why Worldbuild?

Giant mushrooms

This is a segment of an article written by Steven Savage from his blog. Worldbuilding is really important to us in roleplaying, especially if you’re the one who created the game’s world in the first place, but not just that, a world can continue to grow and change of course over the months and years as you tell more stories within it. Here’s Steven’s article where he asks Why Worldbuild?:   Read More

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Second Annual Writing Improvement Month Hosted by Starbase 118

writingeventlogo2014 Painters wash their brushes. Carpenters sweep up sawdust. If your medium is the written word, there’s no reminder that it’s time for a bit of upkeep and reflecting on the craft. That’s why this February, UFOP: StarBase 118 will host its annual Writing Improvement Month. The month-long event covers topics from advancing a plot to writing alien species and includes tutorials, writing samples, and downloadable resources. Each week focuses on a different element of writing: overall writing improvement, setting scenes, building characters, and plot. A new article or resource will be released each day of February, bringing with it an opportunity to further develop your individual style as a writer. Read More

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Tib’s Corner – Interview with Elena Vasilescu, Creator of “Before The Mast” #BeforeTheMast

pirate__1221836287_8352Yo ho ho Ongoing Worlds! Tib here with a special interview! Note that this one is actually TC’s first out of site interview. This week I interviewed Elena Vasilescu, creator of the notable RP game, Before The Mast. The game, Before The Mast is an 18th century naval themed play by post forum game opened on August 6th, 2010. The game has been running for more the two years, and just like us the players in the game have just entered their New Year. So let’s get this interview started and delve into the world of swashbuckling shall we? Read More

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Mike’s Beginner’s Guide to Roleplaying: Making an Awesome Game

This is the first in a series of articles that will make up Mike’s Beginner’s Guide to Roleplaying

When we come to Ongoing Worlds as bright eyed new members one of the very first things we want to do is make an mike's guideawesome play by post roleplaying game of our favorite television/movie series, not to forget about the vr gambling games, a game that we love to play, you would like to play sbobet88 at royal99site.com, explore the realm of the goddess for the chance to win some fantastic free spins, a book that we’ve read gazillions of times, or even something original that we’ve had in our head for years and never did anything with, check it out here. So we rush to the Create a New Game tab and throw together a game, only for it to stagnate for months with little to no activity, leading to the abandonment of the game and eventually Ongoing Worlds altogether.
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Reggie’s Writing Tips: # 31 – 40 (Dialogue)

writingThis article was written by Reggie from Cathedral: The Thieves GuildYou can read tips #1-10 here, and tips #11-20 here.

Ten tips for writing dialogue. The first two tips I found on the internet that I think is really helpful. Hope it helps! Read More

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Reggie’s Writing Tips: #21 – 30 (Plot Development)

This article was written by Reggie from Cathedral: The Thieves Guild. You can read all of Reggie’s writing tips here.

Sara Chase Blackwood in Game Cathedral: The Thieves Guild image Cathedral: The Thieves Guild

Reggie’s character in Cathedral: The Thieves Guild is Sara Chase Blackwood

Ten more tips for you all. These focus on developing a better plot/story. After reading over these tips, you should be able to outline a plot in faster time. Next week I will share with you writing tips that will help you write dialogue practical to your own story’s needs. Read More

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Tib’s Corner – Chat Ettiquette #LikeaTib

TIBBsWhy hello there Ongoing Worlds. Tibby here. If you haven’t noticed, OW has gotten a new Chat Room. Sadly, our buddy Cbox is no longer with us. We have a new fangled chat box thingy! The new one is called Chat Wing which Dave has been so nice to add. Now Chat Wing is great, many new features that Cbox never had. Since the chat is a little different I thought I might do a little bit on chat ettiquette! Now I’m not saying we’re all horrible, it’s just that we need a refresher once in a while! So let’s learn some manners! Read More

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Reggie’s Writing Tips: # 11 – 20 (Building a Dynamic Character)

This article was written by Reggie from Cathedral: The Thieves GuildYou can read tips #1-10 here.

Sara Chase Blackwood in Game Cathedral: The Thieves Guild image Cathedral: The Thieves Guild

Reggie’s character in Cathedral: The Thieves Guild is Sara Chase Blackwood

Hello everyone! It’s Reggie again with ten more tips for you all. I decided to separate them into chunks thematically. These listed below will help you focus on building a dynamic and likable character. The set of tips for next time will be about plot development. Hope you are still enjoying these and finding them helpful.

NOTE: I am using “she” to refer to your character, but obviously its to be taken as a placeholder for both genders. Just got tired of writing He/She constantly. Read More

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Using Your Roleplaying Skills to Improve Your Creative Writing

This article was written for us by Marcela De Vivo. It mentions tabletop RPGs throughout, but applies also to play-by-post roleplay. 

Daring swordfights, fantastical adventures and questing, oh my! For the creative, innovative and artistically inclined, these things tend to magically drag us into turning our world upside down– making the impossible possible. And what better way to test our imagination than with a friendly (or not-so-friendly) enticing roleplaying game?
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