OngoingWorlds blog

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

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Tib’s Corner – Tale of Fahrvergnügen and Giddlysmooch

Hello children, Papa Tibby here to tell you all a fantastical story on the tale of Fahrvergnügen and Giddlysmooch. kryten-red-dwarfA tale of friendship, and betrayal [jk] Anywho, let’s begin the story of Fahrvergnügen and Giddlysmooch. [This is in no way to mention any names or games or point fingers at anyone!]

Once upon a time, in the magical forest of Gum-gum Wibbly, at the village of Tumbeldy Bum-Bum. Lived a magical elf by the name of Fahrvergnügen. Fahrvergnügen was a member of a special site that specializes in Play by Post games called “Perpetual Universes”, ran by Bill Sphere also known as “Turnip”. Read More

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Reggie’s Writing Tips: #1 – 10

This article was written by Reggie from Cathedral: The Thieves Guild.

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

I decided to post a rather large but simple list of writing tips/tricks/advice that was shared with me while working with professional screenwriters in LA. I have a background doing script coverage with 20th century Fox and was able to meet many successful screenwriters, some whom were highly acclaimed artists in the film industry. A lot of the knowledge they shared carries on to creative writing in general. Read More

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Games Lacking Members

themurdergameIt’s Mike again with a post about a common problem in the Play by Post RPG community: a lack in members. This could be anything from only having two members, to having fifty and only six actually post. This article will cover the strains of operating a game without many members, and feature several games that are currently lacking members on Ongoing Worlds. If you don’t want to read my advice, the I URGE you to read through the list of games lacking members! These guys have worked hard on their games and would love nothing better than to have you join!

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Tib’s Corner – Plagues of the Writer

Rimmer Hey y’all! Tib here with a little misc post about stuff that regularly plagues the common writer. This will go through the most common things that can happen, such as simple grammar mistakes that make you explode in an unjoyful way. Here we-a go! Read More

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Grammar lesson: Using dialogue tags correctly

1391969_678563025496024_1968337004_n-1This article was written by Chris (OngoingWorlds member: 11121519518)

I know that this is probably a little pedantic of me, but I’m kind of a grammar freak. (Im a, grammer freek.) I’m going to talk about dialogue tags and the punctuation involved in them.

There are some of you currently saying “What? What are dialogue tags?” I will tell you in the next sentence, because that is a very good question. Dialogue tags are the things you attach with dialogue, like “he said.” As I mentioned earlier, I will go over how these work and what punctuation to use when. Read More

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Writing character death scenes in roleplay

Grim reapers drinking tea

I’ve asked a few people recently about their experience of the killing off characters in their roleplay, and have got some great snippets which I’ll publish here on the blog. I know it’s a morbid topic, but quite an interesting one! Read More

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It’s been a long road, gettin’ from there to here…

This article is written by David Whale from Starbase 118. David also blogs at whalewriter.com.

Plotting the course. The importance of character arcs

Yeah, I did it. I invoked the much-maligned theme song from Star Trek: Enterprise.

Hopefully you’re still reading, because I used that line for a reason and that reason was not just to annoy you or to get that song running through your head. Which I expect it is. My real reason for using that line is that I would like to have a chat with you about character arcs and how important they are in story-based role-playing.

Some of you may have heard me discuss character development on the UFOP Starbase 118 podcast in November, so you’ll already be familiar with a few of the points I’m going to make here. Read More

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Mary Sue or not Mary Sue

Mary sue characters discussing their eyes change colorMary Sue; the name is immortalized in a song and in literature, but they aren’t the same person. So, my friend, you want to write a book, short story, or merely participate in a play by E-mail online roleplaying game and need a character. This article is going to tell you how to avoid a trap even the best authors can fall into called Mary Sue.

It can be seen by some as a wish fulfilment of the author to live vicariously through the character while having no noticeable flaws or having flaws that don’t make sense, either physically or mentally. Read More

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Time distortions in roleplaying – Do your story threads match up?

Distorted clock

One of the most complicated aspects of writing for a roleplay online is one that I’ve actually never heard many people discuss, although every game and group probably has their own interpretation of how it should be handled. What I’m talking about is time.

Time is more or less constant (unless you ask an astrophysicist of course). And often days or weeks can go past between writing your roleplay post, and you often don’t want time to have elapsed since your last post, which means time goes slower in your roleplay. Read More

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Impressing the Moderators – Character creation 101

DavidThis article was written by Andy from Blue Dwarf, a roleplaying game I’ve been running for over 11 years. Andy’s been a moderator for many of those years, and knows what to look for in the application of a new character. On OngoingWorlds, creating a character is the 1st part of an application to join a game, so it’s got to get the Moderators attention, and be well written. It’s the only way you can prove your skills as a writer and if it’s not up to the Moderator’s expectations, they might not allow you to join the game.

 

lego men

Stand out from the crowd

As a moderator of a sim on Ongoing Worlds, I tend to see a lot of character submissions. It’s always great to see interest in a sim, for people to have a genuine desire to join the story that you’ve been building for several months or even years, which makes the disappointment of a poor character submission so frustrating. The character that you submit to the moderators is what the first impression they will have of you will be made up of. They don’t know anything about you, other than what you put in the form, so it’s important that you get it right.

Imagine, that you’re applying for that job you really want. Would you send a CV that’s lazy, and unimaginative? Of course not, so why do it here?

The profile that you compile will tell moderators what you’re going to be like as a contributing member of their group. Moderators care about their sims, and are usually protective toward them and will only want to accept members who will create interesting posts, and they’re not going to be convinced of that if you send them a profile that doesn’t even live up to that expectation. Read More