OngoingWorlds blog

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

Dec
18

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So you’ve traveled back in time – Now what?

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Writing tips Tags: Leave a Comment

It’s happened, somehow your roleplay characters have found themselves back in time. They’re being chased by Medieval Knights, or being attacked by cavemen, or are dodging stomping Dinosaur feet. But before they got here, I hope you thought about the consequences of a time travel plot.

I’l get to paradoxes in a while, but first. How will your characters get back? If they were deposited in this time by some sort of accident, what hope do they have of returning? Did the device that brought them here travel with them? Read More

Dec
18

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2014 Simulation Cup – Nominate your game

Category: Awards, Competition, Events Tags: , 20 Comments

2014 Simulation Cup

2014 Simulation Cup

That’s right–it’s that time of year again.  It’s officially time to accept entrants for the only sim and role play competition that dates back to the last millennium (more specifically, 1999).  What, you haven’t heard of the Simulation Cup?  It’s an annual event where sims and role play games have the opportunity to showcase their excellence and compete against each other in a friendly manner to win various prizes.  Oh yeah, it’s usually called the Tournament of Simulations (ToS), which you might be more familiar with.

How to Enter

The sim’s host (or host’s representative) will submit the short entry form below along with a sample of their role play activity.   Read More

Dec
16

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The Mighty, and classy, Steampunk Genre

Category: Writing tips Tags: , 3 Comments

Steampunk landscape
Steampunk. Perhaps one of the most beloved genres of science-fiction in the modern age, Steampunk is classed as a subgenre of Cyberpunk but the roots of Steampunk do stretch back as far back to 1844 with The Aerial Burglar by Percival Leigh. Since then many great minds have influenced the Steampunk genre, most notably the great H.G. Wells and the fantastic Jules Verne. Read More

Dec
14

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Compliment your writers

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Writing tips Tags: , Leave a Comment

compliment-your-rp-writers

If you’ve created a game on OngoingWorlds you’ve gone through the difficult task of getting people to join your game. Once your game is active, you have to keep it that way. Remember that writing isn’t easy, and you need to keep everyone’s spirits high.  Read More

Dec
14

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Simming Prize Nominations Now Open

Category: Awards Tags: Leave a Comment

latest

The Simming Prize Image by Jack Carter

It’s that time of year again! Time for us simmers and roleplayers to put down our D-20 dice or autosave our posts on OW and nominate for the biggest award in simming, The 2014 Simming Prize! (The Simmy’s if you prefer)

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Dec
14

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Does Everybody Need A Character?

Category: OngoingWorlds guide, PBEM games, Writing tips Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Army peeps

It’s not about the diversity. It’s because JIM DOESN’T KNOW WHEN TO STOP CREATING CHARACTERS!

The title may seem misleading, like “does every member need a character?” Well… yes they do, if not what’s the point of being in the game? But this is about something I’ve actually done before and I’m still a culprit for sometimes in game development. What I’m talking about is creating a character for everyone [not members] that seems to get involved in the story. Like creating one for a guy that will only be used once in a while or once, period. Doing this can lead to a giant list of characters you created that end up either forgotten or just deleted. Read More

Dec
10

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10 places to advertise your PBEM roleplaying game

Category: Advertising your game Tags: 1 Comment

Billboard that says join my play-by-post game

Sometimes it can be difficult to get new members, especially if you’ve only just created your game. People won’t join your game if they don’t know about it, so you’ll have to promote it as much as you can (as long as you do it the right way). Read More

Dec
9

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Contest Time! The 2014 Quote Competition!

Category: Competition, Events Leave a Comment

Xanadu Crest

Today, my fellow Kazon, we stand on the precipice of what may very well be one of the most tragic failures of peace in the history of our world. As I speak, the gears of war are turning, drawing us closer and closer to a conflict that will no doubt kill thousands and devastate the region for years to come. God have mercy on us all

–Kal Verner, State Radio Broadcasting Network Anchorman – The Steam Age

Who doesn’t love a good quote? They can be tragic, like the one above, inspirational, like the speech before a big battle, or monumentally ignorant, like a person making a speech about a topic they have little knowledge of.

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Dec
7

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Will typos & bad grammar bring about the world’s end? (Hint: No it won’t)

Category: Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

Roleplay apocalypse

A few weeks ago I posted an article about spelling and grammar, asking the question how much should you care about grammar in posts in your game. There was a frenzy of comments, some in disgust at the deliberate typo I’d made in the article’s title (I really know how to make writers wince!). Read More

Dec
5

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We’re 100% funded this year – And here’s who I’d like to thank

Category: OngoingWorlds site news Tags: 1 Comment

100% funded Hello you lovely roleplayers! I’m in a good mood today because I just did some maths (and those who know me, know how much I hate maths, and how terrible I am at it!), and I calculated that you – the lovely members of OngoingWorlds have funded the entire year’s server costs for 2014!  Read More

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