FAQ1. I want to play in a game, what do I do?Well after reading this handbook, go to the
Gaming Profile/Preference Thread and put up a profile for GMs to see. The next step is to go to the
Play by Post General area and look for new games starting up soon. Hopefully you'll find one you are interested in. If not, try again in a day or two and see what's new. Then post in the thread, saying you are interested. If the GM wants you to submit a character, start building. If not, wait and see if you are selected. Make sure to keep up to date and remember what you applied for.
2. How do I roll dice for PbP?The simplest way is to use
Invisible Castle. Once you are at the site, in the upper left corner, you should see "Roll Dice". Click on that. In the box for Character Name, put your character's name. Generally it is a better idea to put the entire name, since a name like Himo may be used more often by others than Himo Nar' Sarlan. Then in the Dice box type what you are rolling. If you want to roll multiple dice, separate them by a semi-colon. Such as 1d20+19;3d6+5. If you want to, write a note as to why you are rolling. Something simple like "Reflex Save" or "Attack roll" will suffice. After you have typed your info in, click "Roll the dice" on the bottom of the Note box. When the site loads, click on the text next to BBCode and just paste it into your your response. Like this:
Explanation Roll (1d20+19=22, 3d6+5=17)Prime32: I've created
an alternate dice roller for whenever Invisible Castle experiences technical difficulties, which works in a similar way. There's a thread about it
here, where you can post questions and feature requests.
3. How do I make links to my dice rolls?You can click on the text next to BBCode for ease of use. If you want to edit what the text says, so that you can write something like "Axe attacks the goblin, cleaving through his armor." and have the word "cleaving" be the link to the roll, you can do that.
[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1602257/]Explanation Roll (1d20+19=22, 3d6+5=17)[/url]
When you copy the link Invisible Castle gives you, you should see the above. Just change the "Explanation Roll (1d20+19=22, 3d6+5=17)" like so:
[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1602257/]cleaving[/url]
4. What do I do if my GM disappears?Hopefully this does not happen. If a GM starts a game, it is usually for the long hall. Also, if for some real life reason the GM is not able to continue, we hope he or she can find a replacement GM. However, if for some reason you join a game that starts and the GM does disappear, there is not a lot we can do for you. If this happens, wait a couple days to make sure he or she has actually disappeared. If so, post in the
Open Game Advertisement thread. If you don't get any response, consider starting a new recruitment thread.
5. What do I do if my player disappears?Much like the above issue, we hope this does not happen. However, if it does, please wait a few days and attempt to contact the player to make sure he or she has actually just disappeared. Hopefully, if for some reason they are not having fun, they will give you warning. Either way, when this happens, post in the
Open Game Advertisement thread. Then you will hopefully be able to recruit a replacement player.
6. I'm not at home with my books, but I want to make a character to submit for a game. Is there any way I can do this?Yes. Depending on the system you are running, there may be an online source for information. System Reference Documents exist for
D&D 3.5 and
Pathfinder. There is also the
Min/Max It! board where people are always willing to help you work on a build, and the famous
Handbooks subsection with prewritten guides.
7. I keep hearing about this "Point Buy" thing. What is it?Point buy is a system of stat generation for d20 systems like D&D. All stats start out at 8, and you pay a certain number of "points" to increase the stat to what you want. The most popular point total is 32.
A 08 costs you... 00 points
A 09 costs you... 01 points
A 10 costs you... 02 points
A 11 costs you... 03 points
A 12 costs you... 04 points
A 13 costs you... 05 points
A 14 costs you... 06 points
A 15 costs you... 08 points
A 16 costs you... 10 points
A 17 costs you... 13 points
A 18 costs you... 16 points
Pathfinder uses a different set of costs, which can be found
here.
8. Who is in charge of this forum?The Brilliant people at Brilliant Gameologists, of course. I'm also here to help out (notice the Helper Monkey icon :wink).
[Prime32: Hey, don't forget me!] But most importantly, you all are! This is a community forum for the community and without you all, it doesn't work. So voice your questions/concerns/suggestions in the
Play by Post questions and suggestions thread.