I was wondering what turned people on or off to a LFP pitch.

In my last pitch I did a few things I thought might be off putting to people but I find useful. Specifically I put a line at the bottom saying "I'll probably wait about two weeks before I start adding players."

Do people take that as "don't give me RTJ's". I try to be open and informative about my intentions but it's hard to tell how someone will read a specific line.

I had a thread like this a little while ago called "How Not to Advertise".

Your most recent ads are for games not easy to get into. They're clearly for people who know the canon, which excludes anyone less than confident about their knowledge of it.

They also ask the payers to build their game. This can be good, but at least in the WoT game you could probably do with deciding on an era and putting in two or three details for players to build off of.

Your older ones are also mainly for people who know the canon of this or that.

It's not a bad way to run a game, but it means you will get let responses than other games which are easier for virgins to join.


Your ads are a little thin though. A sample opf flavour text or a mention of the themes for the game or something might make it easier to understand what you;re doing.

Turnoffs in a Wanted - Players ad :  a generic game ad, little information about the game, poor proofreading, many deleted games with single- or double-digit post counts, a system I don't care for.

Turn-ons:  Interesting hooks, nice writing, selective RTJ acceptance, a proven track record of long-term or completed games.

Two weeks might be too long.  Some players might be excited about a game, submit an RTJ, and wander off if they don't hear anything after several days.  However, I'd rather RTJ to a game that had a submission window of a week or two than a first-come, first-served affair.

Edit - I took a look at your ads, and they look fine to me.  I'd proofread 'em, but they mostly look good.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:18, Thu 24 July 2014.

Well, you should be more specific.  "wait two weeks" vs. "I will accept RTJs through July 29 at 9p Eastern".  Two weeks is also a long time.  If your RTJ isn't a book (and really, it shouldn't be), a period of 2 days to a week is more than enough.  Long waiting periods have the potential to kill enthusiasm among players.

Anyway, that wasn't quite what you were asking about.  You were asking about what turns people off in W:P ads.

The first thing that determines whether or not I read an add is on the first page.  I look at system first.  I think a sizable portion of people do, though certainly not all.

Secondly, the title of the post should be properly spelled, capitalized, and give me a sense of what I'm getting into.  If I am not interested in the concept, I keep walking.

Finally, the inside of the post should be clear, concise, and let me know more about the game.  Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is also important at this stage.  About 2/3 of the post should be about the game premise and setting.  The final 1/3 of the post should include information on the RTJ acceptance window (if you're doing one), generalities of chargen, and the like.

All of that said... nothing will make folks that don't want to play a game of xyz submit to a game of xyz.  What you want to do is clearly bring across your concept and ideas to players and let them choose.  You may also find the "Game Proposals, Input, and Advice" forum helpful if you're pitching fringe games.  You can post a proposal and see if anyone is interested (or get feedback on the concept to improve it) before posting the game.