From the UK and in my late 20's. Light to moderate experienced pen and paper roleplayer but new to play by post.

First picked up the hobby at secondary school when I was about 12 (my first game was of course D&D), played it for a 2-3 years with a group of school friends before we naturally drifted apart as we hit our mid-late teens. After that I completely forgot about tabletop RPG's for quite a few years, I did have a regular boardgame group for a few years but they were most interested in playing stuff like Settlers of Catan.

Then a few years ago I ended up GMing a group of my 'internet friends' on a one shot, using an old rulebook from my attic, who were all complete newbs (yay GM by default...). That went surprisingly well all things considered and we ended up doing a couple of campaigns over 2 years (of course I was the GM) before it eventually fell apart as I only had 2 members who seemed capable of regularly turning up to sessions. Playing on with two didn't work for them and we stopped.

That was about a year ago and the interest in playing hasn't stopped. I'm still hopeful of getting my group back together at some point but I hope this also might scratch that itch. It would also be nice to just be a player for the first time since I was about 14, though I do actually enjoy the role of GM.

Have experience with D&D 3e and 3.5, D20 Modern, Star Wars Roleplaying game (WotC), Stars Without Number and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (2e). I tend to be more of a fan of narrative over combat/dungeon crawling and honestly I'm not a big fan of D&D.

So yeah that's me and why I'm here.

Hi, welcome to RPOL - feel free to have a mooch around if you haven't already. You can check out "Wanted - GMs" if you feel like running a game and want to see what people are after, or "Wanted - Players" if you'd like to join a game as a player instead :). There is an FAQ section (top right, next to the red "Help" button) if you have any general queries about how the site works but generally I think it's pretty straightforward :).

In reply to Ameena (msg # 2):

Cheers.

A quick question. Will I be required to have the rulebook and a detailed knowledge of the rules for the games I join and does the GM assist me in character creation or will I be expected to simply submit a completed character sheet for whichever game I apply to? Or is this something that can simply fluctuate drastically on a GM-by-GM basis?

That will all depend on the GM.  Within their own games, how they handle character creation, rules knowledge, etc, is entirely up to them.  RPoL does not impose any kind of standard on them.

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 4):

Cheers, that's much as I expected.

Would you recommend reading some other PbP games first, to get a feel for the style and different conventions compared to live, or to simply apply for a game headfirst and get stuck in?

In reply to Gman11 (msg # 5):

Pardon the interruption, but just wanted to welcome you to RPoL, and to suggest you check out Game Proposals, Input, and Advice as well as the other forums already mentioned.  It's a great way to get in on the ground floor as a game concept is just getting its legs.

Over to you, Ron.

Since different GMs run games in different ways, looking around through games already in progress may not necessarily help in preparing to apply for a game run by someone else. But generally, if you see a game that you might want to join, you can submit a Request to Join (RtJ) to the GM - the GM may have made a public post in their game stating what kinds of things you would need to include in your RtJ (eg character concept, availability for posting, a writing sample to show grammatical awareness, and/or any number of other things), so you should check that out first in order to apply accordingly. If you know roughly the genre of game you want to join but aren't sure about a specific system, you can always just post up in the "Wanted - GMs" section and state what kind of game you're looking for - you might get a reply/invitation from a GM to join their game or something :).

Cheers guys I really appreciate all the feedback and I hope to see you guys around the forum.

Feel like I'm getting a pretty good feel of the site now and I'm just patiently searching for the right game for me. Unfortunately the wealth of options on this site is almost working against me as I'm finding myself being incredibly picky when it comes to which game I RTJ, but I'm sure i'll find the right one for me eventually :).

Don't forget you can always post your specifications in the "GMs Wanted" section of the forum (if you haven't done so already), so that people running games (or planning to do so) can have a look and see if they think you might be a good fit for their game and so invite you - if their game isn't publically listed, for example, you might otherwise never find it...although the reason for it not being shown may well be because they're not looking for anyone new. But you never know...

Our pleasure, I'm sure.  We're glad you're here!



There's nothing at all wrong with being choosy, especially when faced with an embarrassment of riches.  Here's hoping you find the right games for you.

RTJ also includes a lurker function.  If you see a game you like but it's not accepting players, you can still ask to lurk and read along as the game progresses.  it's a great way to observe a GM in action, and get a feel for how his or her game is conducted.