Is there one?
If so, where can I find it?
Does it include what RTJ stands for as people running games are using it but don't seem to say what the heck it stands for.

Real Time Java?
Random Thread Jump?
Race Theme Justification?

???
Thank you

RTJ means "Request to Join".  You can find the Request Access link in the upper right part of the screen when you click on a game you don't yet belong to.  Most GMs will have a "Request to Join" or RTJ thread where they give you information they want to see in your initial request, like character concepts, sheets, or backgrounds, sometimes even writing samples.

And yes there is a Wiki, but I don't use them so hang out a bit and I'm sure someone who does will come along and help you.  :)
This message was last edited by the user at 02:41, Tue 16 June 2015.

In reply to Evil Empryss (msg # 2):

Thank you.

I've sent a couple requests and a couple have been less than polite because even though they ask you to ask questions prior to character stuff, they still want you to fill in the form first. silly really.

For some GMs, it shows that you're actually reading their instructions.  Other GMs are just nit-picky, cranky folk. :p

Sometimes if you acknowledge that you read their instructions but want to ask a few questions first, before you put a ton of work into it, that might hold off the 'tude.  Keep digging around and you'll eventually find a group you're compatible with.

http://wiki.rpol.net/

This might be helpful as well.

/help/?t=faqs&page=playersfaq
This message was last edited by the user at 03:03, Tue 16 June 2015.

In reply to nauthiz (msg # 5):

Thank you, appreciated.

On the question of Wiki, has anyone really found an advantage to it? I only play in one game which has a wiki, but it isn't used for much, debating starting one for one of my games to experiment, any uses I should be sure to include?

The main advantage of a wiki, besides the format advantages over a standard text dump, is that more than just the GM can edit it.

So if you have players that are helping to build the world in some way, it allows for a smoother level of organization than having just a Notice thread with either the GM having to put everything in, or it being disorganized as things are put in across multiple posts by different people.

Wow, that seems... limited, but I can see it's use. I've played in games where, as a player I have been allowed to or asked to provide background, fluff etc. and it would be a nice way to do it. I can also see how it would perhaps be useful in multi-DM situation.

Don't see that it really adds anything to the gaming experience though.

I was actually in a short lived game (with vanishing DM) where we actually used a paid-for app (paid for by the DM) that was supposed to help in the gaming, but it never really seemed to help any either.

Anyone else found the wiki to have any value? Or none?

It's useful if you want a single place everyone can track party treasure. (for D&D-like games, anyway)

That's about all I play, but not sure why the wiki would be better than just a thread in the  game.

Because anyone can edit it. With a thread, you can check the initial list at the top, but then need to scroll through all the posts checking for people to say they've taken or sold such-and-such a thing to figure out what the current list is. Periodically, someone needs to post a complete list incorporating all the changes. It can work, but I prefer a wiki for that if players in the game are going to be contributing to maintaining the list.

Wiki is also cleaner.

You can create all the hierarchy trees/links/posts/threads all in a neat arrangement (extremely useful for complex games with lots of NPCs or intrigue).

If done in threads and posts: it gets messy quickly.  I run a lot of games where -what I have in my wiki, would take up another 20 threads easily in-game and would be too cumbersome to use.  So, this keeps me sane.

Also, as mentioned-above; party treasure divvying is great.

Hmmm, that sounds good, could you perhaps clarify though, about the trees?

It's a little harder (thankfully the recent update improved this a lot) to point to specific areas within say... a rules or 'world information' thread.

Let's say I had 20 posts about 'world information'.  In a regular thread it would look like:

Thread 1
 - Information... blahblah.  Specific reference Term.

Thread 2
 - Information... blahblah.  Specific reference Term.

---

On the Wiki, those 'specific reference terms' (say such as an Important NPC's name) could have its own wiki page, thus each has its own link that goes right to that page.  This makes it easy for a player (and the GM!) to get back-n-forth between small sets of data, without having to scroll/CTRL+F/scan for whatever that bit was.  Which means you can chunk data into smaller bites; which is more manageable for most people.  (Same concept as phone numbers.)

The wiki is nice for things like party inventory, or being able to provide information and give certain players access to add to your world 'encyclopedia' for certain areas for instance.  It primary advantage is giving multiple non-GM individuals the ability to update a common location for information.

Basically it offers improved delegation.  To get close to this, you would have to create a post for a user as them (or NPC tied to them) in a locked thread, which would allow them to edit 'their' section, since it is seen as their post.

Additionally, it offers a history, which can also be useful for things like inventory changes.  That if anything might be one of the biggest potential important feature attached to the Wiki.

One disadvantage of the Wiki at present is that your RPOL name is displayed instead of your Character name.  So if someone was to be posting information as one persona, and another, it is revealed that you are the same player.  Not necessarily a giant issue, but it goes counter the typical site policy of obscuring such information.