What is an RPG?

RPG? What's That?
An RPG, or role-playing game, is a game where players take on the roles of their characters. Certain types of RPGs involve players collaborating to create stories together.

The "game" in these types of text-based RPGs consists of writing from your character's point of view, interacting with other people's characters and building collaborative storylines. Players make decisions based on their characterizations and the moderators decide the outcome of certain actions based on the game rules.

A better way of thinking of an RPG is like a game of cops and robbers. You take on the role of the cop, your friend takes on the role of the robber, and a neutral judge decides what happens when the cop fires the gun on the robber. This is a very simplified, live-action version of an RPG. However, most text-based RPGs are much more sophisticated and complex; the worlds are more detailed and the characters are more believable, and the plots generated by an RP campaign are generally very involved.

What is a Play-By-Post RPG?
A play-by-post RPG is a text-based RPG played in a forum system, like the Aventus Forum. Threads are started with certain settings and players enter the threads to interact with the thread starter and moderators. This forum setting allows players to be much more detailed with their replies, descriptions and dialogue (unlike real-time RPGs, in which you must come up with replies on the spot). This system puts the emphasis on creative writing and intricate story rather than combat.

However, roleplay can take longer by using the PBP system. We suggest using a dual system of forum roleplay while conversing on an instant messenger, so you can alert the people you're roleplaying with when you update a thread. This site also allows for scheduling of RP via the chatroom or the Roleplay Discussion forum.