Forum:How to Run a DA:RPG Game Online

Alright, so you bought the shiny new DA:RPG set, love it, want to play it, but can’t seem to find anyone to play with! So, you run to this forum, looking for people to play with. But there is no structure! No advice! Only a few dead threads on google wave games that have long since ceased recruiting. But take heart! You, too, can create, manage, and play your very own online game of DA:RPG if you follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Pick a Platform First things first, how are you going to run your game? There’s several ways to do this, the first being the traditional way, that is, to find players in your area and make them sit down at a card table and throw some dice. If you want to do that, I’d advise looking up www.penandpapergames.com as they have an extensive directory of players by location. You can create an account, post your game details, and anyone in your area who may be interested in playing (and has registered with the site) will get an e-mail about your game.

However, this approach has most likely failed you. So, play online! There are several ways to do this.

A.	Virtual Tabletop: A virtual tabletop is any program that runs on your computer and allows you to connect to and play with other gamers across the world. They range from IRC clients to advanced java-based programs with loads of customizability and tools to make playing the game easier. my personal recommendation is maptools, which can be found at www.rptools.net. It’s sleek, customizable, and easy to use. For bonus points, pick up the premier Dragon Age RPG framework for maptools found at http://tinyurl.com/dragonageframework. B.	Google Wave: If you have a google wave account, you can run your game using it, though it may be hard to find players. A good way to find players is to advertise on this wave: https://wave.google.com/wave/waveref/googlewave.com/w+aQB0yvw4M. C.	Play-By-Post: While sometimes maddeningly slow, some actually prefer the slow-pace of a play-by-post game. In this style, players and gm’s take turns making posts to a forum describing their character’s actions.

Step 2: Create Your Home

No matter what platform you choose, you’re going to need to set up a ‘home base’ for your game. Somewhere for you to describe what you expect from players, outline application procedures, add in custom rules, and inform players when and how the game sessions will be held. For this purpose, you can’t really beat http://www.obsidianportal.com/. They’ve got everything you need to set up your own custom campaign wiki, and even advertise for you on other RPG sites. It’s easy to use, and a fan favorite all around.

Anyway, you’re going to want to put several things in your ‘Home.’ First and most obviously, you want to establish what platform you’ll be using, how many players you want, and how you want players to contact you about joining your game. Also, this is a great place to put campaign background, house rules, and other information that will be relevant to your players. Oh, and you can use the special ‘gm section’ of each page to plan out your campaign!.

A word of advice: break your wiki into small ‘chunks’ linked together in a coherent fashion. Seeing a wall of text or a long list of rules tends to turn some players off.

Step 3: Recruitment.

So you have your game all set and ready to go. But who’s going to play it? It’s time to recruit your players.

First, your going to want to write up a ‘master post.’ This is the post your going to put on several different forums related to RPG recruitment. This post can be practically whatever you want, but it’s good to include some key details.

A.	A brief overview of your game. B.	How many players you are looking for. C.	A link to your ‘home’.

When writing your master post, don’t make it too long or detailed. You want it to catch people’s attention so they go back to your ‘home.’ That way, you can update your home with more information, instead of having to go back through all the posts you made on different recruitment forums!

Speaking of recruitment forums, here they are:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=51 http://www.enworld.org/forum/gamers-seeking-gamers/ http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?13-Recruiting-Office-Find-and-Post-New-Games http://rpgloop.net/ http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/17-Campaign-Invitations

Most of these forums require some sort of log-in info, so be prepared to do a bit of registering in order to get your advertisement out there. Remember, there’s no limit to places you can post, and the more places you post, the bigger the pool of players who will see it.

Oh, and while each of these forums have their own idiosyncrocies, it’s usually best to just post a topic thread with the format [Game][Platform]Campaign.

For instance, [Dragon Age RPG][Maptools] The Two Thrones Recruiting!

When getting people to apply, you’ll probably want to ask for a few details. It’s often easier to have people directly e-mail you rather than reply to threads so you don’t have to keep track of them all. Also, be sure to get out of people the times they are available to play. To save yourself some hassle, consider setting up a ‘poll’ where your players can list their availabilities like the ones available at http://www.doodle.com/. When getting times, remember to get areas, not time zones, as time zones change with daylight savings. So, 5 PM Eastern Time instead of 5:00 PM EST.

Step 4: Play!

So you’ve got your campaign, you’ve got your tools, and you’ve got your players. Now, all that’s left is to get out there and play! I hope this has been informative, and I hope to see you playing online soon!

Exhominem 21:06, May 27, 2010 (UTC)Exhominem