Gaming on forums = exhaustive.

[Ricky S]

I have not been able to play any dnd for a long time now. Since school broke up my party split up and we have all gone to different unis etc. So we dont see eachother anymore. Whats more no one here at my uni plays dnd so I was stuck. Until I remember that there are forum games. Well, let me tell you that they are useless. You spend hours creating character sheets for each campaign only not to be chosen. I have applied to about 5 different campaigns and each dm does not choose me. I realise I do not have crazy warforged characters of some bizarre prc but honestly all I want to do is play in a 3.5 game where I got to choose the character I created. It is plain frustrating. RAGE!!!!

And when you finally get chosen for a game, you think wow thats great I can finally have a game of dnd, but it ends up being cancelled because the players all drop out or the dm pulls the plug or the game moves so slowly that no one can be bothered playing at all!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to be actually accepted in a working game???? Should I be making vampiric half-troll rogues?? What am I doing wrong?

[Serpentine]

I hate to be a smart-arse*, but...

Exhaustive: performed comprehensively and completely; "an exhaustive study"; "made a thorough search"; "thoroughgoing research
Exhausting: draining: having a debilitating effect; "an exhausting job in the hot sun"
producing exhaustion; "an exhausting march"; "the visit was especially wearing"

On the question... I dunno. I'm not really surprised that PbP games have such a high failure rate. Maybe you'd have more luck getting accepted if you accompanied your character sheets with a bit of back-story and personality summary? Other than that, all I can suggest is that you keep on trying...

*May actually quite enjoy being a smart-arse.

[Felixaar]

*May actually quite enjoy being a smart-arse.

May? Fft. You love it :smallbiggrin:

As for the issue at hand, couldn't say. Just keep trying and hope for the best.

[Jalor]

Actually, he's right. I have about twelve PCs with two- or three-page backstories that were either never chosen or were chosen for games that were abandoned promptly by both players and DM alike. Really the only way to play a game of D&D is to play it in real life.

[DraPrime]

Have you tried making your own game?

[Grail]

The best advice that I can give is to make a character that is memorable. You want it to stick in the DM's head after they've finished reading it. That doesn't mean that the character has to be an abomination, I have lots of luck with human characters, some with simple class choices. Saying that, the survivability of a PbP game is a problem that no super character can save.

I've had a Human Barbarian/Paladin accepted, a Human Favoured Soul, a Human (Deathless) Bard and a Human Sorcerer in games on these forums (or at least recruited on these forums). Of course, two of those games died quickly, one never made it past the selection.

If you are really looking for some PbP love that has a good chance of going the distance, then I'd heartily suggest you hanging out on PbP sites, rpol.net pbphouse.com myth-weavers.com as a few, the people there are there for one thing only generally, so you might stand a better chance. Also, I've found that DM's there are less likely to accept an abomination over a rounded character, so the Half-Fiend/Troll/Ilithid Monk/Cleric/Sacred Fist probably won't get the guernsey over the Human Monk. But then, maybe it will.

[Mordokai]

I usually get chosen, but maybe that's just Lady Luck being fickle. However, I also have bad experience with abandonment issues. DnD really seems to be a system better suited for real life playing. And even there things can't get rather fickle :smallsigh: Or maybe it's just my current DM being incompetent ass. Bah!

Some other systems are better suited for this. WoD and freeform games seem to work better than DnD, at least from my experience. Maybe it's because game masters and players are more serious there, can't rightfully say. But DnD games seem to be dropped a whole lot more than any other system. Of course, I haven't played all that much pbp games and some of them are very well received and play for a long time. But they tend to be rather few. Once again, Lady Luck. Can't do much there but hope.

PbP playing also has one big disadvantage over real life playing. At forum like this, players are often from different time zones. So when you have time, your comrades are sleeping, working or doing something altogether else. And that's before regular stuff, like school, college and work come into play.

So yeah, playing pbp is somewhat unsatisfying. However, keep on looking. One day, you'll find that game you're looking for.

[Ascension]

I wouldn't say the only way to play D&D is in person, as Jalor did, but PbP games do have a high rate of failure. There's also something of a catch-22 in that the best games are the ones with the best DMs, but the best DMs tend to have a group of recurring players they trust, making it harder for newbies to get accepted into their games.

A stable DM is absolutely vital for a stable game. If you're afraid of a game folding, look at the DM's track record. If you see that he leaves a wake of discarded games behind him... well, you know not to get your hopes up for this one.

A good PbP party is hard to find, and finding one is largely a matter of perseverance. Keep trying and eventually you'll throw your lot in with the right bunch. Only time will tell which group is right for you.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Maybe DnD Online Games is more to your taste? As it is focused on DnD? (http://www.dndonlinegames.com/cmps_index.php)

Duno, I think its one of the better sites for playing online DnD, and my brother(Sedracus) is a mod, player and DM there. So it´l most likely be good. Haven´t been there in years though.

Maybe send him a PM. ( As a mod, he has infinte PM box space, sooooo jaelous...)

[toasty]

I've had lots of success at PbP. I've also had lots of failure. I've been in *counts* maybe 10 PbP games over the past... two years? of them 5 fell apart, 2 before they really got started. 2 because the GM ended the game prematurely, and 1 because a combination of half the players leaving and the GM having no more time for playing.

On the other hand, the Fireborn game I'm running has been going great for over a year and a half, I'm in a Star Wars game that, while having slowed recently is still quite strong as far as I can tell, a true20 game that I got in about 1/2 way through that is quite good and a slow, but steady, 4E game. All are quite good. :)

Now, of course, the fact that I roleplay on a smaller forum with only a few players (as of yet, only once have I been told that I wouldn't be able to join right away, and I got in later when one player disappeared). Usually its PCs, not GMs, that are in want, because we have ideas aplenty and it seems that just about every player on the website is willing to GM at least one system.

But I'm also not picky... I've only played one DnD 3.5 game and it broke up really fast... any game, no matter the system, that interests me I'll sign up for, assuming I have the time. This had the advantage that I've played a ton of different games ranging from a victiorian-era Sci-fi to a Sci-fi horror to standard Fantasy DnD. But if you just want DnD... well, I've not looked at the forums here so I can't really say.

My suggestion is to keep at it, if you feel annoyed at creating a dozen characters and never getting picked with any perhaps you should create few characters?

Also, patience is the key. You mentioned never getting picked for any games.. have you asked the GMs if you can keep your character as a standby? In my Star Wars game I'm in now one player, after about 3 months (okay... a long time I realize, but for a PbP game its not that bad) disappeared so I got in.

If you can't stand the way PbP works, which includes lots of problems such as taking forever to do anything and players and GMs disappearing willy-nilly then I suggest trying to start a DnD game at your college or local gaming store (do you have one of these?). Maybe one thing you might want to consider is getting your old friends from (highschool??? you said college so I assume its this) to get a game running online. Either via the forums here or maybe something like Skype.

Or you could just deal with the fact that you're not going to be playing any DnD for a while... not a neccessarily a good prospect... but its a possible fact.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Mmm. I've been accepted to 23 Games (And been rejected in 3) over the time I've spent on GitP, (A year and a half or so?) and only 3 of those have actually survived to any reasonable degree, and are still going. I've only had a game live long enough on PbP to have a character level up twice during my lifetime. Maybe I'm just unlucky.

[Alair Koraius]

Yeah, this is why my friends and I play in AIM chat rooms.

//roll-dice1-sides20, anybody?

Hit me up on AIM (Archmage Grayheim) if you wanna talk about joining in form time-to-time, We're not always playing D&D, but we're always having fun.

[FdL]

PbP is a difficult medium. The pace is not easy to manage, and that might ultimately doom the game. One would think that for people who are used to post daily on internet forums this should work better. But it doesn't in practice.

Coordinating such a group of people to post and read can prove too frustrating. I know because I've DMed a D&D PbP game for a couple of years. I put a lot of energy into it, we weathered delays, desertions but I made it work through. Ultimately I didn't have any more energies to put into it and it was me who began lagging it and then it died.

This is precisely why I prefer real time online games nowadays. Which are difficult to coordinate in the sense of having x people simultaneously online at the same time. But then you do know that when people do get together there's going to be a game. That very thing is diluted in a PbP game. It's a "non game", the compromise for it is too lax, so it lends itself to procrastination.

Now, OP's problem seems to be selection too. I have played in other people's games too, some I have applied for and didn't get in. It has to do with luck to some extent, I don't know. Having an interesting char background or concept should help, but it's random really.

Don't feel bad for it. My advice is try to apply for real time games, it's more immediately rewarding and probably more lasting.

In any case games die, this is normal when dealing with a lot of people. Just keep trying and you'll find your game ^^



*May actually quite enjoy being a smart-arse.

Could be a bit of this.

[Ricky S]

Well, as is with fate doing the opposite of the norm, I have been accepted into a party which seems to be a strong knit group. He liked my backstory which gave me the edge in the picking process. So I think from now on I need to have a detailed but concise backstory if I want to get chosen because generally I have had good character sheets with only a few errors but have been pounded for those mistakes. I am really looking forward to this game though cause it is savage tides which I have always liked. So hopefully this will be the game for me. I cant play in real time and have no real life party to game with as they are all back in my hometown (I moved cities to go to uni). So I will see how this goes. I am pretty confident this is a good party with a good DM.

[Starscream]

Nice to hear it, hope your luck turns around.

If it doesn't, I suggest giving up on PbP and trying a different method. Chatroom games tend to go a lot faster, as everyone is present at the same time. You can use AIM or IRC or any number of similar routes.

There are also a few programs specifically designed for this sort of thing. I personally use OpenRPG, which is pretty sweet. There's also Fantasy Grounds, but that one costs money, and I know nothing about it save that it seems to be popular regardless.

And I'd keep looking for a way to play in person as well. If your town has a gaming shop, check there for leads. Even a fairly small university probably has an RPG club or two as well.

[FdL]

There are also a few programs specifically designed for this sort of thing. I personally use OpenRPG, which is pretty sweet. There's also Fantasy Grounds, but that one costs money, and I know nothing about it save that it seems to be popular regardless.

MapTool

http://rptools.net/

Doesn't get much better*

*at least until wotc's. But that's a paid one.

[crimson77]

Good to hear you got accepted. Here is a link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5749771) to another discussion on this very topic with other good suggestions.