Starting a text-based role playing game is fun and exciting, but also comes with tough decisions. One of the toughest choices is whether a forum or an online journal will be the best platform choice. Figuring out what you want out of your game is a good starting point.
From there, read on about the basics of each platform and what they can do for you.
Forums
Forums are a popular choice for many beginner RP pioneers. Many like forums best because organizing the game is easy because the section breakdowns are customizable. The moderator tools that come with forums are often more user friendly than online journal mod tools, and have a wider range of abilities.
Another perk is that the forum can be part of a greater website dedicated to the RPG; the flexibility of forums allows users to expand the game in creative ways.
Forum Hosting Know-how
Another useful thing about forums is that while code knowledge (such as html) is helpful in running a forum or making it look professional, one doesn't need extensive knowledge.
If you don't know much about code or hosting, no problem. There are plenty of forum types that you need not write or host yourself, and most are free. If you go to their site and you see the words "sign up" or "remote hosted" instead of "download," it's a remote server that they host for you. You will go through a sign up process and they will give you a URL.
ProBoards is a popular forum host, but a simple search for "forum host" will turn up a lot of promising results. Be sure to do your research before committing; look at what other forum RPs are using, or even email a head mod for advice.
For those who like, and have the abilities, to be more involved, there are a number of open source forums that you can deploy and host on your own webserver. Open source forum providers, such as phpBB, enable you to fully customize your forum. From the website of your chosen open source forum provider, you will download php files and directories that you need to upload to your webserver.
Online Journals
While the online journal platform does not provide as much freedom as a forum platform, they are very popular for a few reasons: minimum fuss when it comes to the visual appeal (though you can find code for a custom layout), a character account can be used for more than one RP community, many communities can be linked together to form one game, and the journals can be used for more than journal writing purposes.
Online Journal Know-how
Online journal providers such as LiveJournal and InsaneJournal have free account options, as well as paid account options that will come with perks like no advertisements, more layout styles to choose from, and more picture uploads for user pictures (or avatars). While paid accounts are nice, the free accounts are decent; most people will have a paid account for a main character that they have played for a long time, and choose free accounts for new or alternative characters.
Individual journals are meant for individual characters, not for the whole game; to make an online journal into an RPG, you need to make an account for the game and then convert it to a community. Not all online journal providers are the same, so you should surf their FAQ pages to learn what you need know before getting started.
Managing a community is all about what you have control over such as the layout, the community info page, membership requests, and privacy settings. The community management tools are simple to use, but sometimes require reading in order to fully understand their purpose. Fortunately, FAQ pages provide excellent answers to any questions you may have.
Character accounts should be required to join the game community. Some online journal premises involve the character journals, such as the online journal is written in by a character and other characters comment on that journal, but this is not a rule for every online journal-based RPG. Look at other online journal-based RPGs to see how they use their journals and communities; there are lots of ways to make your game interesting and interactive.
The platform of your game should be chosen based on your management abilities and your vision of the game itself. Neither platform is better than the other, but one may work better for a certain premise than the other. Search for RPGs similar to what you have in mind, see what platform is being used, and make note of what you could do better. Soon after, you will have all the information you need to make a decision.
Danielle Foster - Danielle Foster graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota in May 2010 with a BA in English and concentration in creative ...
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