Being a newby
Well...start with the basics, I guess...
Contrary to what some seem to expect, RPOL is not a gigantic online roleplaying game, but rather a site that hosts thousands of smaller games. Many are based around some published rules system--Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun, Vampire, Mutants and Materminds, Traveller, etc--while perhaps just as many are either 'homebrew' (a system developed by the Game Master, or cobbled together utilizing elements of rules from a variety of systems) or 'freeform' (there are very minimal rules and players are kind of on the honor system to play a consistent character that fits the 'world' of the game).
Users can look through ads for games in the Wanted:Players forum to see options for games that are actively seeking new players, and see which rules, setting, storyline, etc appeals to them. They can then go to a game that interests them and send in a Request To Join (RTJ) that game. Each game master (GM) is free to run their game as they see fit (as long as it conforms to RPOL's Terms of Use), so a GM is not obligated to accept every RTJ received, especially if the applicant disregards the guidelines for submission in the game's RTJ thread.
Once accepted into a game, you create a character and roleplay...basically a grown-up version of 'Let's Pretend', with more or less rules to guide play along and generally, but not always, with the GM presenting some over-arching plotline for the players to work through. Think of it as an exercise in collective storytelling...the GM provides the plot, setting, and background characters, and the players each control a character (sometimes multiple characters) and plays as that character, providing the actions, dialogue, personality, etc of the character...and the story moves forward based on how the characters resolve each situartion the GM provides. There is not, generally, any competitive element...you're not trying to beat other players or the GM, nobody's keeping score...you're just moving the story along.
And in between posts, a lot of us also chatter as ourselves, either with other players in each game's OOC (Out Of Character) threads, or in the public forums (either to pass the time or to build a greater sense of community).
That's the general outline. If you want specific answers, it helps a lot to ask specific questions, because it's a pretty broad category when you say 'how does the site work?'
This message was last edited by the user at 20:50, Mon 30 July 2018.
