What a mouthful. Anyway, this is part two in a series of posts I'm doing, which started with Asynchronous Text-Based Tabletop Role Playing Games.

What follows is the “welcome, here's what we're doing” document I intend to publish for my prospective players.

I'm mostly posting it here to start looking for commentary on it, so if you have anything to say, please do!

You can hit me up on Mastodon, or on PhD20's awesome TTRPG forum, where I have a thread going about this concept.

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Welcome!

I'm sure you're wondering what all is going on here. Someone or another sent you a link to a Matrix server and said “Don't worry, you'll figure it out, have fun!” Trust me when I tell you that I get it. Let's demystify things a bit.

b4ux1t3 Enters the Dungeon (BEtD) is an asynchronous, text-first interactive roleplaying experience. If you got the link, you're probably involved in TTRPGs to one extent or another. You can think of BEtD as a persistent, ongoing virtual tabletop that relies on text-based descriptions (and maybe a few images here and there) to play.

In BEtD, you can do whatever you want to do. You can join up with parties who are pillaging a lost tomb, you can join a gang of mercenaries and seek your fortune, or you can find the nearest empty plot of land, chop down some trees, and build a house. But how does it work?

Asynchronous

We are not all sitting down at a table to play a TTRPG. We're people who have lives; kids, jobs, significant others, other hobbies, we've got stuff going on. So, the first and most important part of this community is the word “Asynchronous”. The way you play this game is simple. You say what you want to do, and then you walk away. You put down the phone, or the computer, and you go do something else.

Eventually, a GM (right now that's just me, b4ux1t3) will see your message and will respond with the result of your action. If you need to make a skill check, they'll ask for it. For now, this is an honor system. I'll add a dice roller to the chat one of these days!

That's it. That's the game loop. You have all the time in the world to check your skills, come up with a plan with any team mates, and try to execute on them.

Text-First

No voice chats, no video calls. Aside from the occasional illustration and emojis, everything is done like you're writing a novel. This is a blessing and a curse. It means you can't rely on body language or fun voices; you need to write. You need to be descriptive. If the best way for you to get your point across is to draw it out, then do that! But the default will always be fingers on the keyboard.

This also means you have a lot of leeway to really drive home your point. You won't be interrupted by Grog deciding he wants to charge in (Unless Grog logs on while you're typing your novel, that is).

Interactive

The world is yours. It isn't mine. I just set up the sandbox. I am no god, I am no dictator. I am the system. I'm the ghost in the machine. You are the world. You decide where you go. You decide what you do. Through your actions, and the whims of the fates, you decide who lives and who dies.

Role-Playing

There is a long history of in-character role-playing, both at the tabletop and online. From entire servers full of people dedicated to pretending that they are actually noble paladins fighting off the Scourge in World of Warcraft, to the dedicated forums for in-universe shared storytelling on sites like GaiaOnline and NeoPets. (Did I date myself there?)

You do not have to be in character all of the time, not even in “places” that are designated as “in-universe”. (We'll go over what that means shortly!) That said, it is very much encouraged that you try. It's difficult to keep up a fake accent for a three-hour game session, but it's pretty easy to transform what you want to do into prose given a functionally-indefinite time period.

Just keep any long-form commentary relegated to the dedicated Out Of Universe Room.

Experience

This is not a game. I mean, yes, strictly speaking, we are playing a game. We're playing Dungeon Crawl Classics, specifically. However, the point here isn't stats and loot. Those things are fun and you're encouraged to pursue them. But what we're doing here is best described by the word in that section title: Experience. This is meant to be an enjoyable place to spend a bit of time. A little escape from a busy life. Let's keep it comfortable for all involved. I'll have a specific document that lays out the hard rules, but, for now: Don't be a jerk. Disagree gently. Discuss, don't argue.

What's Next?

Now that you have an idea what this is all about, you can move on to the Getting Started page to start your journey with us!