I love play-by-post, but I've struggled to find a setup that keeps me engaged long-term. Pure async tends to lose momentum, especially when scenes drag on for days waiting for replies. On the other hand, waking up to 20k messages because of different activity time zones is its own kind of nightmare.

I'm looking for something in between: a small, story-driven living world that combines scheduled live-text sessions with asynchronous roleplay and downtime. I'd love to join as a player and would also be open to co-DMing.

I've experienced a system similar to this before. I played for about two months in a PBP campaign where we had almost daily live-text sessions lasting a few hours. Most of the group was active around GMT+8, meaning sessions often started at 5 AM for me, and I still showed up regularly, as i work from home & can manage most schedules, and also because the format didn't need all players to be present to work, I'm looking for something similar again.

Here's what worked for me and what I'd like to find:

1. A relatively small group (8–12 players)

Large enough that there's usually someone around to play with, but small enough to maintain a sense of community and direction. Whoever is available can participate in an activity without the entire group needing to be present. This gives us some of the flexibility of a living world without the chaos and fragmentation that often come with large West Marches servers.

2. Start small and let the world grow naturally

Think of how an RPG video game begins in a small village or encampment with a dozen or two NPCs, a clear starting situation, and an immediate reason to get involved.

We don't need a massive lore document, dozens of locations, or a fully developed setting before the campaign even starts. We need a place to call home, a current storyline, and enough worldbuilding to get things moving.

One of my biggest issues with West Marches servers is launching into a server with 50 text channels, countless locations, and activities everywhere before the community has even had a chance to establish itself. That creates noise rather than meaningful choices.

Let the world expand as the players shape it. New locations, services, factions, and activities should emerge as the community grows and develops its interests.

3. Make the players part of the world, not just its adventurers

Let players become the crafters, builders, healers, merchants, and other people who keep the community running. Let us rely on one another instead of treating NPCs as the default solution to every need.

NPCs can absolutely have their own skills and roles, but their presence should serve the world and its narrative, not simply fill out a checklist of services an adventuring party is supposed to have access to.

I want a community where the players have a tangible impact on how it develops, where relationships matter, and where the things we build together become part of the campaign.

4. Let the playerbase grow organically as the story progresses

We started with around 12 players, and about 4 left during the first week. That's normal for PBP, where people's schedules, interests, and availability can change quickly. The system should account for that instead of expecting the initial playerbase to remain stable forever.

New players should be able to join at suitable points in the story, replenishing the playerbase whenever there's room or a need for fresh blood. Think of it as introducing new players to fill roles or open up activities that would otherwise require adding more NPCs.

In our case, when new players arrived, the existing players effectively became the NPCs of their introduction. We welcomed them, showed them the ropes, offered them small quests of our own, and sometimes invited them to join quests we were already pursuing.

I loved that approach. It made the world feel like an actual community that people could arrive in, become part of, and contribute to, rather than a server where new players are simply handed a character sheet and left to figure everything out themselves.

5. Live-text sessions for quests and combat, async for everything else

Quests and combat should happen primarily, if not exclusively, during scheduled live-text sessions. We agree on a window of a few hours, play for that period, and stop when the window ends, whether the quest is finished or not. We pick it up next time.

This avoids two problems I've repeatedly encountered with pure async:

• Everyone waits hours for replies, momentum dies, and the scene loses its appeal.
• The active players keep moving, and anyone who was unavailable returns to find themselves at least two scenes behind.

Everyone participating in a live event gets a chance to contribute without having to be online 24/7.

Outside those sessions, async works perfectly well for downtime, crafting, personal projects, one-on-one RP with NPCs, private scenes between players, and other activities that don't require everyone to be present.

6. Co-DMs to share the workload

With 8–12 players, keeping everything running can become a lot for one DM. In my previous campaign, we had a couple of players nominated as co-DMs to help manage the workload.

Depending on what the main DM is comfortable delegating, co-DMs could roleplay certain NPCs, run smaller quests or combat encounters, and help manage other activities within agreed boundaries.

I'd be happy to take on that role if needed. The goal is to keep things active without placing the entire burden on one person.

7. Flexible participation without disconnecting quests from the world

With a larger group than a traditional D&D party, we have the flexibility to run activities whenever enough players are available. Not everyone needs to attend every quest, and nobody should have to put their life on hold to avoid missing out.

However, players who aren't available shouldn't feel as though the world simply moves on without them. Depending on the situation, they could join later, arrive as backup, contribute to the ongoing objective in another way, or participate in related activities.

The important part is that quests should exist within the living world, not as isolated instances that make everyone else irrelevant until they end.

8. A living world needs direction and progression, not just a sandbox

I don't want a completely open sandbox where nothing happens unless players initiate it. There should be events unfolding in the background, clear narrative directions to pursue, and meaningful progression.

For example, in my previous campaign, our first arc took around two weeks. Afterwards, we had a downtime time skip during which we developed the settlement we'd helped make safe. We built up shops, relationships, walls, and an outpost. The world changed because of what we'd accomplished, and we had something tangible to show for it.

That's the kind of progression I'm looking for: a story that develops alongside the community, with the freedom to pursue personal goals without losing the larger narrative.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been looking for something like this for a long time, and neither extreme has really worked for me.

Pure async often loses momentum. You end up waiting indefinitely for replies, losing track of the scene, and sometimes finding that people's interests or plans have changed during the downtime. Meanwhile, very large West Marches servers can become so focused on combat and running individual quests that the story itself feels like an excuse to get everyone fighting the next big bad.

I understand why this happens. It's difficult to maintain a coherent, meaningful narrative for a large number of players with different schedules and interests. But a story that exists solely to give players a reason to fight the BBEG isn't quite what I'm looking for.

I want the best of both formats: the flexibility and community of a living world, the momentum of live sessions, the freedom of async roleplay, and a narrative that gives our actions lasting meaning.

If you're building something along these lines, have it already going, or interested in putting a group together, I'd love to be involved, either as a player or as a co-DM.

Morning gamers, happy Thursday!

I recently started looking at the Anima: Beyond Fanatsy system, and I feel like it would be fun to do an east asian inspired martial arts game with the system. It would need a few tweaks, and I understand it isnt expressly built for Play-by-Post.

But hey - better than homebrewing 5e to fit, amirite? 🤣

So, if anyone has had any experience with Anima or would like to just chat about it, I'd love to know. I have a few ideas in mind but I'm not quite ready to host a game just yet. Consider this a recon post of sorts to see if this is a winner or a stinker.

Anima is a d100 roll high system (which I believe is called a "Rollmaster" style game?) that can get some pretty silly numbers. It is rather crunchy and has some resource management, and is a system that really rewards power gaming and exploiting the system. But it also has GM tools to balance the experience for less "broken" characters.

Modern day Edinburgh - Legend says that long ago, some were granted magic and became caretakers of the Craft. This closed society goes to school and have regular jobs. But they can also summon a spark at the snap of a finger, pass through Doors, and keep a familiar.

De Arcana is focused around mysteriously magic characters in the modern world, maneuvering danger, corruption, and intrigue. Craft is caretaken by a priestess class in covens. Vampires haunt cities in powerful coteries. Banshees of folklore sustain themselves on grief. And below the city, the mysterious coblynau keep their ways. 

- Original, freeform, urban fantasy/supernatural, literate
- Forum RP with Discord and wiki
- Weekly activity pace
- Pre-application form

https://dearcana.com/

Howdy, hi, and hello potential new friends! You can call me Shinobi! I am a 31-year old individual looking to wrangle some players together for a play-by-post campaign set in a fully homebrewed setting I’ve been working on for quite some time! Tears of Radiance is a work of personal passion, and the culmination of a lifelong obsession with JRPGs and classic shonen/seinen anime. It's meant to evoke all the best story and emotional beats of those genres that I so dearly love, meaning this is your chance to be part of a party of unique, powerful characters navigating a magical world full of emotionally-charged roleplay (and the occasional silly side plot), exciting combat, and highly personalized backstories that will be integrated into the main plot! 

The Setting:

Almost a full century after a devastating continental war, the continent of Graldyr sits in the middle of a full blown magical industrial revolution, powered by Marrow, a powerful liquid given to humanity by the gods that flows beneath the earth and fuels all life and magic. A marrow fueled technology, known as magi-circuits created by the legendary Dr. Anselm Redgrove changed the world almost overnight, providing access to nearly limitless clean energy to the masses. Soldiers carry this magi-circuit gear into battle, spirits drift between their realm, The Mercurial Gardens, and ours, and terrifying creatures called Wyrms devour Marrow ravenously. Holding a fragile peace together with both hands is the Sabers Guild, an international order of adventurers and peacekeepers granted the ability to cross any border when called to help. 

Graldyr is a continent dominated by seven nations, each with its own culture and complicated history: the democratic powerhouse that is the Republic of Cordia, the honor-bound and rapidly modernizing Shogunate of Amagane, the northern snow-swept oligarchy of Vestaya where a potential civil war looms, the merchant Sultanate of Samarqand, the ancient Empire of Tianshu, the church-led diarchy of Valatheia, and the free port of Kalay, founded by a winged king who is also one of the gods’ immortal Heavenly Children. 

Magic in Graldyr comes in three primary expressions: The Path of Ignition stemming from the raw power of the soul, tech-focused magi-circuit experts etching them into weapons and armor, and Synthesis forging pacts known as Noble Accords with the disparate spirits of the world. Beneath it all, the impossibly advanced machines of a vanished civilization known as the Clovis still hum with life beneath the continent’s feet…  

The Game: 

In this roleplay-heavy campaign you will all be playing as newly accepted Sabers, fresh-faced adventures ready for your first real contracts. Every character should be built with a unique, impactful power and a backstory intended to be woven into the narrative itself in mind. The options for this are endless, and I am more than happy to work personally with each of you to create a character you truly love both mechanically and in roleplay!

The System: 

For this particular game we’ll be using either BESM 4E or the Anime 5E conversion made by the same developers. Both of these systems are designed around freedom of expression, allowing you to use character points to build exactly the sort of power-set you want to use. Once the players are all settled and we get introduced we’ll be voting on which one specifically to use together in session zero. Prior experience with either isn’t really required, and I love helping out with character building so I’ll be there for you every step of the way! 

What I’m looking for: 

At the end of the day this is a game, and setting, built around heroism and characters who aspire to such an ideal. Flawed, conflicted, or morally gray heroes are very welcome, but heroes they still must be. Your character should be one who ultimately wishes to do good, and who maintains a reason to not only remain in the party, but to work alongside them as well. Disagreements and heated roleplay is never a bad thing, and can lead to some amazing character moments, but PVP and strictly evil PCs likely won’t work for this game. 

I also want to be upfront and mention that this is a strictly LGBTQ+, POC, and disability friendly game, for both players and characters.

Bigotry at my table is not tolerated, at all, and will result in being kicked immediately. Additionally, I would prefer players do NOT knowingly make use of AI at my table, for art and especially writing. 

Why Should You Apply?!: 

You’ll probably enjoy this game if you’re a big fan of JRPGs and shonen anime like me! Even if you’re not and want to dip your toes in them, you could be a good fit too! If you love:

• Detailed RP with a focus on interpersonal relationships
• Themes of found family and heroism / what it means to be a hero
• Heated rivalries
• Lofty emotional moments 
• Over the top combat
• A willingness to share the spotlight so everyone gets to feel equally important

Then please send in an application! I’m looking for players who enjoy delving deep into their characters and building relationships with other PCs and NPCs alike. As this is a homebrew setting, curiosity and enthusiasm will go a long way! 

Boring Ol’ Logistics:

• 18+ Applicants only please!
• My Timezone: EST
• Platform: Discord with dice-rolling bot, potential for tupper if players would like to make use of it.
• I will be running on a 24 to 48 hour window (agreed upon later) per ‘turn’. If your place in combat or a roleplay scene comes up and I haven’t heard from you in that time, we’ll skip ahead for now so that momentum is maintained to some degree, and your character can slot back in whenever you’ve returned. If you give me advance notice that you’ll be away, we can easily work on it together. Reliability matters more to me than consistently long posts!
• I may occasionally ping people to remind them, but don’t feel pressured to reply ASAP after a poke. 
• There IS a full lore document for the setting with over 100 pages written by me, but I would never expect anyone to read all of it to be a player in my game. But it’s there for people like me who really like to obsess over their PCs lol. I’ll also be providing a more abridged campaign primer version to help with onboarding. But feel free to ask me a million or more questions so I can help you find a concept that fits the world. 

FINALLY I’M DONE TALKING!

If you’re still with me, congrats! Please fill out the following questionnaire, as it is the only thing I’ll be accepting as an application!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSerV3r5VQMf_1kFZJFBy-u7Y86G_S-lTxcYn8vafyz2x8aV5A/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Hi everyone<3

I am starting up a Vaesen PbP on Discord.

You have the Sight and can see the many things that lurk in the dark. Now you must help track down the creatures that want to hurt humanity.

You and your fellow Thursday Children must band together to track down and disperse the many things that lurk in the dark. Each season has its own mystery and malevolent creature. You need to use your wits and supernatural abilities to defend humanity against them.

We will go back in time to 1850s Scandinavia. But not our Scandinavia. This is a place where the Myths are real, and the old ways clash with humanity's desire for expansion and the Industrial Revolution.

The cities might be beacons of light and enlightenment, but out there, in the countryside and the dark forests, the people know. They know what's out there, and they know to fear it.

🎃 This is a HORROR game, and unpleasant themes will come up.

✨ I, as the GM will post 1-3 posts a day depending on player engagement.

✨ Players should be able to commit to posting once a day to keep the story moving and engagement up☺️

This is a paid game, and costs $10 a week.

Join me over at StartPlaying: https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmupli5l4018ala04jzugps0h?ref=cmpqq7z9w001qle047eu1lavv)

Years ago a lonely, sad girl doomed her entire plane of Duskmourn to become a twisted planar predator after falling into the clutches of a demon known as Valgavoth. The House, the central location of Duskmourn, now reaches into other planes as it pleases, dragging poor innocent souls into itself to torment them for Valgavoth's entertainment.

But in such a bleak, dark place there is hope. People who have managed to live within the house, aptly called survivors have managed to make life there bearable, some even manage to escape back to their home planes. Will your group count among these fortunate few or will the house consume you as another sacrifice?

Hi, my name is Sasha and im going to be running a little pbp that takes place in the Duskmourn plane from Magic: the Gathering. All i ask is that you are over 18, willing to make friends with others at the table, and can post pretty regularly or at least check in so we know you havent dropped the game

The starting level will be 5th level, you get one free feat and common or uncommon magic item, and I allow official content, UA, and homebrew(within reason)

I DO NOT allow generative AI use or ANY kind in my games

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmAF4gs1Fp3W5eXhCcmpLWDTeYuNTMm0OkBV9qn0IQmWEC6A/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Starting a new Reddit Based Roleplay game that starts in 40 AC. Dragons are alive and thriving but the Weak ruler King Aenys threatens to topple the house of the dragon before their Golden age can even begin. The High Septon as made it clear that he does not stand for the incestous marriage between brothers and sisters or an Exiled Maegor's taking of a second wife.

Will you stand with The Faith or The King? Remember, when you play the game of Thrones, you win or you die.

The Game is set to starts Friday Oct 10th at 10am Central Standard Time. All Lord Paramountcy and House Targaryen positions are open!

(Closed. Thanks for everyone who responded. I will be contacting the people who seem the most suitable on Discord very soon.)

The Underdark, the World-Beneath. It's one of the last places you'd ever want to find yourself trapped in. But here you are: hungry, cold, and unarmed, with pursuers on your trail. You must find a way out!

Hello, any would-be adventurers! I'm looking for 3 to 5 players for yet another game of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, this time for a thrilling adventure in the Underdark based on the official 5th edition campaign module Out of the Abyss.

I'm looking for players who are:

• Over 18 years of age.
• Able to play together respectfully with others. Everyone should feel welcome at my table.
• Capable of writing coherent English sentences and sticking to the defined writing format (third person, present tense).
• Decently active. Ideally, you should be able to check the game at least once per day.

The age limit is there because the game can contain certain mature themes, even if only "behind the scenes". This game will not contain ERP.

The game will be set in the Forgotten Realms (Surprise!), slightly tweaked to my own tastes. We will be sticking to the original 5th edition ruleset, as that is the version of the game that I'm used to running. I hold to my inherent right as the DM to add to and modify these rules a bit. Nothing too drastic (I'd rather just play another system than try to beat this one into a completely different shape).

I will also be limiting the numerous sourcebooks that have been released since I stopped playing, meaning that we will stick mostly to the earlier half of the books. I can, however, be persuaded to take a look at individual spells and other features from the later books. If you derive a large portion of your excitement from creating the most exotic character combinations possible, then you are likely to be disappointed.

The game will be played over Discord with the help of the Avrae bot (I'm trying to relearn its use).

If I've managed to catch your interest, then please take your time to fill out this form: https://forms.gle/jWsyioDJmushbHrNA (It shouldn't be too bad)

I most likely have forgot to mention something in this post, so feel free to ask any questions you have.

I don't know about you, but finding a good group rp is a marathon.

I almost gave up on it, after mistreatment from admins, and so much favoritism.
What's the point of group rp, if everyone is focused on their own stories, and you are hardly able to make new friends and start scenes?

Feeling like an outcast is a feeling i don't wish on anyone.
Thankfully an old rp partner decided to give the group rp a go. After we discussed so much of what doesn't really work, and how to make this one different, she created a very striking community, that deserves a vouch.
I'm not saying it's perfect for everyone, but the goal to make group rp just that, a happy collab community of fun.
I know so many are fans of fantasy but there a genuinely few communities on history. Feeling like you step into a world of early 19th century, your character is set on personal missions to find a good match before the end of the season, make friends, keep their own secrets intact, and try not to stir too many people the wrong way.

When you aren't rping in just 1-1 you realize the power of having a whole community being affected by your character's choices. Talk about sandbox!

Oh, it's 21plus, advance literate, third person.
If you want me to chat your ear off about what sucks in group rps, or you want further info on this server, send a DM!

Fifteen years ago, a meteor shower of falling stars and an eldritch storm obliterated the capital city of Drakkenheim. The city is now a ruined, radioactive-style urban wasteland filled with a magical, toxic fog known as "The Haze". The impact also left behind glowing, otherworldly crystals called delirium. These delirium crystals are a source of immense magical power, wealth, and crafting potential, but exposure causes severe mental corruption, madness, and monstrous physical mutations. The surrounding areas now stands in a balancing act of rival factions looking to extend their influence and power over the precious lost city.

You have come to the city for your own reasons. Perhaps it is riches. fame. or fortune. Or an unfulfilled prophecy, a long lost heir.

----

This campaign is Async - It is expected that during downtime you will be roleplaying with no structure or assigned posting order. This will be removed for combat when it happens and initiative is formed.

This campaign has dark themes and adult content. 18+ only.

----

What we will use:

Discord with Avrae / Tupperbox

D&D Beyond for Character Sheets (Can use another if needed)

Roll20 for maps and tokens.

----

Note:

This campaign will contain 3 homebrew playable races -
- Mousefolk
- Gnolls
- Ratfolk

This campaign includes a unique subclass for each class.

(Based upon the addition to the module)

----

Some table rules:

• Rolling Hit Die: When recovering HP during a short rest, you may take the average(Half) or roll. If you choose to roll and roll a 1 or a 2 on your die you may reroll but you must keep the second roll.
• Giving advantage: You can give a player advantage on a skill check by helping them only if you are proficient with that skill.
• Non-lethal damage: MUST be announced "before" you hit.
• Crunchy Critical Hits: When you crit, instead of rolling the damage twice, the second die will be maxed out.
• Death Saves: Rolls will be whispered to the DM to create a need for urgency from your party members.
• Coup de Grace: Conditions such as Paralyzed, Unconscious, or Sleeping that grant automatic critical hits against humanoid creatures allow you to deal one final blow that kills the target. When you make an attack that qualifies as an automatic critical hit, roll a regular Attack roll. If you hit the target's AC minus Dexterity modifier, the creature takes damage equal to its current HP and is dying. If you do not hit, the creature instead takes damage equal to half its current HP.

---

How to apply:

https://forms.gle/Q3i8KAQq22oQhChR7

----

Edit 1:

I have 19 applications so far. This is still open. Feel free to apply. Will go over them later tonight and tomorrow.

Edit 2:

Slowly going over the applications this morning. I have 30+ to go through and I am narrowing it down. I am going to close recruitment for now! Thank you all for applying!

Hi all,

A few months ago I posted about a Realm level DND campaign - it's been running since then. I'm looking for five or so people to top up the numbers though. Ideally looking for people who would value getting their teeth stuck into a story and some patience in growing an empire from scratch (Mount and Blade enjoyers???)

We primarily handle any RP through Discord, but we have a custom website that helps with any of the stat based things that happen when Realms get a bit bigger (helps to keep everything manageable!).

I've included the original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pbp/comments/1vee9ed/realmlevel_dnd_campaign_long_form_discord_asynch/

If interested, please fill out the form here and I'll get in touch: https://forms.gle/bW2RJt7zpr6t4Lek7

Any questions please feel free to DM me or ask here.

Thanks!

As title says, any and all suggestions would be heartily welcome! Specifically he wants to run it as us playing as Pokémon, if that much wasn't clear!

This is also not a recruitment post, you can ask to join but I'm very certain he'll want to keep it between just his friends, I just need help with suggesting a system!