Help Me Learn

I am not new to the concept of TTRPGs or PbP, not even close. I wrote my first gaming system in the late 80s, which was sold, outright, to TSR and became the proficiencies and feats which were later introduced in 2e D&D. In 2013, a bit after getting out of the military, I wrote my second gaming system which I hosted on another site from 2016 until this year. The other site became unviable.

As Gulf War Syndrome should do me in sooner rather than later and having no family to inherit anything, I no longer care about trying to sell or make money on the system. I want to share it in the hope that others will enjoy playing it.

I have watched the video put up be qrallaq, which is quite informative, but I think that it is from an older version of this site and his express familiarity loses me from time to time. Kudos though for the great effort and interest in helping others. I would like to break the necessities into smaller packets so that I can better remember them and I would really love some site help.

I know how to create a game from my home page. Do I need to create that first and then make a recruitment thread? If so, where should I make the recruitment thread?

I have a ton more questions, hopefully not to the point of exasperation.

You have an idea for a game

0) Make an interest thread: Are there people who think your idea is interesting? Once you find that there are plenty of players who love your idea, you move to

1) Create the game forum. Make the game and start the sub-fora. Order your thoughts on setting, tone and describe them. Make the initial threads (OOC, Character generation, Setting information, Lines and vails if needed ect.
Personally, I also make the opening game post and lock it, as I believe that players can use the opening to create their character.

2) Create your recruitment thread. Now this can be your interest tread and sometimes it's a new thread. You can link your recruitment thread with the game, under the game settings.

3) Invite players and start playing

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Now the order of operations is not always important. 1-2-3, 2-1-3, 0-2-1-3, 0-1-2-3

There is a Discord channel for #pbp_advice and #gm_mentoring_project that you can use. You can also be cheeky and create an interest check thread and say you are looking for players for X, but you want an experienced player to support you with the technical stuff. You should not be afraid to set expectations for your players.

Fine and dandy. I clicked on "create a new game" from my home page. I typed in my information or at least something; but when I click "create" at the bottom of the page, nothing happens.

That usually happens if some field is filled in incorrectly.
Commonly it's because people forget to add a sheet type - did you click on a small plus sign next to the chosen sheet type to add it?

That must have been it. I thought I had selected "custom," but this time it worked. At the moment the game is junk with almost nothing in it. Hopefully I can begin to edit it and fill in real information.

BTW, I love your stuff in the game we are playing together.

Yay, glad it helped!
And thank you, I love your writing too. :D Can't wait until our characters meet so we can combine our powers for the ultimate occult experience.

Since most people on this site will not be familiar with the gaming system and I own the rights, I intend to provide all information for free. The current system is specifically designed for PbP, keeping the numbers small. I have some players who followed me from the unviable gaming site, but I hope to attract others as well.

(1) Would it be best to create a sub-forum to hold the technical information and have the character generation information contain a link to jump to that location as well?

(2) I figure that should be able to develop the recruitment thread and game thread simultaneously. Where should I go to make the recruitment thread?

Organization is a matter of preference. I find using forums to organize helpful. There is a guide about this in the General Guides
https://gamersplane.com/user/13719
There are likely more but that is the first I found.
Be cautioned that deleting forums in a game has had issues but you can always rename something. Just didn't make to many then regret it

Recruitment threads go in Games Tavern. There is a guideline thread How to Write a Recruitment Thread if you need inspiration for what to include in it, or any examples.

As for organisation, I love when games have a separate subforum/thread for rules and character generation, but it is a matter of preferences. I think it's a good idea to add a link in either case, make it easier to find for new players. :3

I prefer to keep active threads at the top level and use forums for archives and reference material.
If you ever have to split a game and want separate threads with restricted access them you can use forums for that at well.

Is there a way to adjust the size of an image in a post?

Yes. If it is from imgur. There is a section on that in the BCC Guide

No problem with the upload from my computer, but I am not seeing anything in the thread you linked about adjusting the size of it in a post.

Also, if I lock a thread, does this prevent others from posting to it and can I go back and edit it later?

If you expand the "Tip" spoiler below the Upload Image section it details suffix that can be added to imgur URL to alter the image displayedLocking a thread prevents others from posting
Game owners and GM can still post

You can also wrap any image in a f tag like these:

[f=display:block width:100%][img]https://i.imgur.com/nH9jJWU.jpeg[/img][/f]
[f=display:block width:50%][img]https://i.imgur.com/nH9jJWU.jpeg[/img][/f]
[f=display:block width:25%][img]https://i.imgur.com/nH9jJWU.jpeg[/img][/f]

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for the help.

At this point, I have a mass of information loaded in the forums within the actual game thread, but I need to create a recruitment thread. I now know that this is posted in the Gamers Tavern, and writing one is no problem. Looking at other recruitments, there is technical information about the game at the top of each thread and a button for "game details" that is a link to the actual game.

How do I generate all the technical stuff for people to move between the threads?

BTW, The title of the game is The Burning Sands and it is visible by "browsing games;" although, the status is private and closed because I am still trying to learn how the site functions and is programmed.

To attach game details to the recruitment post, first you have to make said recruitment post. Then, go to your game page, edit it, and you'll see a field for recruitment thread - add a link to your thread here, and it'll automatically attach all the technical info.

Edit: and by add a link, I mean complete it, since the field already has "https://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/" part. You just need to add the last part, the numbers.

thanks. Hopefully tomorrow!

Super cool. I am drawing some interest. How to I get people into the actual game forum? How do I send an invite?