Persistent Worlds Manual

Under Construction (and it's about time. )

Welcome to Roleplayers' Central, where RPGs are the name of the game! For all who are unsure, RPG is an abbreviation for Role-Playing Game. Exactly as the name implies, it is a game in which real people take on the roles of imaginary characters.

Now, if you've read through the Stand-Alone Games manuals and you're looking at this wondering "What the heck is a Persistent World (PW), and how do I get involved?", you've come to the right place! If you haven't read the Stand-Alone Game manuals, go read those first. The principles therein are fundamental to Persistent World Games.

With your knowledge of general RPG procedures well-rehearsed and intact, I'll explain a little about what a PW is, and how its different from an SA.

Remember that one game you ran a few months back that everyone loved and couldn't wait to see the sequel for? Perhaps now you're thinking that you'd like to go above and beyond a short-run game like that. Perhaps you developed the game world so vividly that you'd like to make it a constant environment, where players and characters can come, interact and play as they like; and where you can have them go on a theoretically-neverending stream of adventures.

This is what the Persistent World accomplishes, and I shall explain the details in the next lessons. Enjoy!

GMing a PW is a little bit hard to define, since there is extreme flexibility in the way you can handle it. We'll start with the process of getting one up and running.

First of all, PM one of the admins to let them know your idea. There are a few prerequisites before aforementioned idea will even be considered. First of all, the Persistent World has to be a world, a unique environment. Before you submit your idea, look around at the other PWs; and try to make yours distinct from them. Especially in the area of genre. Running two PWs with the same feel (classic fantasy, for instance) right next to one another usually causes one to fizzle and die. The admins may rule that yours is too much like another, and probably won't last long.

The basic premise should be compelling and well-thought-out. You must include sufficient background in your PM to let the admins get a decent feel for how it might play. Also, the environment should support many kinds of diverse characters, and encourage creativity.

Once the PM is sent and the idea approved, you should commence putting up world information. This is all the things the players need to know before playing in the game. Here's a list of the things you should consider:

• Instructions - Tell the players how the game works, which threads to post in, etc.
  
• Race/Class/Template Info - Information on the basic types of characters the players can play.
  
• Locations/Maps - Places the characters can or will go.
  
• Equipment - Assets and weapons the characters have available to them.
  
• History/Backstory - A history of the world and how it got here.
  
• Important Characters - A listing of NPCs that you (mostly) control that will be important to the game.

Even once this information is up, your job is far from done. You will need several threads meant for the players to post in. The easiest ones that every PW will need is a profiles thread, and a discussion thread. After that, you get to be creative. Depending on how you want to handle the PW, there may be as few as one addition thread where the interaction and storytelling will take place. Most PWs should have more. And it all depends on how you want to handle the game. Here are two examples from games past, and from one yet to come:

Ardus:
New characters go to the Jester's Lute thread; and they interact in a tavern run by a GM character. Interaction is loose and free. Every so often, the GM (or someone else if the GM allows) may run a quest; and take a few characters from the Lute with him. Quest interaction is done in the 'Ardus' thread.

New Avarus City:
There are several threads, each representing a bar with a different atmosphere. Characters of different types frequent different bars. Missions are handled similarly to Ardus' quests.

Terminus (Coming Soon):
There is a thread for each section or location of the city, and the characters post in their respective areas. Flow of time is controlled by the most active thread.

As you can see, there are many ways to approach GMing a PW, each with different levels of involvement. Here's a summary of what you might need.

• Character Profiles - A thread where players can post their character profiles.
  
• Interaction - One or more threads where the characters interact without contributing to a regular story.
  
• Story - One or more threads where the characters commit to a story.
  
• Discussion - A thread in which the players can discuss, coordinate, and plan.

The actual act of GMing individual quests or events can be similar to running an SA, but the crux of the matter is that you can GM things any way you like in a PW. Just make sure your players like what you're doing.