Thread Authoring

This is for all your own forums and things of such..




Think you're ready for the rat race? The world of authoring roleplays is tough. You can't let your guard down, otherwise you're roleplaying may end up buried underneath all of the other roleplays fighting for attention. Let's face it, running a successful roleplay is exhausting.

This tutorial will teach you how to set up your roleplay through Thread-Authoring, the process of conducting and managing your thread. Whenever you create a roleplay you become the Thread-Author, the creator and continuing author of a forum thread.

Creating a Thread

To create a thread; go to the forum you wish to author in. At the top and bottom of the list of threads already created will be a "New Topic" or "New Thread" button (this depends on the type of forum provider, or forum theme).

After clicking on this button you will be redirected to a screen that has a title bar, and a large text box. It is much similar to an e-mail form, except there is no "Send To", "CC", etc. fields. In the subject field, type the title of your roleplay (i.e. Never Ending Love). In the text body field, place the bulk of your introduction. What you place here depends on your thread. If you are creating an OOC thread, place information that is relevant to the background of your roleplay to get people's interest. Next, you may want to incorporate a set of rules, profile templates, and other notes that may be beneficial to your players. If you click on "Submit" at the bottom of the page, then you will publish the post and be redirected to view it. You can also click on "Preview Post" to see what it will look like before submitting it (recommended). If you, however, click on "Submit" or "Preview Post" and are directed to a message that says "Character limit exceeded", then you will have to shorten your text body. You can cut and paste the deleted text onto another post to complete the set-up.

Getting Peoples' Attention

In order to get players involved in your roleplay, you'll need to get the word out. There are several ways to do this. Interest Checks are usually the first step for members that are wanting to start up a roleplay. An Interest Check is a passive way of advertising your roleplay or idea by posting a thread in the form of a question. You are basically asking members of the board if they would be interested in joining your roleplay.


Managing Your Roleplay

Now that you have some players, it's time to buckle down and really start authoring your thread. Launch your IC thread to start bringing in the actual roleplay text. Go to the Category's main forum where you see a list of actual roleplays (not their OOC threads). Create a new thread by following the same steps as before, but in the body text, you should type up your first IC post. This is the post that will officially start your story.

Once your IC thread is up and running, be sure to return to your OOC thread and post a link to your IC thread, for your players' convenience. This makes navigating through the story's associated threads much easier.

During the course of your roleplay, be sure to check up on and pay attention to your players' posts. Check to make sure that they are consistent with the Category minimums and are on track with your story. If a player introduces a new plot, give it a chance to develop and see where it goes. If you disagree with the plot change, or it is far too radical from the rest of the story, then ask the player to steer it back to the original plot. Sometimes, as a Thread-Author, you must bring down the iron fist. If you are too relaxed when it comes to managing your roleplay, then it may spin off into chaos. If you are ever having trouble keeping your players in line, then ask a Moderator for assistance. They have powers beyond your wildest dreams and can easily turn your roleplay around for the better.

Roleplay Death is when your roleplay ceases to exist. This can be the result of several things; inactivity of players, poor management, bad plot, lack of development, or unoriginal ideas. To avoid roleplay death, be sure to consult your players in your RP's OOC thread and find out their opinions of your roleplay on a regular basis.