ROLE PLAYING TIPS & TRICKS

A few tips and tricks on how to play play-by-post games here at use the RPG message board of Santharia/Caelereth can do wonders in order to make life easier for you. So make sure to read through this page to find out how you can play more efficiently. Below you can find questions and answers - simply click on the question of your choice to jump to the answer:

• Why doesn't ezBoard remember that I'm logged in?
• Why can't I edit my own posts? There is no "Edit" link at my own posts!
• Is there a way to get notified immediately as soon as someone posts in my story?
• Can you give me some general role playing advice?

hy doesn't ezBoard remember that I'm logged in?
To solve this problem you need to know a bit on how a message board works. So here's a little explanation: Once you log in at the main page with your username and password, the board stores a "cookie" at your computer. Unfortunately this is nothing you can eat, but it helps the board to identify you when you open the role playing board again, even if you've turned your computer off for a while. If the cookie is there with your information, ezBoard knows immediately who was in front of the computer the last time and can restore your settings.

If the cookie cannot be stored on your computer, then it might happen that the board "forgets" that you're logged in. And if you're not logged in, you also won't find e.g. an "Edit" link at your own post. Often cookies cannot be stored on your computer due to the fact that your Privacy settings (e.g. at Options at Internet Explorer) are set to a rather high level (see slider on the picture below). That's ok, as a higher security prevents your computer from unwanted popup windows, viruses etc. Unfortunately if the slider is at medium height, also storing of cookies is not possible anymore - for all sites you open, also for those which would need  to store cookies to work properly.

To solve the problem you can either a) move the slider to a lower level (not recommended as this reduces your security level in general) or b) simply define exceptions for certain pages/sites you deem trustworthy. In Internet Explorer locate and click on the "Tools" menu, this is just to the left of "Help" at the very top right. This will produce a menu with many options. Within this menu, locate and click on "Internet Options" at the bottom of the menu, this will produce the "Internet Options" window. Within this window, locate and click on the "Privacy" tab, which will be the third from the left, the window contents will change showing an upper box with a slider and three buttons, and a lower box with a single button:

Now in order to allow the message board to store your user cookie do the following: Click on the button in the lower box, it is labeled "Edit" and the "Per Site Privacy Actions" window will appear (see below). In the box labeled "Address of Web site" enter "ezboard.com" and click the "Allow" button on the right, then repeat this with "santharia.com" and your problem will be solved, while you still haven't reduced your general security settings. You can add further trustworthy sites of course as well, which have similar problems.

hy can't I edit my own posts? There is no "Edit" link at my own posts!
Actually, this is the same problem as described above ("Why doesn't ezBoard remember that I'm logged in?") - so for more details read here.

s there a way to get notified immediately as soon as someone posts in my story?
Yes, there is. Actually this automatic notification will keep the pace of your role playing much faster if all the players actually use it. So make sure to take advantage of this feature yourself and encourage others participating in your stories to use it as well! There are two options on how to turn on automatic notification:

First you can turn on automatic email notification if you post in a thread. Below your posting textbox you'll see some Posting Options. The last option is called "Email me notification of all replies to this topic". Tick it and press "Submit". This way you'll get a mail pointing you to the thread whenever someone replies to your post and you can reply much faster yourself.

The second possibility to receive notifications (without posting yourself) is to open a thread and scroll down to the bottom, where you'll see links as the screenshot to the right shows. Click on the link saying "Click to receive email notification of replies" and voilá, you'll always remain up to date what happens in this thread. You can even follow the progress of certain non-story related threads which you're interested in by marking them this way.

Of course you can turn off email notification anytime - simply click on the appropriate link when you receive a notification, and this marks the end of further notifications.

It is suggested that you don't only mark your main story thread(s) for notification, but also the Out of Character (OOC) threads. This way you definitely won't miss anything that happens in your stories. Also when submitting your character it might be a good idea to mark your Character Description thread for notification.

an you give me some general role playing advice?
Don’t try to solve all the problems of the RP Story by yourself. Not only do you end up making the RPG boring for other members, but it also makes the story itself less interesting. Be sure to include all the members, and give each member a fair chance at doing something great in an RPG. It’ll make it more fair and more fun for everyone.

Adding details makes your posts more fun to read. Adjectives, adverbs, and figurative language can really add a lot to your post. Keep in mind that, in active stories, a person may have to read through a lot of posts, so making them interesting will make your fellow members happier with you.

Try to make sure your posts make sense. Don’t have weird things popping out of nowhere. At times things that seem spontaneous can add humor or excitement, but when things simply don’t make sense, it only adds confusion. Try to keep your writing clear and the plot running smoothly.

Use proper spelling and grammar. Read it again before posting! It may help to run your posts through spell check before you put them up on the boards. Sometimes even one or two misspelling or grammatical mistakes can send your fellow players reeling in confusion. Be sure to write with proper spelling and grammar, at least to the best of your abilities.

Be patient when waiting for posts. Everyone has things they need to deal with outside of the RPG. Also, there are people from all over the world RPing here, so one should take into consideration that the time difference may cause things to move more slowly. Just be patient.