Could someone tell me how to actually get in a PbP game over at Myth-Weavers? I've been trying to with several games now, and nothing's worked. The community there is ridiculous.
You basically have to write a novella-length backstory to get into a game. The ones who get accepted invariably have tl;dr backstories. If you're not accepted? Haha, tough luck, all your work is wasted.
Oh, what's that, you spent a lot of time making a sheet? That's wasted too.
And then there's the unspoken rule of "application quality doesn't matter, player veterancy is what matters." The ones who have the highest chance of getting into games are the ones who are ALREADY in games, so you've got "veterans" who are in 8-12 games at a time. New players like me basically don't stand a chance, and we won't ever become "veterans" ourselves because people don't accept us.Fuck me, why does job interview logic have to carry over into online gaming?
You know how I can tell it's about player veterancy and not application quality? The ones who get accepted have tl;dr novella-length backstories, but they've got basically nothing to do with the setting or the campaign's plot hooks, because they're copy and pasted from a folder of "my characters to apply to games with."
Other new players and I ask questions about the setting, the campaign hooks, etc. and make characters with backstories tailored to that setting and hooks. We get passed up over those veterans with generic and unconnected backstories.
And if you DO get into a game? It's going to die a slow, agonizing death in a month. Maybe two. Point is, it won't last, like most online games. PbP just draws out the death throes.
How do I make this work for me?
>>47705931
If you just want to play, wait for a game finder thread on here. Or go to a local club/society etc.
>>47705954
I want to try PbP.
>>47705931
>Haha, tough luck, all your work is wasted.
>Oh, what's that, you spent a lot of time making a sheet? That's wasted too.
Yeah, thats what you get a binder of characters for.
Then you shotgun them everywhere for random chance of getting accepted.
>>47706064
Isn't this exactly what the "veterans" do to get accepted?
Trying to do things earnestly and tailoring a character to the setting and campaign hooks just seems like a waste of time. It's a damn shitshow if this is the wrong way to go about things.
>>47706100
>Isn't this exactly what the "veterans" do to get accepted?
Yes. When in Rome, do as the Roman's do.
And yea it is a shitshow to a degree. That's always the case in any community of open random pick-up games. Save the deep story for when you've got a group of friends gathering for a friend-only game.
Altho you can always add connections after getting accepted.
>>47706127
>Altho you can always add connections after getting accepted.
But that means the application quality doesn't even matter.
>>47706136
Yes. It doesn't. Again, when in rome.
>>47706167
Alright, if application quality doesn't matter and player veterancy DOES matter, then how is a new player supposed to get into a game?
>>47706276
There is still a low chance of getting in without bringing weight.
You keep trying until it works.
(Or start your own as a GM)
Nobody says that getting into incestuous clique ridden community is /easy/.
>>47706336
Does looking for a newbie GM also work?
>>47706276
As someone who broke into the Good Old Boys Club years ago, I recommend posting applications and getting involved in the OOC thread for the campaign. Talk about your character, show you're a real human bean (and a real gyro), basically differentiate yourself from the randos that post a character without knowing the player behind them.
>>47708324
>>47706276
Easiest way to get in a DM's good graces? Ask questions only the DM can answer, about the setting or their play style. PMs work wonders because it's that extra step forcing a personal 1v1 conversation.
>>47708324
>Other new players and I ask questions about the setting, the campaign hooks, etc. and make characters with backstories tailored to that setting and hooks.
But that's what I did and I still got passed up over the "Here, lemme copy and paste a generic dude from my binder" veterans.
>>47705931
I don't use myth-weavers for anything but character sheets and two out of my five players are newfags.
Maybe you're just looking for love in the wrong places.
>>47708340
Then do it again until it works, duh.
Allow me to repost my experience with Myth-Weavers.
Who here recalls the tales of Myth-Weavers being used as a farm for characters to copy and reuse as NPCs?
I recently had that fate befall me a few hours ago. The GM explicitly informed me that I was not good enough for the final cut of players. I was passed up in favor of the community's veterans who were already in at least eight other games each, and whose characters had minimal ties to the campaign hook, a phenomenon that has already been observed in this thread.
However, the GM mentioned to me that they would like to use my character as a minor NPC in their game, and that I would receive an opportunity to roleplay the character in a single scene to help with exposition. I was singled out for this offer.
I was unsure how to feel about this. I was not good enough to be accepted as a player, yet my character was just interesting enough for the GM to have around as a minor NPC... played by me, for a single scene. Was this supposed to be simultaneous praise and condescension? What was I to do with this booby prize?
Upon others' recommendation, I had turned down the GM's offer and had somehow managed to do so amicably. The GM had apologized; they expressed that they were impressed enough by the effort I placed into my character that they thought it would be a shame to waste it.
Unfortunately, my character was *very strongly* tied to the specific setting of the game and the campaign premise therein. Out of all of the ~30 or so applications, mine was the only one that was strongly grounded in the actual setting and the campaign premise. There were a few applications with a token "And by the way, they happen to be seeking X plot hook" near the end, but even then, those were refused in favor of the veteran players whose characters had zero ties to the setting or the campaign hooks.
It would be virtually impossible to use the character in another game without a precise repeat of the same setting and campaign hook.
>>47708747
To see just how absurd Myth-Weavers is when it comes to choosing only veterans as players, in the game I received this offer in:
- One player GMs 2 games and plays in 9
- Another player plays in 11 games
- Another player GMs 2 games and plays in 7
- Another player plays in 9 games
- The final player GMs 3 games and plays in 11 games
Myth-Weavers appears to be so insular a website that the only players who stand a chance of landing in a game are the players who are *already* in many games...
Should the website simply be avoided for everything but its sheets?
>>47708747
>>47708756
Here is the grand punchline to the story. This game was supposed to be run under an obscure, premade adventure.
The last player to be accepted had submitted a generic backstory with virtually no connections to the setting and the campaign hook. They submitted this during the last few hours before applications were closed.
The player also admitted that they were GMing *the exact same adventure* elsewhere on Myth-Weavers, and asked to join this one anyway.
They were still accepted into the game, because they were a veteran of the website. What madness is this?
Shitty clique-ridden net forums are still shitty, news at 11.
Just avoid myth-weavers, period.
