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Hello, and welcome to WTF RPG! We know it can be a bit overwhelming to join a new site - especially when the site has features you may not be familiar with! Don’t worry. That’s what this guide is for!
To hopefully help you out, we’re going to walk you through some areas of the site and link to places you may want to check out.
What do I do first???
Good on you that you found the newbie guide (or that someone linked you to it and you followed the link) and are reading this! That’s a really great first step and will hopefully answer all your questions before you realize you had any!
Step Zero: Have you read the Site Rules yet?
There aren’t many rules, but they’re important to know about. You’re agreeing to follow these rules (or ask questions about them if you don’t understand them) when you sign up.
Step One: The first step is to consider making an introduction thread here in the Welcome Center.
Doing this allows you to tell people about yourself, share what sort of role-playing experience you have, ask any questions you have about the site, and tell us what sorts of games you like playing. If you’re interested in being recruited in a game, this is your opportunity to be invited to a game straight away without having to search around!
Step Two: Tell us how you found the site!
You don’t have to any more than you “have” to make an introduction thread - but we’re curious and it’d be a great way for us to figure out how to promote the site, if we can!
Step Three: Personalize your experience by visiting “Settings”.
The bottom (and longest) bar on the left of this page will have various ways of customizing your experience on the site. I’m not listing all of them, but just the ones you’ll probably want to use right now.
- Edit Profile - Allows you to edit your bio, list instant messaging programs you use, change your homepage; etc.
- Edit Profile Picture - Allows you to set an avatar for your profile only.
- Edit Avatar - Allows you to set an avatar for use in the forums. (It can be the same picture as above, if you like.)
- Edit Signature - Allows you to set your signature in the forums.
- Profile Privacy - Allows you to change how visible some information in your profile is.
- General Settings - You can set yourself as Invisible to other users, change which emails you get from the site, set your default subscription mode, set your private messaging preferences, your visitor messages preferences, how threads display, the date and time, the type of text editor you have for posts, and more.
- Permission Groups - Allows you to join the “Adult Access” usergroup if you are of age to view such material and are interested in roleplaying adult themes or content.
Okay, I want to join a game now! How do I find one?
Now that you’ve read the rules and done the meet and greet thing, it’s only natural that you’d want to get to playing! Don’t we all?
Method One: Decide whether you’d rather role-play in the Forums, or the Roleplay tab.
The forums are broken down by major “genre” or “setting” type to make it easier for you to find the types of games you’re looking for. They are (generally) simpler games, so if you’re already used to forum roleplaying, you’ll find yourself right at home. The down side is that you may have a harder time finding what you’re looking for, if the forum you’re looking in is one of the busy ones.
The Roleplay tab hosts our “full-featured” games. These games offer more features, and an arguably more interesting layout than a thread may be able to provide (though it’s really down to personal preference). On the upside, it is probably easier to find the kind of game you’re looking for with all of the different sorting and searching options. On the down side, some users may find it confusing or intimidating at first.
Method Two: Take a peek at the Character Pool feature.
This is a way for you to bypass the ‘searching’ part of finding a game, and instead lets people come to you if the character you created interests them.
Method Three: Check out the Advertising and Recruitment forum!
These are threads made by people hoping to find more players for their games, one-on-one roleplaying partners, or judging interest in actually starting a game before they put all the effort into it. It’s a great way to browse for people actively looking for a player.
You’re not limited to how many games you can play at once, so consider trying out as many different ways of finding a game to see what works best for you!
I’m confused or need help....
Don’t worry, it happens! Here are different ways you can find the answers to your questions or get assistance.
Step One: Check the Site Feature Guides forum.
This forum is all about making guides to help you use the different site features. If you’re not sure how to use the site itself, there’s probably a guide for it here.
Step Two: Visit the Information Desk and General Feedback forum.
This forum is designed for you to ask questions. If you look over the recent threads, you may see that someone else had the same question or issue, so you may find your answer without having to ask anyone!
Step Three: Check the Mentoring forum.
This forum is all about getting help. Someone can talk you through using the site features or even learning how to role-play. It’s all down to what you’re looking for.
Step Four: Take a peek into the Roleplay Discussion and Design forum.
This forum is all about how to use the features of the site to get better results and to learn to be a better writer or role-player.
What else can I do but roleplay on the site?
WTF RPG is really about roleplaying, but there are various places you can go besides the “out of character” threads that aren’t “in-character”.
Option One: Take a peek into the Roleplay Discussion and Design forum.
This forum is all about how to use the features of the site to get better results and to learn to be a better writer or role-player. (Yes, I know that was the last option in the section above, but it stands repeating. Improving yourself is always a good thing, isn’t it?)
Option Two: Get involved in a conversation in the Roleplay Skull Session forum.
As long as whatever you’re talking about is in some way related to roleplaying or writing, you can chat it up. Even electronic rpgs, tabletop rpgs, and live-action roleplaying or historical reenactments are all fair game.
Option Three: Visit the Arts Centre forums.
You can post your stories or poems you’ve written about your game, or read the offerings of others and offer commentary. You can share artwork you’ve done for your game, or enjoy the works of others. And if you’ve got a marketable service related to the site (layouts, graphics, art, writing) or are looking for such services, you can buy/sell/trade there.
So, I heard there’s an Adult side to the site?
WTF RPG was primarily created because many people are looking for a good way to locate a place they could go to to roleplay adult content or themes without it feeling like a seedy corner of the internet or feeling as if they needed to find two sites to roleplay what they wanted - one for adult themes and one for general themes. (There were also ideas for some cool features not offered on other sites, but we’re talking about the Adult side of the site, aren’t we?)
WTF RPG is an attempt to provide one, the other, or both. Unless you manually elect to view Adult material, you shouldn’t see anything worse than what you’d find at a PG-13 movie (or perhaps themes that are less bad than the average PG-13 movie).
Those who elect to enable Adult Content will find special forums just for adult content scattered around the forums (but properly labled as adult), with strict rules about “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work) images. That is to say, they’re allowed as long as they’re legal images and the thread is properly labeled with “NSFW” so those who do not wish to view such material (even if they’re fine with reading it) may do so.
Because of the nature of the freedom we’re allowing for mature players to explore themes that are forbidden on most roleplaying sites, it’s advised that users who have enabled adult content prepare themselves to stumble across themes or plots that personally disgust them. The staff themselves probably won’t enjoy some of these themes any more than the average viewer will. It may be comforting to keep in mind that many people playing these things out would be horrified by the same thing in action in real life. Like authors of dark stories that explore the depths of human or inhuman depravity, they may not be in it for “pleasure” so much as telling a disturbing story. Or, alternately, may simply be playing out things in their proper historical or cultural context.
If reading the above has not put you off enabling the Adult Content, you can find it by clicking “Settings” and finding “Permission Groups”. You may change your mind at any time and block adult content if you decide it doesn’t interest you.
Did we miss anything that you think would help you or another newbie by including?
Let us know!
hey im tj
and im new
Hello TJ/coolboi! Welcome to WTFRPG! If you need any help getting around that the Newbie Guide doesn't cover, just let us know and we'll do our best to show you the ropes. :)
Joined this site a few days ago, just major props to everyone on here! Very helpful and super friendly! ^^