A selection of narrative, rules-light tabletop RPGs can work well with text-based role-playing on forums, smartphones, and applications like Discord.
Online roleplaying has surged in popularity over the past year and a half, with some tabletop gamers using virtual tabletop sites like Roll20 to play classic RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. However, others have started participating in narrative “Play By Post” RPGs on forums and chat clients like Discord. The RPG systems below are particularly good choices for players who want to participate in a roleplaying game session through written text messages and narrative vignettes.
The big advantage of text-based adventure games and RPG campaigns is that players don’t have to worry about scheduling game sessions and instead post irregular updates inside the game’s chat room or on its forum page. On the downside, “Play By Post” RPG campaigns are frequently slow-paced, and can even grind to a halt if one or more players forgets to post or fails to see an update. To keep the plot dynamic and interesting, both players and GMs need to make sure the “entries” they type are concise, grammatically legible, and give other players chances to respond and embellish.
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