PbP HOUSE FAQ

[Archer]

Find here the answers to frequently asked questions about the PbP HOUSE Forums.

General Question	Technical Questions
What are you people doing here? What is a Play-by-Post Game? So, I created an account. What do I do next? How do I find a game to play in? How do I start up a game I want to run? How do I request a board or a child board for my game? How can I roll dice? Can I hide text in a post? What is XP? What is the PvP Arena?	What is the size limit for avatars? Can I post attached files? What are the restrictions? I'm having problems with my login timing out when I leave and re-enter the main page. What do I do? How can I display a YouTube video clip in a post?

[Archer]

What is XP?

XP is a rating system for PbP HOUSE Members. If you want to show your support for a particular member, click the Award link under their user name in their post.

XP should be used to show you particularly like something that a member has done as a player, a GM, or as a member of the community. Examples could include a GM coming up with a great plot twist, a player making a very clever and creative post, or a community member posting some information you found interesting or entertaining.

There are several rules for rewarding XP to another member:

• If you Award another member XP, you must enter a brief explanation of why you are granting them the XP.
• You can see the award history in your own profile and in anybody else's -- the XP the user has received and the XP he or she has Awarded to other members. This way, you can find out what qualities other members value in you and you can let them know what qualities you value in other members.
• You cannot Award other members XP until you have at least 25 posts.
• Once you Award a member XP, you must wait at least 1 hour before you can Award them XP again.

[Archer]

What is the size limit for avatars?

Avatars can be up to 110 pixels wide by 150 pixels tall.

If you reference your avatar from another site, and it is bigger than these size limits, the forum will "shrink" your avatar to fit into the designated size limits. This may result in your avatar looking grainy or scrunched.

If you try to upload an avatar that is too large, the upload may fail.

[Archer]

How do I find a game to play in?

See the Player's Quick Start Guide to Play-by-Post Gaming

[Archer]

How do I start up a game I want to run?

For detailed information, see the Game Master's Quick Start Guide to Play-by-Post Gaming.

If you know what sort of game you want to run and you're ready to post your ad, see How to Create a Game Recruitment Ad

[Archer]

How do I request a board or a child board for my game?

See How to Request a New Game Board for detailed instructions.

[Archer]

What are you people doing here? What is a Play-by-Post Game?

See Player's Quick Start Guide to Play-by-Post Gaming for detailed information.

[Archer]

I'm having problems with my login timing out when I leave and re-enter the main page. What do I do?

Delete your cache (temporary Internet files) and your cookies in your web browser.

This procedure varies slightly from one web browser to another.

[Archer]

Can I post attached files? What are the restrictions?

You can attach files to your posts. Allowed file formats include .gif, .jpg, .png, .pdf, .doc, and temporarily .htm and .html.

While people are transitioning their games over from other sites, I've allowed HTML files and cranked the maximum file size up to 5 MB. These are temporary allowances designed specifically to allow people to move over HTML archives of game threads from other forums. Once the transition is complete, HTML files will be disallowed, and the maximum file size will be drastically reduced -- probably to about 500 KB or so.

So, the limitations are pretty loose for right now, but I will be monitoring attachments. If there are large or questionable attachments in the meantime, the staff reserves the right to remove them from the forums without warning.

Thanks very much for your cooperation in this policy while we make this transition.

[Archer]

So, I created an account. What do I do next?

It's not required, but we like to see new members post an introduction in the New Member Introductions thread. This gives you and the current members an opportunity to say hello and get to know each other a bit.

[Archer]

What is the PvP Arena?

The PvP Arena is a board where members can come to challenge each other in unmoderated one-on-one and group combat.

The concept is similar to PvP challenges in MMORPGs, such as World of WarCraft. You can challenge another player to test your skills against theirs, gain bragging rights, test the survivability of a character concept, and so on.

Instructions for playing and conducting combat in the PvP Arena can be found in the board.

[Archer]

How can I roll dice?

We used to have an integrated dice roller but it's broke.  Use Invisible castle or something... -cthug

[Archer]

Can I hide text in a post?

To hide text in a post, use the 'spoiler' tag. To insert spoiler tags into your post, click hidden on the tag button bar in your post. 

You can put text or images in spoiler/hidden text.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A bit of Sonny Chiba.

Or you can use it to hide dice rolls.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rolling 4 10-sided dice: roll 1: 5, roll 2: 3, roll 3: 8, roll 4: 4, TOTAL: 20

Rolling 1 100-sided dice: roll 1: 7, TOTAL: 7

You can also add a label that you can use to identify some specifics about the text.

For example, you can identify a specific recipient the hidden content applies to:

Spoiler: Cthughua (click to show/hide)

Cthughua, stop harassing the members!

Or you can identify something about the subject of the content.

Spoiler: Old Yeller Ending (click to show/hide)

The dog dies.

To add this bit of detail, use the equals sign (=) followed by whatever message you want to include in the tag.

Code:

[spoiler=Old Yeller Ending]The dog dies.[/spoiler]

[Archer]

How can I display a YouTube video clip in a post?

You can display a video clip from YouTube along with the player right in a post. An example is the following clip showing Alice Cooper singing "Welcome to My Nightmare" on The Muppet Show.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8Z5fjqOYs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8Z5fjqOYs</a>

To add a YouTube clip like this to your post:

1. Navigate to the clip at youtube.com.

In this case, the URL of the clip is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8Z5fjqOYs.

2. Copy just the numbered and lettered code after the equals sign, and paste the code in your post on PbP HOUSE. For this clip, the code is dQ8Z5fjqOYs.

3. In your post, highlight the code, and click the YouTube button.

The code should look like the following with the code between the youtube tags replaced with the code for your video clip:

Code:

[youtube=425,350]dQ8Z5fjqOYs[/youtube]

When you click Post, the clip appears in your player with the post, similar to the example above.