How to Recruit for a Roleplay

[Anne Bonny]

So you finally have your roleplay set up, the thread's looking all shiny and cool, the rules are set, and you even have a plot ready and raring to go! That's great! But now you might find you have one more problem on your hands... you have no roleplayers yet! Never fear GM, for this is an easy thing to fix. So, in this tutorial, we'll cover the basics on how to get your roleplay seen and heard on RPA!

The Roleplay Directory
This should be your very first and foremost stop! All you have to do is fill out the form, and then post the completed form in the thread! Folks will know just by stopping by this thread that your roleplay is alive, active, and waiting for people!

Banner Request Thread
Chances are at some time you have wandered into a roleplay and thought to yourself 'Woah... look at that shiny banner!' They grab folks attention, these banners, and are valuable advertising tools since one can post them not only in the roleplay OOC thread itself to spruce it up a bit but also in their own signature! Once more, just fill out the form and request and a willing and able graphic artist can whip up some magic for you!

Signature
You have one of the most valuable advertising tools right in your own control panel: your signature! Simply change this into either a link with creative wording, or a banner image link and folks who see it will naturally click out of curiosity! Make it funny, make it creative! For example, say you have a dinosaur roleplay. You could have the text say : Click here or be EATEN! Or you could have text that reads "Don't Click Here!" Reverse psychology for the win! Anyways, be out there, be creative! Grab your fellow roleplayers eyes and reel them in!

PM's
A powerful tool you possess is the PM. Now then, keep in mind if you're a newbie you need a minimum of 25 posts to PM another roleplayer. But hey, that isn't hard to do! Once more, come up with a creative title folks will want to click, and inside of the PM put a link and a short description, or at times even a link will work! However, it should be noted you can only PM one person at a time. That means it must all be done one by one, manually. It's what folks have termed as a PM Bombing Party! But it is really effective, you just have to put the time into it!

Mass E-Mail
One last thing you can do is request to a mod that your roleplay be added to a mass e-mail with other fledgling roleplays. One can PM myself or any of the other roleplaying mods to have this done, and it reached a wide variety of players.

Reminders: Remember folks, others have lives too! Whether it be at work, or with others, your thread isn't going to gain instant popular status usually. So have patience, some of the best roleplays take one or two weeks to fill! So while yes, it doesn't hurt to remind folks about a bio, don't pressure or nag them into it. That's just not cool for anyone.

And that's it! Now get out there, show us your shiny new roleplay, and lets get started! If you still have any questions feel free to ask myself or any of the other roleplay mods. And one last thing: good luck!

Other Related Links:

• How to Be a Good Game Master
• Steps in Creating a Roleplaying Game
• Roleplay Forum Etiquette
• The Rights of a Game Master
• Roleplay Abbreviations
• A Guide For Joining Roleplaying Games