I first got into roleplaying games in high school through a play-by-post forum. My friend homebrewed a simple system based on the popular anime Hunter x Hunter, and I spent nights and weekends with our friends in typed-out combat and roleplay scenarios.

As an introvert, playing purely through the written word was an accessible and safe stepping stone into tabletop roleplaying games. I could take a breath to plan my next turn in combat or to digest intense moments before responding as my character. When I wasn't available to play, I could still hop onto the forums and catch up on the story my friends were unfolding together.

The D&D Beyond forums offer play-by-post, also known as PbP. If you're unfamiliar with playing D&D via PbP, I cover the basics below, as well as tips on getting started.

• What Is Play-by-Post (PbP)?
• Tips for Playing in a Play-by-Post Game
• Finding a Group for Play-by-Post D&D

Playing Over Discord? Check Out the Avrae Bot!

Avrae is a bot that supports playing D&D over Discord by integrating character sheets, rolling dice, tracking intiative, and more! It's free to use and supported by D&D Beyond, so you easily bring all of your purchased content into your Discord games.

For installation instructions and to get started, check out the Avrae cheatsheet. If you need more help, you can always head over to the Avrae Development Discord! 

What Is Play-by-Post (PbP)?

Artist: MIKE PAPE

When you play D&D in person or on a Discord video call, the game unfolds through the spoken word. You might act out the unfolding drama of who stole the wizard's pants, with the Dungeon Master facilitating gameplay by asking for Insight checks and the like. In play-by-post D&D, the game is played out entirely in the written word, typically in a forum, but gameplay still follows the D&D rules as you know them.

One of the key parts of PbP gameplay is that the words you type carry all the weight; you can't fall back on facial expressions or voice inflections you may use during in-person sessions. The words you write must be clear and descriptive to portray your character and their actions as you envision them. On the flipside, this style of play can be more immersive and accessible, and give you and your fellow players the feeling that you are collectively writing a story together.

An Example of Play-by-Post in Action

Just as in a traditional D&D session, the DM controls the flow of the game by presenting narrative opportunities to their players. In PbP, the DM may submit a post that offers a few narrative opportunities for the players to respond to. Players on forums may have more responsibility to help move the story along by creating openings for other players to join in on whatever their character is doing or saying.

Consider how our above scenario of a wizard's missing pants may play out in a play-by-post game:

Dungeon Master: The sun rises over the Stonehill Inn in Phandalin. Downstairs, Toblen Stonehill helps staff ready the tables for breakfast. Randall, the sun rises on the window of your room, awakening you. It's a warm day and that strange wound on your arm shows no signs of healing. You also find that your pants are missing. Joey, because you rolled so high on Stealth, your thievery did not seem to alert anyone last night.

Player A: Randall stretches awake in bed surrounded by his spellbook and scrolls. His other adventuring gear litters a corner of the room. He turns over in bed and reaches for his pants, or he would, if they were where he'd left them. Finding them missing, he leaps out of bed, his cheeks flushed. "Joey! Where are my pants?" He hurriedly grabs his shirt, wraps it around his waist, and rushes out of his room and down the hall to Joey's room. "I know it was you! You're always stealing my pants! Come out before I burn down this door!"

(OOC: Is it OK if I end up casting a fire bolt on the door, or will that totally derail things?)

Dungeon Master: (OOC: Totally fine if Randall would take down that door, but there'll be consequences.) Your shouting awakens other patrons, some of which peek out of their rooms to see you heading down the hall. Toblen notices the sudden ruckus and makes his way upstairs. "Is everything alright?" he asks Randall.

Joey, make a Perception check to see if you awaken from the shouting (DC 10). Otherwise, the banging will be enough to wake you up.

Player B: Perception 7

Joey is in a deep slumber dreaming of all the loot the party got the day before. The inn's beds are big for a halfling too, and he took some heavy damage from the goblins yesterday, so he's not getting up easily. It's just when he's dreaming of that +1 dagger that Randall said the party should sell for gold that he awakens to the shouting. Then, he's in a panic.

He leaps out of bed, snatches Randall's pants off a nearby chair and heads for the window. He doesn't respond to Randall. (OOC: He's going to avoid Randall by climbing down to the first floor.)

Dungeon Master: Joey, make an Acrobatics check.

Player A: Not hearing a response from Joey, Randall casts fire bolt on the bedroom door. Seeing Toblen come upstairs, he shouts, "I'll pay for repairs! I promise!" 

Damage: 4 (fire bolt causes flammable objects to ignite if they aren't being worn or carried, btw.)

Player B: Acrobatics: 14

Dungeon Master: Randall, your fire bolt causes the door to burst open in flames. Toblen and a few inn patrons scream. "What are you doing? Fire! Fire!" Toblen screams. You realize that the flames will spread quickly if you can't put them out. Some staff members at the inn also start shouting for buckets of water.

Joey, you find a gutter that runs from the roof to the ground floor and safely make your way down as smoke begins to fill your room. Just as your feet hit grass, Sildar Hallwinter rounds the corner of the inn and makes eye contact with you. They are also missing their pants...

This is a silly scenario, but you can see how the DM and players react or don't react to details in each other's posts to keep the story flowing. The DM calls for rolls in the same way they would at an in-person session, and the players include their rolls in their posts, even using the results to inform what they're writing based on a given DC. They may also bold dialogue to make it easier to skim posts and include out-of-character (OOC) notes to clarify their intentions or to check in with one another.

In PbP, it's important that the players allow time for others to respond. You may be in different time zones, so moving ahead in the narrative without input can prevent other players from meaningfully responding to what's happening.

Cheating Dice Rolls

Because PbP is conducted online and often entirely remotely, forums and Discord servers implement dice rolling with anti-cheat measures. On the D&D Beyond PbP forums, we have a dice rolling function that issues warnings when a roll has been modified or removed from a post. If you're playing over Discord, the Avrae bot rolls dice for the whole group to see, making it impossible to fudge rolls.

As with in-person play, cheating is grounds for removal from a campaign.

Tips for Playing in a Play-by-Post Game

Artist: Kent Davis

Being a good DM or player in a play-by-post D&D campaign follows many of the same rules as in a traditional campaign. Your character should be willing to adventure with others, and you, as a player, should give others room to shine in the game. But PbP games have their own unique challenges and needs.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when playing in a PbP game:

1. Be Prepared for a Long-Term Commitment: PbP games move at a slower pace. A campaign can take years and hundreds of pages of posts to complete. Part of the reason for this slower pace is that the DM and players may not be online at the same time, not to mention that typing out your every move is more time intensive than speaking them out loud.
2. Be Reliable: PbP relies on the DM and players to be active to keep things moving. If you're frequently inactive, you'll bog down the game by making others wait on you for long periods of time. This is why some DMs will issue warnings or kick players for inactivity.
3. Write Clearly: In PbP, you can't fall back on social cues to communicate your character's actions. If the party is arguing over which entrance to take into the Tomb of Horrors, you need to detail how your character is feeling and responding. Are they abuzz with excitement and confidence in entrance No. 1? Are they frowning and crossing their arms in stubborn rejection of the party leader's vote? Or are they anxiously peering into the dungeon's dark depths, neither hearing nor participating in the argument, and thus forfeiting their vote?
4. Beware Verbosity: Clear communication is great, but be careful that you're not burying your intent under paragraphs and paragraphs of unnecessary detail. I played in a PbP game where players submitted page-long posts, and it was easy as a reader to get lost in everything that was happening. What was internal monologue and what was spoken aloud? What is their character doing by the time I get a chance to respond? And how much time has actually passed in all of this? This is particularly important in combat, when pacing can really slow down and communicating details like positioning to your DM can affect the monsters' turns.
5. Create Room for Others to Respond: PbP leans heavily into the storytelling aspect of tabletop roleplay. When writing a post, take into consideration how others may respond to what you're submitting. Sure, your character may be having an internal monologue, but what are they outwardly expressing that others can react to? When in conversation, are you remembering to ask questions to keep the dialogue flowing? You don't want your DM and party members to feel like they're constantly interacting with a brick wall.
6. Coordinate with Others OOC: Is the party strategizing for a big fight that's coming up? Do you have to decide how to spend gold from a dragon's hoard? If permitted, reach out to your fellow players, whether by direct message or by including an "OOC" note in your posts, to discuss what you'd like to do. This can help everyone come to a consensus faster, which you can then quickly resolve in-game to move on to the good stuff.
7. Submit "If This, Then This" Actions: This may be more group specific, but you could describe how your character would respond in two likely scenarios. If you've broken into a prison to break your friend out, you may describe how you'd try to lockpick the door and, if that fails, immediately try to brute force it open. Likewise, if you're taking an action such as sneaking, and expect the DM to ask for a Stealth check, you can make that roll in your post to save them from having to ask you for one.

Different PbP groups will have different approaches to gameplay. Find out what works and doesn't work for your group. In my experience, I've found that PbP games require more frequent check ins with one another than in-person games to make sure everyone is happy with how things are unfolding. This is partly because, again, you're not seeing everyone out of the game; all your interactions are through text, and social cues can easily be missed. 

Finding a Group for Play-by-Post D&D 

D&D Beyond is the official toolset for fifth edition, so it's fair to say that the vast majority of groups in the PbP forum are hosting games using this system. You can find DMs who are actively recruiting for a campaign by scrolling to the bottom of the Play-by-Post forum and filtering by "Recruiting."

But before you do, read the rules and FAQ on PbP to learn about how games are run on our forums.

You can also find games in the official D&D Discord server in the #looking-for-dm and #looking-for-players channels. Once you find a game you're interested in, you'll submit a request to join.

When putting out a call for players, DMs may include such information as:

• The adventure being run
• The setting
• Where the game will be run
• How often players should post
• Character creation rules

Different DMs will have different requirements for applicants. For example, you may be asked to post at least once daily, live in a specific time zone, or have previous experience with PbP.

When starting a game, some DMs may create a single thread in the PbP forum or create a dedicated Discord server where text-based RP can unfold. I'm in a group that does hybrid play. We meet every couple weeks for a session run over a Discord call, and then we PbP between those sessions. That said, read through any provided materials to make sure you'd be a good fit before asking to join a game.

It's D&D, But Through Text

Play-by-post D&D is an exciting way to experience the game. Through text, you can more deeply experience and share how your character is feeling, what they're thinking, and their intentions. Games move more slowly and are more accessible for those with a busy schedule. But they require long-term commitment and consistency. PbP DMs have a lot to keep track of, so being a good player means having good communication skills.

Have you play in a PbP game? What tips would you provide new players?

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his partners. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dogs, Quentin and Eliot.