Text/Play-by-Post

Text games, or play-by-post games, originally emerged from internet forum culture, where roleplay forums allowed large groups of players to collaboratively and asynchronously generate the continuously unfolding events of a narrative. Play-by-post games, or PbP, may use the rules of tabletop roleplaying game, including dice rolls, character sheets, advancement, and other mechanics, or they might be systemless or system-agnostic, relying on the adjudication of a moderator or game master. Largely, play-by-post games function similarly to other online or in-person roleplaying games; the GM or moderator (if there is one) often establishes a scene, and asks the players what their characters do. The characters respond, and when all have responded (or a certain amount of time has passed) the GM advances the game by describing how the game world responds to the players' actions. When there's no active scene, players are often free to initiate their own, either with each other or possibly with NPCs. While text games are usually asynchronous, allowing players to contribute posts at their convenience, some play-by-posts do have specific windows in which they play. Sometimes a "session" might stretch for a week, every Thursday, for example, marking the beginning of a new session. If dice and game mechanics are involved, they might be self-reported on the honor system, or use a public digital dice roller.