Play-by-Post Campaign

A play-by-post tabletop campaign: one party, a dice channel, a session log and a game master's private prep room.

4 categories
14 channels
5 roles
Small

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Server structure

Channels

THE TABLE

how-we-play
System, tone, and the posting rhythm this campaign runs on.
adventure
The story. One post a day is the agreement; say so if you cannot.
dice-rolls
Rolls only, so the story stays readable.
combat-round
Initiative order and the current round. Quiet between fights.

THE PARTY

party-planning
Players talking as players. What are we actually doing?
character-sheets
One post per character, kept current.
inventory-and-loot
Who has the rope. Settles the recurring argument.
Session

CAMPAIGN RECORDS

session-log
What happened, written after each stretch.
the-world
The setting as the party has actually discovered it.
npcs-met
Names, faces and what they wanted.

GM PREP

gm-notes
Everything the party must not read.
upcoming-encounters
What is waiting for them.
secret-rolls
Rolls the party should not see.

Roles

Game MasterAdministrator
Player
Spectator
Muted

Overview

A tabletop campaign run in text has a different shape from free-form roleplay: there is a game master, there are dice, and the story moves in turns rather than in scenes. The Table category is the game itself. #adventure is where the party posts its actions and the game master answers; the topic states the posting rhythm the campaign runs on, usually a post a day, because a play-by-post campaign lives or dies on whether people know what is expected of them. #dice-rolls is separate so the narrative channel is not broken up by roll results, and #combat-round holds initiative order and the current round when a fight starts, which is the part that collapses fastest in a single channel. The Party category is the players talking as players: #party-planning for what the group intends to do next, #character-sheets with one post per character, and #inventory-and-loot, which prevents the recurring argument about who has the rope. Campaign Records is read-only: #session-log written by the game master after each stretch, #the-world for the setting as the party has actually discovered it, and #npcs-met. Behind it all is a hidden GM Prep category, because a campaign needs somewhere to keep the things the party must not read: #gm-notes, #upcoming-encounters and #secret-rolls. Voice has one Session room for the occasional live evening.

When to use it

Play-by-post campaigns fall apart when narration, dice results and player chatter share one channel: the story becomes unreadable, combat rounds get lost, and nobody can find what happened last month. This layout separates the narrative from the rolls, gives combat its own channel for initiative, keeps a game master's prep hidden, and maintains a session log so a player returning after a break can catch up without asking.

What makes it different

Dice rolls are separate from the narrative, so the story stays readable.
Combat gets its own channel for initiative and rounds, which is what breaks first.
A hidden prep category exists, because a campaign needs secrets the party cannot read.
The session log means a returning player catches up without the group retelling it.

Recommended Vetox setup

Reminders
Set a Reminder in #adventure matching the campaign's posting rhythm, which is what keeps a play-by-post game alive.
Auto Roles
Give arrivals the Spectator role so the party channels stay closed until the game master brings someone in.
Logs
Enable Logs into #gm-notes so the game master can see edits and deletions in the narrative channels.

Questions

Why is the posting rhythm in the channel topic?

Because it is the single biggest predictor of whether a play-by-post campaign survives. A group that has agreed on a post a day behaves completely differently from one that has not agreed on anything, and the disagreement is usually invisible until someone quietly gives up. Putting it in the topic makes the expectation impossible to miss and easy to renegotiate.

Does the GM prep category need to be hidden, or just unlinked?

Hidden. An unlinked channel is one search away, and a player who accidentally reads the next encounter cannot unread it. The category denies View Channel to everyone but the game master, which costs nothing and removes the temptation entirely.

Common mistakes

Rolling dice in the narrative channel, which turns a readable story into a wall of numbers.
Running combat in the main channel, where initiative order is lost within two rounds.
Never writing a session log, so a player who misses two weeks quietly stops posting.

Consider instead

Roleplay Starter There is no game master or dice and the group writes free-form scenes together.
Tabletop Night Friends The group meets live to play board games rather than running a campaign in text.

Do you have any doubts?

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