Roleplay Clubs - The Game Master’s Guide
The Homepage Format
Your Home Page is the first thing any Dreamer will see when they first click on your roleplay club; it’s a doorway into your Universe.
It needs to look good.
The first thing you need to keep in mind is to keep it neat and easy to read. If you cramp everything together, use bad colours, or use an unreadable font then this will put roleplayers off; you could have the best RP in the world, but if its information is poorly formatted, no one will want to read it.
The title of your roleplay has to be visible. Perhaps bold, underline, and centre it, so that it catches the eye. An image might help as well, likely below the title, that would reflect your roleplay. Try not to use an image that is really small; likewise, you don’t want an image that is too large either, as that will break up the post and make it messier.
Another important component of the opening post is a description of your roleplay; try to put in as much information as you can, and make your roleplay as appealing as possible. Use this as a means to draw other Dreamers into your roleplay.
Now that you’ve drawn in your Players, it’s a good idea to link back to any extra information about the roleplay so that they can read further into it, as shown above. It’s also important to link back to your Character ID thread, or image category, so that Dreamers will know where to post their characters. Once you have any outside material linked into your home page, you then need to put your rules, and the requirements of joining; be sure to make these very clear and easy to read. A list is a very good way of doing it, as it nicely paces out the text, and makes it simple to make out. Although another good place to do the rules and requirements is the description of your roleplay forum.
If your roleplay is a large one, don’t put all the information in your home page. Leave it as a means to draw people in, and use the extra information, or forum descriptions to hold all the other information for Dreamers to read through; otherwise, your home page will be very long, cluttered with information, and it may put dreamers off. Keep it simple, and to the point.
Don’t hesitate on putting up an Out Of Character thread, or even dedicating an entire forum to it, linked back to your roleplay. This gives an area for any dreamers to talk, and ask questions, about your roleplay. It is also a good way to announce to all players involved of any plot events that are coming up, to prepare them to get on and post.
For an even more detailed guide on how to create a Home Page, then check this guide out.