Unless my players are marked as GMs, they seem to be unable to start threads.  How can I make a non-GM player be able to do this?

Per the FAQ


There are four levels of access in a game:

Player:  A Player is just a normal player in the game. Players can reply to threads and send private messages.  They can read messages in any group to which they are assigned.  They cannot start new threads.

Moderator: A Moderator is a player with a few extra privileges.  Moderators can edit other players' posts, in the case of misbehaving players.  Moderators cannot see Private Lines or Private Messages which have not been sent directly to them.  They cannot start new threads, and they cannot see whether rolls on the die roller have been fudged by the GM.

GM:  GMs, or Game Masters, can add and edit players and characters in the game, and they can see all posts (regardless of group), and all Private Lines and Private Messages, whether they are addressed to them or not.  GMs can do anything the Game Owner can do except edit other GMs (that is, they cannot edit other GMs' characters, access, or posts).  The Game Owner is the GM to whom the game is registered -- only they can edit other GMs.  All GMs can start new threads, they can edit and delete players' posts, and they can see whether die rolls have been fudged.

NPC: NPC stands for "Non-player Character".  For all purposes, their access is just like that of a player.  This is usually used by GMs to denote characters who are played by them, rather than by players.

well, poop.  That doesn't work.  so the only way to let a player create threads is to make sure they can manage players and the rest of the game?

Pretty much.  And if they are a GM, they can see all the PMs and any game notes the GM may have hidden in groups not assigned to the players.

As a GM myself, and having been a Moderator, there's no way I'd want players to be able to create threads whenever they wanted.  Way too much opportunity for chaos.

If you want your players to start new threads, a practical solution I can think of is: when they need a new thread, they send you a PM and you create the thread.

Usually in my games I follow the roleplay and if I feel another thread should be created I just do it.

I agree with Evil, I wouldn't give such "power" to players. And it's not such trouble to send a PM to the GM if you, as player, need a new thread.

Another alternative is to create some spare threads, and then rename them once they're in use.

So long as you're playing 'location based' it makes sense to just start threads of all the main locations needed for interaction. That way characters can 'enter' and 'exit' throughout the RP. The only other way would be to have players write up thread starters and PM them to you, then you post up the thread. In any case, I think most GMs on rpol post threads early on, giving a brief description of the area the thread represents. While some freeform games (on other platforms) tend to use threads differently, all games I've ever participated in on rpol have worked that way.

To get around this, I use the player's name to create the thread with the text [placeholder text] or something of that sort, then tell them to edit the first post.