What is asynchronous roleplay in text-based games?
Asynchronous RP is roleplay where the participants log in and write their parts at different times, rather than playing together in real-time.
In a live scene, everyone is logged in at the same time and replies come within seconds or minutes. In asynchronous play, a player writes a post, leaves, and then comes back and reads the response sometime later. No one has to be at the keyboard at the same moment as anyone else.
Most asynchronous roleplay happens somewhere that keeps a record: a forum thread, a Discord channel, an email chain, a bulletin board inside a game, or a shared document. A written record is necessary because players have to be able to read back and catch up on everything they missed.
Since there is no pressure to answer immediately, posts in asynchronous games are often longer and more detailed than the quick back-and-forth of a live scene. This arrangement tends to suit players in different time zones, on different work schedules, or with only a few free minutes at a time.
Asynchronous play is much slower, though. A scene that would take an hour live can take two weeks, and scenes sometimes stall when one person stops posting. Games deal with this by using posting deadlines, a set pose order, and rules about how long the group waits before continuing without someone.
Asynchronous RP: a brief history
Playing a game by mail is far older than the internet. Chess by post goes back centuries, and postal hobby games such as Diplomacy were well established by the 1960s and 1970s, with each turn mailed between players over weeks. Roleplaying by mail followed, and play-by-email became common through the 1980s as more people had access to email accounts.
Online, the split between live and delayed play appeared early. Usenet newsgroups, BBS message bases, and mailing lists all let someone post an installment of a story and come back later for the replies, while chat systems and the first MUDs put everyone in one room at one time. Web forums in the late 1990s and 2000s became the main home for delayed play, and the term play-by-post generally dates from that period.
The word “asynchronous” comes from computing, where it describes communication that does not require both sides to be present at the same time. Roleplayers borrowed it as a convenient name for what forum play, email play, and bulletin board play all had in common. It seems to have spread more widely as games started mixing both modes, such as a MUSH that runs live scenes but also carries scenes on a site forum.
How it's used today
The word is used most often to contrast with live play. Players describe a game or a scene as asynchronous to signal that replies will not be immediate, or they ask whether a game runs live scenes, asynchronous ones, or both. It shows up in game ads, recruitment posts, and the rules pages that set posting expectations. Many players shorten it to “async”.
Some games run both modes at once. A MUSH might hold live scenes in its rooms and let players continue those scenes by in-game mail or on a bulletin board, as mentioned above. Discord roleplay servers frequently keep separate channels for live play and for slow threads. Where both are available, players usually agree on which one a scene will use before it starts.
Practical questions come up constantly in asynchronous games: who posts next, how long the group waits for a missing reply, how much ground a single post is allowed to cover, and what happens to a scene when a player disappears partway through. Events that happen between posts are often summarized as offscreen rather than played out.
Types of games where the term is commonly used include:
play-by-post games, forum roleplay, Discord roleplay, MUSHes and other RP MU*s, and tabletop campaigns run by post.
Asynchronous RP examples
- A game’s rules page: “Board scenes are asynchronous. Please post at least twice a week, and let your scene partners know if you will be away.”
- A player in a Discord channel: “I am at work all day, so async works better for me than a live scene tonight.”
- Two players setting up a thread: “Do you want to run this asynchronously? I would rather have time to write my character’s reaction properly.”
- A staff announcement: “The tournament plot will run as asynchronous posts, with one live scene at the end for the final match.”
Myths and misconceptions
- Asynchronous RP is just a slower version of chat roleplay. The pace changes how people write. A post in an asynchronous scene often covers several actions, a stretch of time, and a paragraph of the character’s thinking, because the writer knows the next reply isn’t coming for a while. Live scenes tend toward short exchanges instead.
- Asynchronous means you can reply whenever you feel like it, with no obligation. Most games set a minimum posting pace, and scene partners are waiting on you. Dropping out of a thread without saying anything is one of the most common complaints in asynchronous games.
- Asynchronous RP only happens on forums. Forums are the best known home for it, but the same style of play runs on Discord threads, in-game mail and bulletin boards, email chains, and shared documents.
Asynchronous RP FAQs
What is asynchronous roleplay?
Asynchronous roleplay is roleplay where the participants write at different times rather than being online together. One player posts, another reads and answers later, and the story moves forward one post at a time over days or weeks.
What is the difference between asynchronous and live roleplay?
Live roleplay happens in real time, with everyone logged in and replying within seconds or minutes. Asynchronous roleplay has gaps between posts, so players can write when it suits them. Live scenes usually move faster, and asynchronous posts are usually longer and more edited.
How long should you wait for a reply in asynchronous RP?
It depends on the game, which is why most games state a posting expectation such as once a day or twice a week. If a game has no stated rule, ask your scene partners what pace they can manage, and tell them when you will be unavailable.
Is play-by-post the same as asynchronous RP?
Play-by-post is one form of asynchronous roleplay, and the most common one. Asynchronous is the broader word, covering play by email, in-game mail, bulletin boards, Discord threads, and shared documents as well as forum posting.
Can a game have both asynchronous and live roleplay?
Yes, and many do. A game may hold live scenes for events where timing matters and let slower scenes continue on a board or in a thread. Players generally decide which mode a scene will use before they begin.
Leave a Comment