So, you have had a board for a while now. The story has been going along well and suddenly people get busy and stop posting. A major thread is frozen and nothing goes forward. Players leave or find other places to be and the board dies. Here are some tips, I have found work for me, to help you get through the dry posting periods and perhaps even avoid a complete halt to the story.

First and foremost ALWAYS have at least one backup moderator in case something happens. In the case of the RPG I help Admin there are four of us, but two weeks after the board opened, one of us lost his ISP. If he had been the only moderator, that would have ended the game before it started.

Post in character at least once a week. Make that a requirement for all for your moderators. That shows board activity. That is the main thing players look for, no one wants to think they will wait weeks for their character to be reviewed or worse for an answer.

Create a History subboard and encourage players waiting for a poster on a thread to post their characters' history. Add in history of the world, maps, even NPC's histories to show the board is still active.

Clean up the spam. Most boards get hit at least once by spammers selling everything from snake oil to houses. When you get such posts, delete them. If your venue permits site ban the IP. Nothing sends a player on to the next RPG as fast as having the twenty most recent posts nothing more than advertisements for some product.

Limit characters to a number of threads. This is one of those bendable rules or unwritten perhaps, but let's be honest, some people are better at posting than others and some are more reliable. I would suggest a limit of 3 to 5 threads until the player proves himself. This will keep most from over reaching. It keeps the number of storylines potentially impacted if the player loses their machine to a managable amount. If worst comes to worst and the player does not return, after a reasonable amount of time, you have less damage control to perform and fewer upset players.

If friction seems to be building between players, start an Out of Character thread for discussions. Maybe start one of praise as well, some ideas are to ask everyone to pick their favorite character by another player or a favorite thread or quote. Place it in a forum non members may post in as well, you may be surprised to find you have more lurkers than you knew.

Last but not least, never stop recruiting players. The more players there are, the shorter a slump will be.

All PbP RPGs go through slumps. These are just some ideas of how to keep a slump from ending a board.

Zeta Thompson
Graycastle
Part of the Zeta Entertainment Network, a Subsidiary of Dogs of War.
Dow and Zen