Questions and answers

A shared shelf of made-up worlds. Someone founds a world: its name, its lore, up to 12 laws that every story there must follow, a look, and its genres. Then people write stories set in that world, one chapter at a time, and readers comment and rate them.

The founder looks after the world; everyone who writes in it keeps their own stories.

No. Founding a world, writing, reading and commenting are all free.

Not to read: public worlds are open to everyone. To found a world, write, comment, rate or report something, make a free account with a username, an email address and a password, then confirm your email with the link we send you. Your email address is never shown to anyone.

Browse the shelf and open a world that sounds good. Read its lore and laws, read a story or two, then press Write a story on the world’s page. Or press Found a world at the top of any page and make your own.

Up to 12 rules the founder sets, like “Magic always costs the caster something” or “No one has seen the sun in three hundred years.” Writers tick a box saying their story follows the laws before they post it, and the founder can remove stories that don’t.

So readers can find it. A world picks 1 to 3 genres from the list and can add up to 5 tags of its own (“space pirates”, “low magic”). The shelf can be filtered by genre, the search matches tags, and each tag has its own page.

You choose, in Edit world and laws:

• Public: anyone can read it.
• Request access: it’s on the shelf with its cover and tagline, and people ask to join. You approve or decline them in Manage world.
• Private: hidden from everyone except you and the people you invite.

Separately, you choose who can write stories: everyone who can read it, only you, or you and writers you pick by username. Everyone who can read can still comment.

From Edit world and laws and Manage world, a founder can:

• change the world’s lore, laws, look and genres
• pin up to 3 stories to the top of the world
• close the world to new stories, or turn off comments
• block a writer from posting in the world
• remove any story, chapter or comment in the world, and handle reports about them
• fill the world’s gallery with up to 60 pictures

Founders can’t edit other people’s writing; they can only remove it.

Characters is the world’s cast list: anyone who can write in the world can add a character with a portrait, a description and the founder’s character sheet, and the founder approves each new one. Writers can mark which characters appear in their story. The gallery holds pictures of the world, such as maps, places and art, added by the founder.

Yes, from the world’s page. Deleting a world removes everything in it, including the stories other people wrote there, their comments and their pictures, and it can’t be undone. If other people are writing in your world, consider closing it to new stories instead.

Up to 10,000 words. A story can have as many chapters as you like; only the story’s author can add chapters to it.

Not yet, so read it over before you post. You can remove a chapter or a whole story you wrote and post it again, and you can change a story’s genres and tags at any time.

Use the I and B buttons above the text box, or Ctrl+I and Ctrl+B (⌘I and ⌘B on a Mac). You can also type the stars yourself: *italic*, **bold**.

If the world’s founder allows pictures, each chapter can have one. JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF pictures work, up to 4 MB; big pictures are made smaller in your browser before they upload. Only upload pictures you made or have the right to use.

A story shows its world’s genres and can add up to 2 of its own, plus up to 5 tags. You can change them after posting, in the reader.

Dark themes like war, horror and cruelty are fine. Explicit sex scenes are allowed only between adult characters, and only if the story’s short introduction starts with an 18+ warning. Pictures can never show nudity. A founder can rule out explicit stories in their world’s laws. The rules have the details.

Only to keep out spam: up to 10 posts an hour (worlds, stories, chapters and characters together), 30 comments an hour and 60 ratings an hour. If you reach one, the site tells you how long to wait.

You do. Posting lets Worldboard show it on the site; it doesn’t give the world’s founder or anyone else the rights to it. See the rules for the details.

Signed-in readers can rate other people’s stories from 1 to 5 stars, and change or remove their rating later. A story shows its average once it has 3 ratings. Nobody can see who gave which rating.

Yes. Press Download PDF at the top of the reader to get the whole story, every chapter, as a PDF. It’s for your own reading; the story still belongs to its writer.

Yes, in the browser you read in: a story you’ve started shows Continue with the chapter you reached.

Yes. Press ☾ Dark at the top of any page (on a phone it’s just the ☾); press it again to go back. The site remembers your choice in this browser.

Check your spam or junk folder for an email from noreply@worldboard.live. If it isn’t there, try to sign in: you’ll be offered a Send it again button.

Use Forgot your password? on the sign-in page. We’ll email you a link to choose a new one.

Your display name and bio, yes, on your account page; the new name shows on everything you’ve posted. Your username (the @name in your profile’s address) can’t be changed.

On your account page, under Delete account. Your worlds, stories and comments stay on the site under your name, and nobody can edit them, so remove anything you want gone before you delete your account. My Works lists everything you’ve posted.

If you use the same browser you posted from, sign in and open your account page: it offers to move those posts to your account.

Writing together as characters, one post at a time. When a world’s founder switches roleplay on, the world gets a Scenes tab. Each scene is a place and a moment, like a tavern at midnight, where players post as their characters (up to 3,000 words a post), roll dice when they need to, and branch off into threads. Anyone who can read the world can read its scenes.

1. Find a world with a Scenes tab. Only worlds whose founder switched roleplay on have one.
2. Sign in. You need an account with a confirmed email.
3. Make a character. On the world’s Characters tab, press Add a character: a name, who they are, a portrait if you like, and the world’s character sheet if it has one.
4. Wait for the founder’s approval. Every new character waits for the founder to approve it, and you’re emailed when they decide. Until then only you and the founder can see it.
5. Join a scene. Open one on the Scenes tab, read what’s happened so far, then press Write as your character at the bottom and post. Or press Start a scene to set up your own, with a picture to draw players in.
6. Answer other players. Press Reply on someone’s post to answer it in the scene, or to take it to a quieter thread with just the two of you.

Use the Out of character box for anything that isn’t your character talking (“brb”, “can I try to pick the lock?”). Follow the world’s laws and the site’s rules. Roleplay posts have their own allowance of 30 an hour.

New characters wait for the founder’s approval before others can see them, pick them for stories or play them in scenes, so the founder can keep the cast true to their world. You’re emailed when they decide. If a character isn’t approved, the founder’s note says why; edit the character and it’s sent again. Founders also choose how many characters one person can have in their world (up to 10), and waiting ones count.

The stats a world’s founder chose for their world, like Strength, Sanity or Faction. You fill them in for your character and can change them as the story goes; the sheet shows when they last changed. Number stats can be added to dice rolls.

Tick Roll dice with this post when you write: choose 1 to 10 dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 or d100), and add a bonus or one of your character’s number stats. Worldboard rolls when the post is saved and stamps the result at the bottom, like “2d6 + Reflexes (3): (4, 5) + 3 = 12”. Nobody can change a roll, not even the founder, and editing the post doesn’t roll again.

A calmer side scene. Press Reply on someone’s post and choose Start a thread to carry on with just that player. Everyone can still read it, but only its players post there (and the founder, as Narrator); either of you can add up to 4 more players. The thread is linked under the post it came from.

Yes. Whoever starts a scene can give it a picture, a place or a mood, which shows on its card in the Scenes tab and across the top of the scene, to draw players in. They can change it later; the founder can remove it. The usual rules apply: no nudity or sexual pictures.

Yes, for 15 minutes after posting, to fix typos. After that it’s final, though you can still remove it. The founder can remove any post in their world.

The founder can post as the Narrator, without a character, to describe what happens or what the world does next. Narrator posts are shown in the middle, like stage directions. The founder, or whoever started a scene, can close it when it’s over.

1. Open Manage world on your world’s page and, under Roleplay, tick Roleplay on. Your world gets a Scenes tab.
2. Choose how many characters each person may have.
3. Build your character sheet: add the stats players fill in (numbers, optionally “out of” a maximum, or short text), then Save sheet.
4. Approve characters as they come in, on the Characters tab. You’re emailed when someone is waiting, and the Manage world button counts them.
5. Start the first scene yourself, or post as the Narrator to keep things moving.

Press Report on the world, story, chapter or comment. The site admin reads every report. The world’s founder also sees reports about posts in their world, but never who sent them.

Report it and say what’s wrong; for copied work, say where the original is. Posts that break the rules are removed.

Reply to any email from Worldboard, or use the Report button on the thing you’re asking about. For anything about your data, see the privacy policy.