Review: Before the Mast

Forum; invision

Historical; Naval.

After the first Pirates of the Carribean film there was a massive explosion of pirate RPGs. However, Before the Mast isn't one of these. It focuses on the historical period of naval exploration which is an unusual approach to an at sea game.

PG-13 to R.

23 main characters and 24 temporary characters.

July 2010.

Intermediate to advanced.

2 - 3 paragraphs per post.

New posts every 2 - 4 days.

Original.

A nice clean look which uses the soothing colours of the sea. I especially like the font chosen for the headings of each forum section; stylish, bold and still clear to read. The only comment I have is that as I use a bigger screen resolution the graphic header doesn't stretch across. This is just a technical thing that isn't really essential, just worth mentioning so the admin knows :) A bigger issue is that the theme causes posts to be virtually unreadable in firefox which is a very popular browser now so many people won't be able to read the site.

Easy to navigate thanks to the handy 'navigate' list in the menu.

There is a plot summary and then an in character introduction by each of the main groups (pirates, navy etc.). On top of this there is a 'our story so far' so pretty much every plot detail is covered.

Like the plot information there is plenty of information regarding the RPG available, including an FAQ topic.

There is a guest friendly question area that recieves answers from the admin within a day. All responses are detailed and welcoming.

A profile template that a applicant is required to fill in and post, no writing example required.

N/A.