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In 2022 I almost gave up RP entirely. In 2023 I entered this community and was welcomed with open arms, amazing words, and so many virtual hugs. I was the new person, and yet within days I was fully a part of this, both in the Discord discussions and in the stories, where my characters fit so well. The site itself is incredibly well organized, the interface user-friendly, the setting clear and engaging, the lore has original twists and is simple to understand. It was so easy to just get started! And once the words start flowing, they don't stop. I have improved so much as a writer, and was thoroughly supported in my personal quests as well. This is not just a community. These are friends for life. Thank you so much for having me! 🥰

My first ever site went mostly dark after half the members left for reasons I still don't know to this day. It took me almost a full year before deciding to try another site. Lucky for me my favorite RP partner still wanted to write with me and invited me to join her on this other site! I'm so happy now 😄

First ever RP site had a very tough behind-the-scenes argument that caused half the site to leave almost out of nowhere. The remaining members tried to push forward, in vain. Silver lining was that my closest RP partner on site dragged me to another site, which I've been on for a year with great happiness! 🙂

I have never encountered a more welcoming and mature community in the role playing sphere before. As a member, I feel included and valued, which, in a hobby space is so important to me. There are only amazingly written characters here and it's honestly a joy to watch other's stories unfold and really get into the in-character drama of it all. It's a wonderful space to write and tell stories in. I don't think I've ever found a more amazing group of people to tell stories with before.

For almost two decades, I embarked on a quest to find a new Medieval High Fantasy roleplay community, longing for a place where I could immerse myself in a sandboxy world without fear of sudden closures. With each new landing, hope was mingled with trepidation, as I yearned for a haven free from random deletions, staff conflicts, and ego-driven chaos that tore communities apart. Alas, my search was a bittersweet one. Time and again, I found myself in places that mirrored the past: a few egocentric staff wielded power, punishing and isolating those who dared to question. Communication faltered, and the hunger for an authentic Medieval High Fantasy experience remained unfulfilled. Heartache followed as sites I tried to call home imploded, leaving me adrift. The pain of losing my formative roleplay community lingered, leaving an ache in my heart that time couldn't heal. Only years later did I come to recognize the gaslighting, DARVO tactics, and cronyism that had shattered my youthful refuge. Each new encounter with echoes of the past deepened the sorrow, and I yearned for a place that would understand my longing, respect my voice, and embrace my passion for Medieval High Fantasy. My quest continues, hopeful that one day, I'll find a true home to rekindle the magic of my cherished memories. During my time online, I went to places like RPG-Directory where some people acted in a mean way, pretending to support marginalized groups, but really they were causing trouble. When I tried to speak up and challenge these bad actions, things didn't go well for me at all and I was gaslit when I took the time to write thoughtful correspondence to the administration about their decisions. It made me sad and hurt that I couldn't handle those disingenuous people and their fake support. I'm still looking for a safe place where everyone can talk openly and support each other without fear.

Back in like, 2012-2013 I think...I remember being a part of this wonderful wild horse roleplay site. Made a lot of good friends over the years of being on it, then all of a sudden one day someone had gained access to the admin account and absolutely destroyed all of the coding on the forum, making it impossible to access any former threads unless you were on mobile. I think it was something personal against the admin of the site themselves, but I never really got the full story, or I don't really remember all the details. Eventually they just ended up closing the site down and deleting everything. It's so sad knowing all of the characters I'd created were just lost to time. There are scraps of memories from that site here and there but I'll never be able to read the writing on those forums again. I was able to keep in touch with other people from the site for a while, but they've all since vanished too...only one (my best friend from those days) is a Facebook friend now so at least I know they're doing okay.

I ran into a particular creator in a niche fandom who would open boards, get a bunch of members, and then just... disappear after about 2 weeks. Never any public OOC drama that I saw, there was always plenty of activity but people were still getting into their characters, and she (playing one of the main canons of course) would simply fall off the face of the earth and the site would die. Then she'd wait until after people left to finally put the board in offline mode. She changed her OOC alias a couple of times, so she got me with this routine more than once...

This is my confession I suppose. I had a very active board. It was thriving. I was a stay at home mom at the time but then me and my ex broke up. I had to get a job and I just slowly, very slowly stopped giving the board the attention that it needed. I did have one very amazing, active admin. He did keep the board alive but after I had just basically ghosted the board, it wasn't thriving the same. One day when I felt as though I could finally give the board the time it needed my admin and I revamped the entire board. I let him have a lot of say in any of the changes I was making as he had kept the board afloat in my absence. During the revamp we were speaking regularly, and we were exited to reopen because the board was like 3 years old at the time. Then one day, he just vanished and I never reopened the board. The board is still around. No members but also isn't offline.

This site has dragged me (lovingly) out of writing retirement, and for that, I am grateful. I have wandered the roleplay desert for over 15 years, but Passing Strange community has been unlike any that I've ever joined. They are immediately so welcoming, offering up advice and answers to silly/serious questions. The staff is incredibly patient and uplifting -- they're heavily involved with their community and it shows. The members themselves are amazing and are constantly interacting with one another to help create numerous stories. I am in awe of this unique little community and it's dedication to balancing Passing Strange and Work/Real life. I am so very grateful for all the amazing stories this site has provided over the past month and I cannot wait to help create more. I absolutely adore this site and I beg whoever is searching for a reason to rediscover their creativity or to get into writing, please check this site out.

As a hobby in general, RP can be so draining and toxic. The writing is fun; the egos and cliqueyness are not. This community is made up of people who have gotten away from those awful experiences and created a truly safe place where OOC and IC are clearly separated. Then there's the stories themselves! Any character can quickly become intertwined within the in-character communities that have been built, and if something happens to one, it ripples out to others they knew. One move can set off a chain of events that culminate months or even years later (but usually much sooner than that!). It's so much fun to be here. The lore has also developed over time without retconning, to allow for more character development as well as rebalancing mechanics between different playable species. It's important to note that these things come about through discussion with members and testing out feelings overall. Feeling like our input matters is extremely important, and I have never been on a community that actually allows that. So, yeah, five stars, this place is the best.