Recruitment & Application Process
The recruitment system connects GMs looking for players with players looking for games. GMs publish advertisements describing what they're building; players browse, ask questions, and apply; GMs review applications and decide. Everything happens in dedicated tabs on the game page.
This guide covers both sides — GMs first, then players, then the application-visibility model that ties them together.
For Game Masters
The Recruitment tab
Every game has a Recruitment tab visible to all users. For GMs, this is the primary interface for managing your advertisement.
Creating an advertisement
When no advertisement exists, the Recruitment tab shows a blank form. Fields:
- Hook Text — a brief, compelling description (300 char max) shown in the homepage carousel and game directory. This is your one-liner — make it work hard.
- Full Details — rich-text description of the game, expectations, and what you're looking for in players. This is the long pitch.
- Timing — "Always Open" for ongoing recruitment, or specific start and end dates.
- Grace Period — after the end date, pending applications remain reviewable for this many days (minimum 2) before the advertisement fully closes.
- Application Visibility — controls who can see applications. Three modes:
- Private — only the applicant and GMs can see each application.
- Open — all members can read applications; only the applicant and GMs can reply.
- Interactive — all members can read and reply to applications.
- When Advertisement Closes — choose whether pending applications are kept for manual review or auto-rejected when the grace period expires.
- Max Players — the maximum player count for the game. Slot count (max minus current players) is shown to prospective applicants.
- Show in Public Carousel — whether the advertisement appears on the homepage carousel and in the game directory's recruiting tab.
- Applicant Forum Access — two toggles for whether applicants can read and/or post in your game's forums while their application is open. Default on; gives applicants enough of a feel to write a good application.
- Discussion Topic Title — optional custom title for the public Q&A topic created when the advertisement publishes.
Advertisement lifecycle
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Save Draft | Saves without publishing. You can return and edit. |
| Publish Now | Opens for applications immediately. A public Q&A discussion topic is created. |
| Publish Later | Schedules for a future start date. Auto-goes-live when the date hits. |
| Update | Saves changes to a scheduled or active advertisement. Start date is locked once active. |
| Cancel Scheduled Publication | Returns a scheduled ad to draft. |
| End Early | Closes an active advertisement before its end date. Optionally rejects all pending applications. |
When an advertisement's end date passes, it enters a grace period: no new applications accepted, but pending applications remain reviewable. After the grace period expires, the advertisement is closed.
Previous advertisements
A dropdown in the Recruitment tab header lists closed advertisements. When viewing a previous one with no current ad active, Use as Template creates a new draft pre-populated with the previous ad's settings (dates blank — those'll be new).
The Applications tab
The Applications tab shows all activity related to the current advertisement:
- The discussion topic card appears first — the public Q&A thread where prospective players ask questions before applying.
- Application cards follow each linking to the applicant's discussion thread for review, follow-up questions, and the eventual approve/reject.
A dropdown switches between current and previous advertisements' applications.
The tab header shows the advertisement's status badge, pending application count, and the application visibility setting.
Reviewing applications
For each application:
- Approve — accept the player. Pick the role to assign (Player, Reader, or Assistant GM). They join the game immediately.
- Reject — decline the application. Optionally include a message explaining why — most players genuinely want feedback.
- Pending — leave it while the conversation continues. Pending applications stay open until the advertisement closes or you decide.
Changing your mind
A rejection isn't permanent — the Unreject action on a rejected application returns it to pending status, restoring the applicant's access and reopening the discussion thread. Useful when a candidate's circumstances change, when you've reconsidered after talking with the table, or when you simply clicked the wrong button.
An approval is permanent in the sense that the applicant becomes a full member the moment you click Approve; there's no one-click "un-approve." To remove someone you approved by mistake (or who turned out not to be a fit), use the Members tab to remove them from the game — see Game Master's Guide. Their application thread stays in the record as historical context.
Re-applications
A rejected applicant can submit a new application after the initial rejection (subject to the advertisement still being open). Useful in long recruitment windows where a player's character concept evolves or new slots open up. Pending and approved applications block new applications from the same user — they need to be in a decided-and-closed state first.
Closing recruitment
Once you've filled your roster, close the advertisement. You can reopen it later if a slot opens up — or save the configuration as a template for the next recruitment round.
Rejected applicants keep reading (and following) your game's forums through the grace period, then lose that access when the advertisement fully closes. At that point — and whenever you remove a member who doesn't retain access — their follows for the game are cleared automatically, so they stop receiving notifications for content they can no longer read.
For Players
Finding games
The Games page defaults to the Recruiting tab — every game with an active advertisement. Each card shows:
- Game name, system, genre
- The advertisement's hook text
- A View Ad button → the game's Recruitment tab
- Your relationship to the game (if any): Your Game, Applied, or Member
The homepage Looking for Players carousel also highlights recruiting games. If you've already applied to one, the carousel shows View My Application instead of "Apply."
Viewing an advertisement
View Ad (or Apply from the carousel) takes you to the game's Recruitment tab. You'll see the full advertisement:
- The GM's detailed description
- How many slots are open
- When applications are due
- When decisions will be made (end date plus grace period)
If the game's accepting applications and you haven't already applied, an Apply Now button appears at the bottom.
Applying
Apply Now opens the application form. Write a thoughtful introduction — see Finding and Joining a Game for what tends to land well. Submit. Then:
- Your application creates a private discussion thread between you and the GM (visibility depending on the advertisement's setting).
- The game appears in My Games under the Applicant section.
- You get member-level forum access to the game (if the GM enabled applicant forum access) — read existing posts, get a feel for the table, write a better application.
After applying
- Continue the conversation in your application thread. Questions, character iterations, sample posts — whatever the GM and you want to work through.
- Link a character sheet to your application when you're ready.
- Set your progress status (Concept, Work in Progress, Ready for Review) to signal where you are.
- Withdraw your application anytime if you change your mind. No penalty, no awkwardness — GMs appreciate honest withdrawal more than ghosting.
When a decision is made
- Approved — you become a full member with the role the GM assigned. Your application thread locks (it's now history). Welcome.
- Rejected — the thread locks (it stays in the record), and the GM may include a message — not personal; most GMs are juggling more applicants than slots. If the GM gave applicants forum access, you keep reading (and following) the game's forums through the grace period — the review window after the advertisement's end date — right up until recruitment closes. You also keep access to your own application thread.
Following and notifications after you leave a game
Your follows are tied to games you can actually open, so they're cleaned up automatically when that access ends:
- A rejected application — when recruitment fully closes (the grace period ends, or the GM ends it early), your read access to the game's forums ends, and any topics, forums, or the game itself that you were following there are removed from your Follows — so you stop getting notifications for posts you can no longer read.
- Leaving or being removed — if you leave a game (or a GM removes you) without keeping read access, your follows for that game are cleared the same way.
- Your own application thread is the exception — you always retain access to your own application, so that follow stays.
Application visibility
The GM chooses one of three visibility levels when creating the advertisement. This determines what other players can see on the Applications tab:
| Setting | Who sees application cards | Who can post in application threads |
|---|---|---|
| Private | Applicant and GMs only | Applicant and GMs only |
| Open | All game members | Applicant and GMs only |
| Interactive | All game members | All game members |
The discussion topic (Q&A thread) is always visible to all game members regardless of this setting.
Private is the right choice when applicants are sharing sensitive concepts or the game is small and private; Open is the default friendly choice for most public-recruitment campaigns; Interactive turns the application thread into a community vibe-check, useful for collaborative-table games where everyone weighs in.