The TBT is an online group for online role-playing, though we whole-heartedly support offline role-playing in all it's forms. The group was created by me, Saros, in 1997, on a marvelous website known as sixdegrees.com, to play AD&D in a chat environment. Just so dang hard to find flesh and blood players, isn't it? At least, those you can stand to be around for the hours it takes to play....
Sixdegrees was a huge social place with chats, bulletin boards, messaging, groups, and lots of other things. Myspace now, unfortunately, fills its role on the web.
It was many months before the group was organized to play, but, in around March of 1998, we did! And it was the happiest day of our lives...*sniff* So for nearly two full years we played, with our group homepage on sixdegrees, gaining and losing members, always short on characters. New games in different genres were added, and most have caught on.
But In Fall of 2000, disaster struck. Sixdegrees decided to change it's look - DRAMATICALLY. Sixdegrees was 2 million members strong, and every one of them hated what the staff had done. The staff hated what they had done. The site no longer functioned properly. Groups vanished. Browsers crashed. Terror reigned. On the last day of the year, sixdegrees gave up. It is now a fond and nostalgic memory. Obviously, we did not fade with our mother site. We have more games and....about as many members as ever (many were lost in the destruction of sixdegrees. They are the true heroes.). No game featured is totally original in every way. Some games are based entirely on old RPGs. So, what do we do now that we're a group homepage drifting in the void of cyberspace we know as the internet?
Why, we role-play.

What does role-playing mean?!
Role-playing can be defined as acting out a character in a continuous storyline. Games played this way are role-playing games (imagine that), or RPGs.
There's no software here to download - where's the game?!
TBT is not the kind of game you might usually think of when you hear "online RPG". That term refers almost entirely to video game RPGs, where the players can hook up to a server and interact within the game. We have no such game here. Instead, we do "old school role-playing"*glare*. The proper term is pen-and-paper role-playing, or p&p for short.
The players make up characters within parameters of rules, and one RPer controls the vast majority of the world. I'm proud to say that's me controlling you, world. Players interact with the world using emotes and their own skills and smarts, in addition to any special rules for their character, but we won't go into that. The GM then describes what happens as a result of the character doing that. It's not unlike taking part of a novel for some of the more planned out adventures. It's all text-based, I'm telling you that now. We have no graphics, we want no graphics. Occasionally a map or visual will be hastily drawn-up for aid in important or ambiguous situations, and these will be file-transferred/e-mailed to the players at the moment it becomes important in the game.
We play in our private chat room, accessible from this website's main page, or, more often, over ICQ.
What's all this about ICQ?!
ICQ is a messaging system comparable to AIM. TBT players use it to keep in touch, as well as to play random gaming sessions. It is practically crucial for a member to have this. It's a fairly small program, absolutely free, very small, and available at icq.com. Be sure to get the full version, as the Lite versions do not support chat rooms.
What're all them other acronyms and initials and funny words?!
In today's bustling society, we have sought to shorten how long it takes us to get out a sentence. Role-players have been using acronyms for a good while. Here are some:
RPer - role-player
GM/DM - game master/dungeon master, the one running the story, deciding how the world reacts to the characters' actions. DM is generally a D&D specific term.
PC - player character (controlled by a player)
NPC - non-player character (controlled by the GM)
emote - a character's emotion or action
IC - In Character, acting out your role in the game.
OOC - Out Of Character, a sentence from the player, being you.
Free Form - A roleplaying style where the character is entirely in control of the player. Dice rolls and stats tend to not restrict actions. Makes it more realistic, but also a lot easier to lose control. TBT does not use any free form rules, because Saros loves his dice/dice-rolling-programs.
PBeM - Play By e-Mail, a RPing campaign played through mass e-mails.
How do I join?!
Simply send an e-mail to tbtavern@yahoo.com saying you want to be a member. That's it. You'll be added immediately to the member list. It is free, of course. I can't imagine many people paying for this. You'll need a character to play. That really can't be stressed enough. Check out the various game descriptions, and you'll be able to figure out what to do. It all boils down to me being talked to over ICQ, my number being 16052525.
What about playing?!
As mentioned, we play over ICQ or in our chat room. Scheduled games are Saturdays at 4:30 PST. We play until the last person or the GM has to leave. This often takes us past midnight. When you leave, the GM takes over your character, and his/her eyes will glaze over, as a few current members are very familiar with. Same thing happens if you miss the session entirely. However, if you're missing lots of sessions for no reason (we know you could be there, but we get no reason for absence) I cannot guarantee your character will be whole the next time their eyes unglaze.
Yeah, but, how do I do stuff?!
If you've never RPed online before, which is probly why you read up til here, you might need to learn how things are done while in game. This brings into play just doing actions, as well as IC etiquette. Different keys used are:
(parentheses) - used when you want to say something OOC. Stuff like rules clarifications, questions that could be asked in asterisks but don't have to be ("(how far away is the monkey?)"). It is only common courtesy to say irrelevant things in parentheses. Similar games have you use double parentheses for further clarity, and this is the general correct way to do it, but we don't.
*asterisks* - used for emotes only. A few things can be said either in parentheses or asterisks, such as "*checks how far away the monkey is*". Note, we cannot hear private thoughts. Don't say "*plans to stab Jerry while he sleeps*", especially if Jerry is another player! For hidden stuff like that, the GM needs to be messaged privately.
normal text - no frills, unaltered typing is considered to be your character talking. Several similar games have you type quotations before and after your speech, but not here.
<whatever these arrow things are> - These mysterious symbols, made popular in html and less than/greater than inequations, are reserved for the GM to make sound effects, flashbacks, commercials, and whatever other special fx he deems appropriate.