* ''Roleplay/TheGunganCouncil'' usually had ''extremely'' short posts in its beginning. And by extremely short, having one or two sentences was perfectly fine. No one had to be very descriptive or technical. Discrepancies from ''Franchise/StarWars'' canon were shrugged off. As time went on, it grew more narrative heavy, with the average acceptable post then being around 200 words. Disregarding too much of the official canon would be unacceptable. And being more technical or descriptive in the action of combat posts is praised.
* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' started out... oddly, to say the least. Many handlers are surprised when they read all the way back to version 1, which was more lenient about realism and good writing than the current version. This results in seeing character concepts that wouldn't work nowadays but made it through in a previous version, or seeing deaths that would be laughed off if you tried them now.
* ''Roleplay/FreedomCityPlayByPost'' had [[VillainProtagonist villain PCs]] and a much DarkerAndEdgier allowance.
* ''Grand Journey'' came, over time, to be defined by characters with supernatural powers and a huge cast of revolving secondary characters. It can therefore be a little jarring to start from the beginning and read about a completely mundane army recruit named Albin Edrias and his best friend.
* ''Roleplay/TheImperiumOfManComesToGensokyo'' started out in the Forum Games section, which explains why the first ten pages or so are filled with {{God Modd|ers}}ing, FandomRivalry, {{Ass Pull}}s and other {{Author Avatar}}s. Fortunately, this died out fast enough that actual plot could happen.
* ''Blog/OffThePageAndIntoLife'' began as a wacky humorous roleplay, featuring the hijinks of the teens and young adults of Pageson. Then the ResetButton was hit, and a darker plot and backstory was introduced, along with several new characters. The current storyline is surprisingly dark.
* ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'':
** It can seem strange reading Atton Rand's early posts, which at best were a rough summary of what was happening, full of contrived coincidences and artistic license in medicine (with his characters repeatedly suffering absurd injuries and recovering quickly) along with his three characters- Zenna, Axle, and Elizabeth- compared to his numerous [=NPCs=] now. Also his depiction in the VideoGame/LEGOIsland arc of a very clear cut "[[{{Demonization}} realists are evil]]" ideology is noticeably different from his more recent posts, which are more morally gray and tend to be somewhat grounded in reality whenever possible.
** Just read some of [=PeabodySam=]'s early posts and try not to get weirded out. Most notably, the whole plot twist about a Mutant T-Rex being disguised as a Minifig. No wonder he later {{retcon}}ned so much of it. Also, compared to how much DarkerAndEdgier the RPG currently is, many of [=PeabodySam=]'s early posts were very... childish. For example, the harshest insult that Fogel could come up with for Amanda Claw is "[[BigStupidDoodooHead Mrs. Dumb-Mouth]]".
** Heck, just read the early ''Dino Attack RPG'' in general. Minifigs turning into [[Toys/{{BIONICLE}} Toa]]? A villain from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''? Rahaga in [[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force Mechs]]? EarlyInstallmentWeirdness indeed.
** Not exempt from some of the later posts. [[FauxShadow Andrew's "dark consciousness", anybody]]?
* Originally, [[Roleplay/DCUnitedWeStand DC: United We Stand]] was called "The DC Website/YouTube Verse", as it was created for a cosplay group to roleplay out the scenarios that couldn't be portrayed via Website/YouTube videos. However, it has evolved beyond that, resulting in the name change.
* JournalRoleplay as a whole is much different now than it was years ago. Roleplaying was done through Platform/LiveJournal as it was the only one that offered everything free. Many application processes focused more on if the player knew the history than if they knew the character's personality, and writing samples would be created wholecloth for the app, sometimes two (one first-person action or network sample and one third-person log sample), even in games that barely used the third-person log format. Over a decade later, most histories are now linked from wikis and samples have been replaced with links to threads the player has already played the character in.
* Used in-universe in ''Roleplay/{{Airlocked}}'', where the {{prequel}}, Round 4 in real life, was the titular ImmoralRealityShow's "first season." Round 4/Season 1 is treated as the odd one out by the in-universe fans due to its DownerEnding, which serves to keep the later survivors from finding out [[spoiler:that many of their loved ones were taken for that season and killed]].
** Also done out-of-universe: Round 1 was the only one without a peace week (though Round 4's peace week was a surprise when all the characters turned out to be DisappointedByTheMotive) and [[SpacePirate Blaze Dudely]] was set up as an unrepentant villain until his character evolved behind the scenes, so when he finally appeared in person, he was a TragicVillain, even in the prequel.
* Both ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''-themed [=TVTropes=] roleplays ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'' and ''Roleplay/WeHaveAllBecomePokemon'' originated as goof-off threads with little plot beyond the self-explanatory titles. Before long, however, plot and worldbuilding started to creep in, and gradually both threads became the enormous, character-driven adventures with expansive settings that they are now.
* ''Roleplay/NoPixel'', famously known for being a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''-based roleplay server using the [=FiveM=] mod, started out as an ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}} III'' roleplay server.
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