Advice on PbP

[ravin_raven]

I am unable to get a tabletop game started, and am delving into PbP games. I would consider starting one, but I'd like to draw on the wisdom of the boards first. What sort of things make a PbP game successful? Given the restrictions, what sort of adventures/encounters thrive in PbP? What are its complications/drawbacks?

Thanks in advance.

 

[soulcatcher78]

RP heavy games are the easiest to conduct PBP. The thing that seems to kill most games of this sort is the fact that a 5 round combat might take as long as 2 weeks to complete. Given the higher level of sturdiness that 4E brings us, this can be drawn out even longer.

I've been running a small PBP game since August here and have managed to keep it going by sticking primarily to skill checks and RP. The one combat sequence that I have had so far was more for tension than serious "try to kill something" combat.

When it comes to combat, use minions (they're easy to deal with as it's only a single hit to kill) and consider dropping the HP of other combatants so that combat doesn't become tedious.

Another key is keeping everyone focused. The more players you have, the more likely IRL things will get in the way. If you're lucky, you can find 3-4 players who can post daily and will stick with you. If you're not lucky, all the planning you put into your game will be wasted after 2 weeks of build up.

PBP can be a blast and it's certainly better than not playing but it takes the right game/skills/players to make it work.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

Well I have done good and bad in this area. I do not know what system or type of game you wish to run but here is what little I have learned

Number of player: go more then 4 as it gives others a chance to keep the game goina and if you loose players It does not kill the game. I favor 6-7 players normlay as I can loose up to 4 without the game dying and it keeeps the game from stalling which is death to a pbp


Init: Go with group Init or one person rolling as waiting for multipule people to role leads to stalling

Combat: Try and keep everyone in the loope maps or updates alot if you can.


Prerolls: Hvae pc all make prerolles 10 base, 10 combat, persception baed and so on. Inform the players you will use them to keep the game from stalling[ if joe hasnt posted in 3 days and so on]

Books: For your own sanity set what books can be used, I like to limit at the start but often allow things in later on a case by case base.

Game play try to keep all the players involed a pbp is very cool as that you can use internal monolog go with that , have npc's show up and crafty them for your players as with a pbp you have more detail as to how the character think.

I know I am leaving some stuff out but I hope that helps

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Here is some recent advice I put up and I hope you find useful:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/243198-my-enworld-campain-over.html

Some cliff notes:

1.) A lot of people drop out during the course of a game, so have alternates and have them be involved even slightly. In our campaign there was a camp following the adventurers giving them support for the first half. This meant that when players dropped out their characters had a logical place to go and that the alternates could easily volunteer to help the beleaguered party out. During the second half of the campaign we had so many plotlines going on that it was easy to have someone pick a suitable way to leave or enter the campaign. Ask often for alternates if people begin to lag in their posting.

2.) As a DM you must post often and regularly, even if only one of your PCs have responded. Otherwise the game will peter out. The DM is responsible for maintaining the game's energy, more so even then the players. Still, sometimes your game will peter out anyway as two or three people will dominate a game and the others will for some reason post less and less frequently. For example I ran two teams of six for a Ptolus campaign. During the course of this I found that two or three folks on both teams posted regularly while the others only posted during combat. After four dropped out I merged the groups together and had them meet. Again, only two or three dominated while the others posted less often and eventually dropped out. At that point the characters were so integral to the plot I had to drop the game entirely, which was another lesson learned.

3.) Allow your characters to be in some control of the plot. They are the heroes, so make them be able to greatly affect their world. Last Stand of the Dorinthians was set-up with a destroyed nation where the leadership was greatly eliminated so that first level characters were suddenly considered strong and important. Because the NPCs often looked for them for protection and leadership, the PCs' decisions affected the fate and attitude of the survivors they protected. Also, with the vacuum created I planned that each character could rise to about 5th+ level and become arch-mage, general, king, and so on if they so desired in the end. I also took some liberties that I learned from playing OD&D back in the day and gave them whatever powers I felt like to create a sense of mystery connected with the overall campaign. Gnomes with elemental earth powers, noble horsemen suddenly possessed with the spirit of a god, a cleric whose eyes were taken from him but who then began to see like 'Daredevil' from the comic books and had visions of the present and future, etc...

4.) Have a plan that is flexible. I had an overall plot, but did not railroad the characters. I let them run it however they wanted, and many ideas I created on the fly to get the characters get back on track. This allowed both myself and my players to use our creativity and design more details of the world. My players would come up with long and descriptive posts and sometimes tell me what happened. They never abused it and so I never needed to reign this in.

 

[S'mon]

I find:

1. Have the GM make all rolls. GM resolves combat, can do several rounds at once - request player input if something major happens. Few combats should take more than 2 days to resolve.

2. Use a simple rules system. The GM has plenty of time to adjudicate so there's no need for a rule for everything. Minis-focused games like 3e and 4e D&D are poor for PBEM. I'm currently running Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and Castles & Crusades pbems, all work very well.

3. Not too many players. I think 4-6 is good. And don't worry about 'splitting the party' - not a problem in PBEM.

4. Avoid pointless combats. The amount of combat should be similar to a fantasy movie, not Diablo II. If running an exploration scenario, avoid endless empty tunnels and "Left/Right - Which Way do you go?" type stuff. Dungeons should be packed full of stuff - the haunted house works better than the Mines of Moria. In fact in the latter case you should treat the dungeon more like wilderness - "Travelling for hours through a maze of twisty tunnels, at last you reach...". A typical PBEM dungeon adventure may just be 3 encounters - Beginning, Middle and End. Again, fantasy movies are a good model.

You can see my Labyrinth Lord pbem here:
LL_The_White_Marches : LL_The_White_Marches

My C&C Wilderlands Tegel Manor campaign is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CandCWilderlands/?yguid=216673245

 

[kobold]

All excellent advise so far. A few more I might add from my failed and successful PbP games.

One roll systems that are heavy on storytelling work best, I’ve used Fudge, Heroquest with success- from what I’ve heard about them ORE and FATE would probably do well. This allows you to have a fair amount of combat without boggin down.

As was said before – give the players liberties and lots of them. Allow them to drive the story and change the plot. Let them pursue whats important to them. I had a game once where I expected the players all from the same horse tribe to do one thing- they never once did anything together, or what I had planned- it was awesome!

Think small- even the smallest and shortest of table face to face adventures will take a long time to play out, and will (if the players run with it) turn epic. And if givng the players liberty to drive the story, come up with a setting and only adventure hooks- they will make the adventure.

The fact that everything is written really promotes role-play, people are far less shy about speaking in character and acting out.

A Yahoo group or similar place for posts and campaign material.

I actually hope to get a GreyHawk campaing going usig the Heroquest or FUDGE system soon, and will likely be looking for players.

 

[S'mon]

I'd be up for FUDGE Greyhawk

 

[der_kluge]

I'm running a PbP over at Circvsmaximvs.com, and have for a little over a year now.

It's been a great game.

I'll probably repeat a lot of the advice already given, but that's because I didn't bother reading this whole thread.

1. Roll as much as possible for the players. I roll initiative for everyone. And if you want a diplomacy check from the bard, feel free to roll it for him, and then just adjust the conversation as necessary.

2. Keep a bookmark to all the PCs character sheets so you have easy access to them.

3. Use Home for all your dice rolling needs.

4. Use Powerpoint for battle maps. You can create a square grid map (I LOVE Skeleton Key Games' e-adventure tiles), and there are others - Wizards site has some downloadable ones as well. Or make your own- it's not hard. For example, find a grass background, and then lay over a grid on top of it. Voila - instant battle map for an outdoor battle. Use the PCs portraits as their icons. Powerpoint works great for this because each picture is a separate object, and doesn't become part of the map when placed onto it. So, you can freely move the characters and monsters around without disturbing the underlying map.

5. If a PC performs an action that would probably require a skill check, have them make the skill check at the same time - train them not to wait for you to come back and say "Give me a spot check", or "give me a bluff check". In other words, don't let the players get away with stuff like "I'll try to convince the guard that I have an appointment." and be done with it. Players know the routine. It speeds up play vastly if, instead they say, ""I'll try to convince the guard that I have an appointment. And my roll is a 13+4, for a 17 total." Otherwise, see rule #1.

6. Feel free to make prodigious use of images. The PbP format lends itself well to embedding images. I like to find images of all the important NPCs, and I include them (with imgright tags) in their speech. It gets a little overwhelming to do it everytime, but I like to do it often. Also, feel free to use different colors for different NPCS speech. I use red for the mayor, and purple for one of the NPCs, for example.

 

[garyh]

My advice would be to participate in a Living World. This gives many advantages.

For the DM, you have an existing setting that can nevertheless usually be added to. You also have many players with active characters in the setting if/when you need replacements.

For the player, your character exists independent of the DM, so if the DM bails you can still use your character. Also, games have Judges, who step in as DM to finish the adventure if the DM bails.

There are four Living Worlds here on EN World:

Living EN World - D&D 3.5e group-made homebrew
Living Eberron - D&D 3.5e in Eberron
Living Supers - Mutants and Masterminds 2e
Living 4th Edition - D&D 4e group-made homebrew

 

[ravin_raven]

WRT Living Worlds, that sounds like a great deal for players, but I don't think I would be comfortable DMing in that sort of environment.

If I'm hearing people right, I guess the Shackled City AP I just got for dirt cheap is out when it comes to PbP. I might just go to the backlog of Dungeon adventures that I've got lying around. They are short enough that the dungeons aren't that complex, and they can be injected with RP.

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. I've got a few more specific questions now that I've had some responses.

For players, I would like to have 4-6; should I recruit more and count on people dropping? What is the rate of people that drop? Is there a way to weed them out during recruitment?

If I have background info for a homebrew world, how much is reasonable to expect players to read?

How much house-ruling will people put up with in a PbP game?

Are there particular classes, spells, or feats to avoid in PbP?