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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
In Defense of 4E - a New Campaign Perspective
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<blockquote data-quote="Jacob Lewis" data-source="post: 7554365" data-attributes="member: 6667921"><p><strong>The PbP Campaign</strong></p><p>Before the Encounters program came out (and I moved to my current city of residence where local stores supported this program), I became interested in running a campaign through the Play-by-Post (PbP, or Message Board) format. This was a relatively new idea to me, and I hadn't really considered it before. Probing the topic to get some opinions and ideas about how to go about it, the majority seemed to have a negative view on the subject. Some of the common complaints varied, but everyone seemed to share the same consensus: the games were very slow, people lose interest, and they never get very far. True enough, but I had a vision in my head and I was determined to prove everyone wrong. And for the most part, I did.</p><p></p><p>My first PbP campaign took a lot of work. I spent several months prepping my game forum, learning to code and format on the hosted site (<a href="https://www.myth-weavers.com/" target="_blank">Myth-weavers</a>), and planning for the actual campaign. I had decided to run two groups of six players running simultaneous campaigns with different paths. Then came the application process where I interviewed potential players to find a good match. By that, I mean finding players with the right mind set, who felt they were getting in on something special, and were willing to go along with whatever I needed to do to make this happen. </p><p></p><p>The ad got a lot of attention at the time, especially for a first-time DM promoting a 1st-level game with a lot of ambition. Picking over the applicants took a couple more months while I began working with the players on their individual characters. I had created a roster of premade character ideas for everyone to choose from. This gave the players a ready-to-use portrait/token (I used character portraits from the original <strong>Icewind Dale</strong> PC game), which suggested the Race and Class. I also gave them a background from the <strong>Scales of War</strong> article (this worked well since I was doing a conversion of the original <strong>Red Hand of Doom</strong>), and a Name. The player built their characters using the digital tools at the time, and I collaborated to make their story and background ideas part of the actual campaign. </p><p></p><p>I even ran prelude adventures for most: 1) to get them acquainted with how I would run the game, 2) give them practice formatting to my standards, and 3) I could start working out the bugs in my own ideas. But with twelve characters, and even running two at a time, more weeks and months were just creeping along while most (happily) waited and watched for their turn. After a time, we agreed together to just get things going already and the campaign(s) took off!</p><p></p><p>Despite everything I intended, the game did die after two years. We lost a few players along the way, but others came in as replacements. The two groups of six eventually merged into one with about eight players, then six again. They were well on their way to reaching level 4, but personal things came up that forced me away and eventually dissolved the game. I can happily say that I am still in touch with most of the players, who I consider now to be real friends I have never met. They remind me that the campaign was one of their best gaming experiences ever, which I happen to share in that sentiment.</p><p></p><p>Understandably, PbP is a lot different than a game played in real time, whether face-to-face or at a virtual table. You gain the commodity of additional time to think about actions and embellish the narrative, but the cost may be the meticulous effort of writing for communication. For some people, that is no small price. At the time, it was the ideal format for me; that was before the Encounters program came around.</p><p></p><p>I guess I'm doing this in sections, like chapters? Eh. Hope somebody enjoys reading it. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jacob Lewis, post: 7554365, member: 6667921"] [B]The PbP Campaign[/B] Before the Encounters program came out (and I moved to my current city of residence where local stores supported this program), I became interested in running a campaign through the Play-by-Post (PbP, or Message Board) format. This was a relatively new idea to me, and I hadn't really considered it before. Probing the topic to get some opinions and ideas about how to go about it, the majority seemed to have a negative view on the subject. Some of the common complaints varied, but everyone seemed to share the same consensus: the games were very slow, people lose interest, and they never get very far. True enough, but I had a vision in my head and I was determined to prove everyone wrong. And for the most part, I did. My first PbP campaign took a lot of work. I spent several months prepping my game forum, learning to code and format on the hosted site ([URL="https://www.myth-weavers.com/"]Myth-weavers[/URL]), and planning for the actual campaign. I had decided to run two groups of six players running simultaneous campaigns with different paths. Then came the application process where I interviewed potential players to find a good match. By that, I mean finding players with the right mind set, who felt they were getting in on something special, and were willing to go along with whatever I needed to do to make this happen. The ad got a lot of attention at the time, especially for a first-time DM promoting a 1st-level game with a lot of ambition. Picking over the applicants took a couple more months while I began working with the players on their individual characters. I had created a roster of premade character ideas for everyone to choose from. This gave the players a ready-to-use portrait/token (I used character portraits from the original [B]Icewind Dale[/B] PC game), which suggested the Race and Class. I also gave them a background from the [B]Scales of War[/B] article (this worked well since I was doing a conversion of the original [B]Red Hand of Doom[/B]), and a Name. The player built their characters using the digital tools at the time, and I collaborated to make their story and background ideas part of the actual campaign. I even ran prelude adventures for most: 1) to get them acquainted with how I would run the game, 2) give them practice formatting to my standards, and 3) I could start working out the bugs in my own ideas. But with twelve characters, and even running two at a time, more weeks and months were just creeping along while most (happily) waited and watched for their turn. After a time, we agreed together to just get things going already and the campaign(s) took off! Despite everything I intended, the game did die after two years. We lost a few players along the way, but others came in as replacements. The two groups of six eventually merged into one with about eight players, then six again. They were well on their way to reaching level 4, but personal things came up that forced me away and eventually dissolved the game. I can happily say that I am still in touch with most of the players, who I consider now to be real friends I have never met. They remind me that the campaign was one of their best gaming experiences ever, which I happen to share in that sentiment. Understandably, PbP is a lot different than a game played in real time, whether face-to-face or at a virtual table. You gain the commodity of additional time to think about actions and embellish the narrative, but the cost may be the meticulous effort of writing for communication. For some people, that is no small price. At the time, it was the ideal format for me; that was before the Encounters program came around. I guess I'm doing this in sections, like chapters? Eh. Hope somebody enjoys reading it. ;) [/QUOTE]
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