plisnithus8
Adventurer
As a DM I've been loving keep our weekly campaign going by using text messaging (we have started calling it text-play) to continue storylines between sessions, making splitting the party and having solo adventures free of meta-gaming.
I think it started when I got tired of players missing and wanted to find a way to have their character do something alone while the rest of the party was playing. I let him go to a nearby village and find out some information.
At the next session, he had something to contribute, but - even more fun - he decided to not share all of the information he had discovered and embellish other parts.
Now we sometimes even have groups of 2 or 3 characters doing things on text. As the DM I find myself jumping between 2 or more group threads at times simultaneously. It takes a little work to make the timing work out so that there aren't paradoxes because of them doing things that wouldn't make sense with what the other groups are doing. What I'm loving the new challenge.
Obviously, if we end a real session in a battle or cliff-hanger, we don't text-play (although those weeks seem seem very long now).
I try to subtly steer these text-sessions away from deadly battles so player's aren't tempted to fudge rolls and so I don't end up killing a PC away from the table. So usually these are discovery sessions, more role-playing than fighting.
But I do have players that are quick on the trigger so there have been battles.
A few players don't have time or just aren't interested. I usually just tell them they have a rather uneventful time doing whatever one thing they say their character might be doing. For example, one said his player was going fishing. We took a minute and brainstormed what kinds of fish he caught. That was good enough for him. Another player said she had a busy week coming up so I told her a carnival troupe invited her bard to join them on a trip to the Village of Barovia in exchange for a sword cane. I actually ended up telling her that trip didn't end uneventfully: the village had been over run by zombies who killed all in the troupe except her.
I also emphasize that I never expect text responses. I understand that lives are busy and variable. We usually text back and forth in spurts, sometimes late into the night.
I can throw in images cropped from adventure maps or magical item descriptions or NPC visages.
The best part of the week is still when we get together at the table, but we've found the anticipation of sharing information (and misinformation) enhances the enjoyment even more.
I think it started when I got tired of players missing and wanted to find a way to have their character do something alone while the rest of the party was playing. I let him go to a nearby village and find out some information.
At the next session, he had something to contribute, but - even more fun - he decided to not share all of the information he had discovered and embellish other parts.
Now we sometimes even have groups of 2 or 3 characters doing things on text. As the DM I find myself jumping between 2 or more group threads at times simultaneously. It takes a little work to make the timing work out so that there aren't paradoxes because of them doing things that wouldn't make sense with what the other groups are doing. What I'm loving the new challenge.
Obviously, if we end a real session in a battle or cliff-hanger, we don't text-play (although those weeks seem seem very long now).
I try to subtly steer these text-sessions away from deadly battles so player's aren't tempted to fudge rolls and so I don't end up killing a PC away from the table. So usually these are discovery sessions, more role-playing than fighting.
But I do have players that are quick on the trigger so there have been battles.
A few players don't have time or just aren't interested. I usually just tell them they have a rather uneventful time doing whatever one thing they say their character might be doing. For example, one said his player was going fishing. We took a minute and brainstormed what kinds of fish he caught. That was good enough for him. Another player said she had a busy week coming up so I told her a carnival troupe invited her bard to join them on a trip to the Village of Barovia in exchange for a sword cane. I actually ended up telling her that trip didn't end uneventfully: the village had been over run by zombies who killed all in the troupe except her.
I also emphasize that I never expect text responses. I understand that lives are busy and variable. We usually text back and forth in spurts, sometimes late into the night.
I can throw in images cropped from adventure maps or magical item descriptions or NPC visages.
The best part of the week is still when we get together at the table, but we've found the anticipation of sharing information (and misinformation) enhances the enjoyment even more.
