Thanks!To all my PbP friends (whether you're from the US or not), I am grateful that I get to share D&D with folks near and far. Thanks for your time and the creative spirit that makes this hobby great!
Happy Thanksgiving!
All DM's try, but sometimes you have to wait for players to response first...
Suggestions:
1) The number one thing to speed up the game that a DM has to do is to post every single day.
I personally like a combination of an ooc thread and your mentioned method.2) Another suggestion I would take from that thread (which Sparky does not like) is to do the OOC stuff in the IC thread
[sblock=OOC]
like this.
[/sblock]
Sparky prefers this, because it is search-able this way.This makes the game a LOT easier. People do not have to go back and forth from the OOC thread and the IC thread and try to keep them in time sync. And, it can take less room than a lengthy OOC thread (even in smaller print) that Sparky prefers. I dislike smaller print.
I too. Looking at the thread, we are all speaking common anyway.3) I also prefer different colors for each PC's speech instead of being forced to use the same color as every other PC. It makes reading and knowing which PC wrote what SO much easier.
You could try the white background. That makes darker colors easier to read.Sparky is very set in his ways and non-flexible with regard to posting style. I do not prefer his style. It's limiting. For example, I suggested brighter colors for older people like me with not so good vision and he told me no. I don't understand a DM like that.
Yes, some kind of map would make things easier. It's better to see non-secret doors than having to ask if one see it....
5) Pictures. We do not even have a map of this place. That's a must for good DMing.
Descriptions are fine for details, but not for making the game easy for players. The DM has to go out of his way to make the game easy.
Not everyone relates to print. Some people relate visually to maps and drawings, etc.
I tend to post more (and get more involved) when a game has got some momentum. I have seen to many games going the way of the dodo, because the DM disappeared and other things.7) So as a final suggestion for your games WD (both as a player and DM), don't do that. Only commit to a game if you have the time and when you commit, actually post a lot of good stuff. Don't do one liners once in a blue moon. That is not playing, that's kibitzing. You'll note in the link above that when roleplaying, the PCs in that game write multiple sentences and often paragraphs about what their PCs are doing and saying. I notice that you write a single sentence or two a lot (both in IC and OOC threads). Add to the game, don't just comment from the sidelines. A DM cannot just be writing a few sentences per post and neither should a player. Your signature is a lot longer than your posts. My signature is a lot smaller than my posts. Write more. Sparky might not post a lot, but he does a good job of posting content. You need to do the same because it keeps the other players interested. A single sentence is not interesting to anyone. You become an NPC sidekick that way, not a PC.
Write more stuff when you post. Bottom line. Get involved.
Being sure to keep IceTalon in front of him, Kragnor approaches the prone figure. He stays about 10 feet away.
"This seems odd."
Malek looks down at the clothes / bindings covering him: "Were we ... dead? Some kind of resurrection and this one sacrificed for us." He wildly guesses.
AllMany DM's try
Sparky prefers this, because it is search-able this way.
You could try the white background. That makes darker colors easier to read.
I tend to post more (and get more involved) when a game has got some momentum.
How was this:
more involved than this:

(Dungeons & Dragons)
Rulebook featuring "high magic" options, including a host of new spells.