For those of you who have set up play-by-post games, how do you do it?

[Voadam]

Ppb is slower, so I suggest going for shorter adventures and systems that are simpler with fewer interrupt powers and contested rolls. Side based initiative seems like it would work better than individual initiative for example.

Theatre of the mind is great as maps and positioning can be a pain to coordinate.

Expect more dialog and description as people can write a paragraph or a comment without talking over someone in a face to face game or over discord.

Details can be searched and referenced much more than in face to face games so it can be easier for everyone to recall an improvised NPC’s name six months later or look up earlier events to connect them to current plots. Being able to look up the exact wording of a prophecy instead of generally remembering it or looking up exact past dialog for consideration was big for me in a number of games.

I generally tried to do a post a weekday for games I played in and expressed that as the goal for games I ran.

Read some pbp game threads on here to see some examples of how things can run.

 

[aramis erak]

We currently play on Discord (since we live far enough apart that it's just much easier to gather online, and one player has three very small children). The group's moderator suggested opening up another channel for us to play on, but I've only seen PbP games on message boards. Only one of us (it's not me) has any experience with PbP games.

So, any advice or thoughts?

Discord will work just fine provided you set the room to be only players/GM can post. Whether others can read or not is a personal preference.

If you upload a map, put a coordinate set — and duplicated it top and bottom, left and right. Possibly adding a grid if it's not distracting.

If using a zone based game (such as almost anything Modiphius or Free League) putting a grid location in the zones can make it easy to use as a reference.

 

[dragoner]

I have run them before, some lasting 4-5 years; usually message boards are fine, though discord should work. Generally I like to break the game up into chapters, and date them for ease of searching. Give time limits, like a few days for posts before moving forward. Games are generally more thoughtful, bookish; nicely visual though with pictures and maps.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I have a lot of recommendations for things I never do (like stay organized, post regularly, and play games that are NOT D&D).

 

[greymist]

In the past, I've used rpol.net.

I joined RPOL.net in 2019 and have been playing in multiple games since; currently in 11 active games.

I’ve not GM’d a game so I can’t speak to that side of things but from the comments and discussions with the GMs running my games it sounds pretty intuitive to use. From a player’s perspective it’s simple to use.

Overgeeked makes some good points about running games, although if you are playing with friends it should be easier than playing with rando Internet humanoids. Many of the games I play still use Initiative to resolve the order of actions. The key seems to be provide alternatives (e.g. attack the goblin, if dead the hobgoblin), roll attacks and damage at the same time, and try to cover off other items (e.g. if attacked, use reaction to cast Shield).

A lot of GMs will provide opponent AC, and even hit points, so players know what’s still standing as others post.

Good luck.

 

[Argyle King]

I joined RPOL.net in 2019 and have been playing in multiple games since; currently in 11 active games.

I’ve not GM’d a game so I can’t speak to that side of things but from the comments and discussions with the GMs running my games it sounds pretty intuitive to use. From a player’s perspective it’s simple to use.

Overgeeked makes some good points about running games, although if you are playing with friends it should be easier than playing with rando Internet humanoids. Many of the games I play still use Initiative to resolve the order of actions. The key seems to be provide alternatives (e.g. attack the goblin, if dead the hobgoblin), roll attacks and damage at the same time, and try to cover off other items (e.g. if attacked, use reaction to cast Shield).

A lot of GMs will provide opponent AC, and even hit points, so players know what’s still standing as others post.

Good luck.

I haven't consistently been on rpol in a long time. Maybe since like 2010. Back then, it was a little bit of a learning curve, but it was pretty easy to use as a GM.

I logged on a few months ago to see if my account info was still good. It looks as though rpol updated a lot of the user interface to make it even easier.

 

[Hriston]

I'm not sure since I've never done it before. I guess mostly about what the set up would be like.

I'm not sure how to answer your question. What do you mean by "set up"?

 

[Theory of Games]

I brought up the idea to my friends last night, since we all want to game more but don't have the ability to coordinate a second date and time. They're all interested. We haven't settled on a game yet (since this was just last night) but I got a lot of interest when I talked up the game I'm currently reading, Legacy: Life Among The Ruins.

We currently play on Discord (since we live far enough apart that it's just much easier to gather online, and one player has three very small children). The group's moderator suggested opening up another channel for us to play on, but I've only seen PbP games on message boards. Only one of us (it's not me) has any experience with PbP games.

So, any advice or thoughts?

Playing on Discord can be faster than trad Play-by-Post. I've been running PbP since 2010 and my advice: make sure everyone involved understands how slow it is. Something as simple as making a die roll can take hours with PbP because the gameplay is intermittent. It takes patient people, first and foremost. GMs and players drop from PbP games regularly because it's too slow for them. One combat scene can take days or even weeks to complete depending on the system used.

So stress how slow it is and make sure your group is interested in that kind of gameplay. If they aren't, look into VTTs like Roll20 or Foundry which move at almost the same pace as trad tabletop gaming.

 

[John Dallman]

I'm not sure since I've never done it before. I guess mostly about what the set up would be like.

By "set up," do you mean the arrangements about posting frequency, or something else?

 

[Faolyn]

So, whether making a game on Discord or on a message board, how many channels/boards do you create to begin with?