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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The_Magician" data-source="post: 2566889" data-attributes="member: 14978">I DM and Play online for 8+ years and if you decide to engage in non-real time ronline roleplaying, like PBEM and PBP, you usually end up getting into multiple games, because it can be addictive and it is VERY slow. A good average posting rate for a PBEM game is 4 posts per player per week, and from my experience, in that rate, you take a full year to finish a 36pages adventure module. Give or take a few more months (usually give).I will answer first about the combat. I have seen different approaches, but usually, the DM sends a post describing the combat scenario. Players reply with their own posts, describing teh actions of their characters. After all players have replied, the DM rolls the dices for the players , monsters and NPCs, then posts back a reply saying the results of each character action, then sending a reaction of the monsters and NPCs. Then players react to that by sending another round of actions.Some PBEM portals are fully featured and allow you to send the dice rolls together with your post. Generally speaking, this is how a PBEM/PBP game works. DM announces his game, with a introduction to the plot, followed by the character creation rules (Setting, ECL, Starting Gold, Books allowed, etc). Then players interested in the game submit their characters. DM chooses which characters he liked and invite those players to the game. From this point on, it is like in table top RPG. The DM begins describing the scenario, the situation, where you are, what you see, etc. Then each player posts in reaction to the starting post. That reaction causes a change in the scenario, which has to go through the DM. He then sends another post ot he players, painting the new picture.Ex:DM's starting post:You follow your leader into the mist, until it engulfs you, blinds you, and you feel a warm sensation inside your chest that keeps pressing you forward, hoping that your leader will be somewhere on the other side. The thought of losing him again is despairing and depressing, but you get a hold of yourself and trot along with your fellows, without seeing them, but knowing by the sound of the horses's hooves that you are together.Then the mist begins to withdraw, gradually dissipating and letting go of you, and for a brief moment you find yourself lost in an icy darkness, till the forest reappears all around. You can't help but feel perturbed by something you can't really grasp, but you can feel that chilling, unsettling in your gut that assures you something is amiss.Where is he? Where is your leader? He is not there. You have missed him again! You look back to see if he's still coming out of the mist, but the mist is gone and there is no sign of him anywhere. Something is wrong. Something is really, really wrong...Looking up you notice that the once starlit night sky now displays but cold pinpoints of light, and the full moon that used to reign over them is now gone. Your surroundings are different as well. The spaced out maple and redwood trees are replaced by a dark forest of gigantic, mossy gray firs and pines that hem you in on either side. The soft, earthen ground is now solid enough and yet you experience a moment of vertigo, as if it shifted underfoot. At the same time you hear a deep groan - a monstrous sound, as though some great thing lay dying, just inside the forest. (That's the Introductory post from a game I am DMing. In reply to it, my players send their own posts. Will paste two of them here, so you see how it goes)Savah's post:"Too good to be true," Savah rumbles, mostly to himself. "I knew it. We should have delayed, waited, found out for sure that we were seeing what we thought we saw.""We're a bunch of fools," he muttered to himself, swinging down from his horse, loosing his blade and his hammer. "The sky has changed. We aren't where we once were. We might be able to get back if we can track the route we took. But, from the sound of things, we might have something else to do first." He tried to track the monstrous sound with just his ears, unwilling to leave the group just yet... Alshar's post:Conflicting emotions cross Alshars face...disappointment and concern that there is no sign of the leader any more. But at the same time, interest and intrigue as her brain already is working on the puzzle of where they were now and how they got here.Silently she curses herself for not having read the tome entitled "Planes - their order in the universe" back in old saveroks library. realising she can do little to help locate where they are in the short term she instead focusses, like Savah, on the sounds around them, especially the monstrous one, she holds krrk in her hands and closes her eyes focussing all her mind on determining the source of the sound and for some clue on the nature of its source.ooc: listening...do you roll ref or show i?Also...can we have a Name for the leader? seems weird always refering to 'The Leader' or 'him' <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> perhaps put him/her in the NPC section so we do not forget. (After all the players replied to my post, I sent another post, showing the result of their actions and painting the new scenario)DM's post:Maybe the image of your leader was but an illusion. Maybe the moon was covered by massive thick clouds. Maybe the several minutes riding blindly inside the mist have taken you to a different part of the forest, without you realising. Maybe the sinister sound you just heard was produced by your disturbed minds....maybe not....A short time later the ground begins to tremble. The horses neigh, moving a few steps back and looking a little agitated. Just ahead, a rift opens in the earth like a deadly battle wound, about two feet wide and ten feet long. It is filled with a swirling grey mist that is tainted with the chill of the grave.You catch your breath and turn your horses around, trying to understand... What the hell is going on? Where are you? What foul play is this?All is silent for a moment, and then a huge tree whose roots have been exposed by the rift tears free of the soil and topples in your direction. The massive trunk, heavy enough to crush a house, is falling on you!Jeddebai and Savah are quick on the act, pulling the reign of their horses, tuining them around and kicking their sides to get them out of harms way. Alshar takes a little longer to react, but safely dodges the falling tree. The others aren't so lucky. Aeron and Fearghus took a second too long to act and got their horses prancing in desperation, while Bison, seeing that his horse was too frightened to allow him to mount it back on, just slapped the animal on the rear getting it out of there, but joined Aeron and Fearghus's fate.If trees could give a death cry, this would be the sound of it. The massive trunk fell mercilessly like a god's wrath, making a thunderous sound as it slams the soilid ground and bury half of the party under it.Alshar, Jeddebai and Savay can't believe what their perplexed eyes see, but they soon notice that their friends are still conscious. Lucky enough, they were not hit by the massive trunk, but are trapped under the heavy, thick branches. (and the game keeps going from there.... You will notice that I have decided in my post who escaped the falling tree and who didnt. That's because I would risk losing 24 to 48 hours, if I asked all my 6 players ot send their reflex rolls. Instead, I rolled those ref saves myself and used the results to describe the scenario in my post)When there is a combat, it is always good to have the combat map uploaded somewhere for the players to see, and then you just keep posting the actions, with the DM describing the reactions and painting the new scenario, to which you react again. It is VERY slow, which is why those addicted to this sort of roleplaying usually play in multiple games. I know people who are playing in more than 40 games, DMing 8 and co-refereeing a few others.I strongly advise you to lurk games to understand the process better.</blockquote>

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