Making online(pbp) games come alive

[Riposte]

I could see online play being very restricted compared to the regular tabletop experience. I'm going to run a play by post(pbp) game on another non-DnD forum where users(some new to the game, some used to it) want to try 4e. I'm worried that I won't be able to run a good game over this method. I've already warned them of the slow nature of pbp so that shouldn't be a problem.

I would greatly appreciate if people could post tips, experiences, and tidbits of knowledge for pbp gaming or online gaming that I can apply to pbp. Also, feel free to use this thread to just discuss pbp in general.

PS. Cool emoticons

 

[Byronic]

Are you sure you want to do a 4th Edition game by post? It's somewhat miniature heavy (actually if we are to believe the DMG you need miniatures more then character sheets ;p). It also seems to delve heavily on on tactics.

I think there were some posts on playing without miniatures though. They might be handy.

 

[Riposte]

Oh, I don't think miniatures will be a big problem. I plan on using a map/token system and host the picture every turn. I imagine the bigger issues would be with roleplay or something similar.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You can play any edition of D&D without miniatures. Worst case scenario, you can make some ASCII art maps.

That said, pbp games are made for lots of roleplaying, rich descriptions and so on. Use lots of descriptive language -- no "he misses, you hit" stuff -- everything should be extremely evocative.

My story hour is just a slightly cleaned up pbp game. You can skim through it to see how I describe combat and how talky everyone in the campaign is.

Dungeon crawls should be short and very meaningful.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

I've just started running a PbP game. Forgehold in gaming Action on this site.

It's a handful.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=228254
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=228755

Go read my stuff. I've been running the first battle for a week.

Initiative. Posting Order. OA's.

 

[Riposte]

Thank you, all of the examples are appreciated.

So, I would assume the best style of combat is to let people say they do in any order, then break it down into the flow of initiative?

EDIT: And if I may ask, where would be the best place to find some quick grids/maps for such posts? Make my own using a picture editor?

 

[Masquerade]

So, I would assume the best style of combat is to let people say they do in any order, then break it down into the flow of initiative?

This is how I've been doing PBP for about 3 years and it works great (well, I've yet to run PBP in 4e, but it works great with 3.5 and some other d20 games). After all players have posted, I will roll initiative for that round, then go through and adjudicate each turn in order, posting the results in one big, descriptive post. As a DM, a combat post usually takes about 45-50 minutes using this method, but this is with groups of 5-8 characters and very thoughtful description.

Tip: Encourage players to include one Plan B. So a player's post my be paraphrased as "Regdar raises his sword in the air and charges the bugbear, unless he sees that Lidda has already covered that target, in which case he turns his attention to the lich."

 

[Pinotage]

So, I would assume the best style of combat is to let people say they do in any order, then break it down into the flow of initiative?

PbP can be very rich and rewarding from a roleplaying side. Well worth it, IMO. I've played some fantastic games over the past 7 years, and had a blast. I've not tried 4e yet in PbP - it's not the mini-centric thing that bother me, but rather having to deal with immediate actions. I'm still trying to get at a good way of dealing with that. 3.5e works fine with PbP.

For combat it's best, as mentioned, to let players post and sort it in initiative order, often filing in any blanks yourself. Many players will wait for somebody to post if they think their action depends on another character's action. It's also worth thinking about a system where initiative is a 'free for all' and whoever posts first, acts first. This works fairly well in a system where the initiative is 'sorted' into monters then PCs then monsters then PCs.

Good luck!

Pinotage

 

[Riposte]

I'm sorry for bumping this old thread, but I'm having troubles with Invisible Castle dice rolling and didn't want to create another topic.

( http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/ )


When I first found invisible castle I saw that you simply had to type in a name and it kept records of all rolls under that name(character, monster, whatever). I've looked over some pbp games and that still seems to be the case. The problem is when I try it, the name doesn't appear at all once I complete the roll. This makes it impossible to record or search it.

Do they now require you to sign up for the site? If that's the case, I'm having even more trouble. After making my account, I was told my password was incorrect even when I'm sure it wasn't. Even after reseting my password twice, I've had no luck. If I do need to sign up for the site, naming an alternative might work better.

PS. While making the post, the text was black. Black on black made it difficult...