Oldest PbP game

[Manzanita]

I'm just curious what the longest running active game is. I know a number of them predate my finding of these boards (01/03). These would include Acadamy of Drell, deep water & shoals, the Banewarrens... Just curious if the DMs have any tips for keeping a game going, and just curious the longest any game has lasted. So many of them die quickly.

 

[Lichtenhart]

I'm just curious what the longest running active game is. I know a number of them predate my finding of these boards (01/03). These would include Acadamy of Drell, deep water & shoals, the Banewarrens... Just curious if the DMs have any tips for keeping a game going, and just curious the longest any game has lasted. So many of them die quickly.

I'd say the Psionicle, but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[garyh]

I'd say the Psionicle, but correct me if I'm wrong.

That'd be my guess, too, though I can't say for sure, as PbP gaming here predates even me.

 

[Zhure]

I can vouch that Gnomeworks Psionicle predates my Academy of Drell. Beyond that I'm not certain which campaign(s) might be longer than either of those.

Greg

 

[Creamsteak]

The Iconics and Non-Iconics adventures are over, and those pre-date the psionicle. The Third Industrial Revolution has been over for a long time as well. There are a number of games that collapsed over the summer the year before last (The Crimster's Cthulhu game for instance), and a huge number of games like the Heroes of the World that are younger than the Psionicle, but lasted a pretty long time due to a few dedicated people.

Really, though, Psionicle is almost definitely the oldest game still going on.

Except maybe YB, which is theoretically a play by post game.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

What makes a PbP story good.

As a player in the Academy of Drell. I can say that it's the DM's story line. The characters have a focused mission that has an end yet keeps going on and on. (Zhure is one of my favorite Storytellers.)

As a PBP GM with 3 failed games under my belt (maybe more). I can say that as the DM you have to keep the situation very clear for the players. allow them to interact but keep the in-character interaction from detouring the game.

Pick Really dedicated players. Nothing kills a game faster than people who beg to play than don't post.

 

[Manzanita]

Thanks for that insight, Argent. I have noticed that Pbp games progess so slowly, that it's hard to keep track of th details as time goes by. NPCs are forgotten or mixed up, clues forgotten etc. Certain types of situations work better for Pbp than others.

Dedicated players/DMs is another thing. Perhaps someone should start a game only open to players w/over 1000 posts. Elitist, perhaps, but hey, they want to play too!

 

[Jarval]

Hmm, I can give you an exact start date for my Of Sound Mind game (blatant self promotion, I know ). It started on... looks at post archive... 31st March, 2002. So, about 18 months so far

 

[Manzanita]

So how old is the Psionical? I perused it a bit. It looked like all the players had over 2000 posts!

 

[GnomeWorks]

The initial introduction post for the Psionicle was made on December 31, 2001, at around 9:30 pm CST.

IIRC, the game didn't actually start until the first week of January, though.

So... in a few months, it'll be two years old.