The Perils of Play By Post (Is it Just Me)?

[Ajar]

That makes a lot of sense. I've always done my PbP round by round, but it means that combat can take as much as a month to resolve. I'm going to keep your suggestion in mind for the future! Either way, though, you're definitely in for the long haul with PbP.

I do find that elongated game threads cause me problems. I have a lot of trouble following games here since it seems like the entire game happens in a single thread. I run my own PbP game on another forum, and I create one thread per scene, try to keep each thread short, and keep the threads organized so it's always clear where to find something that happened previously. Here's my current one:

Ruins of Karantia

This is an Iron Heroes game with a replacement magic system for NPCs (True Sorcery) that I've been running since the fall of 2007. Most of the original players are still in the game. We've had two players drop out. With the first, we wrote the character out. With the second, we had someone else pick up the character. We also added one new player and character.

We're building toward the climax now, and I expect the game to wrap up by the end of this year. If so, it'll be the first time I've ever seen a PbP game actually make it to the end without just petering out until it died.

 

[fireinthedust]

I have been doing this for about... gosh, 13 years. Live games are rare for me unless I run them, so pbp!

1) IME, the best games tend to be funny. An L4W game here I played in, the DM was my fave of all time; players disappeared without a trace, but the GM was fantastic. The descriptions, the characers, were hilarious.
The reason, I think, is that "serious" games get too serious and depressing. Funny keeps people coming back.

2) Start higher level, or at least with "stuff". Unless the game is apprentice level, it's a waste of time to make players wait until their characters "get good". I'm in a neat Age of Worms with a build I know will be fantastic, but for now he's an Int-based warrior with a dex sword and no damage bonus worth mentioning. I know he'll be fantastic when I get up there (Eldritch knight abjurer), but for now I'm kicking myself for not just being, I dunno, a smash barbarian or something.
Compare this to my 20th level Pathfinder game, and my players have their final concepts ready already: the wizard is an archmage, the ranger is an uber ranger, the rogue can zip around like Nightcrawler, etc. etc. I'm having a great time with it myself, as I don't have to wait to throw giant dragons at them.

If you ever want to see key monsters, like Dragons or Beholders, start higher level. Even 5th. You're waiting weeks per combat, and you will rarely if ever need to level your PCs before the game fizzles.


3) Game fizzle/player dropout is high. I promise one scenario per campaign, and I've actually finished ONE GAME in 13 years. Well, another one made it through three adventures before the party fizzled, and for another the GM added a lot for kicks that was fantastic. Still, for the most part, I've only finished one as a GM. Its the nature of the beast. Lots of good game start ups, but lots of fizzles, and precious few finished adventures (bbeg's).

4) No one wants to do anything other than D&D and M&M, and maaaaaybe Star Wars. I don't know how GMs of other systems keep them going, but I can never make them work.

5) Make minions fun. Make all NPCs fun. You'll see them waaaay more than anyone else, so enjoy every second of game time. Why? Because every second will take a while in-game. Pathfinder goblins were a hit because they were fun goblins, rather than just goblins.

 

[fireinthedust]

6) Give everyone something to do at all times. This is hard, but worth it. Not that everyone makes their own opportunities (they won't, even when you hand them to them) but it's a good idea.

7) Neon signs over what you want them to do.

 

[pneumatik]

Yeah, people will drop, usually without warning. Replace them.

Never be in a situation where you have to wait for a specific player to post. If you are waiting at least have a plan for taking their action for them. IMC I run all the enemies on the same initiative. Since it's a 3E game the order PCs take their turns in doesn't matter, so I'm not waiting for each person to take their turn in order.

Finally, if you want to run anything pbp you need single-minded stubbornness to see it through. You'll find players and you'll them players to post as long as you keep things moving.

 

[Teemu]

My tips are:

- Keep the gaming moving. Don't be afraid to skip boring events. If the players don't post for a while, move things forward with a post of your own. Strive to end your posts with something interesting and fun to react to.

- You'll have players drop, it's ok. Just keep recruiting new ones. There's a good chance that you'll eventually get keepers.

- With combat, I've found that posting enemy stats worked well. Players could then know immediately the result of their roll, not after you, the GM, resolve it later in the day. Also, remember to post extra often during combat (once a day worked for me) and either skip a missing player's actions or take control of them for the round.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!