What makes a successful play by post?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Another message board I frequent has tossed around the idea of doing play-by-post for a while now. I'd love to do it myself, but it seems sort of daunting, in several ways:

1) There has to be an assumption that all players have access to the same materials, no? Maybe this isn't true, but it seems like SRD + freely available materials should be all that's used.

2) How the heck do you run an adventure in this format? Are adventures typically a bad idea, and freeform RPing a more reliable way to go? It just seems like PbP games run the risk of taking forever to resolve even a single combat with multiple participants.

Any advice? I've looked on the boards here, but they're games in progress, and rules particular to ENWorld, not general advice on how to run a game.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Another message board I frequent has tossed around the idea of doing play-by-post for a while now. I'd love to do it myself, but it seems sort of daunting, in several ways:

1) There has to be an assumption that all players have access to the same materials, no? Maybe this isn't true, but it seems like SRD + freely available materials should be all that's used.

2) How the heck do you run an adventure in this format? Are adventures typically a bad idea, and freeform RPing a more reliable way to go? It just seems like PbP games run the risk of taking forever to resolve even a single combat with multiple participants.

Any advice? I've looked on the boards here, but they're games in progress, and rules particular to ENWorld, not general advice on how to run a game.

Well, I just started like a month ago with no prior experience, and I just run my PbP games just like I would do for a game in real life (except its easier to split up the party ) without any problems, and some of my players, who are vets of PbP, have told me that I'm doing very well. We even finished our first combat in one hour

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm, sounds like your folks may post faster (and more reliably) than I could reasonably expect of my slackers.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Hmm, sounds like your folks may post faster (and more reliably) than I could reasonably expect of my slackers.

Well, I do have Brother Shatterstone. A lot of the time, he replies to posts within 20 minutes. That's a perk of having the PbP forum mod as a player

 

[Jdvn1]

With due respect, Rystil's experience is highly uncommon. You may want to read the Play by Post FAQ. Posting consistently once per day is considered quick. A combat in an hour is completely ludicrous. Many games require as little as two posts a week.

To answer your questions:
1. Not necessarily. The GM will often give a list of what is allowed (typically what he has access to), but players are rarely expected to use all of the materials. If there's materials the players don't have, it'll usually not screw them over. If a GM is worried about it, he can provide information, items, or spells to his players. There are ways to work around it -- the same issue comes up in face-to-face games.

2. The same way you'd run anything? It does take forever, sometimes, but that's a benefit as much as it's a crutch. Do you have any specific questions?

I'd recommend:
-Push the story when it seems slow, as sometimes people take a while to decide things. The games take long enough.
-Make liberal use of description and pictures, as that is one of the strengths of PbP games. Good descriptions make things seem more real.
-Make sure your players don't wait for their initiative to post. Have them post as soon as they can, and then organize everything yourself. The game will flow much faster that way.

 

[Rystil Arden]

A combat in an hour is completely ludicrous.

Not completely ludicrous--it happened. I agree that Destiny's Tears is quite an uncommon game though

 

[Bront]

Generaly, a fairly active posting crew will help move a game along. As for combat, I've only been involved in one, where it took only a day to do a round. If your players can think that way, they can post 2 rounds of actions, planning for the changing scheme of things. Then the GM does all the rolling and posts the results, hopefully with fun descriptions.

However, it does need a GM who is probably a bit more active than most of the players, and one who is not unwilling to push the story along when needed.

Best thing you can do in a PbP is discribe a few different things you wish to do at the same time, and let them play out. It's harder to do when you are having a conversation, but still possable.

 

[Jdvn1]

Not completely ludicrous--it happened. I agree that Destiny's Tears is quite an uncommon game though

... It's still ludicrous. I didn't say impossible. Would you rather me have said, "plaid"?

 

[Falkus]

Sometimes the format of the forum can make a big difference. This isn't a knock against ENWorld, but I would never run a PBP game here. Instead, I use rpol.net, a site devoted solely for the purpose of playing roleplaying games in a PBP format. You can have multiple threads, there's a good dice roller built into the system, private messaging for passing along secrete information to players, etc. It makes running a game a lot easier than having to do it in one thread using an off site dice roller.

 

[IronWolf]

1) There has to be an assumption that all players have access to the same materials, no? Maybe this isn't true, but it seems like SRD + freely available materials should be all that's used.

For me its mainly that I have access to the sourcebooks the player in the game is drawing from. If I have access to the materials the player wants to use, then I generally okay it and go on from there. I do ask that the players run options from other sourcebooks by me first to make sure I have that resource.

2) How the heck do you run an adventure in this format? Are adventures typically a bad idea, and freeform RPing a more reliable way to go? It just seems like PbP games run the risk of taking forever to resolve even a single combat with multiple participants.

I tend to lean towards PBeM, but the concept is of course the same. I have run adventures before and it does work okay. It actually gives an opportunity to paint a much more vivid picture of what they see and encounter. There is a greater amount of roleplaying whether in town or in a dungeon.

Combat tends to move one round every day or day and a half on average. I encourage posts at least three days a week, but most of the players post more than that. Occasionally the DM needs to move things along. If the list seems quiet, that probably means they are waiting for the DM to post (whether the DM thinks the ball is in his or her court or not).

Any advice? I've looked on the boards here, but they're games in progress, and rules particular to ENWorld, not general advice on how to run a game.

It can be a fun way to play. It just moves a little slower, but the RP'ing is a little better and colorful from what I have seen.