New To Play-by-Post Games?

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dmw71
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New To Play-by-Post Games?

#1 Post by dmw71 »

The following question was recently asked elsewhere in the forums: 'Any recommendations on what I should do to prepare for a PbP or PbC game?'

I believe some good advice was offered in that thread and so I'm carrying much of it over to serve as a starting point for future discussions.
ToniXX wrote:In regards to preparing for a PbP game, I'd say the best thing would be to familiarize yourself with the forum and how posting and editing works, and how to manage PMs. It's fairly straight forward, and you're free to try some example posts in this thread. I see you've added an avatar so you must be familiar with how the User Control Panel works, which is good.
dmw71 wrote:...my suggestion would simply to scan the forums of an active game:

Board index » Play-by-post campaigns
viewforum.php?f=4

A great example of a game to read would be the 'Legacy of the Unknown - Pacesetter Games Playtest (OSRIC module)' campaign, which has over 2,000 posts. The DM, rredmond, is also running the first play-by-post game ('Slave Pits of the Undercity') I've been involved in and I've been really impressed. Many of the same players are found in both referenced games.

It might also be beneficial to review an active game run by another DM. I see that 'corum' is also running two games and, while I'm not familiar with either, I can see how it would be beneficial seeing how another DM runs their game as there may be differences.

Get a feel for how the games are organized. Each DM will probably have their own system. How are their threads organized? What expectations do they have for formatting posts (e.g. spoken words by the character should be formatted blue, which can be accomplished by using the 'dialog' formatting button; any out-of-character discussion should be formatted red, by using the 'ooc' formatting button; etc...).

Also, and perhaps most importantly, read through the various threads paying attention to the date/time stamp of the posts. After joining my first (and current) game, but before the game actually started, I followed the advice I issued above and scanned through the 'Legacy of the Unknown' game which gave me a feel for how a game run by rredmond might go. What I didn't realize at the time is, while reading through the various 'action' threads felt fluid, there were gaps in time which didn't really register.

A play-by-post is slower to make progress, but once you get accustomed to the pace of a game (which I assume will vary from game-to-game dependent upon the activity of DM and the different players involved), it is a lot of fun.
Alethan wrote:The other thing big challenge to a PbP game is trying to control the pace. I'm guilty of sometimes pushing our Legacy game a little fast, I'll be the first to admit it. Sometimes it is accidental and just because I'm excited about what is going on and want to see what happens next. But other times it is most definitely on purpose and I'm doing it because the game has started to lag a little, for whatever reason, and it needs something (or someone) to push it along.
-- Project --
Playtest: Untitled Project (1e)
-- DM --
Greyhawk Campaign: Sandbox (1e)
(Status: Archived)

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Alethan
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Re: New To Play-by-Post Games?

#2 Post by Alethan »

lol. Scary. You sure you're not my long lost twin brother or something?

(See my recent thread)
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Re: New To Play-by-Post Games?

#3 Post by Argennian »

(OOC: For the record, I think you guys are absolutely awesome! Cheers on ya both! :ugeek: :D

Man, I wish that I had guys like you in my FtF groups, as it would certainly help with organization, notetaking and just general focus of the others. When I'm not running, I'm always called the DM's "assistant" or "pet" or even "Co-DM", since I'm the only one that tracks intel gathered/rumors/clues/combat rounds/initiatives/kills/etc, etc. I even have to refresh the DM sometimes on what happened! :shock: Good thing for him I'm an honest bloke, otherwise I could get away with sooo much! ;) )




+1 for the great advice in your posts, gents. You know, I wasn't sure that I was going to like PbPs at first. Now, after almost 5 years of playing in them, I like them just as much as my FtF games, sometimes more! It's a great feeling to know that there's always a game going on and for many that don't have a chance to FtF game, it's more than just a substitute. As stated, there are some things you can get from PbPs that most never get with their FtF games. The level of role-playing and character immersion is of so much of a higher quality and fun, imho. A lot of people have real difficulty speaking in the first person or IC (In Character) in RL, but not here! Being able to keep track of all your PC's roll history as well as documenting the action makes for some great campaign journals and I very much enjoy being able to go back and reread the interactions and encounters that have already happened. Good stuff, that! :mrgreen:

I feel very lucky and most fortunate to game with the great folks on this board and I sometimes think about when my ship 'o gold comes in, I'm going to sponsor a Mini-Con event where we could all meet and have an entire weekend of old-school FtF gaming goodness and debauchery!! :shock: I know, I know, it's a pipe dream...

























(... or is it :?: )
Yosef Travathas: High Elf Fighter4/Magic-User3 (rredmond's Pacesetter Games "Legacy of the Unknown" OSRIC Playtest)
Brok Sterling: Human Assassin3 (ToniXX's Incursion into Newiron OSRIC Playtest)
Tanik Tremwoodak: Dwarf Cleric3 (Dave's 1e Skype Game)

DM: home-brew OSRIC "A New Hope to the West" campaign

Fireball... good!!

"What's it gonna take?"
"Everything."
tkrexx as Emm the Avenging Druid wrote:I shall burn you, and I shall sink your petty warship with fire and lightning, and the ocean shall swallow it and all aboard, and no one will remember any of you!

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Re: New To Play-by-Post Games?

#4 Post by rredmond »

Old school vs. Newsomethingorother :)

Image
This is a game about killing things and taking their stuff so you can become more powerful in order to kill bigger things and take even better stuff.
Alethan: I'm good with NOT pressing our luck this time.
mjulius: That's how I know I'm home.
Pulpatoon: The whole point of PbP is to take the scheduling pressure off the game. We're just chatty because we're so eager!
Scott308: ...everyone should be reminded of just how wonderful the people they play games with here can be in real life.
Leitz: Quality and quantity wise, I think US is the best I've seen.
Paladin: I can promise terror, glory, and riches...or a quick and brutal death.
Inferno: Come on! That's was Vicar's Head, a completely different doomed village!
Rex: I can move to the wait list to let someone else into the game.

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