PBP dungeoneering

[Dave]

My first experience with play by post was more mission based, and it seems like doing a dungeon crawl in play by post could be even slower. Is this nothing to worry about, any more than any other game type? Any tips for running dungeons specifically in play by post? Any particular active games worth looking at as doing it well?

[Spearmint]

I can only speak (or write) from experience and say what has worked very well in my Barrowmaze game.

Firstly you need committed players. If you recruit to a game, give a clear expectations of what posting rate you desire. There is nothing worse than having for example, five players in a group and four can post every day but Friday Fred can only post once a week, so especially in a combat situation, unless you NPC actions, you are duty bound to act at the pace of the slowest party member. Deal with that at the beginning and also keep up your own GM standards. If you require at least two actions posts per player character, you should prepare for two action scene updates.

I have really enjoyed when all those in a group are online and during a combat scene, we post a dozen or more rounds of action over a couple of hours.

GM advice. If you are following a module, read it and prepare in advance. You know the tricks, the traps, the creatures lurking. You know how wide or limited the player choices are. Also be aware of what each player has in regards to skills, spells, abilities so you can plan in your head how for example the orc horde might react to a fireball, a web, a frontal attack, how a trap works. Also, and I have great players who do this, plan for the unexpected and the surprising. Players will often put in a curveball action that you haven't thought of which can cause a change of direction.

I have also trialled asking players to give me several rounds of actions so that can speed up a combat if it is a straight slugfest. Then you just narrate the round by round resolution rather than waiting for five separate posts.

Another factor is how you initially describe rooms. So you want to provide enough information, but not overloaded with unnecessary details so that whatever a character can smell, hear, touch, see, provokes them to an action post rather than a question post. Also if you think a specific action might require a skill test, then state that so players can include a suitable macro in their post.

[dmw71]

^
This is excellent advice.

[Rex]

Agreed, all excellent advice.

[Leitz]

I tend to do DM "action" posts twice a week, Sunday and Wednesday night. That let's the players know the pace up front, and they know how long they have to respond, as well. I will respond to questions faster.

In my last game I gave the players die roll modifiers for longer, story based posts. Sometimes they take the game where I didn't plan for, but when they do it in a good story it makes it fun for me as well.

Often, the more you know about the players (and the DM), the more you can utilize their real world skills and input. In one game a player could do warp speed travel times much better than I, so I let them help me figure out how to make the story work.

The biggest thing, to me, is being up front about how you want to play, and run. For example, I won't do "dark and gritty"; I've seen enough of that in real life. Some folks like it, though, and will gravitate to those games. We have enough games and players to satisfy most styles.

[hedgeknight]

Any tips for running dungeons specifically in play by post? Any particular active games worth looking at as doing it well?

Spearmint's advice is spot on and I need to take his advice in my own game, of which he is a player!
As for your second question, check out Inferno's games, specifically The Lost City of Eternity game. Inferno is a master of description and uses visuals better than any DM I've ever played under.

[rredmond]

Great info here, someone should sticky this thing!

oh wait...