The Unseen Servant forums

I’ve been toying with running a published mega dungeon for a long while. I’ve DM’d these in past years but nothing since before COVID. I know PbP is a different beast. I know it’ll most likely fail, but it won’t stop this stubborn ol’ mule from trying. What I’m asking the more August, learned elders here on US is sagely advice on what makes a PbP game blessed by longevity?

Throw it out here…

You could ask Spearmint who is the GM of the Barrowmaze (1st ed D&D) mega-dungeon and open world sandbox game. It is almost three years running on site.

I think BaltoBruiser was considering running another mega-dungeon following the Ardun Vul campaign but that has yet to start.

what makes a PbP game blessed by longevity?

my thoughts.

Commitment from the GM and the players.
Investment in the game with creative and challenging scenarios and encounters, opportunities to excell in character class roleplay, epic victories or heroic failures that are 'edge of your seat' balanced against fates of dice rolls and good skill choices, being able to influence the game and world as a player, a good and well paced campaign that copes with daily posts and absences, players who work well in a team environment and chill together.

In my humble experience, the only real barometer of a long-running pbp is the players.

Get a core group who are devoted and interested and involved, and you are golden.

Get a bad apple, and the game will fall apart. I have been part of ...five*?...fairly long-running groups that suddenly had people dropping out after a player "acted up."

* I think it was only four...one game ended just as it was starting because a player started lambasting others in the OOC thread. Oddest experience ever!

I would suggest considering opportunities to reduce the round trip times between player action and DM response, especially when considering a mega-dungeon. A simple closed door, for example. A thief could listen for noises, pick a lock, and attempt to find traps or remove traps. Handled separately, with a day between post and reply, could easily be a week for just one door. Multiply by the number of doors in a mega-dungeon ...

Combat procedures and rest intervals with associated activities are also prime examples. Every PbP DM have their own methods and madness, so it's best to find the approaches for your DM style.

We have several long running games on here all by some great DMs. I think Stirling pretty much summed it up and Quonundrum has some great ideas.