Play By Post Findings

[CrusaderAD]

Greetings Travellers! I was curious what the community thinks about the Play By Post format. I have played a bit on a discord server, but after a few weeks and browsing through the PBP topics here, it's quite obvious it's not a very good format. After all the work of wrangling players, developing characters with stories and building / coordinating the whole thing... it seems to just fizzle out.The desire is there, but people don't seem to have the staying power and enthusiasm they did when they started. Are there any similar formats out there that solve these issues? Curious to read your thoughts. Thanks!

[Metroknight]

Some PbP last, some do not.

I'm the host of a text based community on Roll20 and we suffer from that problem also. I think it is just the speed or lack of speed that is the downfall of the games. When I run text games on Roll20, I usually have a live session every other week but players are encouraged to post between sessions to keep the game going.

[chiisu81]

It's really difficult. I barely have the time to run or play in a face-to-face game, same for a something like Skype, Discord, etc. A play-by-post should be perfect for me, but I've been in a few that fizzled out pretty quick, and at least in one of them I was partially at fault for that. It is hard to keep interest and usually always waiting on at least one person who doesn't check in daily or more. I don't know what the best setup/system is, perhaps a play-by-post with friends or coworkers or such, so that it's people you do still see in person at least somewhat often that you can nag each other to keep up, go over what's working and what's not, etc.

[Metroknight]

I've been thinking about setting up one using discord instead of Roll20.

[CrusaderAD]

I would be down for one in discord, so keep me in mind, but I agree... I think you need like minded individuals who are willing to post regularly and maintain appearances. I wish pbp worked as well as it seemed it would.

[orobouros]

There's a PbP board here, too, or was the last time I checked. It's certainly an option. It's also very very difficult to keep people engaged. There's a few alterations I'd do to make things run smoother.

One, every "day" is one round. If you don't post, you don't get an action, and the GM will handle your saving throws for you the next day if you don't respond. It's hash, but the game needs to keep moving or there's simply no game. "Day" here is in quotes because it could be any schedule. Maybe you only "play" on weekdays, so the whole weekend and monday counts as one day. But there's a limited timeframe in which to act, and then it's over. Also, all players would declare their actions (out of order) and the gm would execute them in initiative order. This will require a bit of changes if say, the target moves or dies or such. In a live game you can change your mind, but maybe your target is just dead and you have to do nothing that round. It applies to both sides.

Have an agreed upon time to try to be online at the same time, once a week or so. Yes, it's play by post, but you could try to move the game a few rounds ahead quickly that way. If everybody agrees to try to be on, or at least keeping an eye on the game, for three hours on Thursdays, you'll probably get 4 or five "days" in quickly.

Players would need to explain their "approach" so that the GM or other designated player can act as a proxy. Does the cowardly thief halfling usually want to hide in the bushes while the troops pass? Well, assume that's what the player would have done if they can't respond promptly. This requires a lot of trust, but again, you have to keep the game moving.

GM may just proxy the actions by the players. "Xargar the fighter will just keep attacking the nearest kobold until they all die or retreat." Well, that could take nine rounds, but there's no point in waiting a day for somebody to just say, "Yeah, I move and attack the next target. Here's my roll." The GM needs to play monsters in a similar way.

Alternately, require players to post within some time window that corresponds to initiative order. That is, the fighter needs to post between 5 and 6, the cleric between 6 and 7, and the thief between 7 and 8. The GM plays the monsters between 8 and 9.

The GM may allow certain character focuses over time. Other players' characters can be assumed to be inactive for certain events. The wise cleric is probably going to just eat berries or something while the fighter has a back and forth conversation with the smuggler he's challenged to a arm wrestle. Players have to understand that the fewer players are involved in a scene, the faster it will go.

So there's probably a lot of ways to do it, but it's by nature going to be very different from an in-person game.

[MastaOcto7]

I've been in two PbP games in the past. One was an AD&D 1e campaign and the other was 2e. Both ended up dying out. The 1e game lasted the longest, about 2-1/2 years with some dry spells occasionally, but I had joined in its last year. The other only lasted about 9 months.

I owe the success of the 1e game to a DM who actively set aside time every day to moderate the game (some times having to put the game on hold for real life issues), players who cared about the game and dutifully posted their responses, and using social media to facilitate the game (it was in a closed Facebook group). The 2e game suffered from a DM who had too much stuff to deal with IRL and he couldn't post as often as was needed. He gave a good effort, but it just didn't work out.

I'd say, if you want a PbP game to go smoothly, firstly: get players who care. Players who actually *want* to play will do whatever they need to keep things rolling. Secondly, choose a platform that's simple and easy to get to. Facebook is good because you can do things from your phone, anywhere. Discord is good too for the same reason. Thirdly, get people in the game fast. The down time of character creation and story creation is a poison. You lose your attachment to the game. And lastly, have everyone dump their actions, with their dice rolls, and put them into initiative order yourself. Then post the results in one reply. I like what the above user (orobourus) said about posting every "day". It seemed to work well for the two groups I was in.