Questions from A GM/DM.

[wynteriii]

The subject says it all so here are the 2 questions:

1. What hints,tips and guides to Play-by-Post could you give me? I'm starting my own but it doesn't hurt to keep educating myself.

2. This question is just for fun, What type of graph paper do you use?

Here is the basic fantasy 2.0 game I'm GMing

http://www.myth-weavers.com/game.php?g=11288

[JoeCarr28]

A few suggestions from my experience with the Marketstone game:

1. Post often in order to keep the momentum of the game going.

2. The game will almost certainly progress far more slowly than you originally expect .

3. Keep the dungeons relatively small ... it would take you an age to complete a classic "B" module dungeon for example.

4. Break the game down into manageable chunks as separate topics in the forum. It aids a sense of progress and makes referencing easier.

5. You'll probably find you need to do something to boost the rate of xp accumulation, again to give your players a better sense of progression.

6. Expect, and plan for, a turnover of players, and don't be offended when they just disappear! I think I've had 5 people leave the Marketstone game, and only 1 of those actually let me know they were leaving.

[Metroknight]

5. You'll probably find you need to do something to boost the rate of xp accumulation, again to give your players a better sense of progression.

To give a good sense of progression you will want to give xp for the posts for this is what you would award for roleplaying in live games. Some people do so much xp per post or a set amount per word count. In the various pbp games I ran, I set a base amount per section and then awarded extra xp to those that posted alot more or in more detail. I've also did the xp per word count also.

I agree also with the breaking it up into smaller sections. This allows you to tailor the story progress.

[Hywaywolf]

I like how JoeCarr keeps an update of HP, time, etc, at the bottom of all his GM posts in the game threads.

[Solomoriah]

... and you hate how I don't. S'awright, I'm just lazy. I expect my players to keep track of these things... you only have to worry when I DON'T tell you what happened.

[dymondy2k]

I smell TPK!

[Hywaywolf]

LOL, no I don't hate it. I just think of it as a bonus in Joe's game. I know I should keep my own character sheet up to date, but I like not having to go open up all the character sheet pages to see how the entire party is doing. In real life I would never forget seeing them bleeding around me all the time, but in a PBP you lose track.