As I only get to play my 4e game with my cousins about once a month, I was thinking about doing a play by post game with them, however I've never done a Dungeons and Dragons game by post before. Have any of you ever run games like that? What is it like? Do you have or know of a good example for me to look at?
Thanks!
I presume you've been to ENWorld, correct? They have an extensive play-by-post system there. I've read through a campaign or two on their boards, and it makes for surprisingly interesting reading at times!
ReplyDeleteAnother alternative is an online game using something like Skype combined with MapTool. This is what I've been doing in my own game for months, and it's a lot of fun. For a game with people you know who are far away, I highly recommend it. I'm happy to give advice on getting a game going online if you're interested.
You might also check out rpol.net -- I run three pbp games there, one D&D 3.5, one Spirit of the Century, and one Lady Blackbird.
ReplyDeleteI also run some solo side-quests for players in my real-life 3.5 campaign, which is currently on hiatus (our group rotates GMs on a regular basis). Some run by email, which is easiest for one-on-one, some by sequential edits to wiki pages on Obsidian Portal, which is feasible for multiple players.
I greatly enjoy it, but it does have one serious drawback: combat can drag on endlessly. This works best for combat light, or when joined with "real time" play (either in person or chat or something similar) to resolve combat encounters.
I used to run a website called heldensage (heroic stories in German) that I used for play by post games as well as face to face games. There were several pbp games on there including some that I ran and some that friends of mine ran. I agree with Bevin though that they can bog down if people are not quick on doing their actions.
ReplyDeleteWe did a good amount of roleplaying via alternate threads and used the main thread to do the majority of the frontline action. I recommend breaking the game up into different threads as the game progresses, this gives the players a place to go for the specific area that you are running. For instance, say Jacky the theif and Maryan the Mage are checking out Lahken's Library of Goodness but Brav the fighter and his friend Gunor the Dwarf Barbarian want to check out the hallway break it up into two posts and run them seperately.
On thing I really LOVE about pbp is that it all but eliminates suggestions from characters that are no where near the group you are gming. So no more "I'd check it for traps first" from Brav to the pair in the Libary.
If you want more or specifics feel free to email me. We can discuss. I've also written on ezines and gm help sites for this sort of thing.
@Onlinedm~ Actually I don't get to enworld very often. The thought behind this is that we don't always have matching schedules, so if we could just do it in e-mail or forum post format schedules wouldn't matter too much.
ReplyDelete@Bevin~ I'll check out rpol.net and Obsidian Portal. I've heard good things about OP.
@ACG~ Players not near the action giving suggestions rarely bothered me, but that's definitely something to keep in mind.