RE: Play by Post?
Posted by: joerevesz <joerevesz@...>
Jason,
We had a play-by-email DR game going back in 1997.
I was along for the ride on both of the e-raids that were tried, so this is not second-
hand info.
We had six people playing, the AM and an assistant AM. Everything seemed okay,
until the AM started slowing down with his responses, then stopped, then soon
dropped off the DragonRaid list. We got out of the Hollow Tree and had one short
fight with goblins, and it ended.
What was the problem? I really don't know. The text maps lacked a bit, since
sending them by email sometimes shifted the characters and messed them up. The
writing was creative, and the AM seemed to respond to all comments and questions.
Another adventure that was started had fewer players (4), one
AM, and a pretty good start. The AM based it on a new city, and a short adventure he
had run a few times before. He was also a good writer, maybe too good. I believe
that he put too much detail (energy) into the one fight that we got into. Again, as soon
as we left the Hollow Tree, we had to save a couple of people from a band of orcs.
One player was not responding soon after we started, and the AM ended up moving
to a new house. He has not gotten back on the list yet.
Some things to consider if someone wants to try running an email adventure:
1) Start small, with a short adventure. Consider having only two players to begin with
so that you can get a feel for how to run games in this way before gathering a larger
group. Having a short adventure will keep the end in sight so that you (and the
players) would be more apt to persevere. Also, an email adventure will take a lot
longer to complete than the same one done in person.
2) Do not write the adventure as you go, have everything planned out beforehand.
Have time, character, and battle record sheets ready and updated. Sure, you will
have to do some ad-libing, but if you keep it to a minimum, you will no be rushed to
get results out to the players.
3) Go slowly at the beginning. Plan on sending out one update a week, and expect to
receive player responses once a week. Trying for an hourly or daily update/response
cycle may be too much for you to handle if you have a real life away from the
computer.
4) Set a deadline (day and time) for the players to have their responses sent in to you.
If they are late, they have to understand that you will make necessary discisions for
their characters.
5) Set a day for your adventure update and responses to the players. If you send out
the update on Monday morning, have the players answer by Thursday.
6) You will have to have the players send you all of their stats, unless you want to give
them pre-made characters. Have the players introduce their characters to each
other, make them do some of your work. You will have to do all dice rolls, damage,
etc., so spread around what you can.
7) There is no way to check that people are not cheating with WordRunes, so just
trust that they are not copying them right out of the book as they type.
8) Instead of sending attachments to everyone, you could post nice maps,
illustrations, and other info items at a free website. Some people do not have email
systems that can handle attachments. One picture is worth a lot of words, and
sometimes takes less time to scribble out. This may be the best way to handle
movement in a battle situation.
9) Expect that the players will contact each other privately (especially if I would play)
and will come up with good plans to tackle your adventure. They have a lot of time,
and it is part of the fun anyway.
Joe
From: dragonraid@welovegod.org [mailto:dragonraid@welovegod.org] On Behalf Of Jason Scannell
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 8:46 AM
To: dragonraid@welovegod.org
Subject: [DragonRaid] Play by Post?
Hello Friends-
I was wondering is anyone had experience in Play by Post, and if so could we get a game going?
If this sounds new to you, here are the basics. It is played via forum, usually a sub-board is made for a particular campaign. The Game Master sets the scene, and everyone has characters generated. Once the GM posts a scenario, the party members make their posts. This is where the "role play" can take a written, rather than verbal avenue. Encounters and extended combat are "truncated" for sake of keeping the length of game play to a minimum. It is a fun alternative to face to face play when you don't have a group to play with.
I still haven't played DR yet, so I wouldn't be looking at running a game. I am hoping an experienced GM will want to lead us off, and I can be in on that game. (Good news though, one of the list members is only two hours away from me, so I hope to have a live game happen some time soon!)
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