Advice for running a PbP?

[Havard]

Thinking about setting up a game. What is some advice for running a successful PbP game?

-Havard

[Havard]

Noone noticed this in the Bard's Bench, so I moved it here

-Havard

[Dave L]

Make sure everyone knows the posting rate you would like to achieve before they sign up.

Similar to this is: make sure one character who can post 5 times a day doesn't monopolise the story thread, when you've only asked for 2 posts a week.

And again: don't burn yourself out as DM by starting off with a high rate of posting you can't keep up over the long term.

Define what sort of a game it is, right from the start. Are you looking for deep character development, or is this a 'Hack and slash, who cares about plot?', sort of game?

Make sure you don't get any rules lawyers as players.

Here's a good one: If the party thief openly posts that he pockets items of jewellery and possible magic items before passing the contents of the chest to the rest of the group - expect the party mage to find an excuse to turn the little punk into a frog. Yes, I was that mage and no, I have not yet taken my revenge in character. But does that sort of thing fester like a gangrenous wound? Oh yes.

If you let the players communicate with each other by email, insist you get copied in. Then when a player leaves because of a mortal personal insult, you'll know about it before it tears the group apart.

Oh yes - and let us know what the setting is, I might want to sign up! 8)

[Rafael]

Go lifting, shave your head, put some nerdy glasses on, and get the tattoo of a Final Fantasy character on your thigh.

In other words, try to be me.

(In case anybody wonders, of course I have long tutored my world's favorite viking behind the scenes.)


HERE WAS A FUNNY GIF THAT IS NOW MISSING THAT WOULD HAVE MADE THIS POST LESS OF THE RAMBLINGS OF A SOCIOPATH
AND MORE LIKE THE FRIENDLY JOKE AMONG FRIENDS THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.

*Sigh.*

PHOTOBUCKET WAS A PEST



I for my part really think there is only one rule, for a PBP campaign, as for any other kind of game:

Make your players care.

[Sauna]

The biggest piece of advice is something that goes strongly against my usual gaming and posting philosophy - stay sober. I can tell from experience that the DM post that seemed like the bestest of ideas at 0337 on saturday night, really doesn't work in the deep character moment the game was at. Face to face gaming under the influence works, posting under the influence works, but mixing them two...

Surprised player: "A garlic bread golem?!"

[Yaztromo]

I think that the only real trick to learn is to have the "right" players in the game.
The "right" players for you and for each other.
Very difficult.

[Rafael]

Go lifting, shave your head, put some nerdy glasses on, and get the tattoo of a Final Fantasy character on your thigh.

Hahaha. Aaaaaaaaaah. I just KNEW I would have commented on this one. And, definitely, Old Rafe would give the same advice as Young Rafe. MOST definitely. :mrgreen:

...In any case, the "shave your head" will kindaaa start taking care of itself, with time. :x

[Hollis]

I currently play PbP on Discord that is set in Blackmoor. What I like is that it is a literary server, meaning those interested in writing tend to be attracted. Now actual gameplay does not require a 'wall of text' for each post, but the post should be thought out and in alignment with the character. In order to join every person does a "RP Submission" from a prompt to see if they can make a cogent sentence in English, then when enough newbs are on the server a 'prologue' is done to see if they fit and can manage.

What I don't like is that we don't have any sort of mandatory 'check' in requirement meaning I believe that a minimal post of every day or 48 hours should be spelled out even if its only in Out Of Character (OOC) chat just to show the player is checking and not blowing the game off.

The other thing I would say is have a good grounding of lore for the players to know (common knowledge) so there isn't a 'what is a Cumanasti?' question like I had and went web surfing to figure that out.

[RobJN]

There is nothing like a "What Everybody Knows About the Empire" post to generate interest.

[Yaztromo]

What is working for the PbP games that I'm currently running is breaking the flow of the campaign in various bits (adventures) that can be started and completed fairly quickly (weeks or months), rather than a very long and uninterrupted story.
This way the characters can change without forcing the narrative between one adventure and the other and the players are happy to take the commitment to finish whatever adventure they start. The team of characters this way can have a fair level of turnover without breaking the overall story and its flow.