Play by Post. How does it Work?

[Kazarath]

I know I've been posting a lot of threads recently, but for various reasons I haven't been getting out much lately. Which brings me to my question.

Play by post, how does it work? I'm just wondering what mechanics are involved, is it played mostly on forums? Is it possible to Skype or something like that? I've never been involved in something like that, I just want to know more about it so I can formulate an opinion.

[Iced2k]

It's done via mail. It costs alot in stamps, and combat can take a while sometimes, but it still works.

It's how they used to play Dungeons and Dragons before the internet and telephones.

[Talon Moonwalker]

Different DM's will use different styles of play. Most of the games will be mainly hosted on this forum, if advertised here. Usually you are asked to post at least once a day, although this is pretty variable, with some games being much much faster than this, and some occasionally slower. Combat tends to slow the games down usually, hence why tools or software applications such as maptools are often used, but again this is down to individual DM's. Possibly the best way to find out how they work is to find one that catches your eye and then follow it through from beginning to end. It will give you a pretty good idea of how they work

[doctor_wu]

Usually played slowly on forums and is slow. Combat is slow and each person usually posts their actions. It is usually the same as pathfinder but with slower things and less caring about inititive as then the game gets glacially slow.

[Terquem]

It really depends on the "kind" of game you want to emulate. I am running a sort of "story telling" style of Pathfinder game in the general forums where I post a long text, part of a story, and ask anyone who might visit the forum to select from two options for the next part of the story. It is very reduced, in terms of player interaction, but it is another kind of game.

Some forums can manage very intense player interaction PbP style games, there is a great deal of variation.

[Laithoron]

Not sure if Iced's reply was a non-sequitur, an attempt at humor, or if he thought you were talking about play-by-mail. By play-by-post though, I'll assume post means to the messageboards and not your country's postal service.

Anyway, if you haven't already seen it, check out this thread, it covers a lot of questions such as this.

Synopsis:
Basically PbP works by having a group of players and a GM conducting the game over the internet by way of a messageboard such as this one. Die rolls can be added to posts by using the [ dice ] tag, and you can use the [ ooc ] tag to mark portions of a post as out-of-character. Information that is player-specific or requires a skill check or requires you to speak a certain language is often placed within a [ spoiler ] tag.

Realtime or Turn-Based?
PbPs are not conducted in realtime. While groups may make use of Skype, AIM, GTalk, etc. to discuss things in private, all of the actual gameplay takes place on the messageboards. Therefore, the GM will need to develop skills and precedents for handling differences in the players' posting schedules. It is also necessary that the GMs communicate their expectations to the players and vice-versa.

Maps:
In terms of combat and exploration, maps will generally be uploaded to the internet. Wikis, Dropbox, Flickr, Google Sites... many groups make use of such tools to share maps. In theory, you could probably use a VTT (Virtual Table Top), but since the game will not be taking place live that's rather unlikely and possibly overkill/undesirable.

Note that the GameMastery Maps Subscription now includes PDF copies of the various Flip-Mats and Map Packs. These can comes in VERY handy when making new maps for your game.
Example Map

Metagaming:
Because anyone can look inside of any spoiler to see die rolls or private information for specific characters, it's necessary to establish and understanding of how players should treat spoilers. Some GMs expressly forbid reading them if they aren't meant for you, although there's really no way to enforce this. Some GMs even avoid the use of spoilers for this reason and will email players or contact them via chat or text message to avoid problems.

I myself fully expect players will read every spoiler if only so as to be able to enjoy the full story. Therefore, the understanding I have with my group is that spoilered information cannot be acted upon by your character unless your character qualifies for it (i.e. understands the language, made their perception or sense motive check, etc). This requires that the GM trusts their players to be mature about such matters, but that might very well be considered a fundmental requirement for even wanting a player in your group anyway. ;)

Roleplaying Conventions:
One benefit that PbPs have over live games (whether face-to-face or live Internet games) is that the players and GM have much more time to consider their responses. Unlike in your local game where talking in character might seem goofy, and the style might be kick-in-the-door, many PbPs are heavy on the roleplaying with all parties speaking in character.

In most of the games I have seen, dialog is [ bold ], internal monologue is [ italicized ], shouting is in CAPS or [ bigger ], and whispering uses the [ smaller ] tag.
Example Conventions

Expectations:
If you've ever had a local game where you ran into personality conflicts because you and a friend like different things in a game, know that in a PbP the potential for this also exists. In fact, it can be MUCH more dramatic than you might expect because the players come from circles completely removed from your own. While it's impossible to list everything, try to be as transparent and open as possible about what the game entails and what you want from it. Likewise, encourage your players to reveal the same.

This means you'll want to disclose any houserules you have, your policy on handling new situations requiring GM adjudication, if any NPCs or GMPCs will be joining the group, if there will be tons of combat or if it's a political/intrigue game, etc. Mind you, this is likely to be an iterative list that will be refined and evolve over time. It's impossible (and probably undesirable) to list everything, so just do your best to list the big things. Also, keep it up-to-date with issues that have come up in your own game — that will help when players leave and new players join.
Example Expectations

Workload:
Running a PBP can be a LOT more work than running a local game. At the very least, it will likely require a GM to learn new time-management, player-management, and story-telling methods, as well as learning the technological tools that will be employed. One thing that will help you to avoid burn-out will be to learn tools that will make your life easier and eliminate lots of repetitive typing. There are some links in my profile to a few such tools for every major operating system in use right now. I'd advise you to pick one and learn. That way you can concentrate more on storytelling and less on typing forum codes, die rolls, and initiative orders. ;)

Communication:
In my experience, something that is vital to a PbP is for the players and GM to be in friendly contact outside of the game thread. With local games, you hang out at each others' houses, visit the same game store, or just engage in conversation about other interests while waiting for players to arrive or during breaks. To keep a PbP healthy, IMO you really need to keep the channels for casual communication alive. After all, what separates tabletop RPGs from computer games the MOST is the social aspect of interacting with your friends. If you take that away, you reduce the experience to that of client-server computer paradigm.

There's probably a lot more I could say, but that's hopefully enough for an overview without being too much.

[DM Barcas]

PBP is my favored method, simply because of the heavy emphasis on roleplaying. Take a look at my Kingmaker games for an example of great storytelling by the group. (New Beginnings is Chapter 1, Interregnum is Chapter 1.5. We are starting Chapter 2 very soon.)