Looking to join more Pathfinder PbP games


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Well, I've joined two games now (one just gone active, one hopefully about to start and a third one I've applied for, waiting for the ST to make his choice on who participates).

The problem is ... I want more. There are so many Pathfinder classes I want to try, it's mind-boggling to have to choose and since I'm only in one active P&P Pathfinder game, well, I can't try that many different characters there unless I get into the habit of dying every other session, which I (understandably) don't really want to.

As for myself, I prefer games that aren't just hack and slay, ideally those that also incorporate an intricate story and social interactions both amongst the group and with the world. I also like games in which people use proper English.

I, myself, am Austrian. English isn't my native tongue, but I'm rather peculiar about its proper use and thus don't really like the 'emboldened speech' method, strongly preferring prose-style writing.

I'd really like to try a couple of classes -- the Magus, a Zen Archer Monk, a Rogue (ideally in a sword&dagger or socio-political game -- I've been wanting to try the Master Spy Prestige Class ever since reading it), an Arcane Duelist or Archivist Bard, a Druid or possibly an Urban Ranger. I wouldn't mind giving the Alchemist, Inquisitor, Oracle or Summoner a try, either. Hell, I'd be willing to give almost every Pathfinder class a spin, they're all just so nifty.


Oh, I neglected to mention something rather important:

I enjoy playing evil characters, though it is by no means a requirement for me to be interested or involved in a campaign. Evil as in intelligently evil, not some caricature of a being, and I do believe that I can play certain types of evil characters and get along perfectly well (well, maybe not perfectly, as without some small conflicts of interest arising one may as well just play a good alignment) with a largely good group.

Something I would find delightful, for example, is a Drow-centric campaign set in the Underdark.


I am toying around with the idea of a piratey, aquatic-themed campaign, but I still don't know if it will be good, evil, or simply nuetral in most senses. I find all the alignments for a swashbuckler campaign a little attractive. Probably set in and around Riddleport, but I'll have to wait until I get home from vacation before making a final decision.

I've also never DM'd a PbP before and never successfully DM'd a homebrew (which is what I would want to do, I think).


That sounds pretty interesting, my monocled friend. And if it's piratey it often allows for a pretty wide-spread range of alignments ranging from everything between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Evil potentially working together. Though depending on how many Evil people are around and what type of persons they are Chaotic Good may not be around for long. Whether due to alignment shift, or a strange and horrible accident involving five knives and an axe.


I've always been curious about PbP games. I've done tabletop for quite some time, had a 6 month fling with MMOs, and on and off with some java chat based multiplayer games. But I never understood how PbPs work. I think my new year resolution should be to find someone's game and just lurk-stalk it. Just watch and see how it is it works, how tactics and dice rolling also function.


I'm interested in PbP too -- I've done tabletop for years, LARP, RP with Echo Bazaar in twitter and wordpress blogs (basically PBP) but without any rolls or GM. Right now I'm taking a look at several threads that are running to get a sense of how this messageboard works, but I'd be interested in a Pathfinder-rules based PBP. (I'm not terribly familiar with the Pathfinder world, since I play in homebrew worlds with Pathfinder rules and gods.)

I'm a player that is focused on character, doesn't mind conflict or hard choices, and pays attention to detail and background. I love a good story, and I'm not afraid to get into the thick of it.


Irondawn wrote:
I'm a player that is focused on character, doesn't mind conflict or hard choices, and pays attention to detail and background. I love a good story, and I'm not afraid to get into the thick of it.

I like you already.

Dragonshade wrote:
I've always been curious about PbP games. I've done tabletop for quite some time, had a 6 month fling with MMOs, and on and off with some java chat based multiplayer games. But I never understood how PbPs work. I think my new year resolution should be to find someone's game and just lurk-stalk it. Just watch and see how it is it works, how tactics and dice rolling also function.

I admittedly haven't done any combat on this particular board yet, but it functions much like any roleplaying combat without a grid (unless an online grid system is used for that particular game, of course) -- you effectively go about tactics and movement in a roleplaying sense, with the GM possibly using a sketched map to keep track of who is where and such, but that makes distances somewhat unclear at times, which may be relevant to certain tactics. (I can say 'I take a 5foot step back in order not to draw an Attack of Opportunity and cast my spell', but 'I charge him at full speed!' might be a little problematic if there is no clear distance to refer to -- after all, in a grid-game you might not reach the enemy in time. That can be pretty relevant to an Archer on their first turn when there hasn't been any movement from both sides yet).

But those problems are largely superfluous or can be handwaved, if the ST is flexible. ('So that guy only has 20ft movement, he doesn't reach you on the first turn.' 'As you are standing with the group and not at a distance, he reaches you with his regular movement action just like the others.')

The main difference, though, is that it lends itself so much more to a good narrative -- you have time to think about your character's actions, how he or she would react, etc. That, and, well, prose-format. Always awesome. Some people just use bold text to mark dialogue as speech and maybe add a couple of short sentences to describe their actions, but the real strength of online gaming -- or rather written gaming in general -- lies in the writing itself, as far as I'm concerned. Writing style, narrative style, etc. can make or break an online game.


That doesn't sound too shabby. I love the idea of it being prose-heavy. For a while, I'll continue lurking and reading up on other people's PbP games to see how it all works in practice. Especially little bits like when a combat does come up or how dice rolling is determined, etc.

From what I've seen so far, looks pretty good.


Von Doom wrote:
....The main difference, though, is that it lends itself so much more to a good narrative -- you have time to think about your character's actions, how he or she would react, etc. That, and, well, prose-format. Always awesome. Some...

Oh, thank you for describing how combat appears to work--I was wondering the same thing. Seems all three of us have similar preference for narrative and storytelling.


Also brand new to PbP games; I just dove in and started playing in a game recently and I'm really enjoying it so far. The way the combat is being run there (which I think is pretty ideal) is that a battle map is posted and initiative is rolled and then the players are given the chance to post what their character is doing that round of combat and makes any necessary rolls and the GM puts together a post integrating all of the characters' actions into a narrative of the events of that round and posts an updated battle map with the status of the enemy combatants. I think it makes for a good blend of narrative and tactics which I would say are the two most important aspects of roleplaying combat.


I was pondering about DMing a third PBP, actually a rather open aligned one, either set in the Darklands or Irissen, but I doubt VonDoom likes my Style -_-


Err. Sorry 'bout that, Zyren -- I left your game because I thought I would be too busy, then about a week later I realized that most of these PbP games here move really slow and that being in multiple wouldn't be a problem.

Though you are right, of course. I'm afraid I like a more verbose style of play; just a matter of taste, really. Like how there are people who play D&D primarily for the tactics and strategy on the grid, which I find usually makes me stifle yawns after awhile.


Well I'm a pretty big fan of tactics and strategy and grids so I'm definitely interested if you do start up another game :)


Oh, that was just an example. I don't know how strategic Zyren's games are.

And perhaps I phrased my earlier statement somewhat badly: I like strategy and tactics, it's just when combat consists solely of that, dragging on for ages with no juicy descriptions and dramatic turns to speak of. My first pen&paper D&D group was like that.


I'll certainly have to pay closer attention to these boards for when games of this nature start up. It'd be really fun to give a try as a first time.


Every player and DM is different in what they want from a game. Personally, I prefer a fast-paced combat heavy game with a lot of descriptive action. I'm not into role-playing for days (or weeks) at a time. I tend to run my games the same way, but allow players to interact as much as possible...while they dodging arrows and fireballs. :)


Hmm. I guess I scared off most of the prospective GMs with my preferences! :(

Though I suppose if nothing else comes along I might as well try and start my own game. I talked big about the Underdark earlier, but to be honest, my actual knowledge of its layout and topography is extremely limited. I'd have to read up on a lot of setting stuff before I could even consider running any game.


I'd be interested - I mean, if you can bear my presence :-)

Depending on your setting-(Golarion I guess?) I'd recommend reading "The Darklands" or the "Second Darkness" AP. But since you mentioned you were quite familiar with the FR, I think you can imagine a believable drow environment without too much effort.


Von Doom wrote:
layout and topography

In the Underdark, they call it bottomography.

I'd actually be pretty game for playing in a Second Darkness game. I've heard it's one of the weaker APs, but it sounds fun to me.


Von Doom (and any other interested parties), if you don't mind somewhat slow pbem games, I've just started a Rise of the Runelords game on Yahoo Groups, and I'm looking to replace a player whom the slow start (due to problems some players had logging into Yahoo) didn't sit well with. We've also had a break over the holidays as my laptop was being repaired.

If you're interested, the group is called rotrdk, and the archives are open if you'd like to check them. The characters are Core classes and non-evil alignments only, and our group includes two newbies to pbem gaming, just so you're aware. If there's anything else you'd like to know, please do ask.

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