What do people think of this:
For random encounters and non-bossy type encounters, play out the combat until it is decisively in the PC's favor, then end the combat with a description of the battle's final moments. Don't do it every time, and always give the PC's a chance (don't cut it short saying that they all die if it's not going well for them).
PROS:
Saves time cleaning up the scraps of combat.
Allows for a bit more flavor (or maybe the same depending on your group).
More time for story.
CONS:
Some players cherish combat, so will feel like they're missing out or shorted.
Could cause confusion if done abruptly and without detail.
I'm sure there are others and many things that people could go either way on. For example, some people might like that they have to do fewer dice rolls and math, whereas others want to do the maths.
Keep in mind I haven't played much PbP, but so far I'm having a great time with it. So I might be completely in left field here.
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Not much. If the combat is decisively over and you want to move on, fudge the dice rolls instead. But I wouldn't really recommend that either as a usual thing. Instead, I'd avoid random and less-meaningful encounters in a PbP entirely, given it takes a long time to play out. Instead, try to make every combat different and exciting, or at least worthwhile. My combats generally tend to be big set pieces, since offing a passing orc isn't really much fun, with maybe only one or two a day (there are exceptions). I never do random encounters. Clearly my approach doesn't work so well in a sandbox-type game (I've tried and it didn't go so well) but otherwise I've rarely felt the urge to cut short a combat.
I find that the PbP medium allows you to do a bit more description as well. Every round is detailed out in my games, its not a "you did three HPs damage to the orc" it's rather "Artun's broadsword slashes the orc's shoulder, a mist of green blood dappling its mirror surface."
Has anyone been considering running a PbP using the Tavern Tales system?
I'd be really interested in playing, though I don't know that I'm up for running one. Maybe I would if there were enough other people who wanted to play and all of whom adamantly refused to GM!
Edit: woops! definitely copied the link from the wrong tab; fixed now!
Oops! It should be fixed now!
This is really apropos of nothing, but I dropped off the boards - I dunno - over a year ago I reckon. I was not in a great place mentally at the time and lost pretty much all motivation to post (or do a lot of other things for that matter).
But I'm much, much better now!
And if anybody who was in a game with me, as PC or GM, is reading this, I'm sorry for disappearing like I did.
Just wanted to get that off my chest. :)
welcome back zack, glad you're better!! I'm sure everyone will understand. Play by post always has to take a backseat to real life, even the most trivial of stuff. When serious stuff comes up (like being in a bad place mentally) then the game definitely needs to take a back seat. That said, I hope that you'd consider some of your fellow gamers as friends enough to get stuff off your chest to! I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I would gladly drop everything to chat to someone who needs help! (#NG4lyfe)
Quick question: had a player drop out of a PbP, he wants to be removed from the character list, or whatever needs to happen so that he doesn't get updates anymore. Any clues?
Thanks in advance for any help...
Go to your campaign info tab, hit edit this campaign, scroll down to the lists of active players and characters and mark off that player as inactive. This will make it so your game no longer comes up on his campaign page. It's just a small piece of bookkeeping that really matters to some players. With a rotating cast over a long period of time, I've gotten this request a few times now. If a player has posted to your game with multiple similar aliases this might require a rinse and repeat...that's only happened once and I was totally mystified why it wasn't working until we discovered that one last alias I missed. :)
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Hey, Guys:
Would you be so kind as to fill out the following survey:
Doing so will help us provide you with the best PbP experience that we can, as well as help us make PbP events the best they can be as we go forward.
Submissions are anonymous so please be as open and honest as possible in your responses.
We will take responses over the next few weeks, but the earlier you reply the better. And the more people we can get to respond the better picture we can get of the PbP community.
(Even if you do not play PFS you can still give input on tools and such.)
Look forward to your input. :)
Thanks a bunch!
- Jesse [IronHelixx]
PFS VC, Online Play
I did a couple of searches and didnt find an answer / question already posted: I want to run a private game (already lined up my players, characters are being created and fleshed out) here. How does one set that up?
To run a private game just put "Private Game" or "Invite Only" in the thread title.
Folks will take the hint that they need to be invited to post in it, and generally won't enter the thread and read it
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Also (this is a pet peeve of mine) if you already have your players lined up, you don't need a recruitment thread. The purpose of the recruitment thread is to recruit players. Just open up a discussion thread and start talking; you can link a gameplay thread when you're ready to begin play. It's pointless to put "PRIVATE" or "INVITE ONLY" in a recruitment thread: You're not actually recruiting.
Also (this is a pet peeve of mine) if you already have your players lined up, you don't need a recruitment thread. The purpose of the recruitment thread is to recruit players. Just open up a discussion thread and start talking; you can link a gameplay thread when you're ready to begin play. It's pointless to put "PRIVATE" or "INVITE ONLY" in a recruitment thread: You're not actually recruiting.
This seems like a plan! Now to learn how to use the forums before my players are done with their characters. as always, I got a pile of numbers without a shred of explanation last night. I suspect the interview process will be difficult.
How does recruitment even work? Say, DM posts "looking for 4-6 players" in the first post. Interested players keep posting until there are 24 of them. Is DM going to run 6-4 parallel games, or he selects number of players he's comfortable with for one game, and other players move to other games?
Depends on the GM, but usually they make a selection of the ones they think would fit best for what they have in mind/what would make the most balanced party/which interactions the GM sees that would make for a fun story/...
A game I recently joined had a very different way of recruiting. It basically was first come first serve. The first x people to have a completed character sheet would be accepted in the game.
Usually the GM states in the opening post what the specifics are for recruitment and till when recruitment is open. And if not stated, it's usually one of the first questions asked by people wanting to play in the campaign.
How does recruitment even work? Say, DM posts "looking for 4-6 players" in the first post. Interested players keep posting until there are 24 of them. Is DM going to run 6-4 parallel games, or he selects number of players he's comfortable with for one game, and other players move to other games?
It Depends on the GM and how they feel.
They may do a few games in parallelor may select only those for one game, to rest have to look elsewhere.
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How does recruitment even work? Say, DM posts "looking for 4-6 players" in the first post. Interested players keep posting until there are 24 of them. Is DM going to run 6-4 parallel games, or he selects number of players he's comfortable with for one game, and other players move to other games?
Generally the DM'll pick the ones he wants and the rest will try to find another game. But it's not normally 24 vying to join - a lot of people will express an interest and then drop out themselves. Some will be keener than others and they will generally be the ones to get picked, and it's quite rare that dozens get turned away, normally two or three.
How does recruitment even work? Say, DM posts "looking for 4-6 players" in the first post. Interested players keep posting until there are 24 of them. Is DM going to run 6-4 parallel games, or he selects number of players he's comfortable with for one game, and other players move to other games?Generally the DM'll pick the ones he wants and the rest will try to find another game. But it's not normally 24 vying to join - a lot of people will express an interest and then drop out themselves. Some will be keener than others and they will generally be the ones to get picked, and it's quite rare that dozens get turned away, normally two or three.
Unless you're recruiting for one of the very popular adventure paths/campaigns. I've seen recruitment topics for Way of the Wicked, Wrath of the Righteous and others that had 20+ people and only had 4-6 spots. In those cases the GM had to turn down many hopefuls. (Not saying this to discourage anyone. It's just how it goes with very popular ideas/settings/...)
I'm new to PbP, so since last week, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for any campaigns I can join with a new level 1 character. Will keep looking!
When a Adventure Path recruitment starts, it is very likely starting at level 1.
It seems like every time a GM posts a game with a set of class and race restrictions the first post is "can I have X that's not allowed?".
I mean seriously, how hard is it to understand what the rules are there for?
Agreed
Though some folks overlook it, read only the first few lines, sometimes it's buried in the words, and sometimes it is something they may or may not be covered.
It seems like every time a GM posts a game with a set of class and race restrictions the first post is "can I have X that's not allowed?".
I mean seriously, how hard is it to understand what the rules are there for?
Agreed
Though some folks overlook it, read only the first few lines, sometimes it's buried in the words, and sometimes it is something they may or may not be covered.
Often, I think it is that the player already has a build concept that he/she wants to play and is just trying to find a game to put that build into.
I don't know. It feels suspiciously like people just want to push the DM to letting them play these weird things and because they often quote the part of the recruitment where the thing is said not to be allowed you know they have read it.Often, I think it is that the player already has a build concept that he/she wants to play and is just trying to find a game to put that build into.It seems like every time a GM posts a game with a set of class and race restrictions the first post is "can I have X that's not allowed?".
I mean seriously, how hard is it to understand what the rules are there for?
Agreed
Though some folks overlook it, read only the first few lines, sometimes it's buried in the words, and sometimes it is something they may or may not be covered.
You could be right. I'm just extrapolating from 1 here.
There have been times where I was trying to get in a game. But if I wait until I see a game recruitment open, then try to make a character for that game. Well, every single time the recruitment was closed before I got my character created.
So the only thing I could do was make the characters ahead of time, then try to slightly modify them to fit whatever game I was applying to join.
Many of us don't like to play a 'standard' build because it seems boring to us. Well if I make something creative and unique it is fairly likely to run afoul of the GM's restrictions.
I don't think I ever knowingly applied to a game where my PC did not fit within at least the grey areas of what had been set up, but I can easily see someone thinking about how they've spent the last 3 weeks refining this excellent build. So now they want to play it.
Yeah, could people help me with something? I need to figure out a method of rolling in secret, and I have no idea how to do so. Currently, I'm going with making another thread with which to make the rolls, and having a code on the top, which the player PM's me what they were rolling for. I'm hoping for a slightly more eloquent method.
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Yeah, could people help me with something? I need to figure out a method of rolling in secret, and I have no idea how to do so. Currently, I'm going with making another thread with which to make the rolls, and having a code on the top, which the player PM's me what they were rolling for. I'm hoping for a slightly more eloquent method.
Uhm...I would handle it differently. Rather than trying to hide those secret rolls, I would spam your posts with random rolls behind spoilers. For bonus points, you could add cryptic and misleading names to them.
If you include them often enough, your players won't know what is real and what is fake. Examples:
Stealth;
Player being targeted.
Rounds to Doomcannon armed.
McMuffin Bluff
Will Save, Player 4
Confusion
I use this thread for secret DM rolls.
If you are the GM, why not roll offline? I mean, you are the GM. In a table RL game you'd roll behind a screen. Unless you are fully digital?
I actually prefer my rolls not be secret. I trust my players, but it also lets them doublecheck my work and make sure I haven't forgotten a penalty to one of my NPCs or bonus to a PC's armor class or something.
Every once in a while I want a secret roll, in which case I just don't label it. I suppose if I were really paranoid, I could spam multiple rolls and just know which one I meant to be the "real" one.
So, is it just me, or did first-come-first-serve used to be way more common on these forums?
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's gone. I liked it at the time because I was terrible and it worked in my favor, but now as a GM I see the great strength it possesses.
But I feel like I saw it a lot more often six years ago.
Yeah, sorry, for recruitment. I feel like I saw it a lot more back then.
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It's still my method, and to be honest I find it works well for me. Someone who is motivated enough to post up a decent character in a jiffy is likely to be excited by the game and motivated to keep on posting. In six years it's always been a trusty way to recruit, I've found. Plus I don't really like sitting in judgement on people's ideas like a beauty contest, nor do I consider that aspect terribly important. Someone who wants to play is the best thing.
I don't enjoy judging, but it feels more likely to produce a balanced group of heroes. People are free to submit their best idea, instead of an idea that isn't a witch because that other guy already posted his premade witch that he's been trying to cram into every PbP he applies to.
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That's not really my experience. People don't generally come with pre-made characters and I would discourage them from doing that anyway a lot of the time (though I did have one recent experience of that in one of my Eberron games and it didn't go well). People may have been having a few ideas but often they come with a couple of ideas and very frequently change in midstream from their initial idea to a different one. But that's not really the point - the character idea isn't hugely important. I've got one player who has changed character a couple of times, but he's still in the games, just with different characters. Characters come and go but getting a good player is probably more important. Also, if you are filling a gap that has arisen, first-come first-serve fills it the quickest and in any case the player is often restricted about what role they are filling.
Not that it's guaranteed of course - there have been a few players where things haven't really worked out. But I suspect that happens with any game and any recruitment method.
I don't enjoy judging, but it feels more likely to produce a balanced group of heroes. People are free to submit their best idea, instead of an idea that isn't a witch because that other guy already posted his premade witch that he's been trying to cram into every PbP he applies to.
Hey, I'm sorry, I like witches... ...what can I say?
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... Someone who is motivated enough to post up a decent character in a jiffy is likely to be excited by the game and motivated to keep on posting. ...
Just be aware, there are a lot of us that can’t make a decent character that quickly. It has nothing to do with my enthusiasm or motivation for the game.
Yeah sure, I can slap together an NPC or short term PC for a one-shot in a few minutes. But to make a character I like, that is self consistent, interesting, developed, and that I will want to play for a long time – that normally takes me days (minimum) to completely round out a character. I have spent weeks working out the details of some of my favorite long term characters.Some GM’s will say, “just give me the concept right away,” but for me it changes constantly throughout the process.
For example: Just last weekend, I applied for a PbP. If asked right at the beginning, it would have been a dwarf buffing cleric of Torag (secondary melee) trying to find what happened to the missing miners. I started playing with background and builds. The skills I’d need. The capabilities I wanted. Attitudes toward others and motivations to self. What I was tired of in previous characters. Etc…
By the time it was done, I have a religious ‘Indiana Jones’ half-elf inquisitor of Desna trying to find a lost artifact.
It took me most of the weekend to get it all together. Even that fast was only possible because I had the whole weekend relatively free to cogitate on it. Usually it takes me longer than that. I don’t yet know if I’m in or not, but if he only took the first 6 applicants, I wouldn’t have a shot.
The only possible way I could get into a FCFS game would be to have a ‘stable’ of pregenerated generic PC’s that I tried to quickly modify the fluff to fit each game application. But every GM says they hate those.