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The third is simply still at the inn while the party, with a new member, investigates the glassworks.Well, if you need another player, Mitnal's been sitting around Sandpoint getting drunk wondering what happened to all his friends. ... And Mitnal doesn't usually drink so this is bad. He's been kicked out of the Rusty Dragon twice and is hitting on both of Vinder's daughters. He really needs a reason to get up in the morning.
Mitnal's on the short list for possible substitutes. :)
But I'm not a huge fan of more than 5 PCs at a time so I have been reluctant to just add him in.
What I find problematic is being in a different timezone to the majority of people. This leads to me feeling left behind as a game can develop quite significantly in 8 hours whilst I'm asleep etc. Then I have to chip in a post... wait 8 hours etc.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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The third is simply still at the inn while the party, with a new member, investigates the glassworks.Well, if you need another player, Mitnal's been sitting around Sandpoint getting drunk wondering what happened to all his friends. ... And Mitnal doesn't usually drink so this is bad. He's been kicked out of the Rusty Dragon twice and is hitting on both of Vinder's daughters. He really needs a reason to get up in the morning.Mitnal's on the short list for possible substitutes. :)
But I'm not a huge fan of more than 5 PCs at a time so I have been reluctant to just add him in.
I understand the reluctance. A PbP needs to have a posting rhythm or even your dedicated players will stop checking regularly.
I started two games on the same day ... 1 month ago today ... One of them has three players and an NPC and 981 posts in 30 days (I'd like to see that hit 1000 by tonight just for fun!) ... the other has four players and 376 posts in the same time frame. There may be differences in the players online habits but I think number is a factor too.
Where are you? Most of my fellow players are in the US, whereas I'm in the UK, and haven't found it a huge problem. But then, I can normally post all day.
UK - I am often out teaching, so thus away from my desk. Thus my characters end up quite taciturn usually. :D
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The third is simply still at the inn while the party, with a new member, investigates the glassworks.Well, if you need another player, Mitnal's been sitting around Sandpoint getting drunk wondering what happened to all his friends. ... And Mitnal doesn't usually drink so this is bad. He's been kicked out of the Rusty Dragon twice and is hitting on both of Vinder's daughters. He really needs a reason to get up in the morning.Mitnal's on the short list for possible substitutes. :)
But I'm not a huge fan of more than 5 PCs at a time so I have been reluctant to just add him in.
I understand the reluctance. A PbP needs to have a posting rhythm or even your dedicated players will stop checking regularly.
I started two games on the same day ... 1 month ago today ... One of them has three players and an NPC and 981 posts in 30 days (I'd like to see that hit 1000 by tonight just for fun!) ... the other has four players and 376 posts in the same time frame. There may be differences in the players online habits but I think number is a factor too.
I've found that in PbP, party size is a not a big deal. infact, it can make it more interesting, since you are more likely to get a post once in a while. Combat isn't any slower - it is really slow already. And the problem of players dropping out is ameliorated when you have a large reserve. My Runelords pbp party is 9, and it's fine.
What I find problematic is being in a different timezone to the majority of people. This leads to me feeling left behind as a game can develop quite significantly in 8 hours whilst I'm asleep etc. Then I have to chip in a post... wait 8 hours etc.
I seem to do my evening posting while you're... Having your lunch break?
Plus Rad is also GMT +8. And we both post evenings. It's what 2:30 there now? Are you at work?
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Where are you? Most of my fellow players are in the US, whereas I'm in the UK, and haven't found it a huge problem. But then, I can normally post all day.UK - I am often out teaching, so thus away from my desk. Thus my characters end up quite taciturn usually. :D
Well, the guys in the US are active in the afternoon and evening, UK time, so I normally cross with them then.
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I started two games on the same day ... 1 month ago today ... One of them has three players and an NPC and 981 posts in 30 days (I'd like to see that hit 1000 by tonight just for fun!) ... the other has four players and 376 posts in the same time frame. There may be differences in the players online habits but I think number is a factor too.
It only takes one or two to slow the game down.
Foray has really shown me that a PbP game can move at a reasonable pace if everyone involved is willing and able to keep it going.
3.30pm here - just getting ready to run my Tuesday Youth Theatre session. Lunch break? Not today!
I'm not whining, just making an observation. It hadn't really occurred to me before why I sometimes felt left behind.
People have good and bad days, too.
I haven't seen anything on here about him.
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As a pbp DM, I think you have to be prepared to DMPC characters more. This has two effects - the game moves quicker (obviously) and it sends a message that they are holding things up.
A pbp should not be hostage to certain players. It is worth asking (politely) why they are not posting regularly. If it becomes a problem, it is sometimes necessary to remove them (normally, by pointing out that the game is bogging down due to their inattention, and inviting them to leave or post more) from the game and hire new talent. It's kind of ruthless, but it has been necessary in one game I run.
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I've found that in PbP, party size is a not a big deal. infact, it can make it more interesting, since you are more likely to get a post once in a while. Combat isn't any slower - it is really slow already.
But combat doesn't have to be slow. That's what we are trying to say. Having tried large groups and smaller groups now, the smaller groups most certainly have the possibility of moving faster. The bigger the party the smaller the possibility for game speed becomes.
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Yes, of course - but I would say that provided there is a decent flow of posting occurring, the actual number of rounds per day you get through is immaterial. I'm in a fight that has maybe lasted a couple of weeks - and its pretty exciting.
Small parties are also much less stable - someone disappears, you may have lost your game.
I got 8 pc's and we can get through a fight in 2-3 days.
I'll just skip somebody every once in a while and dmpc them, unless their next move might be too crazy. Then I'll just wait.
I like Aubrey's fights though. They're real tactically correct and like a chess game or something. I'm not there yet.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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I know this might not work for everyone but in two games I'm running the parties have a party leader. This was part of the story from the beginning. The party leaders may do things somewhat democratically but if the party leader has said, "Okay, we're going to do this." and no one has objected within the next 12 hours or so, that's the plan. Sometimes deciding whether to go left or right in a democratic fashion can take forever. ...
Of course, if the party wanted to beat up their leader, tie him to a stake, and make a lot of noise so the ogres find him, that's cool too.
I like having a leader in "Kerrigan's Keep" - because of that very definite focus... that and Orlan is very entertaining!
I like having a leader in "Kerrigan's Keep" - because of that very definite focus... that and Orlan is very entertaining!
Ditto on Klyndak! It's nice to have his focus as a reference.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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That's good to hear. I love having them there both as a tool to keep the game moving but also because of the characters they bring to the story but I worried that other players would feel left out. ... So, for some parties, having a party leader could work. At least, when I need to know the marching order, I know who to ask.
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I enjoy the gentler paced games as much as some of the faster paced ones. If you ask both games how they feel about the pacing, then that may answer your question.
Kayos started two AoW games at virtually the same time. One is much more busy then the other but both seem successful.
For my main game the key for speed isn't what I do, it's the players roleplaying. Combat works fine despite the time zones because the players are very committed. I have lost more than one already and Aubrey's comment about being ruthless is on the money, you have to concentrate on the good guys.
Cheers
That's good to hear. I love having them there both as a tool to keep the game moving but also because of the characters they bring to the story but I worried that other players would feel left out. ... So, for some parties, having a party leader could work. At least, when I need to know the marching order, I know who to ask.
Party leader as focus, cool idea.
Flashback: We used to play with a "caller" in AD&D back in the day. He'd lead the party until someone didn't like his call, (then we'd have an IC argument) or until a different strategy was needed like we needed to be diplomatic.
Hehe.
Glad you're back, man, how is school?
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Party leader as focus, cool idea.
Flashback: We used to play with a "caller" in AD&D back in the day. He'd lead the party until someone didn't like his call, (then we'd have an IC argument) or until a different strategy was needed like we needed to be diplomatic.
In the old days, there's the caller and the mapper. There's also this guy who's job is to keep track of the xp, gold and treasure.
So it looks like we've got a s@*$load of pbps updating regularly. Maybe 50-55.
We rule.
Having played in a number of PbP games that started with a bang and fizzled after a handful of encounters...I thought it worth recognizing the uber-postage of a few of the longer running games on the board.
Not for nothin' - but I'm impressed.
Aubrey's Eberron campaign DM: Aubrey the Malformed
Rolling the PbP goodness since Mon, Apr 23, 2007 (4,383 posts as of this post)
Heathy's Saltmarsh Campaign DM: Heathansson
Burning up the boards since Feb 25, 2008 (3,784 posts as of this post)
Age of Darkness DM: Mothman
Rocking along since Apr 22, 2007 (2,984 posts as of this post)
Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign DM: Aubrey the Malformed
Pluggin' away since Aug 26, 2007 (2,936 posts as of this post)
Dark Sun PbP #1 - The Fine Art of Reciprocity DM: mwbeeler
Sun-burnt since Dec 17, 2007 (2,737 posts as of this post)
and of course there are quite a few others not far behind...
I feel quite proud to be a player in these two:
JSL's Runelords Campaign - JSL
Wed Oct 3 2007 - 2001 posts
Foray into the Foehammer Spires - Tarren Dei
Sat Mar 29 2008 - 2135 posts (but if you include its partner thread Last Seen at Kerrigan's Keep on 851 that takes the whole 'story' to 2986 - pretty cool!)
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Having played in a number of PbP games that started with a bang and fizzled after a handful of encounters...I thought it worth recognizing the uber-postage of a few of the longer running games on the board.
Not for nothin' - but I'm impressed.
Aubrey's Eberron campaign DM: Aubrey the Malformed
Rolling the PbP goodness since Mon, Apr 23, 2007 (4,383 posts as of this post)Heathy's Saltmarsh Campaign DM: Heathansson
Burning up the boards since Feb 25, 2008 (3,784 posts as of this post)Age of Darkness DM: Mothman
Rocking along since Apr 22, 2007 (2,984 posts as of this post)Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign DM: Aubrey the Malformed
Pluggin' away since Aug 26, 2007 (2,936 posts as of this post)Dark Sun PbP #1 - The Fine Art of Reciprocity DM: mwbeeler
Sun-burnt since Dec 17, 2007 (2,737 posts as of this post)and of course there are quite a few others not far behind...
Thanks for the recognition Durendal. I'm proud to say that as well as DMing one of these, I'm playing in 3 others - good games, Aubrey and Heath are damn fine DMs (as is Beeler, although I'm not in his Dark Sun game).
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Foray into the Foehammer Spires - Tarren Dei
Sat Mar 29 2008 - 2135 posts (but if you include its partner thread Last Seen at Kerrigan's Keep on 851 that takes the whole 'story' to 2986 - pretty cool!)
I've had my eye on this one - it's zooming along! Probably the second fastest mover to Heath's Saltmarsh game. Well done!
His players are really into it, and Tarren writes a great story.
While the nominating is going on:
Heathansson - for unadulterated wild and craziness!
Beeler - Best narrations I've ever read.
Taliesin - "Autumn of an Empire".... coolest story, and he picked up the game when another guy let it die.
Patrick - holy NPCs, the socializing in his game is amazing.
...
Taliesin - "Autumn of an Empire".... coolest story, and he picked up the game when another guy let it die.
Patrick - holy NPCs, the socializing in his game is amazing.
Wow man, thanks for the kind words. I also think Tal really gets high marks for Autumn of Empire, it really feels like a fantastical reimagining of Constantinople. I would say your Z-Day game is probably the best hard-paced tension game I've ever seen. Also, though I'm not a player I love your Dead Reckoning PbP. I also have to give a shout out to French Wolf's Splintered Isle PbP, I love Arabian themed stuff, and he pulls it off with panache.
I have been playing on a site called Woldiangames.com. Over 100 people on there and some of the games have been going on for about ten years. I have been there about two years now, and I DM one game and have a character in a game also. I could join several other games there as well, but I just don't have the time for any more.
Role-playing is alive and well there, and the combats are intense. All the adventures are written by the DMs. Honestly, I'm not sure pre-made modules would work very well in a PbP environment. They have very little problem keeping games going, and will add numerous more games as new players try out being DMs or new DMs join the site. It is a great community and I am happy I found it. If anyone is interested, you can go to the site and read recent archives without a log-in. If interested in joining/trying it out, email the guy who's address is on the front/welcome page.
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Honestly, I'm not sure pre-made modules would work very well in a PbP environment.
Not sure I agree with that - what are you basing that on? A number of the games on this site are using pre-made modules or adventure paths, many of them very successfully. One of the games I'm DMing uses a combination of modified Dungeon magazine modules and my own stuff, whilst the other I'm running Age of Worms, only slightly modified. Both seem to be going well. Of the games I'm playing in its probably close to 50/50 pre-made to original.
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I like Aubrey's games.
His combats are like these chess problems.
I usually get bored as a cleric, but I can enjoy the class in his games. I went up 2 levels without killing anything, man. Just trying to run this crazy combat healer triage puzzle.
Aubrey's descriptions - especially urban environments - are very cool too. Both of you two do very cool enemies and NPCs as well. Never quite know what to expect...
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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In the old days, there's the caller and the mapper. There's also this guy who's job is to keep track of the xp, gold and treasure.
Party leader as focus, cool idea.
Flashback: We used to play with a "caller" in AD&D back in the day. He'd lead the party until someone didn't like his call, (then we'd have an IC argument) or until a different strategy was needed like we needed to be diplomatic.
Yes, and that guy who held onto the gold and treasure was called a 'thief' not a 'rogue'. ;-)
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Honestly, I'm not sure pre-made modules would work very well in a PbP environment.Not sure I agree with that - what are you basing that on? A number of the games on this site are using pre-made modules or adventure paths, many of them very successfully. One of the games I'm DMing uses a combination of modified Dungeon magazine modules and my own stuff, whilst the other I'm running Age of Worms, only slightly modified. Both seem to be going well. Of the games I'm playing in its probably close to 50/50 pre-made to original.
I've found that some parts can bog down, but if you are careful to alter certain aspects, they work great. The fewer rooms the better; I look at it as trying to turn a module into a Reader's Digest condensed book.
Aub's running ROTRL and it's cool; it's taken almost a year to get through Burnt Offerings, but wtf? I could see the same thing taking a long while in RL if you played about once a month, which is more than I can even do right now.|
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I've found that some parts can bog down, but if you are careful to alter certain aspects, they work great. The fewer rooms the better; I look at it as trying to turn a module into a Reader's Digest condensed book.
Aub's running ROTRL and it's cool; it's taken almost a year to get through Burnt Offerings, but wtf? I could see the same thing taking a long while in RL if you played about once a month, which is more than I can even do right now.
Agreed. Big dungeon type areas can really bog down if they're not modified or cut down - but I tend to find this in my RL games anyway, so I generally reduce big dungeons.
I like Aubrey's style (in RotRL) of apparently amalgamating 2 or 3 small fights into 1 larger battle.
And yeah, my RL games are slooow. I'd be lucky to finish RotRL in under a year.
I should have explained myself better. In an ongoing game with 9 characters of mid-high level, and every one of them has personal interests: monk school, druid grove, fighters running town militia, wizard going to another city where guild is located, etc. it is difficult to plug in a pre-made module. That is why we write all of our own, so best to incorporate numerous player interests directly into the adventure.
A game starting from scratch would have much less trouble using a module.
I have seen though, that extensive dungeons are difficult to run in PbP. They need to be shortened to create a realistic timeframe for completion.
Z-Day is a serious frontrunner; my D20 modern book arrived in the mail this afternoon. Fast pacing, awesome mapping, and an impressive use of web resources as far as links / music go. I've been wanting time to read the other PbP's, I made time to read that one.
I should have explained myself better. In an ongoing game with 9 characters of mid-high level, and every one of them has personal interests: monk school, druid grove, fighters running town militia, wizard going to another city where guild is located, etc. it is difficult to plug in a pre-made module.
A lot of the DMs here are writing their own. Both of mine are 100% custom.
As for the guys who use published material, well, it doesn't look much like the published material once they have their way with it.
On the other hand, there are some plain old published runs on these boards and they look like a lot of fun, too. Heck, people WANT to play in these games, most of them fill up in a day.
Why is everybody looking at me?
Life and kids... man.
Hope school is going well for you!
As for the guys who use published material, well, it doesn't look much like the published material once they have their way with it.
There's a necrotizing flaywind in War of the Wielded, and giant man-wearing cockroaches in Savage Tide, I'm certain of it! Look harder, darn it...
I wish my Dead Reckoning players weren't so slammed with RL, one is awol (Tobus) and I'm getting posts every three days from most of them... and I can hardly contain myself.... about... going to... they're... released a... so screwed...
Shut up self!
*Whack*
Just sticking my nose in to say how much I enjoy playing in all my pbp games. They all have a different flavour and pace to them and I'd be saddened if any of them fell by the wayside.
I'm a tragic victim of PbP-itis (where is that 12-step programme when you need it?). If this was the Oscars, the following would be thanked in no particular order:
Fabeminis, Kayos, xdahnx, Dreamweaver, Taliesin Hoyle and Tarren Dei for DMing the various games. All the other players in those games (some of them are the same folks) who have to put up with my wordy PCs.
Shutting up now.
A lot of the DMs here are writing their own. Both of mine are 100% custom.
Notice that I didn't say original. I steal everything from movies and literature.
