I'm not sure if this is the right board to post this on or not; if I'm the wrong place, please re-direct me to where I need to be!
Since my real-life gamer groups are lucky to be able to meet once every four or six weeks, I've recently started looking into the "Play-by-Post" thing, which I never really even know existed in such a prevalent way until I found the message board for it here on Paizo. I'm really interested in joining a campaign at some point, but I thought I might ask if there's anything a PbP newbie should know before seeking out his first game. Thanks for any help ya'll can provide!
Hi Phillip and welcome to the boards! There is a sticky thread >HERE< that is basically a roundtable of different PbP GMs discussing their craft. It's a bit long and some of the stuff is just chit-chat but there are a few gems inside.
A few things to remember:
- PbPs generally are slooow. Be ready for it to take time to do anything.
- A lot of Pbp games just end up dying. Sometimes there's no explanation, you just have to roll with it.
- Try to commit to updating at least once a day, it really helps the storyline along.
- Make sure you post any absences due to Real Life in the OOC thread.
- As a rule PbPs seem to work best with a lot of role-playing, rather than constant battling.
Hi Phillip and welcome to the boards! There is a sticky thread >HERE< that is basically a roundtable of different PbP GMs discussing their craft. It's a bit long and some of the stuff is just chit-chat but there are a few gems inside.
A few things to remember:
- PbPs generally are slooow. Be ready for it to take time to do anything.
- A lot of Pbp games just end up dying. Sometimes there's no explanation, you just have to roll with it.
- Try to commit to updating at least once a day, it really helps the storyline along.
- Make sure you post any absences due to Real Life in the OOC thread.
- As a rule PbPs seem to work best with a lot of role-playing, rather than constant battling.
Thanks for the welcome! I appreciate it and the pointers you've offered, also. I'll be sure to check out the thread you've linked to.
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Yes, welcome Phillip. Pat’s an old hand at PBP games, he’s given you some good advice.
There’s typically a new play by post game starting up, or an established one looking for new players at least every couple of weeks around here. People usually advertise for players in threads on this part of the forum. Some people take players on a first come, first served basis (and these games often fill up pretty fast), others choose to have some sort of ‘audition’ process, or choose people randomly.
Some people looking for games will advertise the fact in this forum as well. As often as not they’ll find a game this way, but a surer way is probably to find someone who’s advertising a game and apply.
Hello and welcome, Phillip.
I think you'll find the folks on these boards pretty helpful. I can't really add much more than Pat and Moth have on PBP information. My suggestions, and sorry if I'm stating the obvious:
Most PBP's these days are based on the Pathfinder rules system. Some folks run 3.5 or 4th edition games, but mostly its Pathfinder system or some hybridization. If you don't have the core Rulebook, you may want to check out PFSRD for reference. If you can generally work with knowledge of D20 systems, but it does have some adjustments.
Secondly, although there's plenty of homebrew games, various games are usually centering on Golarion - which is the base world for Pathfinder. Again, probably not critical for your enjoyment, but it can be helpful to know something about the game world - especially in an role-playing heavy PBP. While the book has plenty of details, you can at least get some world details at Pathfinder Wiki.
Hope that helps you. Welcome again.
A few things to remember:
- PbPs generally are slooow. Be ready for it to take time to do anything.
- A lot of Pbp games just end up dying. Sometimes there's no explanation, you just have to roll with it.
- Try to commit to updating at least once a day, it really helps the storyline along.
- Make sure you post any absences due to Real Life in the OOC thread.
- As a rule PbPs seem to work best with a lot of role-playing, rather than constant battling.
What he said, and I would add one more thing:
- Don't get put off by old players leaving and new players joining a game. It's an inevitable fact of life.
- Don't get put off by old players leaving and new players joining a game. It's an inevitable fact of life.
Yup, good call on that one. My oldest PbP has exactly ONE of the original members left after two+ years. I have had to recruit like three different times. People have issues, get bored, etc. You kinda have had to spackle over the disappearances and roll on.
Hello and welcome, Phillip.
I think you'll find the folks on these boards pretty helpful. I can't really add much more than Pat and Moth have on PBP information. My suggestions, and sorry if I'm stating the obvious:
Most PBP's these days are based on the Pathfinder rules system. Some folks run 3.5 or 4th edition games, but mostly its Pathfinder system or some hybridization. If you don't have the core Rulebook, you may want to check out PFSRD for reference. If you can generally work with knowledge of D20 systems, but it does have some adjustments.
Secondly, although there's plenty of homebrew games, various games are usually centering on Golarion - which is the base world for Pathfinder. Again, probably not critical for your enjoyment, but it can be helpful to know something about the game world - especially in an role-playing heavy PBP. While the book has plenty of details, you can at least get some world details at Pathfinder Wiki.
Hope that helps you. Welcome again.
As it happens, I've been an avid fan of Pathfinder since being introduced to it during the beta test by a friend of mine...so much that, in fact, I'm the only member of my group that actively follows Pathfinder, buys Pathfinder books, etc.
If you want to get your feet wet with PbP come over to the Limbo PbP thread. Everyone is welcome, no audition, and there are no set adventures. It is an open PbP sandbox with everyone sort of acting as DM/Players in a demi-planar tavern. I'm totally new to PbP so I've been 'practicing' in Limbo, getting down the conventions, etc. Just read the discussion thread in Gamer Connection and then read at least the first few pages of the PbP thread to get a feel for the rules and the environment.
If you guys really wanted pathfinder and or to get him hooked on it so he wants to play PF look up PFSRD its a great sight to give you the basics of what you need to play, it would definately be enough for a player to get by with.