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I recently moved from Az to Ca and can't find any gamers out here, I decided to run a play by email game with my group back in Az because I want to keep gaming and I want to keep gaming with them. I'm just wondering, how would you handle combat in a play by email without it taking forever. For my group we tend to be around 75% RP/25% combat, but I don't want the combat to take up the majority of the emails....
Thanks in advance for any advice, its greatly appreciated
Long story short -- you just get used to it taking a long time, in my experience.
In one PbEM game I played in, the DM would ask for two rounds' worth of actions at a time. You could put in "if-then" clauses if you wanted, too. Then he'd merge them all into two rounds' worth of actions. It worked all right.
There is a game called Amber which is a diceless game system. You could use concepts from that game for your PBEM.
Otherwise I generally ask for a strategy from my PCs, and then roll a series of random d20s for each person which gives a guide as to how well there strategy worked. Bonuses are added to each die roll based on their stats and how they are applicable to the given strategy. Then be descriptive about what happens. If anything changes let them know and adjust there strategy, rinse, and repeat.
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If everyone has access to PCs is it possible to get them all on at the same time? The time difference from CA to AZ isn't much of an issue so maybe get the crew all on at the same time in front of a PC?
One alternate way of gaming (instead of or in addition to email) would be to get everyone in front of a machine with a headset on and use a client server to talk to each other - something like team speak. Many of these services are free.
You could even move people to and from rooms to talk to them individually and type in text (on team speak or via another IM system) die rolls, info, etc. So you can still ask and tell secrets to players, get skill checks done in secret and so on.
Before the session you can maybe scan smaller sections of the dungeon, encounter areas, wilderness maps and then send them off as attachments during the course of the session as they come up and have them discuss. Even if it's small sections of a dungeon a bit at a time -intersection, hallway with two doors, etc.
Would be an excellent way for everyone to still get to role-play in real time vs. sending emails. I know there are some online dungeon/virtual table gaming apps, but nothing I have used or needed to use.
My offering may require too much in the areas of tech - available scanner for the DM, everyone needs headsets and PC access at the same time. Also getting each individual in front of a PC with no interruptions can also be an issue.
Just an idea.
Edit: I know you were looking for an email solution, I just figured since PC were already involved at one point why not use the technology and try to simulate an actual game session vs sessions by email.
As Auxmaulous pointed out, if you like playing faster games you can check out Virtual Tabletop software like Maptools, TTopRPG or Fantasy Grounds II.
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You can use the method I use for combat in PbP games:
1) I roll initiative for everyone and post (in your case email) the result. That saves time up front and gets things moving.
2) Everyone emails their intended action as soon as they can. If they haven't sent it in within 24 hours, they lose their turn for that round.
3) I take everyone's actions, place them in the correct initiative order, and post a summary of each persons results. If needed, I'll modify actions so players can still be useful, for example if they intended to attack a creature that is now dead, I'll change their target.
4) Next round begins!
I've found this to work fairly well - it keeps things moving reasonably well without small encounters taking weeks to resolve. I think 1 round/day is pretty reasonable in a PbP or email game.
my gaming group uses maptools (free) which is a virtual tabletop that does require some learning curve but once you start to get it if you prepare prepare beforehand it actually goes much faster than conventional tabletop gaming. Plus you can put all sorts of images on the tabletop and give out handouts and such, its very nice. We just use skype to chat (also free). Works out really well for the most part
Hey Scott it's Nate! Looking forward to the game!
Our gaming group is scattered across three time zones. We use Skype's free conference-calling feature. I personally prefer in-person gaming (of course), but considering what a great gaming group this is, I'll take Skype over nothing. Take a gander at Skype; it even ran fine on my wife's 8-year-old PC.