I love playing Pathfinder. Love it. But I can only play on Saturday's due to my work schedule. However, I've long been interested in playing via e-mail. But I have no idea how to go about doing this, especially since I have no time to DM as I am DMing the two campaigns I'm already in. Does anyone have any advice? Or even better, does anyone need another player?
(Biggest question is simply: how quickly does a game actually progress?)
I'm surprised no one has responded by now, but I'll take a shot. Do you really me email, or play-by-post (pbp)? If the former, I can't help, if the latter, just take a look at these subforums. Most games have two threads - a game thread, and a discussion (out of character, or OOC thread). The discussion subforum has a sticky as the first thread which will give you a lot of information.
I would also suggest taking a look at some games, and you'll probably learn everything you need to know. However, to address your specific question, how fast a game progresses depends entirely on the players and DM, to a degree. In most games, players try to post once a day, more or less. That said, games still go way slower than in-person games. From my own play experience, a regular module can take up to a year or more to get through, and a single chapter of an adventure path significantly longer than that - say maybe, two or even three years. Seriously.
That said, it's still fun. Two of the games I'm currently playing in are coming up on three years, and for those of us who don't play at a table, in person, it's a great fix. Among other things, I've noticed that roleplaying comes a lot easier in a pbp game, largely, I would guess, because people are less self-conscious.
So, if you're interested, keep an eye on the gamer connection thread, and when an interesting game opens up, give it a shot.
I've been rather curious about how actual play-by-email works as well.
As for PbPs, they tend to move a little slowly but, like Billzabub said, the lack of self-consciousness and the time that the text format allows gives you some opportunities for really fantastic roleplaying.
I also note that the Pbps fill up REALLY fast and are oversubscribed.
Hard to get in on that action...
No, I did mean play via e-mail. I know that there are a lot of forums for pbp, but since I work overnights, there just not something I'm interested in. (I don't think it be fair to the other players to have to wait on me.) But I've heard of people playing via e-mail and was just curious as to how it really worked out.
There are two ways of playing by email and I have done both several years ago.
1) Everyone only mails there intentions, etc to the DM, who then constructs a post that is sent to everyone, who then responds, etc.
2) Use something like Yahoo groups where everyone sees everyone else responses. The DM still constructs major posts, but a lot of the role playing happens pseudo-real time.
Both have issues. The most time consuming and most dragged out is #1 since the DM is the gate to everything. #2 works fairly well but the pace is still slow, just like play by post on these boards.
-- david
Papa.DRB
No, I did mean play via e-mail. I know that there are a lot of forums for pbp, but since I work overnights, there just not something I'm interested in. (I don't think it be fair to the other players to have to wait on me.) But I've heard of people playing via e-mail and was just curious as to how it really worked out.