So I am planning on GMing / DMing my first play by post game in the near future. I intend to run one of the modules or adventure paths to make things a bit easier on me. Now, I have run games in person quite a few times, but I have never run a PBP game and have no idea what to expect.
I have read through a few longer PBPs on here to get an idea, and what I can tell is everyone does things a bit differently then each other.
So, GMs out there! What tips, tricks, and advice can you give a person who is interested in running PBP games? What pitfalls should I expect and try to avoid? What things should I watch out for?
Any help would be appreciated!
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Oh, I'm a good one to answer this.
I love pbps. They are often heavy on the roleplaying, which allows the players to develop their characters far beyond what they might otherwise do. Couple this with the length of time that it takes to conduct a pbp, and it's easy for players to really get invested in their characters.
I have only attempted one GMing stint, and I failed. Here's why: I completely underestimated the work that goes into it. You watch the really good pbp GM's (as I know you have been doing, Stomp) and they make it look easy - but it isn't. For one, good battlemaps really help a pbp game, and they take a while to make, and even longer if you care what they look like. Now, it's easy to cobble together something that's good enough to get by on, and certainly there are folks who will tell you that MapTools makes the whole process easy enough, but there is a learning curve there.
In addition to creating the map, you've got to keep it updated with players' movements and the like, which is going to take some time in whatever program you used to make the map and some time uploading the map to whatever image hosting website you choose. And that happens every round at minimum. For me, this part of it (the busy work) really proved to be the nail in the coffin of my game, when combined with my life (two kids, wife, job, yadda yadda). There just wasn't time in the day to do a proper job GMing, and rather than do an improper job, I just called the game off.
Pace yourself. A lot of games get off to rip-roaring starts, and then tail off as time goes on. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You'll lose players - it's almost guaranteed to happen at least once or twice a game - don't take that personally. When you run your recruitment thread, choose one or two alternates, and get email addresses from those players. They'll usually be happy to jump in if someone drops out, whether it's with the character they initially proposed or a different one that fits more within the party.
For a beginning GM, I'd advocate taking four players and using 15-point buy, because that's what the modules/APs are all based off of, and a pbp GM has enough work to do without rebalancing published adventures for larger/stronger parties.
With all that said, while my game was going strong, it was among the most fun I've ever had playing Pathfinder/D&D. I had some great players, and it felt incredibly rewarding to see how deeply they immersed themselves in their characters. The feeling of betraying that enthusiasm, though, when I found that I had misjudged my available time - a terrible feeling. So yeah, have fun with it, don't get burnt out. It's a blast! I'll do it again soon - my daughter is getting older and requires less constant supervision - but I'm a little scared of the reception I might get, as I have one failed game to my credit. Not a ringing endorsement.
Oh, last thing - man, this is becoming a book - when choosing players, don't just look at what they submitted. Click their avatar, look at their recent posts under their alias and all their sub-aliases, especially the pbp aliases. This will give you a great sense of the person's writing ability and commitment to their games, and might save you some trouble down the road.
Last but not least, look for my application! I need another game.
Except, unless I misunderstand the CUP (which I don't think I do), it's not cool to just grab an image right out of a Paizo-published .pdf and post it online. It happens from time to time, I know, but it's not "legal", per se. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
Makes sense. I was thinking of using Google Spreadsheets for maps, gotta figure out how to do it first though.
Thanks to both of you! :)
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Well, I'm far from an expert on such things, maybe I'm wrong.
But the reality of it is that if I have it at my table, it's because I bought it and it was shipped to my eager little hands.
Whereas anybody who wants to right click and "Save Picture As" can now have a copy of, for example, the Kingmaker hex map in your example above. Free! So there is a difference.
Edit: Yeah, here's the part of the CUP we're looking at:
"You may use any of the text or artwork published in the Paizo Blog at paizo.com/paizo/blog, with the exception of any excerpts of Planet Stories publications and any logos and icons that aren't also in the Community Use Package. You may not use any photographs published in the blog (because those rights are usually not ours to offer). You may not use artwork, including maps, that have not been published in the blog, although you may create your own interpretations of material presented in our artwork and maps, provided that your interpretations don't look substantially similar to our materials."
So, that seems pretty clear to me. For the most part, maps are off-limits for community use, other than as models for interpretations. Again, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
If I was going to run an AP, which should I start with? I don't want to run Carrion Crown cause I am in a game for that, and I dont want to have to convert things (so that means Runelords is out).
Legacy of Fire looked cool, as does Serpents Skull.
What do you guys think? Or should I start with one of the stand alone modules and go from there?
EDIT: Also, shoudl I pick up either the Bestiary or the Game Masters Guide prior to running a PBP Game, or would using the The Pathfinder SRD work out just as well?
SRD works great!
One thing though be sure that the stats presented in the AP are the same as the SRD......
nearly did a TPK by not applying squeezing stats to a creature (using the SRD instead of the AP) I am more careful now!
Decided to run Crypt of the Everflame, bought it and am reading it now.
Will use Google Docs for the maps (spreadsheets) since I know how to work em :)
Once I finish reading this I will post a recruitment thread. Best way to learn for me is to do it, so here goes nothing! :)
Does a week for recruitment seem like a fair timeframe?
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Excellent initial post Jer- but I wouldn't get hung up on the posting images thing. Worst case scenario, you'll be asked to take them down; and I should note that Neil Spicer is lurking on Jace's game in which he has used images and maps from Fellnight module and nothing has been said about it.
I'd say a week is a good timeframe. I personally don't like to pick players on a first come, first served basis as I don't like having to re-recruit too much... By cherry picking from a week's worth of applicants I tend to get consistent, considerate players.
Excellent initial post Jer- but I wouldn't get hung up on the posting images thing. Worst case scenario, you'll be asked to take them down; and I should note that Neil Spicer is lurking on Jace's game in which he has used images and maps from Fellnight module and nothing has been said about it.
I'd say a week is a good timeframe. I personally don't like to pick players on a first come, first served basis as I don't like having to re-recruit too much... By cherry picking from a week's worth of applicants I tend to get consistent, considerate players.
Thats the idea I am thinking. Give em a week to post, then I take a day to choose 4-5 to play.
Give em a few days in an OOC chat while I finish getting the maps premade (I like to premake things!) and BAM, good to go.
I've removed links in an earlier post. Publicly sharing images extracted from our PDFs is not cool.
Bumping because I'm thinking of running The Cleaves by play by post. This will make it easier to find again.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Just out of curiosity, how are you using magic to affect things in an anti-magic field?
If there's something you can roll for the player, go ahead. (For example, a PC needs to make a Reflex save, and hasn't any hero points / PFS shirt re-rolls / means to influence the die result.)
