How do you run combat in PbP

[EverestWitman]

I'm toying with the idea of starting up a homebrew campaign on the forums. Any suggestions about how I should run tactical combat?

[Nicos]

I would say ignore any kin of grid. I run PbP and it is just too much time consuming to actualize the map afther every turn. Generally I just post a image so everyone have an idea of the position of every combatant but taht is it.

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

Combat Name

Round X-

Ordered Initiative-

Active Effects-

Map-

Link

Notes-

Action-

I use this as my default template for combat to give updates each round. Would also recommend taking the actions of anyone who doesn't post their action within 24 hours (momentum is important). I do a lot of PbP so I have the above as well as group initiative and group perception available by macros for each game I run. For example "#1#perst" without the 1 gives me-

Arachiel: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Durin: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Khun-Duhn: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Kirilarien: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31
Lord Vincent: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6
Marcus: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29
Zanzu: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33 (Special- Trap Spotter)
Barak: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28 +2 in Desert (Favoured Terrain)

I use Maptools for tactical combat maps, when I feel a map is necessary. Its got a bit of a learning curve but the time investment is worth it. This for example took me about 2 minutes to set up- Map

[Edward Nightingale]

it does seem like there is a bit of a learning curve. I'll have to spend some time messing around with it.

[Laithoron]

E.D.: The most important thing is that you'll have to change your ideas on how to run initiative. The method that I would recommend is detailed here:

How to run a PbP Faster

Maps: I find them essential in PbP. Thankfully, because players are not waiting on one another to the same extent as in a live game, you can make things much more tactical that you could in a live game. That said, understand that you need 3 tools here (I've bolded the ones I use):

1. A map creation program (Photoshop, GIMP, Dundjinni, MapTool).
2. A map usage program (MapTool, Roll20, etc.).
3. Some means of sharing the map with your players (Picassa, a wiki, MapTool, Dropbox, etc).

Thankfully, there are some really good map-making tips on these forums for whether you are making maps directly in MapTool, or if you have access to a more powerful tool like Photoshop.

Best way to make maps

I've got some more ideas to post later, but for right now I have to run.

EDIT: Also, check my profile for a program called ShortKeys. You'll want something like it to automate all the repetitive die rolls you'll be making (Kilcoyne touched on this briefly).

[Edward Nightingale]

I'm on Mac OS, so ShortKeys doesn't work. Is there an alternative?

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

The slightly higher maintenance is just having these blocks of text saved in Notepad or Word etc. and just copying and pasting them when you need them. Worked ok for me until I stepped up my PbP habit to the point where I needed macro's...

A good place to keep these blocks of text is actually the Campaign Info tab, long description.

[Laithoron]

Edward Nightingale wrote:

I'm on Mac OS, so ShortKeys doesn't work. Is there an alternative?

Did you actually look in my profile? It notes on the same line as ShortKeys alternatives for both Linux and Mac...

Laithoron's Profile wrote:

Automating your PbP with scripting
[ ShortKeys Full & Free (Windows) | AutoHotKey (Windows) | AutoKey (Linux) | QuicKeys (Mac) ]