Hey guys, I am in heavy consideration of running a PbP campaign but I have never played in one let alone GM'ed one. I am curious if there are any experienced players that are willing to give me a shot and guide me along the way. I have a lot of time on my hands daily because I work from home in front of a computer.
I have been a Game Master now for 2 years with 3 on going weekly groups that are very very very deep into their adventures and a 4th group starting up here soon in a week. I am booked up for any more games but PbP is very doable for me and I am curious to see one of my games get more in depth with their characters than the VTT/voice chat players tend to do.
Adventures I am considering to run is: Reign of Winter, Rise of the Runelords, Carrion Crown or Legacy of Fire.
I might want to start a 1 shot module first to get going if the experienced players recommend it. Other than that most adventures take time to get started anyways and I don’t see the harm in starting one right away. Open to discuss. Also, I am not a quitter. If I start this, it will finish! Unless of course you all boo me off the stage.... :(
I am not sure I can take on any new players (to pbp and/or pathfinder) in this campaign since I have a lot to shuffle already. So please if you’re new, this game won’t be for you.
Ordinarily I am a Fantasy Grounds GM and very proficient with the software and I see it could be a very useful tool for me to keep info organized and track information behind the scenes. I probably will use Roll20 for any maps and official dice rolls and I believe google drive for any images/npc's (undecided).
I am still working on a solid set of rules and expectations from players and myself but could use some assistance if available.
So who's with me?
I'd probably be up for something, I'm GMing one PbP game so I can help out on GMing questions if you need it. I'd do rolls on the forum though, easier to keep track of than flipping between forum and roll20. 1 shot module and then shift into AP is a good plan, just decide on which AP first so people can plan ahead on background, traits, etc.
Having just started GM'ing a pbp in May I'd be on board to play with you. If you have never played in one it might best to try to join one as a player to see how the flow goes.
PDXCook is right it is a huge commitment. A lot depends on your players obviously. The more your players contribute the easier it is for you. There is nothing worse than not knowing when to push a story a long to keep up the momentum.
The material you choose to run you should know very well. I must have read the module I am running two to three times before even running it and I still missed things. Regardless pbp GMing is a process so as long as your players feel you are committed missing things (i.e. rules, etc) is easily overlooked.
Yeah I just realized that these forums know how to handle dice rolls which is super cool.
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Painlord is the king of pbp. Check out his advice here.
I have played in a lot of pbp campaigns, run a few and helped GMs before.
It depends if I can come up with a decent character for the campaign you choose but I quite enjoy being a helpful player.
I am not really interested in being a player and committing to it. But luckily a lot of games are view-able and I can easily see examples. Especially from AP's I plan to run. Seems there have been a number of games with plenty of examples and ideas to pull from.
I do fully intend on running the AP's mentioned because I am "very" familiar with them and already have the material prepped. I would like the chosen players to ultimately decide their fate.
I'd be interested in joining. It's nice to see someone new to GMing on the boards being up front about it and seeking help. I personally have quite a bit of experience with playing on these boards, but I have yet to GM a game.
Any advice on how to make players official? Do I just start up a gameplay thread?
I will gladly assist, and participate.
Any advice on how to make players official? Do I just start up a gameplay thread?
Any players that post in the gameplay thread will show up in the campaign's "Players" tab, and the characters they've posted with will likewise show up in the "Characters" tab. That's as official as it gets. :D
I would, however, recommend going through the process of a somewhat-more-formal recruitment. There are more people here willing to play than you can handle--taking the time to find the ones that best fit your play-style and requirements will make for a much better game for all involved.
Yes I do interview potential players. I'm just curious on how the system works because I can't find any real official info on the mechanics. But it does seem as simple as it looks.
Of course I am very open to answering any questions potential players are wanting to ask me?
I will probably PM each who express interest with questions to help see if we are good fit.
I have some questions I would ask most GMs then:
i. What kind of split do you prefer between roleplay and rollplay?
ii. What general power level do you expect from the player characters?
iii. What content do you generally allow in your games? (Specific Paizo? All Paizo? 3rd Party?)
iv. Do you enjoy interparty roleplay and allow space for it? (I know sometimes it gets out of hand and takes control of the game, which I don't want either. In many games I have been a part of the PCs feel like they don't even acknowledge each other's existences. I'd prefer the characters feel like companions)
Okay that sounds fine!
One thing that people do is when they host a recruitment, they list what they're looking for, and then what rules they're allowing and what the character builds are. At that point they can also do stuff like request a background, description of character, and personality. Some people like to have an alias for the characters, some only ask for them if they get selected (my preference, imho).
Then, if you have more than what you need in players, you can look over each submission, pick ones that sound good to you, seem to mesh well together as a party, and the players seem to be skilled. You can always look at an alias to see who it was made by, and then look at their post history to see if they're a reliable sort.
1. I am a 40/60 kinda person. More role play over combat. But I do love dice deciding your successes/failures.
2. I do not accept min/maxers. I am a balanced kind of person and prefer to keep things balanced and equal opportunity. I am not fond of shenanigans in my campaigns.
3. Build rules will vary from adventure to adventure. I do not accept 3rd party material. I generally allow all Paizo content. However, I am not ready to take on Occult or Mythic. My build rules are typically common and I do have a few homebrew rules that can be discussed during character creation.
4. I love when the party role plays with each other. If it prolongs the adventure so be it. Just as long as everyone is enjoying it. If they aren't, hopefully I can identify that and push the story along. I used to do role playing on forums where no dice rolling is involved and it's pure whatever you want. It is awesome to see people get in depth with everything. Of course I don't expect that but it's fun to see/read.
I'd be interested in this as well. Much like you, I spent a lot of time being a GM face-to-face before making the transition directly to an AP. Before getting started I spent time passively watching some games, and then joining some as a player. It really helped get a sense for what does and doesn't work with the medium, which can be fairly difficult to keep running smoothly.
One piece of advice, for recruitment specifically, that I've found to be really helpful is to recruit one or two more players than you think you'd really want. Nobody expects or plans to drop out of a game, but it almost always happens to a character or two, often within the first couple months of getting started. Many of the campaigns I've seen die are those that recruited the exact number, then stall out for a week or two for re-recruiting to fill those lost spots when players drop out, then never really got the momentum started back up again. I was a player in a campaign that died that way, while the campaign I'm GM-ing lost two players and is still going at a steady clip with the four remaining.
As a GM, how do you feel about players who have played or run the campaign before? I've run Runelords to completion with one of my Face-To-Face groups, and am nearing the end of the second book of Carrion Crown with that same group currently.
As a GM, how do you feel about players who have played or run the campaign before? I've run Runelords to completion with one of my Face-To-Face groups, and am nearing the end of the second book of Carrion Crown with that same group currently.
I feel like the mystery will be gone and you could potentially spoil the mystery for the other players. I kinda run things vanilla. Are you interested in playing Reign of Winter? That is my favorite.
I'd be interested in Reign of Winter, for sure. I've neither played it nor read it, and it sounds exciting.
I'm not the most experienced pbp player on the boards, but I'd love to get in on Reign of Winter or Legacy of Fire. I'm currently playing in Runrlords and Carrion Crown games elsewhere on the board.
Thank you for the interest guys. I have sent each of you some questions and I'll get back to you all in a day or two. I will begin preparing for one of the adventures based on the players I select and their top picks.
All of you have been very kind, I love it!
Interested as well
If it is Carrion Crown I would be interested been dying to play.
Interested. Been in a number of PbP games here on the boards, though most have gotten very far at all for one reason or another. I've ran several via facebook/roll20 and tavern keeper though, and feel I'm at least moderately experienced with the format.
For the campaigns listed, my preference in order of favorite to least is Rise, Carrion, Legacy, Reign...though I've played in and ran much of the first three books of Rise, and played through the first book of Carrion. I own but haven't read since it was published Legacy, and own but have never read Reign (though I think a friend of mine ran us through a modified version of the first book).
As others have said, I'd recommend running something small at first. The amount of work a PbP game requires is staggering. If you haven't read over the suggested thread by Painlord, I'd do that. His advice is amazing. In it you'll find a link to a thread from DoomedHero that was the inspiration for Painlord's essay, well worth the read also...but even better, if you open DoomedHero's profile you'll find a draft of his document on advice for PbP GMs.
You've gotten lots of good advice. I only recommend to decide in advance what and how you want to do things and then be very specific. The more information you can give the better the chances are for the game to succeed. As an example of what I mean, look at how Whack-a-Rogue runs a recruitment . Don't be afraid to ask for what you want!
I'm certainly interested, though I'd have to opt out of RotRL.
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PBP GMing is hard work! But I suggest you start with a PFS scenario, get the free ones, to see if you're fine with it. I did some funky stuff with my recruitment because I decided most PBPs were going too slow for my taste ;) Again...I understand my sanity is in question :)
I think Google Maps is easier for more people as I am one of those people who do their PBP gaming by phone. You can't really access roll20 by phone unless you have a premium membership. Also I find googlemaps easier to manipulate for maps, then lining up silly boxes with Roll 20.
PBP GMing is hard work!
I think Google Maps is easier for more people as I am one of those people who do their PBP gaming by phone. You can't really access roll20 by phone unless you have a premium membership. Also I find googlemaps easier to manipulate for maps, then lining up silly boxes with Roll 20.
Agreed, I run 13 PbP here for various systems. Sometimes when you are hot to trot the players are ice cold, then when you get busy the players post like crazy! It's a balancing act for sure.
Agreed as well with google maps. I find them quite easy to use. I play in games that use Roll20 but its use can be limited if one posts by phone or plays from work.
It is harder than it sounds. Run something small like a game day module. It will be a short time commitment that will give you a lot of experience as a PbP GM. After you have the bugs worked out of your system then go for an AP.
This is the way to go.
If your plan is to move toward a full adventure path, you might consider running We Be Goblins, which acts as a preamble to Jade Regent.
Some advice-
1) PbP games do not lend themselves well to dungeon crawls or mystery-based campaigns. Get some experience under your belt before you try to GM these kinds of games in PbP.
2) Make as many rolls as possible for your players. Nearly all knowledge checks, perception checks, saving throws and initiative rolls should be handled by you. If you have to wait for your players to make these checks, your game will slow to a crawl. Lack of momentum kills games.
3) Don't be afraid to railroad. In Tabletop games, pushing players in certain directions is bad. In PbP games, it is almost a necessity. Do not expect your players to take advantage of plot hooks you dropped weeks or months ago. Most times, you'll need to bridge one scene to the next narratively, explaining what the party does, and the reasons the characters made the decisions they did in order to get to the next scene. This is ok. In my opinion, this is that hardest hurdle when going from tabletop to PbP.
4) Read this.
I have been in a few a fair bit ago but then lost interest a bit but am back in interest in pathfinder. And yes wiating for everyone to roll initiavie takes a really long time.
When I gmed I made my own maps. I tried using GIMP which I could make some ones that had some looks but I find inkscape makes maps that I can run quickly save in svg.
Here is how I make them with inkscape I make a checkerboard with two different colors of squares on the map. Then I basically make cooridnates on the map. Then I put players on the map and move them all around as the GM with being able to use one file changing it for each movement. This doesn't end up with players having to play and put a link to online storage of the picture.
Hi there!
I'd be interested if you're still taking on players.
I have been through the Reign of Winter, though.
I also do not like making min-max characters.
Much prefer "THAT looks cool" for a character.
My preferences, as a player:
• Spontaneous spell casters (sorcerers, skalds and bards)
• I like the Crossblooded sorcerer, despite the inherint drawbacks
• Eldritch Scion magus archetype (and most other magi, for that matter)
• Bloodragers and Barbarians
• Chaotic Neutral alignment (improviser, independent and sometimes loose cannon)
• NO party in-fighting
• Preferred races (order of preference): Half-Orc, Half-Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Human
Hey guys thank you all for your tips and interest. I have selected 5 players to get going on Reign of Winter. If for any reason there is an opening, I will consider those who posted here first. Thanks and happy gaming!
wow, I didn't realize that we were actually posting character ideas yet, oh well. Good gaming everyone.
I did not see any character either. Oh well
Thank you for the interest guys. I have sent each of you some questions and I'll get back to you all in a day or two. I will begin preparing for one of the adventures based on the players I select and their top picks.
All of you have been very kind, I love it!
This is when I officially stopped the recruitment. Paizo doesn't let you edit first post or title so of course I can see how you are confused. Luckily I had some people interested in the same campaign and they all were very solid and helpful to my needs. So I recruited them to get my game started and they are now assisting me with that as they create their characters.
Sorry for the confusion for anyone who posted after this. Thanks again and happy gaming!