Second Edition PbP Games

[Diaz Ex Machina]

Hello everyone.

Now that 2nd Edition is officially out is there any GM planning to run either the Age of Ashes AP or The Fall of Plaguestone Module? Or are we all still too busy with the upcoming GameDay VIII?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[Joana]

I intend to run Hellknight Hill. I'm interested in seeing how 2e works in PbP with all its reactions and triggers messing with the expected flow of initiative. It'll have to wait until I have time to put together a recruitment post, though.

[Phntm888]

I personally have no intention of running either of those adventures soon via PbP - I'm still working my way through the system, and will probably need to play it face to face a few times before I do so.

I suspect that it may take a few months in general for 2nd Ed PbP to start picking up, as everyone gets their books and such. I think running a PbP requires more familiarity with the system, and it takes time to build that.

[Joana]

*shrug* I can't learn a game without playing it. I figure we'll all muddle through together. At least PbP gives you plenty of time to stop and look up a rule to make sure you're doing it right.

[Phntm888]

...There were no responses when I typed mine, and then there was one when I hit submit.

I generally find it easier to learn a game while playing as well. I just figured it would be a while until someone was willing to do one via PbP. It seemed like recruitments in general have been down lately, although whether that's due to prep for the 2E launch or something else, I don't know.

[WormysQueue]

I'm planning to give PBP another shot and I also want to use 2e for this endeavor, but my plans don't involve the new 2E adventures/APs at the moment, so no to the OP's question (and Age of Ashes would have to wow me pretty hard to change the plan).

Still have to work through the new rulebook first though, because while I think that PBP's slower speed lends itself to cope with "still shaky" rules mastery, I should at least know where to find things, if I want to look them up.

[panegyric]

I am going to start a PF1 module soon (will open the recruitment thread next week), and I expect to take around 4 months to finish it, but next on my list is The Fall of Plaguestone. Want to have a a few months to read through the new rulebook carefully.

[F. Castor]

Joana wrote:

I intend to run Hellknight Hill. I'm interested in seeing how 2e works in PbP with all its reactions and triggers messing with the expected flow of initiative. It'll have to wait until I have time to put together a recruitment post, though.

Looking forward to it. I am fairly certain I will be applying. If there is a recruitment, that is.

I am pretty intrigued by 2E and, at least at first glance, find that I am probably going to like it quite a bit.

[Trailjava]

When I started here on the forums. I played 1E and because of RL had to drop from games etc. Now 2E is out, I am retired from the military, and I just subscribed to the 2E AP. So I will plan on running the Age of Ashes AP with four players at some point.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Slight necro.

It's been three months now, and I see there are some 2e PBP games up and running. People who run / play in these games: how's it working out? What's better or worse, as far as the PBP experience goes?

Doug M.

[Phntm888]

So far, it's been about the same. I'm only a little bit into playing Age of Ashes, but there hasn't been a ton of difference. The two big differences are how the GM decides to handle Secret rolls, and reactions.

The GM for my game is handling Secret Rolls by not rolling in thread. You could also handle them in-thread using a Spoiler, assuming you trust your players not to peek.

Combat thus far has mostly been smooth. Initiative gets rolled, we all act, enemies act. The only tricky part is if your character has a Reaction, you need to make sure you and your GM are on the same page regarding how to use it. Our GM said that they wanted us to list reactions in our quick stat line, and they'd take care of implementing them at the appropriate points. However, the Champion has also had to remind the GM about their Reaction, which did result in a two or three day delay during our first fight where I wasn't sure if I was on fire or not, as that would have an impact on my actions.

Basically, apart from the fairly standard growing pains of learning the rules of a new edition, I haven't noticed a great deal of difference between 1E and 2E PbP. There may be more difference on the GM'ing side of things, but I haven't GM'd 2E yet, so I can't say for sure.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Question for anyone who's playing 2e: is there any rule system that causes problems? For instance, does the three-action system complicate things in PBP?

Doug M.

[Phntm888]

Not that I have noticed, no. Of course, we're also still level 1 in Age of Ashes, given the rate of PbP, so there may be further breakdowns at higher levels that I am unaware of.

The three action system specifically does not complicate things any more than standard combat did with 1E. Just have players post what they do with each action in OOC text - something I've always done with 1E play - so that you know what they are doing with each action. For instance, a typical combat round for my bard looks like this:

Action 1: Inspire Courage. Actions 2&3: Cast telekinetic projectile.

Then I'd roll my attack for telekinetic projectile.

The only hiccup I've noticed is when posting out of Initiative order. In the current combat we're in, for instance, the GM is letting us post our actions, then resolving them in order. Our Fighter's action came after another player's in the order, and that player finished off the first opponent of the two we were fighting. So, the GM took a little liberty, replaced the Fighter's first action with a Stride to get to the second opponent, then used the Fighter's roll's from Double Slice to attack, leaving off the third attack.

I've done the same when GM'ing 1E games, so I wouldn't call that a problem of 2E and more a side effect of playing via PbP.

Our GM also sometimes speeds up Exploration Mode, covering multiple rooms while exploring the dungeon we're in if there's nothing of interest in them - either to find or from a combat standpoint. That's to prevent things from bogging down too much from dungeon crawling, though, and is also something I've seen used in 1E PbPs.

[Joana]

I find that the 3-action system does slow things down. There are too many times that a player has to wait on me as GM to give them feedback on their 1st or 2nd action before deciding on their third, particularly since Seek and Recall Knowledge are actual actions now that they have to choose to use rather than freebies as they were in 1e.

For instance, in 1e, I'd roll a Perception check for each PC when it was relevant as well as any relevant Knowledge skills and let them know what they knew: e.g., "Valeros, you see someone lurking behind the curtain, and you are aware that the thing in the middle of the room is a shadow which can steal your Strength with a touch. Now, act." In 2e, Valeros's player has to decide whether to devote one or more of their three actions to Seek or Recall Knowledge as opposed to moving or attacking -- and if they do, they have to wait on me to give them feedback before they decide, for instance, whether to approach in melee, stand back with a ranged weapon, etc.

Phntm888, how does your GM handle Seek and Recall Knowledge?

[Phntm888]

For Recall Knowledge, the GM posts a Spoiler with the relevant skill and the DC for the check to identify the creature, then lets us roll the check as part of the action. No one's actually attempted any of those checks yet, so I can't say if the feedback of the actual information from the question the player gets to ask would slow things down.

(The reason I haven't attempted the checks is I don't have the relevant Skills, and the people who do didn't bother rolling them).

We also haven't encountered any enemies we weren't already aware of when combat started, so Seek hasn't come up yet in combat.

[motteditor]

I'm also wondering how Seek and Recall Knowledge would work. I know some of my PBP GMs are great about posting multiple times a day, but I tend to be the round-at-a-time method as a GM (I want all my players to post, and then I'll resolve). That's going to be hard to do with Recall Knowledge as is.

(I'm thinking when I do a 2nd edition, probably do a Knowledge spoiler as usual and trust the players to use Recall Knowledge fairly.)

[Steve Geddes]

If you don’t like posting spoilers, you could agree-for-PBP that recall knowledge should only be used as a player’s third action, maybe. That’s a pretty mild nerf (since it seems to not be a popular action anyhow) but obviously solves the problem of waiting for DM feedback, since you’re already waiting.

[Souls At War]

Phntm888 wrote:

It seemed like recruitments in general have been down lately, although whether that's due to prep for the 2E launch or something else, I don't know.

That one might be, in part, a result of some misunderstanding, from both GMs and players, that Recruitment is for PFS, SFS, PFSACG and PFS2 only, not sure why more and more people seem to think that.