Shadowrun RPG > SR3 (Shadowrun 3rd Edition) General Discussion

Thinking about starting a PBP game...but I've never run one before

(1/2) > >>

Gilliam:
I'm pretty sure this is covered somewhere on the forum, but I have a feeling I'll need to be asking a few of my own questions.  Here's a few to start:

     1.  How much to prepare?  is it customary to have long flowery description of an entire bar?  or is it generally better to leave most of the window dressing to players?
     2.  How to keep continuity?  For instance... if the group splits, does that become another thread, all on it's own, or does it somehow stay in one whole thread for the entire PBP game?
     3.  Big one here...How to handle combat?  I think I've heard that it can be done in it's own thread, but what kind of a dice-roller solution is ideal?
     4.  How often to post?  as a GM or a player (and I realize the answer may be quite different for GM's vs. players)  I'm thinking about a relatively fast-paced game, as such things go, with myself checking up on it daily.

I'd appreciate any and all answers/advice.

Ingo Monk:
Here's how we've done it before:

1. Up to you, your game.  Long descriptions are bad imo, when's the last time you went to a website that had some crazy long paragraph and you read the whole in its entirety?  Don't go too short either, i.e. "you walk into a bar, what do you do?".  A few sentences is good, close to how you'd describe a scene in a face-to-face game.

2. Also up to you.  You can utilize the PM system on these forums (you can sent one PM to multiple people at the same time) to send out what each person/group sees and when you get the responses post them into the PBP game yourself.

3. When it gets to combat you can try to schedule a time for everyone to meet in a chat program somewhere.  Or you can use the honor system and have each person tell you what they got.  And finally you could just do everything yourself since you should have copies of the character sheets anyway (this works the best I think)

4. Most games we've had require a commitment of at least 1 post per week from each player.  If you want to do more than that you should get commitment from players beforehand.  We're all adults so time can be an issue.

Hope that helps! :D

kv:
 1.  How much to prepare?  I've run a PbP on this forum before, and this is a group of good players. Usually, I pick two or three details about a room when someone walks in- just like you would when you walk into a room- the hospital is too bright, and smells like cleaner, and the walls are all a dead white. The bar is dark, there's a tv on in the corner, and a couple of people at the bar, chatting with the bartender. That makes it easy enough to run without bogging down on details. If you want more interaction from you players, keep responses short. If you want to turn the corner in the story, use longer posts to keep control of what's going on.

     2.  How to keep continuity?  I've done it both ways- I've found it works better to have another thread started for the people splitting off from the main group. Try and keep people from going solo, unless you want them to wander off and get lost.

     3.  Big one here...How to handle combat?  I would rely on your players to tell you how many dice, and roll them yourself. You can use online rollers (like invisible castle), or board dice rollers if Ingo has that option available, but typically it works the best if you set the stage for the combat pass, let everyone post to say what they do, and then resolve the actions, starting the next initiative pass. Combat bogs down, so whatever makes it go faster is nice.

     4.  How often to post?  As a GM, you should get into the habit of checking a few times a day. Nothing kills a game faster than people waiting on the GM. Players should probably commit to posting at least a couple of times a week, if not three or four. I don't mind people posting once a week, but if they get busy, it's usually at least a couple of weeks before you figure out they're not around anymore. It's frustrating.

All of that being said, PbP is a good way to stay playing- even when friends are busy or life sucks. Games can be fun and go on for years, with minimum problems. If you're interested in GMing, I'd be happy to make a character and play in your game!

Gilliam:
I'm still sounding out the possibilities.  my local group just got up off their butts and asked me to run a 4th ed D&D module for them tomorrow, so I'm gonna work on that for a little bit here.  Apparently though, my DCI # has expired though, and so has my judge-level membership.  Not that that was all that hard to get.  I was mainly using the service to get me some free modules :)

kv:
DCI? Judge level? What does that mean (and how can I use it to get free modules?)

  -kv

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page