PbP?

[Vortigern]

Does anyone know of a decent PbP Conan game that is active?

Would anyone be interested in running one here? ( I can hear the clamor of people saying they would play in one already, but GMs... ah, you are a slightly rarer breed. :wink: )

 

[Belkregos]

check this one out, hteres some spots available

http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=479

 

[Krushnak]

I wouldnt mind running one, would prefer it to be about 3-6 players only any more would just get a bit unweildy.

any suggestions for where the game should start? and what type of game is wanted the most? ie: military, criminal, adventurers, nobles etc.

 

[Vortigern]

I wouldnt mind running one, would prefer it to be about 3-6 players only any more would just get a bit unweildy.

any suggestions for where the game should start? and what type of game is wanted the most? ie: military, criminal, adventurers, nobles etc.

Personally I favor more story/drama and less fighting. But that said, I'll gladly participate in anything. A scholar or a noble ( Or better yet, both. Stygia is such an interesting place. ) is more my bent, yet I'm open to whatever you would enjoy running.

Everyone at the table as it were should enjoy themselves. Including Ye Olde GM.

 

[Clovenhoof]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is PbP?
Play by... ??

 

[Dark Mistress]

pbp = play by post either on a forum or email.

I have tried them but to slow for my tastes. I found a good compermise is chat based play. Easier to arrange and you don't have to live near people but the game play is still fairly fast paced.

 

[Clovenhoof]

Oh, I see. Yeah, I tried that once on a forum, but also found it too slow, or too time-consuming.

However, how about a Skype or Teamspeak-based play? I guess I'd be up for that. =)

 

[Vortigern]

I prefer PbP to other forms of online play for my own purposes. My schedule is rather hectic and would likely prevent me from being able to find the time to set aside to devote to a regular game session meeting online whereas with a PbP I can write posts at the irregular intervals that I have free.

 

[Demetrio]

There are two big problems with pbp:

1 - player dropout. As the pace tends to be slow, adventures take a longish while to play out and real life or simple boredom induced by the slow pace means folk tend to disappear mid-adventure.

2 - combat. Especially in a more tactical game like Conan where many combat feats are situation specific. Combats take ages.

There are lesser problems. Examples:

players forgetting what's going on because it takes three weeks of real time to resolve a ten minute game time encounter.

players misinterpreting what the gm has written (usually genuine misunderstanding but sometimes exacerbated by the fact that they've forgotten something that was mentioned three weeks ago in real time) or what another player has written and then doing something that affects the game in a way they wouldn't have intended had they realised... this often snowballs as players react to a small misinterpretation and by an online form of Chinese whispers it can get to the stage where the GM has to do a lot of work to sort out meanings.

A couple of players are best for swifter movement of the game and are easy for the gm to control yet half a dozen or more players make for much better player interactions and a generally more interesting experience. But everything takes longer with more players and the more active tend to sideline those who can only post a couple of times a week.


I'd consider running one later in the year if people were keen but for Conan I'd want no more than three players I think and an arrangement would have to be reached about how combat is handled (I'd favour GM rolls all the dice and do the nitty gritty with players giving a general statement of intent for each round. Posting three times weekly, daily in combat. That might sound rather Stalinist but it's the only way I could see myself running a pbp Conan.

Chat room based games tend to be much faster and are the way to go for those who can arrange (and stick to) regular weekly slots.

 

[thelevitator]

I've been in a C&C PbP game for a little over a year now. The pace is definitely much slower than anything else I've ever done before. The upside to PbP is that people can take the time to be more thoughtful with responses, and so the game reads more like an action novel than a transcription from a traditional game. Our GM is pretty awesome, so that really helps. I think the other key has been that the players who originally signed up check in at least once per day, which keeps things moving pretty quickly.

I still much prefer F2F or VTT games, but PbP does offer a unique experience that is more narrative in nature with the right group.

I'm actually starting a PbP game right now that uses my "Blood, Sweat & Steel" rules to play a Sword & Sorcery game. Combat in my game is much more streamlined than D20 combat, so I hope that will help get through the crunch as easily as possible in a PbP format. I've never run a PbP game before, so that alone should keep it interesting for me. I'm also really stoked that I found a bunch of players interested in playing my game. 8)

 

[Vortigern]

So is there a general lack of interest in a PbP game hereabouts then?