quote:
Min-max, power gaming, rules lawyering, and invulnerable / no conflict players.
I actually find these issues are easier to resolve with this medium. Face-to-face, min-maxing and power gaming require thorough research and familiarity with the player's characters to mitigate. That's time added to character creation that most people find slows the process down. Rules lawyering can stop a game in its tracks as a specific rule is researched and adjudicated. Via PBP, I find I can spend a good deal of time reviewing characters before the game and reviewing actions during the game before needing to post and can cover a lot of ground with a single post. You're not interrupting a turn in progress, wasting a limited about of time to play with page flipping and dithering.
quote:
So, that's the other thing: communication. It's not always easy to get people to respond openly and honestly about what they like or don't like about a game, but I recommend asking open and honest questions: How is this working? What would you like the game to include? Is this part moving fast enough for you? How can we make it move the speed we want?
Eh. I tried to get a FATE game going ex nihilo - starting from game creation and moving into character creation and then play. We never got past game creation because (from what I can tell) people didn't want to actually go out on a limb and say what they liked or disliked. I'd throw out posts with half a dozen suggestions and ask which of the options people like best, but only got "That's fine" as a response. No one wanted to commit to anything. The process started in one direction but since only two of the six players were providing meaningful input it drifted in another direction until several players dropped out because it wasn't going how they wanted. I chalk it up to:
I thought I was clear about what I was trying to do, but it seems the players weren't on the same page. So, I'm trying to learn to be much more specific and direct during the recruitment process.
quote:
Over time, I recommend cultivating a group of friends on the site. Having quality players and friends in your games is a boon, and smooths out any rough edges in the PBP process.
I'm starting to think this is really the way to go. I know there are some people from that first test drive that I'm wary to allow into future games I run, and some who I would welcome enthusiastically. I'm trying to decide how much I think was due to misunderstanding my intent and how much was due to unreliable players.
quote:
Presumptive rolls. Players assume a roll will be needed, make the best guess for what stats or skills would apply, and roll.
This is actually how I ran a VtR Chicago game on here for several months. Of course, I would argue that player's should know the system well enough to know which stats or skills apply to specific actions without having to guess (new players learning the system and strange one-off scenarios notwithstanding). If your Vampire is going to case a rack, you may as well throw that Wits + Composure (+ Auspex). If I feel like using it I use it, and if you roll an exceptional success damned if I don't put something in that scene (even if I hadn't planned on it) to make it worth your while.
quote:
I’ve found that declaring the round open, letting everyone post their action (in whatever order), waiting until they’ve all posted, then adjudicating everything at once.
I thought of this as well and plan on using this method in my Renegades of the Metal Age FATE game. Get everyone's actions all at once and then post once to summarize the round.
Speaking of FATE, if anyone is planning on running that, I'd caution you against using the by-the-book Phase Trios. I found it slowed things down immensely waiting for players to post their ideas for their Phases and waiting to see if the other players accepted their suggestions. Even though the Phases don't need to follow a certain order, most of the players felt it necessary to use them as an extended, consecutive origin story. Next time I start a FATE game, I'm going to come up with a different method so that the players can make their characters without thinking they need to wait for others to post things.
quote:
system handling time
I agree that some systems would take longer to run than others. I think the DnD/Path/Starfinder games are medium on the scale - players should know which skills are required for which tasks and can roll without needing to know any modifiers or the DC. The GM can modify the raw result and compare to the DC during his post. Monster ACs, SRs, and other defenses can be posted (I would never do this face-to-face, for immersion reasons, but this can save many days of posts) so that players can roll against them when they declare their actions. I don't think I'd try running ShadowRun on here. I love the game, but you can't make any roll until you know the penalties, you must roll your attack and defense (though, these can be simultaneous) before you can roll your damage resistance (since the successes on the attack modify the DV). It might be possible to be very sharing with monster stats and allow the players to roll their defenses or the GM can simply do all the dice rolling with access to player character sheets, but either of those solutions still takes a lot of paperwork.
This message was lightly edited by the user at 05:43, Tue 22 May 2018.