Play by mail/post games can tend to have very slow combat which can quickly sap the momentum from a game. While it is entirely possible to run a combat on a thread on Rpol it may very well be preferable to used a discord or Roll20 session from time to time to handle fights.

Open to thoughts and preferences on this as there may be better solutions I don't know about.

I prefer Roll20, since I thoroughly enjoy the tactical aspects of Hero System combat, in all its crunchy glory. I used to run Mutants and Masterminds games on Roll20, and I have an extensive library of tokens for it.

But we can also do some RP on Discord. I am not sure if it has a VTT aspect, though.

I think the only advantage of discord is that it has more notification options and generally people tend to have it on in the background and thus would be faster to act on their turn in combat.

Roll20 is probably the way to go

I can do either if i know ahead of time usually.

I'm not often going to be able to join live sessions, if that's what you're talking about. But if a map is on Roll20, I would be able to look at it.

Actually, that's a good point. I was thinking we'd congregate at Roll20, but that may not be the case for anyone, especially if we are all coming in internationally.

I suppose we can check the map and move our tokens once per day, to keep up with posting.

I have had at least a draft of everyone's character sheet so we are getting close to the off. My aim is to get the ball rolling on this game mid next week and even then there should be some time for fine tuning of characters.

On the topic of this thread: For now I will try and run combat on Rpol and see how that goes. In future I think an asynchronous approach to Roll 20 might be needed but anyone with a better idea/platform please say.

I've run Champions on RPOL and Roll20 before. Due to the nature of phases, and how many there are in any given segment/turn, it actually meant that each player would post once every few days (assuming there was a single post per player per given phase per day). So it made it a bit slow, but not slower than one would expect on a regular play-by-post with the same parameters. Of course, since the order of actions is strictly regulated by DEX order in a segment/turn, it is possible for several posts to occur in a single day, but since the GM would have to adjudicate the results of any actions (attack [hit/miss/damage], skills rolls, etc.) it will remain slow, but could be sped up if the GM has a lot time to check during a day.

Overall, though, once the map is ready to go on Roll20, there is very little upkeep for the GM. All s/he has to worry about is to make sure the tokens are in the right place.

On RPOL, assuming it is not theater of the mind, the GM would have to update the map, make good guesses of where everyone is at, and then post a new image for each action.

I find the initial work on Roll20 to be more of a good investment, as it allows each player to place themselves exactly where they want, and the GM has very little to update on the map during any given combat encounter, other than the motion of the opponents. If you spend, let's say, a week on a map and tokens for a battle you know is going to happen, you will have very little map work to do for the several weeks that combat will likely take.

I do have a bias, though: I like Champions' crunchy combat and numbers system. And for it to work, you have to have precise placements for distance measurements for combat penalties and areas of effect. So I do favor Roll20 for that.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Thu 29 Aug.