PBEM RPG Tips, part 1 From: kamerym@CAM.ORG (Louis Fillion) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000 Greetings. pbem@aol.com wrote... > I am seeking some input on running a campaign by email. I have tried to > do so several times in the last couple of years, and each effort has had > its good points. But eventually each ended for one reason or another. Yes, that seems to be a bane. Actually, games start because the GM does not realize how much work a good game takes, and they end when the GM throws the towel, or when the players find that they do not like the game, after all. > There are several factors in running PBEM RPG's that I have found to be > potential sources of major problems. > *) number of players, Yep. Too many and you can't give them enough time individually. But not enough, and you will not reach the critical mass. Attrition also plays a role. I started my game with 9 players and am now at 11. Of the original nine, only 5 remain. The game started two years ago and is still running. > *) file management, A nightmare at first, but is not a problem if you sit down and think about it for an hour or so. Things are running very smoothly for me. The thing is to *never* get behind in actualizing reports, or else you will have enormous catchup work to do, and that will kill you. > *) length and flexibility of turn scheduel, You *must* be flexible. You must also be firm, from the start, that you put a lot of time on the game and that you expect your players to do their part. Be understanding, but if a player cannot keep up, you will have to talk to him, and if it does not get better, fire him. No choice, if you want to keep the game running. > *) player vs. GM input on character creation, In my opinion, the more the player participates in the creation of his character, the more it will be to his liking and the more he will partici- pate in the game. Good backgrounds are vital. You must also give yourself enough room to tack stuff to it. My policy is to let the player add stuff, even after the game has started, if it does not contradict what is already known of the character. > *) play interuptions, (semester break, illness, etc...) Unavoidable. But the game must not stop. The game must *never* stop for long. If there's a break, like say, two months, you will not be able to recover as people will have moved on to other things and responding to your mails will take a lower priority. > *) volume and format of turn data, My final turn reports are enormous: Turn 14, for the less active active players was 150-200k in size. For my top roleplayers, the size was over 600k... It took six months to roleplay that turn. I function through micro-reports. I run actions in parallel (ie, something can happen one week after something else is being run: that's for character to character interac- tion, mostly). By running things in parallel, long conversations are possi- ble. Note: Role-play, not Roll-play. Vital, I think. After a while, roll play is boring in the extreme. *) scope of game world, Unimportant: you need to have room to maneuver, the more the better, but if your basic frame is good... me, it is a spaceship going from world to world: flexibility: I can breeze through a system, or stay (ie, the engine is damaged and needs repair, so the troops are free to do a specific mission groundside... or just take some leave). Descriptions... you don't want to make a definitive, complete, and final atlas from the start: by doing so, you close doors. Besides, it's a lot of work. But you can give some brief descriptions, and a good description file of the area the players are in. I love to drop a few news from far away on my players. Most of the news are irrelevant, but add atmosphere, but some of them they will be involved in. In a few years of real time play as my game, despite lots of activity, is crawling (timewise). > *) player expectations, Ask them? Some may want hack and slash... boring. Some will want role-play, complete with body language and innocuous actions that don't further the game but add depth. Swipe them off their feet and give them just that. The prize players are those who generate action: at first, you have to rely on your NPCs to heat things up, but your players will eventually take the slack and from then on, things will run almost smoothly. You will find that a few NPCs emerge as near-players, while others are just figurants. Figurants make for good cannon-fodder. So do PC-figurants. To me, the strength of email is that you can run a totally blind game. The players do not know who is who. And you can *color* the percep- tions of your players. Exploit that, subtly. > Have you run an email rpg? :) > What problems have you encountered? Nearly inactive players. People losing access for three months. No time. Overambitious scenes (never involve too many players in one action in which everyone must act [like a battle. Split the groups in manageable sub-groups]): Battles are thoroughly difficult. Files left too long unattended: work to do piled up. I am forgetting a lot of them, I am sure, but things are pretty smooth after two years, so that there are few problems left now, except for the most precious commodity of all, time. > What methods haver you tried? Only the one above: this mail will be in two/three parts to give you an idea of the style I use. Players must send more than short answers. ex: There's a door <long description>, and you can hear nothing. reply: I listen to it. That's worth nothing. The player must do the work of trying to think one step further, at least as far as obvious things are concerned (ie, he hears nothing after listening). Ram that lesson through. Conversations: run them in parallel, at least as far as unrelated subjects go. There will be some problems that will develop, and you will have to work on the bridges from one part to the other, but it's well worth it. > What genres worked best? Role-play. Add depth. Hack and slash game will fade quickly. > Have you played in a good email rpg? Yep, but the GM could not keep up and eventually stopped. > What did you like about it? The scenery. Lots of description and read like a book. > What is most frustrating about playing in an email rpg? To wait till the next report (when you like the game, anyway). End of file 1: in file 2, I am sending a reply I sent to someone on alt.fan.furry nearly a year ago: you will probably find some of the stuff in there useful. There, too you will see the finished result of a battle. Louis Fillion kamerym@cam.org Up