Re: New to PBM..Question about turns in open-ended FRPG?

From: spiro51@hotmail.com (Colin Turner)

Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 01:09:02 +0000

>I am interested in PBM and PBeM fantasy role-playing, and I am
curious
>as to what a fairly standard turn consists of. What type and how many
>actions can a player submit, and how is this handled by the GM
>(assuming the game is human moderated).

I run a WFRP PBeM - "Crouching Squire, Hidden Druid" - on Yahoogroups,
and I do it in just about the most typical, obvious way, I imagine.  I
set down the turn-guidelines right away, so they knew to what to give
and what to expect.. to phrase their actions as intent, not completed
actions, to follow the cardinal "don't write for other PCs" rule, etc.

We've been going strong for a couple weeks now, with 122 posts since
the beginning of the month and six turns since the 7th, so it seems to
be working.  I'll put the full text of my "guidelines" post below my
sig in this message, since it might be helpful.

>Is it mostly narrative as in a tabletop RPG? Is it less narrative. If
>anyone has any examples they would be willing to share, that would be
>great! Thanks in advance!

The "narrative" question is mostly settled, with respect to our game,
in the guidelines I stuck down below, but it's not a game aimed at
"writers".  Most of the "narrative" is the GM's stringing their
actions together and making it sound good.  It sticks pretty
faithfully to a tabletop dynamic.

You can see all of it, from character creation to the first six turns
of combat (I always start a game in a fight) in the second link in my
sig, "The Moot".

You'll see that some of the players write more of a mini-story for
themselves as they go (which I incorporate into the turn's timing),
and others post as their turn, "I beat on him..............."

I'd post a couple turns' worth of action from everyone (6 players & 1
GM), but that'd run pretty long, so might not be appropriate for
newsgroup. :P

good luck
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--attachment--

Msg 43
Subject: [ADMIN] Player's guidelines, mostly writing format.

Ok, we're ready, so I'll list some guidelines. (Sean's halfling's
background is
the only thing missing, but it's no sweat to have him as a bit of a
mystery man
for now..)

1. Be sure to notate the IC and OOC (in-character and
out-of-character)
sections of your posts. It's best to write what actions your PC
attempts,
what he says, and all that in the first half, under an "IC" tag. Then,
skip
a couple lines and put your rules-questions, to-the-GM comments, or
anything
else at all under an "OOC" tag, numbering multiple items. You can say
anything OOC, but for IC, everything a PC says is in quotes.

2. Avoid writing completed actions - think of the PC as constantly
making
new plans of action and initiating them. I have to roll some dice to
see
whether those plans work, so leave room for chance. It makes perfect
sense
to propose a three-stage action ("lift the gate, slide under, and
lower it
silently behind") or more, but going on too far spoils the flow, since
I
might have to retroactively negate half.

One effect of this is that you lose the ability to write a long
dramatic
narrative, since you can't often write long strings of completed
actions,
but the stop-go rhythym is how PBeMs go.

3. Scrupulously avoid writing other people's PCs' actions, reactions,
words,
or thoughts - if you want their comments, get them in-character.
Please,
please, talk to each other during the turn. The GM has to break this
rule to
supply gap-filling actions for people or a little dialogue, but I'd
prefer
to weave together your IC comments when writing the turn summary and
results.

4. Don't write more than someone else will want to or have time to
read.
This is already half-covered by #2. Naturally, the GM is exempt. :P

5. If you tend to make very short posts, make them as IC as possible!
Better
short than infrequent, too - we need your presence, even if you have
time
for only an IC decision or opinion that we can all work with.

6. We often need a reply from a particular PC before moving on, so
please
check groupmail every couple days. I'll kick in answers after three
days if
silence prevails from some player. The OOC section of your post is the
best
place to let us know if you'll be away; if you're away a lot or simply
lose
interest, it's best to bow out to someone on the waiting list.

7. Accent. It's colorful to write some accent now and then, but it's
just
too laborious to do it well all the time. Follow your sense of timing.
;)
Usually a schtick is preferable to an accurate accent, anyway.

References

New to PBM..Question about turns in open-ended FRPG?
mhy6363@yahoo.com (M. Smith)
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:47:46 +0000