Re: Email/F2F Combo Roleplaying Game?

From: casbahcarl@aol.compost (Chuck)

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 00:00:00 +0000

aefsp@datasync.NS.com (Jeff) Wrote:

> Chuck, I've used a listserv for members of my gaming group
> to communicate  during the week and had a F2F weekly game.
> Several of my old gaming group have  moved out of state
> and they too participate through the email.  But the main
> event is still the F2F game.  Close enough?

Hi Jeff, thanks for your message. I was looking for comments from people
experienced with a 3/1 combination, but appreciate your response nonetheless.

Here's a message that I share with this newsgroup. It came from one of the frp
news groups (my own comments are quoted):

I have just now started running such a game. The PCs are members of a
gentlemen's club in 1850's London, and all happen to turn up to this club every
Saturday evening. they aren't (as yet) a 'group' but they will regularly be in
the same place at the same time.

The tabletop game happens once a month in real time, and once a week in game
time. Out-of-club stuff is handled by email.

I have not yet run the first tabletop session: I only knew I was running the
game last month! Since then I've been trying to write a plot and come up with
NPCs, ably assisted so far by willing players.

There is no system, just a set of character descriptions. So far, PCs have been
writing to NPCs that may or may not have anything to do with the game. These
NPCs are made up entirely by the players, thus far. I write on behalf of most
NPCs. Such letters get posted to the group as a whole, leaving players to do a
lot of firewalling but giving the game as a whole a real feel, even in this,
the first week of the game.

All mails have as a subject the character they are written by or to, to save
confusion over various pseudonyms, nicknames and the like.

One player also wrote on behalf of an NPC, and I assume will be doing so in
future. I'm encouraging this; it saves me a lot of work and none of the players
(so far as I can tell) are the power-hungry types that have to be leashed at
all. I haven't had anyone writing to the Queen and calling her 'Vicky, old
chum' or any other subtle warning signs...

As to how well it works, that depends a lot on me as a ref, but I shall try to
let people know how much problem I have co-ordinating mail and play. The first
tabletop session is this Thursday evening, GMT.

Chuck <casbahcarl@aol.compost> wrote:
>> The tabletop game happens once a month in real time, and
>> once a week in game time. Out-of-club stuff is handled by
>> email.
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> As to how well it works, that depends a lot on me as a
>> ref, but I shall try to let people know how much problem I
>> have co-ordinating mail and play. The first tabletop
>> session is this Thursday evening, GMT.
>
>That's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking/hoping to do. I would very
much
>be interested in hearing about your experiences as the game progresses, and
any
>end-of-game comments you may have.

Well, the session started with me sickly nervous, as all roleplay I've ever yet
run has.. :0)

One of the players couldn't make it, but I had another by the end of the
evening anyway. The place is for roleplayers to meet, so I ran mine as an
'open' game, where people can if they wish, listen in and join in if they feel
like so doing. And one 'newbie' to the place did, wrote up a character enough
so he felt he could play it and joined in.

I never expect much from the first session of a game. One of the players is
also totally new to roleplay, so I was prepared for a jumbled, hit- and-miss
session. As it was, things went fairly smoothly and there was good flow by the
end of a session. At no point were there awkward of embarrassed silences, and
people have agreed to turn up next month, so I *suppose* it worked.

The written part of the game is actually being put onto a web-site by a friend,
so I when I have the URL, I shall let you know and you can see how the written
part was handled for yourself. It is all in the form of monologues or letters:
about 90% letters. Most of the work in building the NPCs the characters know
has so far been handled by the players. I think they relish the control over
their backgrounds this gives them.

That said, I did wish a pair of nieces and a friend in India on one of the
players who hadn't written anything.

>Some of the things I'm especially keen to hear about:
>
> - amount of effort required, F2F vs. Email

Hmm... well, the emailed stuff takes more effort, typing, but it's so spread
out that it doesn't seem that bad at all. And it's not as if I'm having to do
all the work either. face to face was as per any usual game, with the first
part being taken up by making sure everyone had caught up with the 'paperwork'
and knew what everyone else did.

> - how different speeds in pacing is handled

That hasn't really been a problem. the players know when the tabletop is
happening, and thus won't write letters forward of that time. They can
'retroactively' write in as much as they like, going back as far as they like.
As this inevitably draws up new ideas for me, I'm all for it.

Actual actions are tabletop only, and within the club itself so far. When the
Saturday evening ends, they go away and come back a week of downtime later,
which can meantime be filled with mails during the month gap. As such, the
length of a 'Saturday evening' is necessarily elastic. Next session, at the
natural point to end the session, I shall declare it to be the end of that day
and other stuff will have to be written.

This is the theory, anyway. In practice, I'll be as flexible as the players, as
a whole, need. But pacing is going to be handled in the same way as it is in
tabletop.

> - how you handle players who are more active by email than others

Well, the more active a player is, the more control they gain over their
character's 'world'. I will respond on behalf of NPCs, but generally as NPCs
that the players have created for themselves. This also means that players who
get creative and make references to 'past events' will have had them happen,
and gain more control.

Thus there is an innate 'reward' system for writing often. As ref, it makes no
difference to me if a player writes or not. As a player, it makes a heck of a
difference.

> - Any gaming system seem more generous to this kind of gaming?

Well... we're not using any system at all. Players have a character description
that they write themselves, and that's it.

During the session, I did have to make a decision about whether something had
happened at a particular point or not. Both were reasonable, and I couldn't
decide which would make the better story, so I tossed a coin to decide. The
players saw this, and knew why I was doing it, and didn't care that the result
was on a 'whim'. It was just something I hadn't thought about earlier. So I
suppose I did use a random modifier.

This *does* take trust from the players. I seem to have that trust. With a
power gamer, it just wouldn't work, but what power gamer would want to play in
a game with no stats, no rules and therefore no pricks to kick against?

The player characters do have limits before creation; they must be upper-middle
or lower-upper class, be reasonably wealthy, and have membership to (or a
reason to regularly visit) a certain fictional club. And the game is set in the
year 1851, in Hackney, London, which sets its own limits. But that's it.

So, so far it's worked, people seem to have had fun, *I've* had fun and no-one
has left in a huff, or even had anything particularly to grumble at (AFAIK).
I'm surprised, and pleased with this!

----
 Currently Enjoying the Following Games:
  Unexplained - http://www.ukg.co.uk/unexplai.htm
  DungeonWorld - http://www.dungeonworld.com/
  Monster Island - http://www.adventuresbymail.com/
  Corporation - http://www.ukg.co.uk/corp.htm

References

Re: Email/F2F Combo Roleplaying Game?
aefsp@datasync.NS.com (Jeff)
Mon, 19 Jul 1999 00:00:00 +0000