I've never tried a PBEM game but I'm really curious about running or playing in one. Can someone tell me a bit about how it's done? Seems to me each email would encompass a very brief window of game action.

Quote from: rgrove0172;1050942I've never tried a PBEM game but I'm really curious about running or playing in one. Can someone tell me a bit about how it's done? Seems to me each email would encompass a very brief window of game action.

Players & GMs need to write more like a short paragraph, bit like a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. In combat the GM usually needs to roll out several rounds of combat at a time until a major decision point is reached, eg a PC is badly wounded or the monsters flee, so systems that don't require players to choose powers every round tend to work best.

I ran tons of these ca 1995-2007. Some sorts of adventure don't work in PBEM, eg the traditional dungeon crawl format is not viable IME because there are too many "do you go left or right?" type small decision points slowing the game down. Whereas social interaction and intrigue can work excellently. It also suits games where the PCs are not always together, but will come together regularly. I played and ran an excellent one set in an 1870s Western town; another good one was a Traveller game centred on a scout starship & its crew dealing with a local planet. My biggest one was "Ea: Time of Chaos", which was a continent-sprawling swords & sorcery epic with its own rules system (a bit like Warhammer Battle). Wilderness travel & exploration can work well too.

I ran one back in the day and got a bunch of pre-rolls from both players.
I then progressed the story like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.
Once I got to a cliff hanger or other critical decision point I'd prompt the players for their decisions and more rolls.
Went on for over a year so, seemed to work for all involved.
I my case there were parallel story lines that merged when the characters met at the end.
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Ran a Gamma World one for 5 years.

Basically I did all the rolling and co-ordination and collecting of everyones turns each segment.

It moves at the speed of the slowest player to respond.

Way too slow.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1051260Way too slow.

Works for some players. A week between turns, or two weeks for some PBMs was totally worth it.

And slow gaming is better than no gaming.

But PBeM can actually go fairly fast depending on the group. Similar to how TBF sessions can go. The game moves at the speed of the slowest player.

I always set a time limit for turn response, no more than a couple days. Was a lot easier when I was a student without a fixed schedule!
I did run a White Star play-by-post last year for a couple months over the summer, people loved it but I couldn't keep it up for very long. There were maybe half a dozen significant events in that time, including a battle with an Assimilant probe ship and boarding party that only took 2-3 days.

I think scheduling is the critical thing - you need to be strict on post turnaround deadlines, and IME you need to set a game duration (eg 2 or 3 months) and stick with that to avoid burnout. You can always come back and do another chapter later.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1051260Way too slow.

I did rpbmail in the 90s. That's fucking slow!

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1051284I did rpbmail in the 90s. That's fucking slow!

Yeah I ran snailmail games ca 1991-94 before getting on the Internet. Thank goodness for the Royal Mail's next day delivery!

Quote from: S'mon;1051286Yeah I ran snailmail games ca 1991-94 before getting on the Internet. Thank goodness for the Royal Mail's next day delivery!

Er-whaa? Are you serious? THAT was a thing? Holy shit, gamers are a dedicated bunch! Inspiring, truly. Hah hah hah hah.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1051362Er-whaa? Are you serious? THAT was a thing? Holy shit, gamers are a dedicated bunch! Inspiring, truly. Hah hah hah hah.

Are you kidding? PBMs used to be a big gaming business. Lots of wargames, but a few RPGs as well snuck in. Flying Buffalo ran several. Andon Games was pretty big too and eventually the owner went on to run conventions and then GenCon.

FB ran games like Heroic Fantasy and Starweb. And they've been running PBMs since the 70s. There used to be awards at Origins for best PBM of the year.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1051362Er-whaa? Are you serious? THAT was a thing? Holy shit, gamers are a dedicated bunch! Inspiring, truly. Hah hah hah hah.

Some of us predate a casual internet.

... and people had to pay money to play them.

These days, with the short attention spans, you almost have to pay players to play such slow paced games.
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The pbms I ran and played were with two old friends after I went to University in England and they stayed in Belfast.

Quote from: Greentongue;1051491... and people had to pay money to play them.

These days, with the short attention spans, you almost have to pay players to play such slow paced games.
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Actually theres a couple of commercial PBMs still running. Starweb and I think Heroic Fantasy have been running close to 50 years now.