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What Is PBP? How Play By Post Works

The playing method of Play By Post for a Role-playing Game is to facilitate the location and time of everyone involved, however its more than that… you can be more descriptive through carefully writing about your character's actions and senses. For instance, in live role-play no one will take the time to elaborate what their character sees or hears or feels but in Play By Post you can do that as you write. Read more: What Is Play By Post Role-playing? - Text Role-playing Game

Works Post Play PBP What

If I mention Play By Post sometimes I will get a sarcastic remark about it being old time stuff and that's so idiotic. Are books old time stuff? Is writing old time stuff? The big plus about Play By Post is being more colorful with how you write about your character. Everyone around the table is "He will do this" and "She will do that" but its like controlling robots. Taking the time to write about your character and express your thoughts is way better than just saying your character is going to do x or y.

What Is PBP? How Play By Post Works Post Play & MMORPG RPG Text

I would definitely agree that there are great advantages to Play by Post beyond just the scheduling benefits and ability to play games like Dungeons & Dragons just a bit every day. Strong writing is very much one of them. It provides an opportunity to think for a moment about what you want to say and also look up NPC names, etc. That you don't always have at the table. I've seen some writing far better than my own on these forums thus far and really enjoy it. I'll take the queue from those folks and keep working on my own, although sometimes I do fear that I write too much. I suppose being concise is still part of being a good writer, so I shall work on that as well!

Rather off topic, but...
I don't fully agree that playing at the table has to be described negatively to sing the praises of play by post, however. I play in several different live games monthly and don't feel like it is robotic and only describing "I attack the enemy". There is a lot of in character acting going on at the tables, using voices, tone, facial expressions and many other methods to express the in character interactions and feelings that are going on. There is also a lot of description from the Dungeon Master but also the players to describe their movements and other actions. Additionally there is a great deal of humor, something that may be easier for some in person with people they know well than in writing. This is, of course, just my opinion based on extremely positive experiences at the table. I imagine if I lost my two current groups it could be hard to find a new role-playing group that fits me so well.

Overall I very much enjoy both in person and Play-by-Post play, but feel there are pros and cons to each, for my individual preferences at least. Another thought I just had about what I enjoy about Play By Post is that the people here come from more varied experiences in real life and with their gaming history and that can add a lot of flavor and different viewpoints to the game.

Works Post Play PBP What

Cinder its all relative to the group you are in. My point is no one writing a post will get away with "My character does x" but you can in a group.

Rather off topic, but...
If your group does more real role-playing then you're in a good group. My experiences have not been the same and I don't have time find a good group.

That reminds me of another reason to like Play By Post that JB mentioned in the article… you can read how everyone has role-played so you know if you want to join in or not before you announce yourself. You don't have that chance in live groups and might be sorry when you start to see what its really like. *laugh*.

Works Post Play PBP What

That's a great point on reading a little before you commit to it. With Play By Post you can see the pace of the game, how the Dungeon Master handles situations and keeps things moving, how the other players engage with one another, etc. By reading you should have a pretty clear notion of what will be expected of you, as well.

What Is PBP? How Play By Post Works

The parameters on a Play By Post game need to certainly be well set by the Dungeon Master (And players) before starting. Some PBPs I've recently been joining had died from lack of Dungeon Master or player posts, yet the rest of us didn't know what or who we were waiting for? An expiry for post times is also good, allowing 24 hours or whatever is chosen before the Dungeon Master assumes a non-posted player's actions. It's also important that the Dungeon Master carefully read the posts, addressing all the player's moves/comments as best they can, but things get overlooked.
Happily, this method of playing does allow for random play, so no need to set a time window to play, just get to it when you can regularly *smile*.

What PBP Play Post Works

All great points as well. I've looked elsewhere for games and noticed an unfortunate trend of games suddenly being abandoned by the Dungeon Master, never mind players disappearing. It makes me feel very fortunate that the current games here seem very stable and reliable, starting with the Dungeon Master.

To your point about parameters being well established before play even starts, I've noticed another trend as well. I've seen many forums where an aspiring Dungeon Master will simply post something like "Starting new campaign, submit your applications" or something of the sort with zero description of what the campaign world will be, what type of adventure it might be, any house rules or class/race type limitations, etc. In my limited Play-by-Post experience since starting up in the last year this is a very bad sign that the Dungeon Master is not putting in the necessary effort from the start. I could be completely wrong due to my lack of experience here, but zero information before signing up for a campaign seems very odd. Well written campaign description and then well written character creation works by the players are likely good signs that a campaign is off to the right start.

To that point, it is another reason I feel fortunate to be in the game I'm in here. There are several different links for character creation, house rules, Q&A, etc. To read before you join. I believe it is similar for other games I am not in such as KN's. Kudos to the site founder and administrators and on down to the Dungeon Master(s) for doing what they can to ensure people are serious about their commitment to a Play by Post campaign before it ever starts.

What PBP Play Post Works Text RPG MMORPG & Play Post

The best thing about Play By Post is all the things you can avoid should the group not be too good outside of the game. For instance, Play By Post is great if your live groups tend to have 'weird' or 'different' players that kind of either annoy or get in your space when all you are there to do is play a game. There is of course that earlier point of carefully weighing each person's part / action in the game before giving yours but from experience I think some people are still hasty and reply anyway even though a full script of what's happening is above them. The pace of Play By Post for ROK II is just the right amount that you can interact with other player's characters but you can also duck out at anytime so you are not obligated to them as you would in a full campaign.