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Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post: How It Works - Page 2

Yes I saw that in the rules a long time ago JB. Thanks for adding it to the FAQ too.

Works It Post Play Dragons and Dungeons

Name: Flinch
Country:

Comments: Just wondering what are the main drawbacks you guys experience not being able to see each other in a table top environment?

Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post: How It Works Reviews RPG & Card Board

I think the biggest draw back is waiting for everyone to take their turns. You also do not have the banter going on between the characters but that is why I wanted to have a party thread where the players could talk between themselves without the DM interfering. I this this helps the game some. No matter what the game or where it is at your going to have good points and bad.

Page 2 Works It Post Play Dragons and Dungeons

I agree, the immediate feedback, for players and GM, is what is most lacking in online gaming, including realtime chat-based games, because even they still don't flow as quickly as face-to-face.

Second is 'turn lag', but usually this is lessened if a GM sets a concrete 'turnaround rate', like "I will update the game every 2 days" or "I will update the game every Tue and Sat at 6pm EST", etc. Players know exactly what their timeframes are to post within, get all their questions and answers in, etc. The GM likewise has to make sure to check threads to make sure to answer and respond to players, and to also take PM's and emails when those are used in some games.

Works It Post Play Dragons and Dungeons

One of the problems that are hard to deal with is those players who do not read the text.

I have seen and come across many posts that are devoid of any real understanding of the GM's post or players posts. Almost as if they did not read the post or were to busy elsewhere to focus their complete attention on the posts.

On the table top these miscommunications are quickly and easily resolved. In post by post they are hard to resolve in a cordial manner. You read the text of someones correction and become defensive instead of trying to understand how you went wrong. Many times they reoccur because of this.

On the other hand I will say there are benifits to the stand offishness of play by post. You don't have the direct conflict that must be resolved that second between players. If players get into it, they find a solution many times, over time and work things out. Instead of exploding on echother and walking away from the table forever.

Dungeons & Dragons Play By Post: How It Works

Along with what Oliron just said, there is one other main problem with the play by post format, and that's a lack of visual reference. Each player has to build a mental (or physical/digital) map of the layout, based on what the DM describes. Sometimes it is easy. Like a 20x20 square room with no furniture and doorway in the center of the southernmost wall. Other times it is much more vague, and despite the DM's best efforts, it isn't always possible for everyone to understand the map exactly right.

And not just the maps, the inability to see the other players' faces and hear their voices make it much harder to get a read on their emotion. Which makes things like sarcasm or anger sometimes indistinguishable from someone just trying to help.

Though there are benefits too. You have more time than usual to figure out what to do, you can benefit from knowing the other characters in more detail, due to the melting-pot sort of nature of the party thread. And probably the best part about it is you can always remember what you did three rounds ago, because all you have to do is go back and check. So if you miscalculate your wealth somewhere along the line, you can just scan back and find where you went wrong, and fix it accordingly.

Dungeons & Dragons Play Post It Works - Page 2

Although if you're using most forums or a site or blog or realtime RPG app like Maptool, you can generally mockup a map or vague area and at least "X's" for character positions in Paint in a few minutes and make it available for players to see, or have a larger area or even world map for broader needs, but yes, graphical presentation can be an important aspect of presenting RPG information, especially moreso for online/pbp, etc.

Dungeons & Dragons Play Post It Works Board Card & RPG Reviews - Page 2

Name: Dragon Slayer
Country:

Comments: For me Dungeons and Dragons is all about the miniatures. Well not all but a great part of it. I have built up a grand collection over the years. What do you use in place of miniatures in this environment?