So long ago I posted here to ask for some players for a play-by-post game, and got a pretty immediate response. Felt that it’s been long enough I can throw it out there for other people to peek in after all this time. The link is here http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?508984-San-Fransapporo-(Masks-A-New-Generation-IC)
To give some over-view and just some general ranting. We started out with seven players. Newborn, Janus, Legacy, Protegee, Transformed, Bull and Doomed. The Protegee dropped out pretty quickly as I sort of expected one of the seven would so that brought us to six.
The nature of play by post makes it difficult to do things in “sessions” as the medium is slower so I’ve taken to split things into “Issues”. More self contained periods of time where the players have an over-arching goal that comes about from the narrative in an, I hope, organic way. Started, traditionally, with a super villain fight and they wrecked it with some really solid rolls. Spun out from there into a “rescue sick party member” story that culminated in some pretty decently high stakes fights.
Also to facilitate some movement in play by post, I have taken to doing End of Issue Moves along with the end of session moves. These are moves tailored to the individual story of the characters to reflect some passage of time or to deal with issues that might be important enough to take care of but not so important that we need to break the narrative flow of the game to worry about. For example, the Doomed got into a large fight with her father. Instead of deal with that fight in the game, I had the Doomed roll to see how the fight went and let them narrate it when we started Issue 2 and then took over the consequences of that roll for where the player started when the game started up again. Basically the moves are intended, and seemed to work well, to clear up the lag time that happens in play by posts.
We lost our Janus along the way, but replaced it with an Outsider. We’re now in Issue 2 and I highly recommend any one curious to take a look in. They’re all wonderful writers, I am beyond grateful for getting a team of creative and enthusiastic players who enjoy the spirit of the game as much if not more than myself.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?508984-San-Fransapporo-(Masks-A-New-Generation-IC)
As someone who has just started running a Masks PbP, I’m curious if you have any other tips.
Ask questions often. Let them tell you where they’re going when you can. Maybe the player has a favorite place they eat at. Maybe there’s a record store they frequent or a swimming pool or any number of places. Remember those places. Make sure that they’re a fun place for them to visit. Put them in peril so that the players feel more invested but never fully destroy them unless the player feels it’s appropriate. Trust the players to tell the story they want to tell but never feel like you can’t guide them. After all, you’re the GM and you have story you want to tell as well. But always remember a balance of those things. It’s not all about you. It’s not all about them. A good player group will compromise.
Use pictures, use songs. The medium you’re using is PbP so you can always hyperlink things. Found a really cool picture that you think fits the villain? Throw that into the post at the end so the players sort of “See” what you’re saying. Think a song would make the fight in a giant underwater cavern feel more atmospheric? Throw that in. Be evocative not just with what you’re typing but with what you’re demonstrating.
Be a fan of your characters. As relationships start to form, see if the players are up to exploring some angles out loud with one another. Since it’s a play by post setting you can take time to really think things out before you write them. So can the players. Maybe the Beacon and the Nova have some romantic undertones that weren’t there at the start. Poke the players, see if that’s something they want to explore.
Ask the players where they see their characters going. For example, the Doomed in my game, was unsure whether she wanted to die to her Doom or take another playbook. After some talking and some time to think it over, we came up with some really good moments that will be coming up and now that player is super excited. Maybe those players want to get a cool new super power. Maybe that’s how they feel they’re “growing” into their adulthood. Hash it out.
Don’t be afraid to play with the Playbooks and introduce things for good rolls and good roleplay or to explore an angle they’ve discussed with you. Maybe the Janus wants to become an Outsider later on but maybe they don’t want to plan for it fully. So give them a Doom Track just independent of advance and tailor it as they become more and more demonic and instead of “Die to your Doom” they get “Take the Outsider/Transformed Playbook”. This makes the players feel like their characters are theirs, not just some numbers on a sheet.
Throw in superlative stuff. Take the time to write out what the villains are up to. Or supporting characters. You have a police officer that’s working closely with the hero team? Show what she’s up to sometimes. Maybe she went and investigated the villains hideout and got captured and you know you’re going to reveal that to the players. Why throw that at them as a full surprise meta-gaming wise? Throw in a paragraph or two detailing how she got caught. That will make the players care more about NPCs as they see their motivations instead of them just being there to be set dressing.
That uhh…was more than I thought It was going to post. Hope it helps!