Hi,
I'm interested in PbP and I've read a few threads of such games in various forums.
I'm wondering about the "best" approach for managing the dice pool in a such a game as SW RPG or Genesys, or any use of the FFG Narrative Dice System.
This system shines for tabletop gaming, but I wonder how to handle dice pools in a PbP context.
On one hand you want the story to progress as smoothly as possible. You want to avoid having many small posts going back and forth. That is to say giving more freedom to the players that in tabletop gaming, they will be encouraged to anticipate, describe their intent, or even begin to act.
On the other hand, the GM only knows the details and implications of each scene. Letting players build their own dice pool can lead to inconsistencies, or can sometimes override the GM's plans...
I've seen GMs giving a lot of options to the players, naming possible actions and giving difficulty of each check : IMHO this removes the "creative" part for the players and some of the interest of playing an RPG.
I've seen players going forward, carrying over the narration, conducting the scene, assembling a dice pool, resolving a check, and interpreting the result. Wow, that is a lot, and a lot of freedom too... How not to interfere with the GM's plan ?
In other games (like d20), I saw players announcing an action, describing their intent, and throwing a dice according to their "attribute". In such a case, they don't know yet the outcome of the action, because the GM will confront the player roll to the actual "opposition" or difficulty. So the GM takes over and resolves the action.
I think this is good. The problem with a dice pool is that you are supposed to know the good dice *and* the bad dice when you roll them.
I almost never see a player ask for a difficulty, and wait for the answer of the GM before throwing?
Thinking a bit about it I see two possible approaches.
1.
- The player describe the intent and rolls dice with a self made pool (generally average difficulty)
o at that time the player has a "feeling" of what may occur, but cannot be sure of what will happen. We are at the heart of the action, this is realistic in a way.
- The GMs can eventually arrange the pool (adding boosts, or setbacks, or changing difficulty), and finish the resolution of the check. The world can be full of surprises.
2. Use OOC channels for small dialogs. That way the player can ask for the conditions of a check *before* rolling. Maybe that is what OOC threads are for?
In an ideal world, I'd want such dialogs to be set "aside", but they would occur in real time (eg in an instant messaging system). I'd like them to be interlaced with the real "posts" so that anyone can read them.
Since I'm a PbP noob, I may be all the way wrong, and I'd be glad to hear from real players !
How do you do? Are you fully satisfied with your "approach"?
Cheers