Play By Post: Autumn 2018

By ColonelCrow, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I've been reading up on some of the play by post campaigns being run on these boards and am intrigued. Intrigued enough to ask some questions.

  • Are there other places besides these FFG boards that host FFG Star Wars RPG play by post games?
  • How often do new games get started here (or elsewhere)?
  • What can be done at the outset of new play by post games to ensure they mature into ongoing games? If "ongoing" is not their intention from the outset, what's a good goal time parameter for such games?
  • Given that I'm probably not far enough along in my rules and setting knowledge to GM such a game myself, what might I do to incite interest from a GM and say, two or three other players to start a new play by post game here?

New games pretty much start whenever someone wants to start one. There’s no “schedule”.

I'm just dipping my toe into play by post as well. I just set up a server on discord for a Genesys Supers (lite) game I want to run. If you're interested I'll leave a link. The server is really new not much is on it at all. If you're interested, join the server and we can get a game going.

https://discord.gg/NeaGPxx

9 hours ago, ColonelCrow said:

I've been reading up on some of the play by post campaigns being run on these boards and am intrigued. Intrigued enough to ask some questions.

  • Are there other places besides these FFG boards that host FFG Star Wars RPG play by post games?
  • How often do new games get started here (or elsewhere)?
  • What can be done at the outset of new play by post games to ensure they mature into ongoing games? If "ongoing" is not their intention from the outset, what's a good goal time parameter for such games?
  • Given that I'm probably not far enough along in my rules and setting knowledge to GM such a game myself, what might I do to incite interest from a GM and say, two or three other players to start a new play by post game here?

1. There are. One board with several active games is the Friends and Nemeses board. Another is Gamers Plane. There are probably other sites, too.

2. New games pop up periodically, but not regularly. If you include the outside sites above, new games may pop up once every 4–6 weeks or so.

3. That's a tough question that I wish we all knew the answer to. The short answer is "not much." This is because PbP is such a slow-burn way to play that it's all-too-common for players to sign up and then disappear after a few weeks due to dissatisfaction with the slow pace. I'd say it helps to have a dedicated user base of players who log in regularly to check other things. By that, I mean if someone signs up to this board or the F&N board or something for one specific game, and that game is moving slowly, they are likely to just stop checkin in. If they join multiple games on the same site, though, they're likely to keep coming back, since there will likely be some movement in at least one of their games on that same site. It's always nice, then, to set up your game somewhere where your players can join other games with the same login.

4. Just ask around. Join another game that is already ongoing and then try to get your feet wet that way. After you've established rapport, see if anyone wants to join your game. It's rare for a would-be player to rope a GM into doing a game that the player designed; I've only ever seen @Tramp Graphics pull that off. Usually, GMs want to run their own scenarios and ideas.

Thanks all! I'll keep an eye out.

9 hours ago, SavageBob said:

1. There are. One board with several active games is the Friends and Nemeses board. Another is Gamers Plane. There are probably other sites, too.

2. New games pop up periodically, but not regularly. If you include the outside sites above, new games may pop up once every 4–6 weeks or so.

3. That's a tough question that I wish we all knew the answer to. The short answer is "not much." This is because PbP is such a slow-burn way to play that it's all-too-common for players to sign up and then disappear after a few weeks due to dissatisfaction with the slow pace. I'd say it helps to have a dedicated user base of players who log in regularly to check other things. By that, I mean if someone signs up to this board or the F&N board or something for one specific game, and that game is moving slowly, they are likely to just stop checkin in. If they join multiple games on the same site, though, they're likely to keep coming back, since there will likely be some movement in at least one of their games on that same site. It's always nice, then, to set up your game somewhere where your players can join other games with the same login.

4. Just ask around. Join another game that is already ongoing and then try to get your feet wet that way. After you've established rapport, see if anyone wants to join your game. It's rare for a would-be player to rope a GM into doing a game that the player designed; I've only ever seen @Tramp Graphics pull that off. Usually, GMs want to run their own scenarios and ideas.

And part of the reason why I pulled it off, is because everyone in that game has a chance to take a turn as GM.

22 hours ago, ColonelCrow said:
  • What can be done at the outset of new play by post games to ensure they mature into ongoing games? If "ongoing" is not their intention from the outset, what's a good goal time parameter for such games?

PBP is slow enough that small ventures can take weeks or months in real time. How long is 'ongoing' in order to be mature? It is important to make PBP efforts direct and have them count. If a campaign is there to take on a Moff, then if you toil around with some small town stuff, before you know it you'll be 3 months into a PBP and not even be close to taking him on. While it may be building there, it takes far longer on PBP. That's not bad, but you just can't do small stuff that'd take 10 minutes at a tabletop, but 4 weeks in PBP.

A good thing about a PBP site, is that you could play in multiple games at once. The pace with PBP is slow enough to balance playing in two or more games at one time, maximizing enjoyment and learning along the way. :D

22 hours ago, ColonelCrow said:
  • Are there other places besides these FFG boards that host FFG Star Wars RPG play by post games?

See SavBob's post above. I've been on Friends and Nemeses a few years. :D I get to play some, GM some, and deepen my understanding of the system and rules.

22 hours ago, ColonelCrow said:
  •  Given that I'm probably not far enough along in my rules and setting knowledge to GM such a game myself, what might I do to incite interest from a GM and say, two or three other players to start a new play by post game here?

Getting on a PBP site and joining in an existing (or new) game is best. The GM and players are already there. On this forum, you'll have to put out a request yourself and roll with what you get unless someone else has and opening and advertises such.