Play-by-Post GM'ing: Tips, Tricks, & GM tactics

[dither]

5) What makes a Bad PbP gaming experience? This can be from the POV of GM but many of us are players as well. Without naming names or games, rather-- what sort of bad experiences have you had in PbP?

Mostly the same stuff that contributes to a bad game IRL: GM or player has weird ideas about alignment ... makes massive, unsettling changes to the game world, or makes a list of house rules longer than the original rules ... since it continues to be a social game, having a belligerent DM or players with tiny pricks who decide to compensate by being big dicks themselves ... having a DM railroad the characters into any of the annoying standard fantasy tropes, like making Failure Is The Only Option, for example.

I can't really think of any problems that pertain exclusively to PbP games. Maybe "never being online" ?

[Agita]

Players or DMs prone to sudden disappearing acts with no forewarning (even if they come back) suck too (in the sense that they can kill the fun, not that they're necessarily bad players/DMs).

[BowenSilverclaw]

Players or DMs prone to sudden disappearing acts with no forewarning (even if they come back) suck too (in the sense that they can kill the fun, not that they're necessarily bad players/DMs).

^This^

Also, PbP's getting deleted/ended without any warning.

[Bozwevial]

First of all, let me say that if someone were to do a Ghostbusters PbP, I'd be all over it. (Wasn't there a system for it?)

In regards to question number 5, I'd have to say that a bad PbP game is one in which the players are not putting forth an effort. There are different degrees of this, such as a minimalistic posting style (this is rather widespread, and virtually everyone is guilty of it at some point), slackness in posting schedule (again, something everyone is guilty of), and especially not taking the time to stay informed. This last one is a bit of a personal vendetta of mine--I am not a "wall of text" person. My descriptions are not overly lengthy. It's my opinion that if I've described the artificers' bazaar, and other players have referenced it in their posts, that someone who posts referencing a farmer's market is quite simply not pulling their own weight. It says "I really don't care enough about this game to bother reading all the information I ought to."

[veekie]

Players or DMs prone to sudden disappearing acts with no forewarning (even if they come back) suck too (in the sense that they can kill the fun, not that they're necessarily bad players/DMs).

This is usually the case in the PbPs I've been in so far, it doesn't take much, a single player falling off the internet is enough for the game to need to make a save based on number of remaining players. Posting rate falling off is another strike, as is simply dragging on, attention spans being what they are, a large scale battle OR simply a few freestyle encounters(player initiated) is enough to bore players into ceasing to post. Worst of all, is the DM disappearing, this was the fatal injury of the longest PbP I've ever been in(it ran for nearly 2 years, then the DM just disappeared, mid battle to boot).

[Brainpiercing]

makes massive, unsettling changes to the game world, or makes a list of house rules longer than the original rules ...

I'm sort of worried.... 

[dither]

makes massive, unsettling changes to the game world, or makes a list of house rules longer than the original rules ...

I'm sort of worried.... 

I had a DM once who gave us "mana points" instead of spells per day. He thought his system was all superior to the v.3.5 casting system, until I pointed out that he had nerfed my wizard, who could no longer activate all of the scrolls, staffs, and wands she'd brought along to compensate for the lack of spells per day.

Beyond that, his 4-page handout was just a SUMMARY of all the stuff he changed. We had to consult him about every single thing we decided for our characters -- he changed races, he changed classes, he changed skills, he changed spells, he changed EVERYTHING. He might as well have called it his own game, since it was essentially 3.5 superimposed over this bizarre mishmash of house rules.

He provided us with all this interesting, detailed background material about how there were these strange gates and veils and crap and how demons interacted with the world and stuff and I thought he was sending out signals that he wanted us to play demon-summoners or devil-worshipers or something, so I played into it with my character -- I made a conjurer/demonologist for the hell of it.

...then he told me about all the rules he'd made up for his ridiculous demon-relations checks and crap. It took friggin' ages to do anything involving the Outer Planes, and this was with TENTH LEVEL CHARACTERS. Apparently, summon monster, planar binding, and plane shift weren't good enough for him, no sir. That guy pissed me off.

[jacemachine]

I would like to point out the most important, and sometimes obvious, GM PbP Tip.

"You must have commitment to your own game."

This is your baby, you need to change its diaper and give it regular feedings. For my game(s), I log in at least twice a day. Once in the AM before work and once again at night before bed. I give myself some time to think about any questions or issues that have been raised, and I try to have an answer by my next post if at all possible.

In my recruitment threads and in my rules:

GENERAL GUIDELINES

As a GM it is even more important that you log in and see what's going on.

Anyway, my train of thought is running out of steam... I'll just leave this post as is. 

[Alastar]

) What is the optimum player count that you like to have in your own PbP games? Why?

I will never go over 6 as a personnal rule, weither in table top or play by post.  I find that 6 is already stretching it too, but then, you have to make some exceptions for more people to have fun.  4 is the optimal number.  Over 6 combats are VERY hard to balance, as well as being extremly long since there are a lot of participants, vs combats with 4 players where everything goes by a lot faster

2) Game Lulls-- how do you handle these as a GM?
I poke my players throught our OOC thread to find out what's going on every once in a while.  Fortunately for me, I have some dedicated players that help me do that.  (I'm looking at you bowen...)

3) As a GM how do you feel about pacing your PbP?

I try to let the players decide what they want to do most of the time, while giving them a general direction, and as much options as I dare.  Exemple:  In chapter 1 of the thorny trail, my players decided to try tracking the wolves they were hunting instead of investigating the wood witch that rumors told knew these woods well.  They all failed their track checks miserably, and thus went to see the wood witch, she helped them.  Later on, they needed to raid a goblin outpost.  They could do a lot of things, like negociate, free the prisonners (they did that), ally themselves with a nearby dragon, and anything else they thought of. 

4) Combat: Detailed or Abstract? Why?

Detailed, round by round, action by action, with maps, as much as possible.  It's just where i'm comfortable, i don't like being vague.

[emissary666]

In response to the PM v. Spoiler thing: I generally use spoilers. I know that the others are going to read them, but I trust them to roleplay it. If they don't, a nasty surprise may await

As for a bad PbP, I find lack of interest on either the GM or the Player side to be truly killer. I'm prone to breakdowns, so sometimes I may disappear from my games while I pull my life back together. Another is railroading. Not railroading for the sake of plot or moving along, but railroading to be a whiny little bitch. I would name the game and GM, but I forget the names. It was a Werewolf the Forsaken game. We were a newly formed tribe given some land by the "good" tribe. During a meeting with the "bad" tribe (not evil however), one of the NPCs tried to attack our Gibbous Moon aspect thing. Despite a miss, our tribe immediately reacted with force. Needless to say, 3 seconds later (or whatever the time measure for a turn is), poor hostile wolfy was nearly dead (after the scene change, dead). On the OOC form, the GM started flipping out about how we derailed the game and how we shouldn't have done that. He forced a few harmony checks, berated us, and whined about how he now has to adjust the plot. All but one of us quit.
However, I recognize myself as a game ruiner also. My characters tend to clash with the others, but I partially blame the GM for letting me play them in the first place and normally just berating me instead of helping me adjust the character. I also tend to disappear from the position of GM for a while during a breakdown.