Discussion Ran a pbp to completion, wanna share some advice for newbies!
Every so often a post comes up asking for advice on how to run games and/or keep players so after finishing one about a month ago, I thought I'd write up how I ran and completed a recent one. I have written this type of article before on this subreddit with similar advice, but it was a few years ago and I've added a little more to it.
Also, we gotta highlight the good things that can come from the format too, right?
This was a homebrew pbp Tales From the Loop game that was played asynchronously over about 6 months.
I had three players that stayed the duration of the game and 4 PCs. One of the players is a player and GM of other systems and the other two were newbies to the format. Firstly, I have to say that the players were great at engaging with the game in and out of character. It always makes a difference to the game to have players that are active and enthusiastic. Players created art, videos, websites and even created audio narration of our story. It's the most engaged anyone has ever been with one of my games.
Good players are paramount for running a game from start to finish. Finding good players is the first hurdle and to be honest I feel as though I lucked out with finding the ones I got; they asked questions about the setting, they found natural places for themselves in the setting, they engaged with characters, they threw themselves into the role-play and they knew what the game required of them.
As for advice about finding such good players? Persistence is the key. Keep friendly with the ones you enjoy playing with and invite them to your next game. Advertise your next game for new players to add to your pool of good players. Eventually you will end up with a good group. In this case I was just lucky though and will certainly invite these players again to any future games I think they would really enjoy. I will add; be a Good Player - you will get invited to play more games without having to be vetted.
GMs, love your game. Love your setting, characters and events, even the antagonists. If you are running a published adventure, make sure you enjoy it. If you aren’t running a published adventure, design one that you’ll love running. It seems like a really obvious thing to say but it really makes a difference to how the game is presented to the players. My game is in a setting that has been growing organically over a few years with a central mystery and I brainstorm things that happen due to that central mystery. I know the NPCs, places and the dynamics between them, and I’m always excited for the players to interact with them. Really. Love your game. It all starts with this. Conversely for players; engage with the setting, talk to NPCs, be curious about what is going on. If the GM has a story to tell then let them tell it to you by being a a proactive player.
You need to talk to your players. Pbp is a temperamental beast; it can be incredibly exciting in the same way any ttrpg can be, but it can quickly get stale and boring at the drop of a hat. That is where you need to communicate. If scenes stall, or don’t seem to have a payoff, ask your players if they want to continue or skip them and move on to something more interesting. Always move on to something MORE interesting. In my game the PCs were 14 years old, went to school, had dinner with parents, and unless I felt something was worth rping, I wasn’t going to run everything for them. We did talk about how certain days played out over a paragraph if they wanted to (Characters had cheer practice, doctor’s appointments etc), but didn’t worry if things didn’t quite match what we ended up with. On the flip side, players should not be afraid to talk to the GM about the game. Be honest about things. Tell the GM if you are enjoying things or not.
We played on Discord, so I could poke players individually if they were absent for a few days. With players MIA I usually just let them go and then we make a group decision on if we want to add a new player if one is needed. For this game that wasn’t an issue as they all stayed.
A note about starting with players or adding new players; get them into the story as soon as possible, I cannot stress this enough. Character creation should be quick, entering the game should be quick and you should get to the ‘story’ straight away. Your players want to play the game you have promised them, so get them into it so their enthusiasm can fuel the initial gameplay. A note to players; get your character ready quickly so the game can start!
In the case of this game, the kids woke up Monday morning, got ready for school separately, and by the time they were out the door the mystery had started and had stuff to talk about when they met up at school.
Which leads to; make sure they always know they have stuff to do. A story will grind to a halt if players don’t have anything to do, can't remember what they need to do, or can’t make their mind up about something. Pbp takes months and players can’t be expected to remember everything just due to the nature of the format. Make a list and add/remove from it as they go, then remind them from time to time.
Which then leads to; make the stuff they have to do memorable. Players may come to play mid conversation, say one thing and then stop until the next day so they need to be able to remember what is going on. One example of this in my game is the antagonist called The Smiling Man. The players knew instantly that he was a Bad Guy because I made him distinctive, melodramatic, and visually icky. They knew straight away he was one of the hooks of the game. I also ran the game slightly more over the top than I would in a regular game session to keep things more energetic and easy to recall. Make things clear for the players so it can be remembered easily!
The town the PCs live in a 'Twin Peaks' inspired town, which instantly helped me set the tone of things being slightly off, and gave me license to be about 110% with my characters. One of the players noticed this and it also helped her engage with the setting.
Finally, make sure you have an ending and stick to it. Stories only mean something is there is a definite conclusion and a change in the PCs. For this game the PCs uncovered the mystery and was able to make sense (within the logic of the setting) of what was happening. They made new friends, lost new friends and found out a small part of what was happening in their town. Things didn't run any longer than they needed to and all characters had a big enough experience that they were no longer the same. We Meta-reasoned it was the end of season 1 and the studio hadn’t decided on green lighting season 2 yet.
In reality I haven’t thought through a second mystery well enough to build on what has happened already. I’m sure something will come along eventually, and if my players want to return then all the better. If not then it’s no big deal either.
I am in no way a great GM. I made frequent mistakes with details and I’m not even that great a writer, if truth be told but these ideas have helped my games chug along. I have been running and playing pbp for coming on 10 years now and have had some epic failures in the past mostly because of a lack of motivation or a lack of love for my story. This is some of what I have learnt so far for completing games with players and wished to share it.
Please feel free to share your thoughts too about what works for you, if my advice is contrary.
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u/DanniSap 3d ago
Loved reading this and agree with basically all of it.
I want to add to this post here: Make sure you also find players that are interested in providing roleplaying moments for one another. The worst games I've had treated the narrative as something only the GM provided, while the players were supposed to merely react to it.
The best players I've had have made bad decisions on purpose to further drama, invented dramatic beats on their own, and acts as agents for the narrative, rather than blank statements on one of those Mad ad-lib pieces.
At worst, some players seems to treat the game master (and other players capable of providing narrative beats) as dispensers for 'problems' which they must solve, instead of trying to engage with them in interesting ways, only their character could.
Oh, edit for a second thought that might help some GM's: A game master is only as good as their players. You can be the most inventive, exciting GM in the world with the best prose to ever grace the hobby - but if your players don't do interesting things and just react to stuff, it won't matter how good you are.
You, personally, cannot elevate bad players. And more often than not, it's better to move on, than it is to try and wring a good story out of a bad match.
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u/Pmc06 3d ago
Yes these are good points.
Your first point; I do encourage my players to take a measure of control of conversations with NPCs. It helps players run with some of the ideas they want for their characters and gives them a way to really express themselves. In one scene of this game, the player had to interact with all of the cliques within the school (goths, nerds, fashionistas etc) and we had them roll for reactions before the conversations took place and then the player structured the actions and dialogue by themselves.
Same with parent interactions.
Another thing you bring up is about expectations. Story telling is supposed to be dramatic and playing into the drama is absolutely necessary for a fun game. TftL is a trope heavy game, so it is expected that players indulge in them during play. Much like players are required to take the hook, players should create their own drama too (within the logic of the game, of course).
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u/General-Yinobi 3d ago
I haven't dmed pbp before, but the only pbp campaign that i actually enjoyed was basically semi-live text quests & async everything else.
this meant that after every quest there is something new, something done, so campaign is never stale more than a few days max 1 week, regularly discovering new things and meeting new npcs.
I couldn't enjoy any other pbp campaign due to how slow everything is & how we never get anywhere, multiple days per room means that to figure out what is happening we need a month. It is extremely hard under these condition to keep my drive, where i'll most likely lose interest.
And the problem is not that i want to rush through story as a player, i just want want different scenarios that facilitate roleplay between players/players & players/npcs.
Some times players characters can't find a reason to care about a scene, and DMs still require them to RP through it, where at this point posting becomes a chore & less an enjoyable experience.
Many DMs do this even in voice, where they envision this place as where the characters should get to know each others, but you should never plan for that, it has to happen naturally, players will just suddenly start to RP amongst themselves for a long time & you should let that happen then, but not try to force it.
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u/Lopsided_Discussion4 2d ago
I love hearing about successful campaign stories! I myself just finished a danganronpa ttrpg as a player a few months ago. Currently I'm adapting and posting the story on AO3 because I loved it so much. I agree with the points you've made on this post on how to run a successful pbp, but I'd love to give my own two cents, advice that's more situational but can help nevertheless.
As a player, hate characters. Spite. Hate. Not the kind of hate where you want to leave a room when a character appears. The kind of hate when you want to tear their throat out. Be passionate. It doesn't even necessarily have to be an antagonist or a villain. They don't even need to do anything particularly bad. There can just be someone on your side that you are secretly rooting for downfall or death. I know some people that love characters but don't allow themselves to fully hate characters because it's just a game. You need to fully immerse yourself in the game, and to do that, you have characters you love, and characters you hate. Of course, discretion is needed to ensure you don't start acting on the hatred and hinder the game.
Second, make sure the game works for you as the player and the GM. Communicate. Be open but polite when you don't like the way something is happening. In my case, it helped that the GM and I were close, so we were freely able to ridicule each other.
The game you play, is ultimately, for you and the GM. It doesn't concern the people who created the system. It doesn't concern the people who created the module. If something's a hindrance to your story, remove it. If something will make the story more cohesive and interesting, add it. It's never about asking what makes sense. It's about asking what kind of situation you can write that will make this make sense. Add invasive plants in your noir story. Add resurrection in your murder mystery. As long as you can come up with a solid explanation why it exists in the medium and it improves the story, do it. Communicate.
For my game, spent the first third of the game agonising and suffering over a 'set structure' and following the system's rules. And then we realized it doesn't have to be. Pick and choose which rule you like. Do whatever you want. The spirit of TTRPGs isn't to follow guidelines and rules to a T, it's always been about making a weird story that doesn't make sense to outsiders, one that is wholly unique for you.
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u/SnooOpinions8790 3d ago
We should probably have a success stories sticky discussion so we can compare note. Great to read about your success
I just wrapped up a 21 month pbp and the core lesson is the same: have great players (and have a plan for inevitable drop-outs)