One of the best things about the internet is how it enables those who are far apart to share good times–like an RPG campaign. There are two major ways to play RPGs on line, play-by-post and web-based, and they are different, in pace and style. While I like and do well with both types, not everyone does.
The first and oldest type is the Play-by-post (PbP) game, which is played out in forums of message boards. I play in several of these on D20radio’s forums. PbPs had their roots in play-by-mail (PbM) games of all kinds. Chess, Diplomacy, and Tribes of Crain are all games played via the postal services. PbMs were the first games catering to isolated gamers or those interested in less-common games. By the 1980s, PbMs were mostly replaced by play-by-email and the earliest PbP games, although they haven’t completely died out, especially for those who don’t have internet access such as prisoners. In PbPs, the GM provides a post describing what’s going on. “The Wizard’s research suggests the Jeweled MacGuffin was first taken to the Frost Islands 150 years ago. While there’s much less commerce with them now, you may be able to find passage.” The players then take turns posting their actions regularly. Turn order can be very casual between combats, although combat turns are usually done more strictly, just as in a live, real-time game.
Like any other gaming group, conventions need to be decided on. “One thread or two?” is an important question. Many games have both an in-character (IC) thread, where the actual RP takes place, and an out-of-character (OOC) thread for everything else. OOC threads are where you post your PC stats; the GM can post or link to “handouts” like maps, background information and so on; let people know when you’ll be unavailable. It is also great for planning what the party is going to do or getting clarification on an IC post. The GM will let you know which thread dice rolls (see below) go in.
While posts are made at player/GM convenience, the group may want some guidelines for what to do about people who have to take a break from posting of more than a few days. Generally, if you know you won’t be around for an extended period, just contact the GM. If it was an emergency, don’t worry about the silly game until everything important is dealt with. No one–in a good group anyways–will hold it against you. Related to this, hard and fast rules on post frequency (e.g. “Everyone MUST post 1x/day or email the GM by 8pm Eastern time if they cannot”) are not a good idea. I saw a good game die because the GMs were so stuck on this kind of thing.
If the group is playing a game with mechanics, this includes dice rolling. Sometimes the GM will specify a particular online or app roller. (Orokos is a good site which offers FFG Star Wars, FUDGE/Fate and many other unique dice in addition to traditional polyhedral dice.) Other GMs may do all the rolls or let each player choose how to roll (dice, online roller, app) and report results on the honor system.
While PbPs can be done with any RPG system, they also lend themselves to 100% narrative games that don’t use a specific system. (“Shared storytelling”). This is great for players and GMs who love elaborate role play. Even if you are using a system with mechanics you can still do more detailed scene-setting and RP than can fit in a live (tabletop or online) game session, even for a group heavily into RP, like most of the groups I gravitate to. When you’re only playing for 3-5 hours, there is only so much time the group can spend on IC talk and covering scene details, before it’s too late to get to the BBEG’s lair. Also, PbP is friendlier to types of RP that may not work well at a live session: monologues, character thoughts, and long scenes involving only only 1 or 2 PCs or even just NPCs.
Yes, those can all be done, and done well, in a live session. “Cut scenes” were an integral part of WEG’s Star Wars RPG system. Me and my fellow players have always gotten in what our PCs are thinking (and received RP rewards for it) and good GMs know when to have the BBEG gloat about their world domination plans or the heroes’ denseness. And the PCs have their Inspiring Speech moments too. But those are by necessity relatively short, as are descriptions of what the PCs’ allies may be doing elsewhere. The players will get bored and/or upset if the GM spends 30+ minutes doing the word-for-word radio conversation the NPC Admiral is having with the NPC President. But in posts, everyone can spend as much time as they want on fluff and talk, since they aren’t taking up session time, nor making other players sit and listen for long periods. One-on-one interactions, especially those not central to the plot, with a PC and a PC/NPC are more fun and detailed for the same reasons. In-game romances, being a double-agent, you and your rival trading insults…loads of RP goodness that can get short shrift in a live game.
PbPs are great for players and GMs who cannot commit to regular sessions, tabletop or online, for whatever reason. Both GM and players can post when they have free time–and you can take way more time to decide how to answer the Sithlord’s demands, what to do do about the Ranger PC’s unforeseen plan, or if the PC who grabbed the experimental Mega-gun adds it to her gear list. Now doing a post yourself can take time, particularly a GM post where you are adjudicating a combat round or covering an NPC patron’s remarks to multiple PCs. Even some of my posts for a single PC can take an hour of writing, although your mileage may vary. My RP posts are very detailed and sometimes address several characters, but if you only do a few sentences, it won’t take nearly as long.
The Post Anytime also has some downsides. Since it will take days to run a single combat encounter, assuming no one has any Real Life Issues (illness, job, move) that keep them away, at best things move very slowly. How slowly? I am playing in an EotE game where the arc we just completed, which included several combats, took 9 months! Most of them have taken several months, often because someone has been away, which is more of a problem when it is the GM. Even when it is a player, the group sometimes prefers to wait rather than NPC the character. This slowness, combined with lags in the game means that many games will die out due to waning interest before long. All the reasons tabletop games end prematurely factor as well: player attrition, didn’t like the system, group wanted to play something else, etc. That EotE game is an exception–it has lasted well over three years, starting shortly after the EotE beta book was released. However in that time, I have played in at least 3 or 4 other FFG SW PbPs that just died off.
The other type of web-based RPG is live online via Skype, dedicated sites or even IM. This is the most similar to a tabletop campaign. There is a regular meeting time, it takes place in real time and everyone is together. Even when they are in multiple states or countries. Since the experience is much like a tabletop game, those conventions are very important.
I find that behaving well is as important as tabletop, if not more, since–unless your setup includes webcams–there aren’t any facial expressions and body language, so misinterpretation is easier than when you’re all in the same room. Yes, there is tone, but that can be misinterpreted. I can think of several times in games I’ve played that someone was joking and others thought they were serious because we had only the tone of voice to go on. Emoticons can help, but everyone needs to be aware of this pitfall. Don’t hesitate to ask, nicely, if you aren’t sure what someone means, if a comment was in-character, etc. If someone is sounding angry or just out of it, ask them. Heck, if you are having an issue–people talking over each other, realizing you are sicker than you thought–speak up. IMs/texts are everyone’s friend here. Depending on the issue, and your comfort level, you can use the group chat, or direct it to a single player or the GM. Just as you can give IC information privately via IM, you can deal with an OOC issue the same way.
The setups for these games can be very simple, like the one my group uses, or there are very elaborate sites that boast maps, message boards, online dice rollers and fancy interfaces. Since I haven’t had the fortune of playing on such sites, I am going to stick to our simple but very useful version. The Friday Night Skype group holds our sessions via the free Skype service (Surprise!!!) It may be free but it provides most of what we need to have lots of gaming goodness. There’s the “conference call,” that serves as our “tabletop.” We have IM to post roll results, initiative order and other mechanical details.
We can do IMs in individual windows as well, which has a lot of utility, especially for the GM. When I run, I can talk to a PC who is separated from the main party, or just got some information no one else did. A PC can also tell me actions privately when they wish. If I have a co-GM, that’s how we communicate. Once, very memorably, I was fulfilling a player’s request that I give his PC a heroic end without the group knowing this was planned. I used his private IM often during that encounter, to make sure he still wanted this (asked multiple times because I was nervous about doing this), and finally to cue him that his Nemesis’ next action would be the fatal blow. I wanted very much to do this right, and I think the IMs helped. Months later, I learned that the other 3 players had no idea it was planned between us! “We thought it was just a really [un]lucky roll!”
Skype also allows drag and drop sharing of files and images, as well as posting links. We use this a lot for “handouts.” Stats for vehicles (or animals or NPCs) the party requisitions/begs/steals. Maps, hand-drawn or PDF’d from a module. Pictures. (These come under Personal Use.) If your group wants rolls “out in the open,” and you aren’t using the webcam capability, online dice rollers often allow you to copy a link &/or image.
While I do love online Skype gaming–and not just because that’s the way I usually get my RPG fix–there are some downsides, although not so many as PbP. First of all, time is still an issue. Like a tabletop campaign, the group must be able to get together regularly at a specific time for several hours. But, largely because players often come from different time zones, sessions may be shorter than if it was a tabletop group. Our sessions are usually 3 to 3.5 hours of play, not counting the OOC social stuff. We may run longer sometimes, either by arrangement or because we really want to finish.
And then there are technical difficulties. Skype can be a Big Pain sometimes, with dropped or distorted calls. Thankfully, ending the call and restarting usually resolves it. On top of that, individual players may have their own technical difficulties with their hardware. Usually, tech problems only delay things a few minutes. I can think of only one or two times a session had to be canceled, and that was because someone’s computer died. Generally, when a Skype session has to be called off, it is for the same reasons as a tabletop session, such as an absent player or too hard to schedule during the holiday season.
A final downside is background noise. Believe me, you don’t realize how noisy people in your house are until your gaming group comments–first amused and then annoyed–about who just turned on the sink, the TV show your SO is watching in the next room or whether your pet is wanting in or out. There are some things you can do about this. The first is to find a place that’s less in the middle of things, like a bedroom. If that’s not possible, talk to the other denizens of your place, to make sure they know they can be heard and how they can keep it down. My family has gotten better, but there are still times it is disruptive, so I might have to mute my mic. That mute option is another good friend. If someone needs your attention for a moment, the whole group doesn’t overhear. Just let them know you’re on mute–and don’t forget to unmute! (This happens often enough in our group that it is practically a running gag.)
Finally there are two areas where both these styles have similar considerations. One is dice rolling. I’ve already mentioned the ways a GM might handle rolls, but the most important part of dice in PbP and Skype games is Trust. You need to trust each other to post the rolls honestly, no matter how it is done. (There’s always a way to cheat.) If you cannot trust everyone, this is Bad Gaming. It may be rare–I have only encountered suspected cheating once and proven never–but if it does happen, the fallout won’t be pleasant.
The second is whether the players and gaming styles fit together. You wouldn’t think this would be a problem since no one is face-to-face, but it is. A munchkin in a group where everyone else favors roleplay or the Wolverine-clone joining a 4-color PC superteam can be just as much trouble in a Skype game as around a table, and for the same reasons. While I don’t feel there’s any difference playing in a Skype game versus a tabletop game, some people do find it different enough, in a negative way, that they decide it isn’t for them. I had a player bow out of one of my games due to a combination of not liking it and not meshing well with an existing group. Surprisingly, this can also affect a PbP group, even though there is probably very little interaction other than the IC posts. It may be less of a problem, but fit is still a factor.
Still, if you don’t have anyone local interested in the same games you are–or would like to play again with someone you met at a con game–give these successors to play-by-mail a chance. That’s how I got into PbPs and Skype games, and I am glad I did.
Linda Whitson
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