Surrealistik
2011-03-29, 03:42 PM
#1:When you set up a recruitment thread, always use the 'Big 16':
1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Also be sure to clearly label your game's edition with [4e D&D] as the very first portion of the recruitment thread's title.
#2: Quality Control.
Specifically:
Do not over-recruit. Your game will get bogged down in indecision/conflicts/debate/lags in response times. 4-6 is usually a good number, with maybe a couple of alternates on stand-by; all should meet the minimal criteria below though:
Do screen for interested players by requesting a short background and character concept, and personality traits/basic appearance. Do not accept those who do not make the modicum of effort required for these.
Do investigate the posting history of prospective players, including the quality of their RP, their post rates, and perhaps most importantly, how faithful they are/were to their past and present campaigns.
#3: Set Up Your Game Properly.
Once you've picked your players and are ready to begin, it's time to set up your game. Make an IC and OOC thread with the following title: [4e D&D] Your-Campaign-Name-Here. You may want to add an (OOC) suffix to the OOC thread. Be sure to link these threads to each other in their respective original posts for ease of navigation; bonus points if you add links to both in your signature.
Second, you'll want to port over any relevant information from the recruitment thread to the OOC original post, like important houserules, the pertinent background and history, etc...
Finally, have a table prepared with the names of the players, their PCs, and their class and role. The name of their character should be hyperlinked to a copy of that character's sheet if applicable.
Speech and Thought:
Once done, you'll want to have your PCs adopt a system that clearly delineates speech and thought. Have each of them pick a colour. Speech should be bolded, while thought should be in italics. For those few characters that have telepathy, telepathic communication is both bold and italic.
Images and Tokens:
You'll want to get representative images of the PCs from each player to process into tokens for use in battlescapes. Once you have these images, proceed to the next step:
#4: Use Online Resources For Combat Tracking:
Use Ditzie: http://ditzie.com/
OR
Pyromancers: http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/
OR my personal favourite
Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/), via Google Drawings. Upload a map created in Maptools (see Map Generation), and tokens created with TokenTool (see Token Generation).
Here is an sample map: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1UxOU6r9iv6ihbpNLUVGXKaa8iz58m9kKulNk9FwQHWA/edit?authkey=CPjiwKoF&authkey=CPjiwKoF
Both are invaluable for setting up combat maps that players can easily, quickly, and independently manipulate.
Alternately, you can also use a spreadsheet grid via Google Docs, though this isn't quite as good as either of the above options it is much easier to set up.
Register and set up a gallery of images, tokens, tilesets and the like for Ditzie here: http://beta.ditzie.com/gallery/main.php
You can then produce a map at the following URL:
http://beta.ditzie.com/your-registered-name-here
Drag and drop images onto the area below to populate it with terrain, tokens, etc...
You and your PCs can press Enter to save changes. Post the new URL of the saved combat map to the thread.
Double clicking on an image allows you to adjust its dimensional properties.
Shift+Click + Drag will resize your image.
Map Generation:
A good tool to use for map generation which you can generate a Ditzie uploadable image from is MapTools available here: http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=downloads#MapTool
This can also be used to host live games in real time, serving as a virtual table top.
Token Generation:
Token Tool from RPTools.net is excellent for this. You can get it at the same URL as MapTools; simply scroll down.
This utility is straightforward and intuitive. Use it to create Ditzie uploadable tokens for your game. You can further customize token size in MapTools.
Google Docs:
Using online accessible spreadsheets like Google Docs can help you and your players better keep track of the combat, providing and updating important information quickly and independently.
Set up characters and monsters as rows with columns for the following information as applicable/desired. If you use standard/conventional Initiative, you may also wish to enter turn order. Monster stats can be entered on a hidden/locked tab:
THP (Temporary Hit Points): XX
HP: Current/Max
Surges: Current/Max
AC: XX
Fort: XX
Reflex: XX
Will: XX
Action Points: X
Passive Perception: XX
Passive Insight: XX
Bloodied: Yes/No.
Conditions: Dazed, Slowed, etc...
Powers Used: List any limited use powers (Dailies, Encounters, etc...) here.
Power Points: XX. Use only if applicable. Usually for select Psionic characters only.
You can even add formulas that compare the defenses of monsters in the hidden/locked to numbers the player inputs. If you do this, make a row for the monsters in the public tab, along with one column for each of their defenses (AC, Reflex, etc...) and a Result column. The player makes his roll on the forums, then puts his roll result in the cell of the appropriate defense. The formula then compares that amount to that monster's targeted defense using the data in the private tab, and displays a Hit or Miss result as appropriate in the Result Column.
Examples: Castlevania Combat Tracker (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKjYySklKeTdG42ODJEczdJRjFoY3JUWk00OHV1M VE#gid=2)
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKjYySklKeTdDZBdjA4NWV1SUxLajBkWjk4cnVKc mc&hl=en_US#gid=0
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArFZtkCkcOibdFdnckhlOHVzbHNDU1RULXI0aXBDQ kE&hl=en#gid=0
Harbinger of War (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180275)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArnxzPhGz13hdGFwMlNmcXBRNjU2VXZ6bXRMaXNhL Wc&hl=en_US#gid=2
Google Documents: https://docs.google.com
Thanks Master_Rahl22
#5: Forget Conventional Initiative.
It just doesn't work in PbP games. Instead use group initiative. Group initiative comes in 4 main flavours:
PC & Monster Group Initiative:
Directions: Bunch the PCs and/or monsters into groups. Every creature in these groups should more or less consider every other creature in the same group an ally. You may need to make multiple groups beyond the usual 'PCs' and 'monsters' in some situations (like a 3 way fight).
Once done, roll initiative for the PCs and monsters. Use the _average_ initiative roll of each group to determine in what order the groups act. Members of each group can take their individual turns in any order when it's that group's turn to act. When all members of all groups have acted and finished their turns, proceed to the next round and repeat.
Pros:
Simplifies and expedites combat the most of the four options.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse; waiting until a healer takes a turn to act while unconscious for example.
Somewhat diminishes the value of high initiative elements, though these remain useful.
Can feature 'rocket tag' elements given that either side will have a full compliment of actions before the opposition can respond, making winning initiative perhaps too decisive.
PC Group Initiative:Directions: As per PC and Monster Group Initiative, except Monsters roll initiative and take turns as normal, before and/or after the PC group initiative as their initiative rolls determine. Optionally, you can have the monsters in a continuous sequence take their turns in any order within that sequence.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for monsters.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative monsters to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse for the PCs; waiting until a healer takes a turn to act while unconscious for example.
Winning initiative can prove too decisive for the PCs since they get a full round of actions before the monsters can respond.
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
Monster Group Initiative:Directions: As per PC and Monster Group Initiative, except PCs roll initiative and take turns as normal, before and/or after the Monster group initiative as their initiative rolls determine.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for PCs.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative PCs to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse for the monsters; focus firing on a single target, or deliberately not taking a turn so an end of turn effect can remain in place longer and benefit allies.
Winning initiative can prove too decisive for the monsters since they get a full round of actions before the monsters can respond.
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
Hybrid Group & Conventional Initiative:Directions: PCs and Monsters individually roll initiative, then are organized into blocks with other PCs or Monsters that are continguous in the initiative order. The PCs and Monsters in these blocks can act in any order relative to each other.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for PCs or Monsters.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative PCs to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
While the pro/con balance at a glance seems to favour other methods, my general view is that group initiative for PCs & monsters is likely the best for most PbP groups, as the sheer increase in combat simplicity and speed is a huge positive that dwarfs all others.
Regardless of which option you choose, roll, or have the PCs roll initiative ahead of time to help expedite things.
Effect Durations:
If you don't mind adding a degree of complexity, when it comes to creatures using group initiative, effects that would end/trigger at the start or end of a player's turn do so on the turn the player acted on last round, or the player's current turn; whichever would come first in the round.
For example: if last round a player imposed an effect that lasts until the end of his next turn on turn 2 (his position in turn order) of 10 (total number of turns in the round), and this round took his turn on 1/10, that effect would end at the end of turn 1/10 because it comes before 2/10. If instead he took his turn on 3/10, the effect would end at the end of turn 2/10, because it was his position in the turn order last round, and comes before his current turn position of 3/10.
Note that if your group is especially responsive, conventional initiative is preferable. Group initiative is a necessary evil meant to help reduce the considerable delays inherent in most PbP games.
#6: Keep Combat Moving!
This goes for the game as a whole, but combat especially. To keep combat moving, insist on a post rate of a minimum of 1 per 24 hours, otherwise a player's default actions are taken, or the player is outright zombied (taken over) by another player of their choice or the DM. The player can choose what his default actions are (move/shift away from enemy as safely as possible, take total defense, or make an at-will attack, whatever).
Zombying preferences/default actions are chosen by players ahead of time.
Also have your players post their actions in easily understandable formats that provide relevant information at a glance. Also include any Immediate Interrupts/Reactions/Triggered/Opportunity Actions you wish to take for the round, as well as their triggers, and rolls/effects if applicable. It may be a good idea to allow players to 'verify' their triggered actions at the end of each round, depending on your group's responsiveness.
When it comes to listing actions, use only those lines that are applicable; Move Actions for example, usually don't require attack and hit lines.
For example:
Combat Stat Block Template:
HP: Current/Max
Surges: Current/Max
AC: XX
Fort: XX
Reflex: XX
Will: XX
Action Points: X
Passive Perception: XX
Passive Insight: XX
Used Powers: Put your expended powers here, along with remaining uses if applicable: (Current/Max)
Template for Taking an Action:
Action Type (Standard/Move/etc...): Your action/power here. Colour your attacks in bolded coloured text: At-Wills in Green text, Encounters in DarkRed, Dailies in DarkSlateGray
Trigger: (If applicable)
Target: (If applicable)
Attack vs Defense (AC/Fort/etc...): (If applicable, put your rolls here.)
Hit Damage: (If applicable, put your rolls here.)
Hit Effects: (If applicable)
Miss Damage: (If applicable)
Miss Effects: (If applicable)
Automatic Effects: (If applicable)
Interrupts/Triggered Actions:
If you need to retcon something because of interrupts and other triggered actions, don't be afraid to do so. This is especially true of grouped initiative described above; generally, because players and monsters act in blocks, this tends to be easier and less disruptive as a whole than if you were using conventional initiative.
#7: Communicate With Your Players.
Ask them what they want, and what they don't like. Listen to their suggestions. Tailor your campaign to their tastes as best you can given its constraints. Have your characters come up with wish lists and substitute standard treasure with level appropriate requested gear on those lists.
Work together to make the experience as fun as possible for all parties; the PCs are not your enemies, nor is the opposite true.
#8: Avoid Off-Turn Actions/Powers.
Like the plague; this goes for DM and players alike, especially where forced movement/other serious changes are involved that demand retcons. These are some of the biggest and most notorious causes of bog down in the play by post format. If these do/must see use, you must insist on players defining their triggers, intention to use triggered/off-turn powers and resultant actions as clearly and completely as possible ahead of time or everyone will regret it.
#9: Obey EL Ratings
Use this utility: http://www.kassoon.com/dnd/encounter-builder/
As a rule of thumb your encounter level (EL, also known as Challenge Level or CL; Pg 57 of the Dungeon Master Guide has more details), including traps, should never exceed EL+4 plus the tier level (+1 for Heroic, +2 for Paragon, +3 for Epic). Note also that even this may be extreme for many groups, and that such a max difficulty encounter should, as a rule, only be visited on high optimization groups, and/or groups with all of their limited resources available. With a group that has an unknown level of optimization, you should start weak, and then escalate encounter difficulty until you reach the desired level of difficulty.
Also note the complicating elements/force multipliers terrain might pose with regards to EL. Obstacles like pits and chasms will disfavour non-flying melee PCs/creatures for example, while significantly advantaging flying & ranged PCs/creatures. Conversely, cramped quarters will favour melee over ranged combatants as a rule, unless the ranged combatant has viable means of avoiding Opportunity Attacks.
#10: Use MM3 Standards, Progression and Convention
In Monster Manual 3, monster scaling and standards were updated and improved dramatically. Convert everything that uses the older MM1 and MM2 conventions to this new standard if you can.
1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Also be sure to clearly label your game's edition with [4e D&D] as the very first portion of the recruitment thread's title.
#2: Quality Control.
Specifically:
Do not over-recruit. Your game will get bogged down in indecision/conflicts/debate/lags in response times. 4-6 is usually a good number, with maybe a couple of alternates on stand-by; all should meet the minimal criteria below though:
Do screen for interested players by requesting a short background and character concept, and personality traits/basic appearance. Do not accept those who do not make the modicum of effort required for these.
Do investigate the posting history of prospective players, including the quality of their RP, their post rates, and perhaps most importantly, how faithful they are/were to their past and present campaigns.
#3: Set Up Your Game Properly.
Once you've picked your players and are ready to begin, it's time to set up your game. Make an IC and OOC thread with the following title: [4e D&D] Your-Campaign-Name-Here. You may want to add an (OOC) suffix to the OOC thread. Be sure to link these threads to each other in their respective original posts for ease of navigation; bonus points if you add links to both in your signature.
Second, you'll want to port over any relevant information from the recruitment thread to the OOC original post, like important houserules, the pertinent background and history, etc...
Finally, have a table prepared with the names of the players, their PCs, and their class and role. The name of their character should be hyperlinked to a copy of that character's sheet if applicable.
Speech and Thought:
Once done, you'll want to have your PCs adopt a system that clearly delineates speech and thought. Have each of them pick a colour. Speech should be bolded, while thought should be in italics. For those few characters that have telepathy, telepathic communication is both bold and italic.
Images and Tokens:
You'll want to get representative images of the PCs from each player to process into tokens for use in battlescapes. Once you have these images, proceed to the next step:
#4: Use Online Resources For Combat Tracking:
Use Ditzie: http://ditzie.com/
OR
Pyromancers: http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/
OR my personal favourite
Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/), via Google Drawings. Upload a map created in Maptools (see Map Generation), and tokens created with TokenTool (see Token Generation).
Here is an sample map: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1UxOU6r9iv6ihbpNLUVGXKaa8iz58m9kKulNk9FwQHWA/edit?authkey=CPjiwKoF&authkey=CPjiwKoF
Both are invaluable for setting up combat maps that players can easily, quickly, and independently manipulate.
Alternately, you can also use a spreadsheet grid via Google Docs, though this isn't quite as good as either of the above options it is much easier to set up.
Register and set up a gallery of images, tokens, tilesets and the like for Ditzie here: http://beta.ditzie.com/gallery/main.php
You can then produce a map at the following URL:
http://beta.ditzie.com/your-registered-name-here
Drag and drop images onto the area below to populate it with terrain, tokens, etc...
You and your PCs can press Enter to save changes. Post the new URL of the saved combat map to the thread.
Double clicking on an image allows you to adjust its dimensional properties.
Shift+Click + Drag will resize your image.
Map Generation:
A good tool to use for map generation which you can generate a Ditzie uploadable image from is MapTools available here: http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=downloads#MapTool
This can also be used to host live games in real time, serving as a virtual table top.
Token Generation:
Token Tool from RPTools.net is excellent for this. You can get it at the same URL as MapTools; simply scroll down.
This utility is straightforward and intuitive. Use it to create Ditzie uploadable tokens for your game. You can further customize token size in MapTools.
Google Docs:
Using online accessible spreadsheets like Google Docs can help you and your players better keep track of the combat, providing and updating important information quickly and independently.
Set up characters and monsters as rows with columns for the following information as applicable/desired. If you use standard/conventional Initiative, you may also wish to enter turn order. Monster stats can be entered on a hidden/locked tab:
THP (Temporary Hit Points): XX
HP: Current/Max
Surges: Current/Max
AC: XX
Fort: XX
Reflex: XX
Will: XX
Action Points: X
Passive Perception: XX
Passive Insight: XX
Bloodied: Yes/No.
Conditions: Dazed, Slowed, etc...
Powers Used: List any limited use powers (Dailies, Encounters, etc...) here.
Power Points: XX. Use only if applicable. Usually for select Psionic characters only.
You can even add formulas that compare the defenses of monsters in the hidden/locked to numbers the player inputs. If you do this, make a row for the monsters in the public tab, along with one column for each of their defenses (AC, Reflex, etc...) and a Result column. The player makes his roll on the forums, then puts his roll result in the cell of the appropriate defense. The formula then compares that amount to that monster's targeted defense using the data in the private tab, and displays a Hit or Miss result as appropriate in the Result Column.
Examples: Castlevania Combat Tracker (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKjYySklKeTdG42ODJEczdJRjFoY3JUWk00OHV1M VE#gid=2)
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKjYySklKeTdDZBdjA4NWV1SUxLajBkWjk4cnVKc mc&hl=en_US#gid=0
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArFZtkCkcOibdFdnckhlOHVzbHNDU1RULXI0aXBDQ kE&hl=en#gid=0
Harbinger of War (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180275)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArnxzPhGz13hdGFwMlNmcXBRNjU2VXZ6bXRMaXNhL Wc&hl=en_US#gid=2
Google Documents: https://docs.google.com
Thanks Master_Rahl22
#5: Forget Conventional Initiative.
It just doesn't work in PbP games. Instead use group initiative. Group initiative comes in 4 main flavours:
PC & Monster Group Initiative:
Directions: Bunch the PCs and/or monsters into groups. Every creature in these groups should more or less consider every other creature in the same group an ally. You may need to make multiple groups beyond the usual 'PCs' and 'monsters' in some situations (like a 3 way fight).
Once done, roll initiative for the PCs and monsters. Use the _average_ initiative roll of each group to determine in what order the groups act. Members of each group can take their individual turns in any order when it's that group's turn to act. When all members of all groups have acted and finished their turns, proceed to the next round and repeat.
Pros:
Simplifies and expedites combat the most of the four options.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse; waiting until a healer takes a turn to act while unconscious for example.
Somewhat diminishes the value of high initiative elements, though these remain useful.
Can feature 'rocket tag' elements given that either side will have a full compliment of actions before the opposition can respond, making winning initiative perhaps too decisive.
PC Group Initiative:Directions: As per PC and Monster Group Initiative, except Monsters roll initiative and take turns as normal, before and/or after the PC group initiative as their initiative rolls determine. Optionally, you can have the monsters in a continuous sequence take their turns in any order within that sequence.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for monsters.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative monsters to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse for the PCs; waiting until a healer takes a turn to act while unconscious for example.
Winning initiative can prove too decisive for the PCs since they get a full round of actions before the monsters can respond.
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
Monster Group Initiative:Directions: As per PC and Monster Group Initiative, except PCs roll initiative and take turns as normal, before and/or after the Monster group initiative as their initiative rolls determine.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for PCs.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative PCs to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Can be open to abuse for the monsters; focus firing on a single target, or deliberately not taking a turn so an end of turn effect can remain in place longer and benefit allies.
Winning initiative can prove too decisive for the monsters since they get a full round of actions before the monsters can respond.
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
Hybrid Group & Conventional Initiative:Directions: PCs and Monsters individually roll initiative, then are organized into blocks with other PCs or Monsters that are continguous in the initiative order. The PCs and Monsters in these blocks can act in any order relative to each other.
Pros:
Prevents winning initiative from being too decisive for PCs or Monsters.
Allows combat to be more faithful to the normal rules.
Allows high initiative PCs to extricate more benefit from their initiative stat.
Cons:
Complicates and slows the game more than PC & monster group initiative.
.
While the pro/con balance at a glance seems to favour other methods, my general view is that group initiative for PCs & monsters is likely the best for most PbP groups, as the sheer increase in combat simplicity and speed is a huge positive that dwarfs all others.
Regardless of which option you choose, roll, or have the PCs roll initiative ahead of time to help expedite things.
Effect Durations:
If you don't mind adding a degree of complexity, when it comes to creatures using group initiative, effects that would end/trigger at the start or end of a player's turn do so on the turn the player acted on last round, or the player's current turn; whichever would come first in the round.
For example: if last round a player imposed an effect that lasts until the end of his next turn on turn 2 (his position in turn order) of 10 (total number of turns in the round), and this round took his turn on 1/10, that effect would end at the end of turn 1/10 because it comes before 2/10. If instead he took his turn on 3/10, the effect would end at the end of turn 2/10, because it was his position in the turn order last round, and comes before his current turn position of 3/10.
Note that if your group is especially responsive, conventional initiative is preferable. Group initiative is a necessary evil meant to help reduce the considerable delays inherent in most PbP games.
#6: Keep Combat Moving!
This goes for the game as a whole, but combat especially. To keep combat moving, insist on a post rate of a minimum of 1 per 24 hours, otherwise a player's default actions are taken, or the player is outright zombied (taken over) by another player of their choice or the DM. The player can choose what his default actions are (move/shift away from enemy as safely as possible, take total defense, or make an at-will attack, whatever).
Zombying preferences/default actions are chosen by players ahead of time.
Also have your players post their actions in easily understandable formats that provide relevant information at a glance. Also include any Immediate Interrupts/Reactions/Triggered/Opportunity Actions you wish to take for the round, as well as their triggers, and rolls/effects if applicable. It may be a good idea to allow players to 'verify' their triggered actions at the end of each round, depending on your group's responsiveness.
When it comes to listing actions, use only those lines that are applicable; Move Actions for example, usually don't require attack and hit lines.
For example:
Combat Stat Block Template:
HP: Current/Max
Surges: Current/Max
AC: XX
Fort: XX
Reflex: XX
Will: XX
Action Points: X
Passive Perception: XX
Passive Insight: XX
Used Powers: Put your expended powers here, along with remaining uses if applicable: (Current/Max)
Template for Taking an Action:
Action Type (Standard/Move/etc...): Your action/power here. Colour your attacks in bolded coloured text: At-Wills in Green text, Encounters in DarkRed, Dailies in DarkSlateGray
Trigger: (If applicable)
Target: (If applicable)
Attack vs Defense (AC/Fort/etc...): (If applicable, put your rolls here.)
Hit Damage: (If applicable, put your rolls here.)
Hit Effects: (If applicable)
Miss Damage: (If applicable)
Miss Effects: (If applicable)
Automatic Effects: (If applicable)
Interrupts/Triggered Actions:
If you need to retcon something because of interrupts and other triggered actions, don't be afraid to do so. This is especially true of grouped initiative described above; generally, because players and monsters act in blocks, this tends to be easier and less disruptive as a whole than if you were using conventional initiative.
#7: Communicate With Your Players.
Ask them what they want, and what they don't like. Listen to their suggestions. Tailor your campaign to their tastes as best you can given its constraints. Have your characters come up with wish lists and substitute standard treasure with level appropriate requested gear on those lists.
Work together to make the experience as fun as possible for all parties; the PCs are not your enemies, nor is the opposite true.
#8: Avoid Off-Turn Actions/Powers.
Like the plague; this goes for DM and players alike, especially where forced movement/other serious changes are involved that demand retcons. These are some of the biggest and most notorious causes of bog down in the play by post format. If these do/must see use, you must insist on players defining their triggers, intention to use triggered/off-turn powers and resultant actions as clearly and completely as possible ahead of time or everyone will regret it.
#9: Obey EL Ratings
Use this utility: http://www.kassoon.com/dnd/encounter-builder/
As a rule of thumb your encounter level (EL, also known as Challenge Level or CL; Pg 57 of the Dungeon Master Guide has more details), including traps, should never exceed EL+4 plus the tier level (+1 for Heroic, +2 for Paragon, +3 for Epic). Note also that even this may be extreme for many groups, and that such a max difficulty encounter should, as a rule, only be visited on high optimization groups, and/or groups with all of their limited resources available. With a group that has an unknown level of optimization, you should start weak, and then escalate encounter difficulty until you reach the desired level of difficulty.
Also note the complicating elements/force multipliers terrain might pose with regards to EL. Obstacles like pits and chasms will disfavour non-flying melee PCs/creatures for example, while significantly advantaging flying & ranged PCs/creatures. Conversely, cramped quarters will favour melee over ranged combatants as a rule, unless the ranged combatant has viable means of avoiding Opportunity Attacks.
#10: Use MM3 Standards, Progression and Convention
In Monster Manual 3, monster scaling and standards were updated and improved dramatically. Convert everything that uses the older MM1 and MM2 conventions to this new standard if you can.