PbP death/posting theory

[2xMachina]

I have a theory on why PbP's die off.

1. People aren't sure to respond. For example, a spoken decision that isn't actually an action makes the DM unsure what to do. So everyone is waiting for each other, and nothing moves.

2. Posts that doesn't prompt a reaction. Both by DM and players.
Sure, railroad is bad. But total sandbox is also hard for some players. They're unsure what to do, and the game stalls. Best to use OOC to discuss possibilities of actions.
Also, for players, sitting around with nothing special to react to, might cause players to just think: I continue acting like normal since it's normal, thus there's nothing to post. The DM however, waits for the post which isn't coming, stalling the game.

3. The group should be together at the start, or have a reason to get together (something to react to). RP'ing getting together, without any obvious reason? That's hard. Would you randomly team up with to random people you meet, without actual threat? More likely, you'll go your own way. However, if there's an attack or something, forcing the players to fight together...

What do you think? Do you agree? Any other theories?

[Kol Korran]

i think it's something else alltogether, mainly-

The pace of play- people come up planning campaign of 10 or more lvels, or a complete build for AT LEAST the next 6 levels, and then the game starts, and even posting each 1/ day it takes forever to move. i was once in a PbP that lasted for over 4 months before it broke up and we had done less that 2 days actual adventuring... people lose patience people lose where they are in the story, and most of all- people fell so so stuck... so they leave.

my advice, plan for much shorter (top 2 levels) games, and have them be FOCUSED/

other problems:
Group not fitting well together: 1 guy posts avery 3 hours, the other barely posts at all, one writes 3-4 paragraphs a post, the other 2 lines sentences and the like. one is heavy into roleplay, the other barely at all.

sure, a good screening process often REALLY reduces this problem, but never entirely. often with RL groups it's easier.

Battles: from my experience battles in real life are sometimes clanky and complicated. but in PbP? sheesh! in most groups at least 1-2 players drop at the first battle. and if not, they tend to get looooong, and quite boring.

IMO PbP is just not meant for battles. sure, there are all kinds of house rules to shorten the process (monster's init/ party init and more) but still- too long, too clanky. and often battles are "dumbed down" in order to be easier to handle.

PbPs i think should mainly focus on roleplay- drama, humor, intrigue and the like. but NOT sequenced events.

my real advice though? instead of the effort of PbP, put your effort in searching for a good RL group. much better, much much more satisfying. :smallwink:

[Retech]

Lots of crap can happen in two adventuring days though.

[Kol Korran]

Lots of crap can happen in two adventuring days though.

true. :smalltongue: in this case i think there were about 2-3 battle encounters, and quite a bit of exploration (no traps or such) with a few conversations. the point it- in a RL group it could be done in about 3- 3.5 hours i think tops.