RPG "Book" Club

[Mr. Mask]

Here's an idea that's no doubt been thought of but I rarely see online. An RPG club, where you try out a one-shot adventure in an RPG system, before moving onto a new one in a new RPG system. The point of it would to be able to experience a lot of different, interesting RPG systems with a group. I've been considering starting one of these myself.

Anyone have experience with these? Are they doable via PbP? Your thoughts on an RPG book club, and whether such an idea seems interesting to you? Any advice on the subject?

[Thrudd]

That can be great fun. Though you probably want to have different people GM most of the time. Even for a one shot, you preferably want someone with pretty strong understanding of the system to be able to teach it to the rest of the group and properly represent the game system and its strengths.

I feel that pbp may not be the best format for doing this. It is too limiting, a lot of systems just won't work this way. If you try to force them into pbp games, you end up with a homogenized feel that doesn't really represent the different systems at all.

Imo, pbp really only works for free form character interaction. Everything else is so slow that the whole feeling of the game is gone. There is no ability to express urgency or action or immediacy, which is very important for some games (at least in my games). Not to mention tactical combat or tactile elements are all but impossible.

[A_Man]

Depends on the system. Combat heavy systems are terrible for pbp, but ones focused on political intrigue, social cunning and interactions are phenomenal for pbp in my opinion. The more simplistic the system is, the better, though, so testing out new systems may not be the wisest choice.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Sounds fun. Main problem I'd see is that it'd be a lot of work to learn a new system every week.

[jaydubs]

I tried/am trying one. The main issue is that it's a lot of work outside of the session. The players (and DM) have to both read the work in question, and learn the rules for an appropriate system. So we had a very high rate of attrition from people not following through.

It was also hard to find people in the first place, due to having a much smaller potential recruitment pool (people interested in both TTRPGS and book clubs).

We ended up making each book (or in some cases movie/series/etc.) a 4 session affair, to cut down on how any hours we'd have to invest per game. Only 3 months in though, but so far it's been fun.

It wouldn't really be any better or worse via PbP than any other campaign type, except maybe in that since people have more time to think about what they're doing, it's easier to sit back and reference unfamiliar rules.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

We ended up making each book (or in some cases movie/series/etc.) a 4 session affair, to cut down on how any hours we'd have to invest per game. Only 3 months in though, but so far it's been fun.
This has a nice side benefit: 4 sessions is long enough to see longer-term aspects of a game kick in. You can lose a lot with one-shots.

It wouldn't really be any better or worse via PbP than any other campaign type, except maybe in that since people have more time to think about what they're doing, it's easier to sit back and reference unfamiliar rules.
One advantage: since there's less of an overall investment in any one game, you can have games where people can drop out for spans of time, but come back for the next game. Also, it's easier to build momentum because the "end goal" is usually a lot smaller or more immediately achievable than many PbP games.

[Mr. Mask]

One question to ask, is what advantage a club has over just finding games of PBP.

Potential one are 1) Brevity, you can try out more RPGs in the same timespan.

2) Same group. If you like your group, you get to spend more time with them.

3) Greater assurance of player/GM interest, being able to play when you want. This can be a problem over finding a game.



On a side note, I found it sad when it turned out Wil Wheaton's RPG side-show will only feature one RPG, instead of exploring them in a series. Part of the reason I figure I'll have to start an RPG club as it's the only way I'll get to try stuff out.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Games also move much faster, and are much more likely to end voluntarily.

I've seen so many PbPs die because of various factors.