Author: Eloy C

Storygames and Play-by-Post

I’m looking to see what Storygames can be played in PbP style. I’m fortunate enough to be involved in an AW PbP being run by Richard Rogers , but I can foresee some of the difficulties that lie ahead which,  I venture to speculate, should be much like those encountered in trad games, with the exception that combat and conflict resolution should prove much smoother to resolve, given the PbtA mechanics, which involve less fiddly bits than more tactical trad games.

On the other hand, I’m running a game of Swords Without Master as a PbP, and I am having a ridiculously easy time of it, courtesy of the excellently codified rules of SWM… namely, there is a precise order in which narration proceeds: Pass the conch shell, Lord of the Flies-style. 

I’m guessing (as I am new to this genre) that many Story games provide particular challenges that may preclude PbP style play. If there is no Pass the Conch Shell procedure, how would posting proceed?

So, I’d be interested to learn: 1) Does anyone have experience with other storygames in PbP format? 2) What other games have a pass the conch shell type mechanic that could be easily adapted to PbP?

Thanks!

EDIT  Pass the Conch Shell has the added benefit of eliminating the concept of ‘posting debt’ as I heard Rich Rogers say. It adds the problem of grinding the game to a halt, pending the response of a single player, but this is also seen in trad games, when play freezes at a certain initiative count, waiting for someone’s turn… come to think of it, Initiative is a pass the conch shell mechanic. I was in a very successful PbP trad game where a large section was run on initiative order, being used by the GM as a countdown clock for a pending doom…

Okay, just played the second session of my Swords and Sorcery Fate game… much better. As was suggested to me, I let the players handle all their math and keeping track of their own inherent and generated Aspects. 

In addition, combat involved a single monster, as opposed to a dozen warriors on the previous session (huge mistake). Went really smoothly. I liked it a lot. Three warriors taking on a Demon-Ape, with one of them jumping onto the beast’s back, just like in the iconic image belowl. Very Conan, much ape. Wow.

Short and exciting combat. Hit all the right notes.

There was a short Challenge, involving stealthily stealing some gold ingots from the head priest, while he slept in the chamber. Worked out well.

The one thing that I didn’t like is that we tried social combat before that, to bribe/convince a priest to provide access into a forbidden temple. I don’t know. The mechanics didn’t shine. It seemed really disruptive and intrusive. And I say this as a guy who really likes Duel of Wits in Burning Wheel and conflict mechanics in Mouse Guard…

Still, overall, a much better experience than last time. Maybe I’m getting a better grip on Fate…

WARNING: Much bitching and moaning ahead…

I ran a Fate Freeport game last night, but with a Sword and Sorcery theme. I used the World of Xoth and one of the published adventures in The Spider God’s Bride. I had 4 players on Google Hangouts, using Roll20 to write down Aspects and such.

The tone was perfect for Swords and Sorcery. I credit Xoth for that, as well as the wonderful creativity of my players, who know the genre front and back. Our touchstones for tone were; the Ancient World, Conan, Spartacus (Starz series), Imaro and Tarzan….

Running the game, however, proved no easy task.

It must be said that Fate Freeport is, IMHO, a better version of Fate Accelerated. Instead of the approaches or skills, one uses the classic D&D stats: Str, Int, Wis, Dex, Con, Cha. This cleverly capitalizes on the deeply ingrained D&D knowledge we possess, so we always knew what to roll for each action.

The problem was the overwhelming amount of Aspects that I as the GM had to keep track of. 3 scene aspects to start, plus each action, be it an attack or create advantage, usually generated 1 aspect with at least 1 tag on it. If two free tags were created, that only increased the bookeeping. After a single round of combat (each player acted once, plus the bad guys), you wound up with the original 3 scene aspects, plus as much as 4 new aspects. 

Add to that the convoluted math. +2 for the skill, -2 on the dice, plus tag a boost from somewhere, compared to your roll of +1, plus skill of +3, plus +2 from a stunt, plus a tag from another boost, so you succeed with style, that creates a new aspect with 2 free tags….

I swear it was like running freakin’ Mathfinder, only the combat felt much more exciting, with interesting descriptions, grappling, jumping, throwing nets and stuff you generally do not do in Pathfinder or D&D because the mechanics clearly do not support it. 

Having said that, combat still lasted about an hour… 

I dunno. It was fun, but maybe I just need either to play it and not run it, or just look for a lighter, or more Story Game focused system. Maybe if the math could be more automated… I need to play around with Roll20 and write some better macros. 

TL;DR –  Fun session of Fate Swords and Sorcery, but too much math and Aspects makes even a lite version of Fate still a chore too run. I’m either using the wrong system for me, or I need to get better at it.