tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post4763895565134586675..comments2024-03-26T02:31:48.024-05:00Comments on Trollsmyth: Combat in Play-by-Posttrollsmythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-47984332156930333292011-06-01T14:54:45.296-05:002011-06-01T14:54:45.296-05:00sirlakins: Yeah, most of the games I've been i...<b>sirlakins:</b> Yeah, most of the games I've been in have had both maximums and minimums on posts (or actions) allowed per day. I think that helps, but I've seen what you're talking about. And that seems to exacerbate the issue when someone has de facto stopped playing and nobody notices until you hit a bottleneck that requires their input.<br /><br /><b>Vedron:</b> Yep. To me, it suggests a 4e-style, exceptions-based rules set, where the players have access to limited-use resources that change the normal rules of combat, potentially arranged in a rock-paper-scissors hierarchy.trollsmythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-53966963898650460232011-05-31T23:43:29.595-05:002011-05-31T23:43:29.595-05:00In terms of the operational art of war, I think th...In terms of the operational art of war, I think the key decision point is when and where to commit the reserve. In D&D terms, the "reserve" probably means committing henchmen or PCs to decisive mano-a-mano combat, burning powerful spells, or recognizing/seizing/exploiting key terrain ("get there the firstest with the mostest").<br /><br />Using these sorts of resources as "ante" for several rounds of betting would be interesting. You could either double down on your current strategy, switch to another one, or cut your losses and walk (run) away.Vedronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17734788809479835449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-60336384399260605032011-05-31T08:29:54.549-05:002011-05-31T08:29:54.549-05:00I participated briefly in a long-running PbEM abou...I participated briefly in a long-running PbEM about 10 years ago that had the players post their combat actions in large chunks as contingency chains, kind of like what you're suggesting. Something like: "I attack the goblin nearest me. Once it's dead, I move across the room to engage the hobgoblin leader, engaging any goblins who move to block me on the way. When I attack the first goblin, I call out to Mysterio to fling a magic missile at the leader to soften him up for me. If I'm knocked down to 5 HP or less at any point, I'll do a fighting withdrawal." Then the GM would run everyone through several rounds of combat until all the contingencies had played out, then announce the results in a suitably narrative fashion.<br /><br /><i>"Still, PbP has a lot to recommend it, especially in terms of...its low-impact requirements for participation."</i><br /><br />Strangely, I haven't found that to be the case and this is actually the one thing that's turned me off of PbP gaming. I don't mind a slow, steady pace, actually (that's part of the territory), but I've found that inevitably you get one or two players who are able to post much more frequently than the others, sometimes to the point of practically engaging in real-time chat through the boards, which creates a major division in the party dynamic as these uber-players jump ahead of everyone else, taking the proactive lead on practically everything and leaving everyone else in a reactive, "me too, I guess" sort of mode.<br /><br />(Can you tell I was never the one who was able to post frequently? ;P)David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.com