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23:43, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

New DM - Way of the Wicked.

Posted by riki.joat
riki.joat
member, 33 posts
Human
Wizard
Sat 23 Jan 2021
at 13:17
  • msg #1

New DM - Way of the Wicked

Hi, so some background first. I was going to try and GM here a couple years ago but I had never DMed before and found it overwhelming. Now I've been DMing in real life for about 5 months. I had played a lot of pbp before but just started played in real life about a year ago, but when our DM was getting burnt out I took over and I love it. For my first campaign I picked Kingmaker since I have the books, but my players have never played Pathfinder so I have been converting it to 5E. So now I want to try DMing here but wondering what is best.

I love Pathfinder but I do find 5E is really good too, and I have the books for Way of the Wicked an AP I've always wanted to do. So any advice for DMing on pbp on how it is different from a live game? And also what do you think, should I stick with Pathfinder for Way of the Wicked, or should I convert it to 5E? What would you prefer, and which system do you think is better?
jkeogh
member, 93 posts
Sat 23 Jan 2021
at 13:40
  • msg #2

New DM - Way of the Wicked

Pathfinder. You will have no problem finding lots of players. Be up front about what you want to allow be what you don’t. Set a pace you can maintain and your players agree to.
Anachronist
member, 43 posts
Sat 23 Jan 2021
at 13:56
  • msg #3

New DM - Way of the Wicked

Welcome back riki.joat. I think you asking for advice is probably already a promising sign that you are setting up an excellent game for your players. :)

There are a few common pitfalls made in PbP. I would say the first is taking on too many players. In my experience five is about the maximum most DM's can handle long term while still providing quality interaction.

A second is not taking enough time during the player selection process. As jkeogh mentioned, I would recommend bring upfront about your posting expectations including length, style and frequency. As well as the tone of the game you hope to run. Some like gritty, brutal settings, while others of course enjoy more comedy and light hearted stuff.

Decide what maturity rating you are going to go with, and stick to it.

And third, expect some attrition. It's a rare gane that keeps the same player base over years and years of play, they are out there, but they are the exception. Don't let it throw you and be honest and open with your players.

Aside from that, good luck!
tibiotarsus
member, 218 posts
Hopepunk with a shovel
Sun 24 Jan 2021
at 16:53
  • msg #4

New DM - Way of the Wicked

General GM tips specific to RPoL:

- learn players' posting speeds and give slow posters more talky tasks and swift ones more active fiddly ones wherever possible.

- make use of PMs, language groups and other online widgets unique to the format, e.g. I like to use quotes for supernatural things or visions to set them apart from the narrative and guess what? The Secret formatting is near-invisible if the only thing in the tag is a quote, so without any actual deception (players can check for alt-text if they want certainty, or not if they want more immersion in their characters' uncertainty), the first reaction from an average player will be a meta-less one as though everyone can see that thing. Which is great for that disturbing "someone is freaking out over thin air" effect or targeted illusions. PMs are good for when one character spots a thing and another doesn't and Language groups can really reward character RP, e.g. how accurately does the one character who understands the enemy chatter translate the location of treasure/danger to those they're with?

- relatedly, groups are great - it's like sending the parts of a split-up party into another room to preserve mystery, but without the time lag issues. The players don't have to miss anything, either, as threads their characters weren't there for can be made visible to read up on when the party gets back together to save on exposition or just for curiosity.

- Remember you have access to the dice roller's built-in Magic 8-Ball to resolve non-numeric queries when you're on the fence and don't want to get mired in rules-lawyering (or just make important plot decisions with :D ).
riki.joat
member, 34 posts
Human
Wizard
Sun 24 Jan 2021
at 17:41
  • msg #5

New DM - Way of the Wicked

The secret thing sounds interesting, haven’t seen that used will have to look at it, all together I appreciate the advice from all of you so far. Looking over the rules now for Adult vs Mature as I don’t want stuff too blatant but there are mature themes in this adventure path. Also unsure about how much read this text I am allowed to post or handouts/maps. Don’t want to break any rules but I guess that is a different forum for me to discuss.
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