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Over the past 12 years I have joined probably 10-12 online games run through e-mail or play by post on a website. I've also attempted running one with people I knew in real life who were separated by distance.

All of these games die within a month. The problem? People stop posting.

I figure it is for one or more of these reasons:
1. The posts and action come so slowly people lose interest. In pretty much every game that one month covers what might happen in one or two gaming nights in a face-to-face tabletop game.

2. Real life causes people to forget to check posts and reply, more likely to cause them to forget to reply or run out of time to reply.

3. The GM has a problem (one game was killed by the GM getting activated and shipped overseas for the war, another was the GM lost his job and couldn't afford to pay for the internet and needed to spend time job hunting).

In any case, if the problem is because the GM couldn't continue, by the time they recover and can continue people have forgotten important details or no longer have interest in continuing.

So...what things have people done to run a successful online game? What ground rules do you have to keep people participating (such as mandatory daily post unless the GM has been notified of other arrangements, etc)?

I've never ran a online game, but I've been in a few PBEM's. One of those lasted from 9/2003 to 9/2006. The key I think there was that A), the GM was freaking awesome and B) we started out small with only four players. We later added more.

Another game lasted from 5/2004, through 2005 and sporadically through 2006 before dying out. Same deal as before, awesome GM and story with a smaller group.

Really I think those are the two key elements - tell a good story and keep it small. Those GM's also generally posted two to three times a week, more if needed - once generally for a game turn, then replying to questions and clarifications. Some members also used a IM program a lot with the GM.

The games at the NEXUS Point have gone on longer than a month. There's a regular schedule for games.

NEXUS Gaming

Well, from what I've seen the games opperate around small, rather meaningless choices, like characters just talking to each other about what their going to do (as opposed to actually doing something).

This doesn't even work at the game table, it usually requires the GM heard the players onward with a bunch of social cues. Those cues don't exist in PBP.

I'd suggest as GM, four out of five posts should not end without leaving a choice that A: Is important, and B: Must be answered without further discussion (ie, the next post they make must give their answer).

But watch out for players who ignore what you say (that they get one post to say what they choose) and use that post to ask for more information. It's an old, feeble roleplay habit where they just keep asking for more and more information endlessly.

So if someone wanted to start up a PBP game, what are some good sites to host it? I'm looking for something that would have private forums, etc.

We can do it at Nexus Nine.

http://forums.nexusnine.net/ikonboard.cgi?act=SC;c=6

Your forum can be password protected.


Nexus Point could host it, so could Explorer's Unlimted which is all they do

rpol seems pretty good to me - again, you decide who can post in your game.

http://rpol.net/