Play-by-email is better than tabletop

[Grow-Arm-Hair Lad]

I'm running an email game of Champions fifth edition. I consider my play-by-email experience of the game superior and more fun than when I played face-to-face.

 

Does anyone else feel the same way?

 

By the way, here's a link to my game ad on the forums here, still openings:

 

[Cygnia]

Is it actual e-mail or is it forum based?

[Duke Bushido]

In my own experience, forum-based wasn't awful, the biggest problem being people like me who, because of the nature of their work, could only check in once- sometimes twice a day.

 

I have done play-by email as well, a couple of times, and the best thing I can say about my own experiences is "it was better than not gaming at all."

 

Haven't tried VTT, but hung out with a couple of friends while they involved, and ultimately, it struck me as a prettier version of forum-based play by post.  Nothing there won me over to it.  The argument I was given was "you don't have to worry about finding local people who want to game!  You can play with people from all over the world!"

 

It strikes me that I still need people who are available Sundays, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, every other Sunday.

 

Doesn't seem like I am going to get that big an increase in available players.

 

 

I am not nay-saying it: my friends seemed to like checking Facebook and watching TV and randomly going to the kitchen and talking about all maner of things while playing the VTT, so I guess if you are ADD or something, it has way more perks than face-to-face.

 

 

[Grow-Arm-Hair Lad]

10 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Is it actual e-mail or is it forum based?

 

It's actually by email. I use forums for some of my games but not this one.

[Steve]

I guess I’m an old school grognard, but I far prefer interacting with people face to face at a table rather than playing by text/email. I’ve tried it in the past, and it’s glacially slow in getting anything done that way.

[Cygnia]

PBEMs & e-wrestling was how I met my husband, so that format of play has a soft spot in what passes for my heart

[Durzan Malakim]

I prefer in-person games to VTT games and VTT-games over no-games at all. I like telling stories with dice where I can see the effects of our choices in real time, and where I can interact with multiple people simultaneously. Can you have that experience in play-by-mail? Maybe, probably, I just long ago gave up on that method of game play for other more immediate modes that better feed my addiction.

[Grow-Arm-Hair Lad]

On 11/7/2022 at 6:34 PM, Durzan Malakim said:

I prefer in-person games to VTT games and VTT-games over no-games at all. I like telling stories with dice where I can see the effects of our choices in real time, and where I can interact with multiple people simultaneously. Can you have that experience in play-by-mail? Maybe, probably, I just long ago gave up on that method of game play for other more immediate modes that better feed my addiction.

 

Yeah, your response does make sense. I do remember having good time with my gaming groups in person. But I've been in a really small town for several years, and I haven't managed to drum up a group. So I switched to email games. I guess what I found is that I can have a group of friends that are not gamers, and then I can focus purely on the gaming in the email campaigns.

 

But yeah, maybe I'm kidding myself that play-by-email is better than the camaraderie of a good in-person gaming group.

 

That being said, there is something nice about a "pure" experience where almost every syllable is dedicated to gameplay and furthering the plot. That's one thing that I do appreciate about playing by email: the players are all focused on writing concise responses to keep the game moving forward, where--in my experience--gaming groups in person sometimes get sidetracked by topics.

[tkdguy]

My play by email experience hasn't been good. Hardly anyone responded to my prompts, then they were upset after I cancelled the game. They said they were busy. I understand life happens, but at least tell me you have stuff to do. The continued radio silence I got only gave me the impression that nobody was really interested.

[Strand]

I have played PBEM for many years, but I think it really depends on the GM. Although our GM had one hell of a hot temper and some games tended to boil over if things didn't go his way (one time I didn't give enough 'air time' to a group of his NPCs that he gave out specific details to me and he was very angry about the situation.) I love the way he runs the combat vs the way others online want to play an X-Men game that is purely roleplaying where everyone just sits in a room and ....talks. 

With my angry GM, I have created all sorts of characters that I can't possibly created in regular Champions like Soleste the Pixie with an Energy blast. She was the fastest flier in the group. She became the Barrow Queen. She got her own backup singers. She was a blast to play until the game broke up. I played another character that I named AAHCHO!!  (No relation to the Star Wars planet, this took place a long time before that) He could eat his way through anything, but Radioactive stuff tasted funny and he had to spit it out. He was based completely off of Stitch and he had a "Flip top head".  I had many other characters like Capacitor an alien cop that once again couldn't be easily made in regular Champions. but I had a blast playing PBEM. My friend quit PBEM. Because he was so awesome and my experience with others, I won't be going back.