tribe Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 I was wondering if anyone actually games via the postal service. Maybe your gaming group got separated... people change, move away. Has anyone continued their special relationship even when distance became an issue and didn't want to play via email? I'm asking because I can see some interesting elements in sending packages/moves rather than face to face and email. These are: Everyone likes to get something in the letter box, right? For a small group (2 players, 1 GM) it would work rather well. Turns would be monthly, probably, and be larger than your normal pbem post. The emphasis would have to be on detail and character development rather than basic gaming / dice rolls. There would be the opportunity to include handouts and other physical items / props. The pace would be nice. Could lead into extended fiction writing, maybe dispensing with the GM. There's the down side too, I'd bet. Does anyone have experience in this? I'm kind of keen to have a go at it. I'm in Australia, too, so that brings another set of quirks to the game. International postal service. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post I wouldn't ever do it. You can do ALL the same things with email except the physical props, but you could use pictures of the props and be almost as good. It would just be WAY too hard. I mean what if the players didn't understand the setting, wanted to ask if there was _______ they could use to defeat the bad guy, etc, etc. What I would recomend instead is maybe a collaberative story, where no one is really a GM but you all just add to the story and make it grow. This would still be MUCH easier using the Net and forums, but at least you'd get some mail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post I think you'd be better off finding a new group to game with and train them to act just like your old group. Maybe you could dress them up like your old group and have them wear latex masks of your old group as well. Playing by email and online forum is a giant pile of slow-paced suck, and playing by snail mail would have to be completely useless. But that's just me. All ribbing aside, I think you will be happier with a new group and with letting the old group go. We've all had to do that sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post From experience with online games, I'd say that you'd need to go the collaborative story route. Give up on the idea of one GM, replace it with an "Editor in Chief" and "Authors" model. If you like, the rules can be used to establish base power levels and comparative power levels. You can (e)mail around copies of every PC and NPC, as well as setting and background. Everyone contributes. Each "turn", one author takes the story forward X hours, controlling their own characters 100% and using others characters as they choose. The story moves on to the next player, who can re-write anything using his characters and then move the story forward again. The Editor in Chief can re-write anything. The story ends when it works its way to a mutually acceptable conclusion, guided by the editor in chief. I've tried to participate in something like this by email, but had to back out. By snail mail it will be harder, but still possible. It's not dissimilar to the way the Wild Cards or Thieves World books got put together. Good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribe Posted July 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post I haven't actually played face-to-face in over a decade, so I'm not really trying to replace anyone (just memories!). I'm doing a lot of email games, and the logical side of my brain agrees with you that snail mail would be a killer. I can imagine one scene could take years! Great idea for collaborative writing though. I'll keep this idea on the shelf I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagnern Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Last night Dr Anonomly ran a session of our teenchampions game is an AOL chatroom. It worked Remarkabley well. We did not have any combat, but we did have a lot of charictor interaction and we had a lot of fun. I dont' know if I would wanto do a game fully by chatroom, but that seems a heck of a lot better than email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Last night Dr Anonomly ran a session of our teenchampions game is an AOL chatroom. It worked Remarkabley well. We did not have any combat' date=' but we did have a lot of charictor interaction and we had a lot of fun. I dont' know if I would wanto do a game fully by chatroom, but that seems a heck of a lot better than email.[/quote'] I can understand the appeal, but I can't type that fast. I have high hopes for voice over Internet gaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkwleisemann Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Y'mean like this, once they get it all set up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Y'mean like this' date=' once they get it all set up?[/quote'] Ooh, now this bears further investigation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post I've been trying to run a play-by-post game on Herocentral, and it's much, much harder than face-to-face. Chatroom my be better, though. I can't imagine trying to run one by snail-mail. Ultimate suckitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Ghostorb looks like vaporware. The most recent update was for last Christmas, over seven months ago. I doubt that project has seen any development since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post Last night Dr Anonomly ran a session of our teenchampions game is an AOL chatroom. It worked Remarkabley well. We did not have any combat' date=' but we did have a lot of charictor interaction and we had a lot of fun. I dont' know if I would wanto do a game fully by chatroom, but that seems a heck of a lot better than email.[/quote'] I recall seeing someone on the boards using chat rooms for their rping. I read a transcript and it seemed to work pretty well - even combat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: The Long Distance Relationship: Playing Champions Through The Post The chat system here at HG has a built-in Hero System die roller, don'tcha know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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