Seeking Game Advice

[anoba]

I'm trying to put together my first PBP game (as DM). The first part of the adventure involves some light investigation (interogating suspects/witnesses, examining scene of crime, etc).

Does anyone have any idea/experience on how this type of activity pans out in PBP? I'm worried that the game might get bogged down because of the usual slowness involved in PBP. Also, obvious conclusions (and I intend to make them obvious) have the risk of getting over looked when days of real-life time occur between clues. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Fangor the Fierce]

It will actually go by more easily than a combat. It all depends on how many characters you are using, and how many witnesses/suspects. Keeping those numbers down will aid as well.

[TheUdjat]

It's tough, especially if you have a long, draw-out interrogation session. You have to list questions, and sometimes try to predict where people are going. Look at Masks of Nyarlathotep to get an idea of how it kind of plays out, as CofC tends to be an investigation-heavy game as well.

On that note, my biggest advice is this: keep a log of leads and clues gathered to date in a separate thread that people can access at any time. It gives a nice reference tool people can look at to remind themselves what they're doing. (I also have one of these for Masks, which you're welcome to use as a template)

And repeat, repeat, repeat. If you want something to be obvious, make it obvious. Point out the connection yourself if you must.

[K Man]

What Udjat said. Keep the gathered clues or information in a seperate file (something I have REALLY not been doing for myself lately) and give them a link at the end of every post with that scenario. That will really help keep people actively involved and track their progress too.

Other than that, PbP is very slow but some people apparently like it that way.

[ryngo]

Apr 23, 2008 19:06:31 GMT -5 Fangor the Fierce said:

It will actually go by more easily than a combat. It all depends on how many characters you are using, and how many witnesses/suspects. Keeping those numbers down will aid as well.

I'll second that. The only game I've DMed here, I found combat to be the real trick, even though going into it, I thought that would be the easiest most straight forward part. In the end, I really had to schedule when a fight was going to happen by my own life schedule, and that was a little weird.

[anoba]

Thank you all for the advice. I intend on going easy on the investigative parts, so I think keeping a list of leads and clues should (hopefully) be enough to ensure a smooth game. Now, it seems, all I have to worry about is combat.