PbP Campaigns, Share your experiences & advice Options

[Fuchs]

We've got a lot of PbP campaigns going on in the "Welcome to the Shadows" forum. Having recently started a pair of campaigns with Tabula Rasa, and playing in another by JonathanC, I was wondering about the experiences and advice of others in runing and playing in campaigns.

In my limited experience, there are a number of key factors for PbP campaigns: Ease of posting, frequency of posting, ease of communication between GM and players, and motivation of the participants. The easier it is to post, the quicker and more frequently people post, and the more likely is the campaign to last. And motivated people are less likely to drop out (RL can be a bitch though).

Personally, I found that having a wiki set up for the campaign makes it easier to run it smoothly. I got that idea (and web page) from Abbandon.
As a GM, I can introduce an NPC or location in a post, and quickly copy it to the wiki, which serves as game notes as well.
For the players and for the GM, it serves as a central store for Locations, NPCs and other game information (such as character info), which makes it easier for everyone to check on something before posting. This does not only speeds up posting - no longer looking through long threads for that information about that club or NPC - it also serves as an easy way to communicate rules and changes, post pictures and maps, and add details to something that already appeared, but was not as detailed back then.

Another thing I found helpful is not regulating posting too much, especailly formating. The more one has to work on a post, the more time it takes, and the more delays result from it, driving down the posting frequency - especially if a number of players are in one scene, and need to wait for someone to post to continue. If you can post in 5 minutes you can do it during a break, if you have to spend 15 minutes just looking things up and making sure the formating is correct you'll most likely wait until you've got more time - later.

Communication is key. If the GM and Player understand each other well, they need less questions, and can often anticipate actions and reactions, making longer scenes, especially fight scenes, flow more smoothly and with less delays.

The big random factor are players. If a player drops out or can't access the internet for some time, it can leave an entire group hanging. If a GM drops out, the campaign usually is dead. So, motivating players and GMs is an important factor. While the fun one has in a campaign is probably the most central factor for motivation, ease of posting comes in again. The less work one has to put into a campaign in every post, the more likely one is to keep at it. On the other hand, even if you are having fun, if you have to work too much for the fun, you're more likely to drop it if something else that's also or more fun comes up.

I and Tabula Rasa took this to some extreme by running dual single player campaigns with switched GM roles, Jamaica in the Shadows and Tokyo in the Shadows. So far they are working well though.

What are your experiences?