Handling combat in PbP, So how do you do it? Options

[JongWK]

I'm tempted to run a couple of adventures using PbP (damn you Large Mike for hooking me up :)), but I'm not sure about combat.

Can anyone tell me how do you handle the round by round action? It's not that the games I'm thinking of are too combat oriented (matter of fact, they aren't), but I want to avoid any possible complications.

Gracias! :wavey:

PS: Any other tips for a PbP GM wannbe? :D

[Grey]

I handle it the normal way and so far it hasn't been a problem. Most combats only last a round or two in my experiance anyhow.

[TinkerGnome]

Maps are helpful if it's going to get complicated. Otherwise, it's pretty quick, all things considered (all SR combat is pretty quick, really).

[Kagetenshi]

Basically handle them like normal. It may take a few days if people aren't on their toes, so be willing to skip people who don't respond after a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand, don't skip people if they don't check their emails every 5 minutes.

~J

[Grey]

Rather than skip them, roll for them or something. Ask people ahead of time what they will generally be doing. If a guy wants to take cover and shot at bad guys, you can pretty much roll for him. Its when they want to do wacky stuff where you need to work it out.

[Nikoli]

Pardon me for interupting but what is PbP?

[Kagetenshi]

Play-by-post.

~J

[JongWK]

Whoa, good answers in just about half an hour! You've gotta love Dumpshock. :D

@ Grey: Maybe it's us, but I've seen quite a few non-PbP combats drag on for a while, especially when using modifiers like cover, visibility or movement. They mean lots of spent ammo and few clean hits.

@ Tinkergnome: Think that using maps with labeled squares or hexagons helps? (Like in Chess: A1, B6, D4)

[TinkerGnome]

Depends on how complicated a combat is going to get. The basic problem with getting ultra-accurate with mapping is that urban combats with firearms can have quite a bit of area involved, and making a map large enough can be confusing and tiresome. If it's a small area and you're being strict about movement and the like, then they work great. I know they're wonderful for DnD. For SR, you're usually well enough off with a general sketch of the area to let people act in. After all, it's generally over in two rounds or so and relative positions isn't quite as important in SR. For instance, here is one I did for an SR combat that turned out to be suffcient. For DnD, I regularly see a lettering system with the grid, as well.

[Panzergeist]

The way I recomend it is that each player posts his action for the current initiative pass at the begining of the pass, even if it's not his turn to go yet. Once everyone posts their action, the GM resolves all actions, then the next pass starts and everyone goes again. Either the GM rolls initiative for everyone, or everyone rolls it on the same post that they post actions. This way, players don't have to check constantly to see if the person before them took their combat phase, so they don't have to post in order of initiative. It has the added effect of players not knowing the results of anyone else's actions in that initiative pass until the pass is over, which is more realistic then the "he goes, I go, you go" in that it simulates everything happening simultaneously. The GM does have to keep in mind that if a player gets wounded before his action in that intiative pass, his target number may increase, and the number of successes he gets on his action may therefore decrease.