So, I'm not really sure if this is the right place to post this but I couldn't really think of a better area. I've been trying to get into a PbP game because I can't find anyone in my area that will get down to gaming here, and I also have a ridiculous schedule anyway. I was just curious how long PbP games tend to last (there's a thread in WtS about people looking for games and incited a whole bunch of ideas about how short lived many have been). It seems to me that most of the games currently running there haven't been going on all that long really (month or two) save a couple. I'm also interested to know what people find as drawbacks/advantages there are between PbP v. Tabletop gaming, what brought you to that type of game. I'm new to the whole idea so I guess overall I just want to know more about the experience too.

*edit*I guess there were far more longer running games up there than I realized after a second thorough glance! Still wondering about how average that is.

Moved to the Shadowrun forum
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pbp games usually either last ~1 month or over a year. HERE is a topic talking about what it takes to keep a pbp game going.

Read thru the various posting threads for each recent game.

At times players just disappear or drop out, if you see that, send the GM a pm to see if you can submit a character to drop into the game play.

Sometimes in the first few OOC pages you can get a feel for the game and any character rules used in same.

WMS

Thanks guys! I've been voraciously reading through the recently started games as well as a few of those running longer, its helping to scratch my long ignored SR itch, but I'm dying to get involved in something myself, a fella' can only lurk so much before he starts getting creepy feelings. I'm getting the feeling that its a great venue for play, especially considering the difficulties of getting meat bodies together, at least for me. Later!

I play a lot of PbP games on RPoL. I find that generally they either last for a month and a half or less, or a year or more. The nature of gaming in that fashion is you get a lot of GMs who don't actually want to GM, and get bored in a short amount of time (meaning there are a LOT of false starts), but then once they're out, the remaining ones are increasingly competent.

That said, more dangerous, there are natural ebbs and tides in posting rates which may kill a game. September to November is pretty good. November things get spotty for a bit around T-day, then Novemer until mid-December is up and down. Mid-December to January is the killer - it's a long gap of people disappearing at different intervals, it being Christmas vacation. If the game survives Christmas vacation, you're golden. January until May is really the sweet spot. At that point everyone is in their grooves, they post fast, things move quickly, with only a brief break for Spring Break. May things slow down again briefly for finals and vacations. June 'til September is an absolute crap shoot. I've had games where players would disappear for the whole time, and games where EVERYONE is available and post a bazillion times a day.

But I have seen far more games die in December than I'd care to admit.

I started a collection thread about PbP experiences, but it died.