Hello, all. This is my first post on dumpshock in my new incarnation; previously, Crimson Jack from years ago. Good to be back.

After a bit of a hiatus from Shadowrun, my original group of runners wanted to start playing again. With our schedules and physical space separating some of us, we settled on the idea of playing-by-email. I have a private blog set up for everything where I can post pics, sound bites, maps, illustrations, and other media. I thought this would be a good arena for telling the story that unfolds from all of the dice rolls (i.e. just the story, not OOC elements). Our best idea for the latter (the OOC and game mechanics portions of the game) was to use a multi-friend group message on facebook that all of us can see and be a part of..

My point in writing this is to reach out to other GM's or players that have done something similar to this and ask for suggestions. I realize there are play-by-forum games going on. We're fairly decided on keeping the game private to start out though. So, if anyone is willing to address a few issues that have come up before - playing in this style - I would love to hear from you. Of note, these are some of the issues that I've thought of, but haven't tackled solution-wise:

>> How often do GM's story vs Players playing? One day all player moves? Next day all GM story?
>> How does one deal with a player who is MIA from their actions?
>> Can a GM tell too much story that doesn't account for a player "interrupting" with an action? Are the work-arounds to this to alleviate frustration?
>> Tips on running smooth combat.. Should I do all the dice rolls or use a dice-rolling program so everyone can see the results? If so, any suggestions on good ones?

If it helps, my crew is making an all magical group: Shaman, Mage, and two Adepts. They've each written character studies based on the 20 Questions in the SR4 core rulebook and we all have a good understanding of what motivates their characters and how they see things.. generally-speaking.

In any event, thanks for any tips in advance. I may be forgetting to even think about hidden problems

GS

Just found roll20.net

Has anyone used this for SR online gaming? Curious, as it looks fairly robust in features with some shadowrun dice abilities. Even a guide for running SR games via roll20.

As for dice rolls, we typically use invisiblecastle.com for that. It also hase code specific for shadowrun.

As for pace. I think that is something that has to work between everyone involved. It shouldn't be too fast so that it becomes a chore, and it shouldn't be too slow as otherwise things are not moving forward.

Basically, give the players time to play and roleplay whenever the situation calls for it, and don't interrupt them. If things are coming to a halt, a GM post to move things forward is a good idea.

E-Mail has the advantage, that you can have side-shows running (i.e. hacking or astral) without slowing down the game too much.

Bye
Thanee