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[NullForceOmega]

Well, that's an opinion certainly, but I have found over the years that I have played and run that being at the table has a positive impact on the group as a whole, and leads to tighter focus.  I'm also really good at on the fly, to the point that I have no set in stone elements in my game other than basic history and geography.  Slow paced games are anathema to my style, as I do my best work in the moment.

[UXLZ]

It depends heavily on the group, as well. My own tend to be quite large and end up being social gatherings with DnD in the background, rather than vice versa, though there isn't any real issue with that. They're very unfocused. Conversely, my experiences online have allowed me to roleplay very closely to what I want the character to actually be.
Your group probably just takes stuff a bit more seriously than mine, which leads to our difference in experience.

Ah, a good advantage of play-by-post is the capability for multi-focus. You can have the thief sneak off into the king's castle to try and grab some loot, the assassin complete a contract on a local crimelord, and the wizard research spells in an inn all at the same time. That is, agency. Now, with a group like yours, that might be possible, but in something like mine where there's probably an overt number of people, and they're unfocused generally to boot, it's impossible. The party has to move as one, and individuals rarely get a chance to shine or use their less generic battle orientated skills.

There's the option of real-time stuff using something like Maptool, but then you get issues with conflicting schedules and stuff due to people being all over the world.

[highmax28]

So my party's bard just became a werewolf willingly. Now they have to fight a werebear

[kilakan]

So my party's bard just became a werewolf willingly. Now they have to fight a werebear

I no longer can even imagine what sort of world you are playing in when you went from getting shot by cat gangsters to fighting werebear via application of singing werewolf.

[highmax28]

The shot was pathfinder where I'm a player. Our captain for the ship we're using is a human werewolf gunslinger to be fair.

No, the werewolf and werebear is in my 5e game that I DM.

[Flying Dice]

Well, that's an opinion certainly, but I have found over the years that I have played and run that being at the table has a positive impact on the group as a whole, and leads to tighter focus.  I'm also really good at on the fly, to the point that I have no set in stone elements in my game other than basic history and geography.  Slow paced games are anathema to my style, as I do my best work in the moment.

From my observations PbP games are usually only slow-paced when the DM gets bored or disappears for days at a time, and when the players aren't selected carefully enough (aka you get jokers who delay the game because they only check the thread when someone PMs them).

You're still not going to match the pace you can set at the table, and you have to be ready to push things along (in part because there are people who will sit around talking IC for days if you let them), but as long as you've got a small party of no more than 4-5 active players you can move quickly. Combat is still the most time-consuming thing, natch, especially when the DM has to make all of the rolls because the players are new or the DM doesn't trust them enough to let them use InvisibleCastle (or InvisibleCastle is down for a month  ).

Actually, one of the biggest problems is that there's no integrated diceroll mechanic.

[UXLZ]

You can still run into issues with timezones, though. If one person's away while everyone else is there, they either have to give permission for their character to be auto'd or you only get one turn of combat done per day.

[highmax28]

My 4e game I believe is going onto its second year come December. I've been having problems recently and I can't post because a waitlister is being a shitbag right now and I had RL issues a few times.

I keep a very tight ship though. If someone doesn't post often, I will harass the player to either quit or try to put more effort into it. I haven't run into a player who fucks around too much yet, but I would warn them doing so

[Bohandas]

Pathfinder game had my party dealing with catfolk that are stereotypical Italian mobsters. I also realized looking like a Viking makes me stick out like a sore thumb amongst a lot of people wearing suits.

Also what is a Poe like? (Spelled police) like guards apparently but get paid to do sh%#, as the officer told me.

I also apparently slashed a high end mobster with flametongue and my sunblade. And proceeded to get shot six times

Your game sounds really cool!

[highmax28]

Its my buddy who's running it. Guy's a legend at DMing.

THIS GUY MADE A CAMPAIGN BASED ON FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDIE'S AND HE ACTUALLY SCARED THE UNSHAKABLE META GAMER. And everyone else who was playing.

Then he has piracy combat that works magnificently. All battles of morale, so you don't need to kill everyone.

And then he made his own world where its all thrown together? And every place is diverse but has a real world equivalent? And elves have german accents? Its awesome!



Also, I rolled to see what race my character has a thing for... And I rolled halflings... So for the next campaign, if I have time before this epic climatic duel with my character's backstory nemesis, my character is going to run to one of the brothels and ask for halflings. I guess he likes the short folk... Do note I tried to make it so it was with a race he was familiar with, but halflings, dwarves and humans are common in his homeland, and elves are rarely seen in his home (too damn cold). I even asked my DM if there was any halflings even in the area and he told me there are, so I can't say I never saw a halfling in my life. So next session, I'm whipping out the chaotic neutral in me to do some things that I need to do before I die.

I'm expecting my character to get his ass handed to him though. The artifact that the orc he's hunting is wearing gives him a +8 to Strength or Con (whichever it is, I need to make use of my 4 attacks as a two-weapon ranger). I would have asked to borrow the item that gives +8 to dex to counter it, but I don't want the person who hired us to get it to get mad if I get killed and the item is stolen.

Did I mention that we're retrieving the armor of a king that was supposed to ascend to godhood? And our employer is an older indiana jones pretty much? Yeah, every time he does something that involves him doing stuff in the field, we play his theme song.

[BlackFlyme]

Finally managed to make a character sheet that is actually legible once printed. Made a bunch of extra characters for whenever a new campaign starts up.

So far I have a half-orc barbarian with a pet bull, a tiefling inquisitor of Desna with a roc companion, because vermin companions kind of suck, and a muscle-wizard aasimar monk. All of which are at level five, made with 35 point-buy.

Still not a big fan of point-buy though. It's just fairer to use it than to roll for stats in private.

[Neonivek]

So some people always ask if they can play an evil character... and here is my drawn up rules for playing one
-----------------------------------------

Evil characters NEED to be tempered by common sense, self-preservation, and morals.

They need attachments and obligations.

A evil character without all of those will never be a PC

-----

Oddly enough most players who want to play an evil character who look at this... decide not to.

It is almost like people want to play evil characters to not have any morals, obligations, or anything that prevents them from just flat out killing people other than outright force... rather than to play an actual character

[Gentlefish]

PPE: NOPE NOT GONNA DO IT NOT DEBATING ALIGNMENT HAHA SORRY.

[Neonivek]

Well it isn't about alignment as in "What makes an alignment" this is about what makes a decent character that can be run in a setting.

A totally immoral character with no real connections, liabilities, or anything... Is a psychopath.

Sure Order of the Stick had Balker and he was "evil", but he was a kind of evil that could be directed and he definitely had some morals or inklings not to go around killing random people.

People just want to play the game's secret villain... but if they want to be the secret villain then just ask me if they can be the secret villain.

[Flying Dice]

Crossposting from this to alignment thread.