I’m running a play-by-post game over Facebook for some friends.

I’m running a play-by-post game over Facebook for some friends.

I’m running a play-by-post game over Facebook for some friends. The only thing that’s starting to alarm me is that I have a lot of players – seven, in fact! I’m looking for advice from folks who have run this game before. Given that folks yelling and talking over each other in excitement at the table isn’t a concern here, do you think this game will run well enough with seven players? Or am I going to have to make some hard choices?

3 thoughts on “I’m running a play-by-post game over Facebook for some friends.”

  2. Not to naysay Jakob’s opinion, but I’m both running three PBP Blades games through Myth-Weavers as well as running a tabletop Blades game with seven players. There are complications to both, but it can be doable if you’re willing to make some effort.

    Regarding play-by-post, much of Blades involves the Conversation – that is, players and GM going back and forth, figuring out Position, Effect, and Consequences together before any dice are rolled. Around the table, that works pretty quickly – in play-by-post, it’s a little slower. But as long as everyone involved is aware that actions will progress slower, it shouldn’t be a problem. I find that I often have a flurry of Out-of-Character posts…that will lead to one or two In-Character posts with die rolls. I’ve also found that in the PBP environment, you often need to do one of two things (or both sometimes) – either the GM needs to go ahead and interpret action rolls to advance the narrative with minimal input from the players (much as in a typical RPG)…or the GM has to give players the ability to post the results of their action rolls based on the (hopefully) previous discussed Position, Effect, and potential Consequences. But as long as the ground rules and pace are all understood and accepted by the group, Blades can run just fine via PBP.

    The larger sized group can also be challenging, but I know that it’s still workable. My current group has seven players and each one as snagged a different Playbook. One of the first things I noticed was that there were a lot more resources to throw around with that many players – more Stress, more Harm, more Load, etc. I’ve slowly upped the challenges faced during their Scores to keep the players feeling like there’s real risk still. But on the other hand, it can be just as enjoyable to just let a Score run smooth as the multitude of crew and talents makes the scheme work great.

    The second thing I noticed with a larger group is that sometimes it’s tricky to give everyone something to do. However, I find this happens in ANY game with a big group. On one hand, I do try to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for each PC to shine, especially because Blades has great Teamwork options. On another hand, I also put it back on the players to find reasons for their characters to be involved – to look for ways to contribute to the Score rather than waiting for me to give them the opening. I’ve also curbed any wrestling for the spotlight by having a group that understands that some Scores will feature PCs with particular skills while others have to stay as background support. I try to make up for it by shifting the focus to other PCs in later Scores – just to help ensure that everyone has a chance to look awesome.

    I’ve also made adjustments to the assumptions regarding gang size based on Tier. In the rulebook, a Tier 0 crew should be 2-4 scoundrels. Seven PCs should maybe be Tier 1 according to the book. I personally changed the baseline – assuming that 6-10 guys made up a typical Tier 0 crew. That’s roughly two or three times the book’s assumption so I modified the Tier ladder to match. Now the bigger crew is dealing with comparatively bigger opponents, which keeps the narrative and mechanical challenges appropriate.

    Ultimately, I feel that if you make public your expectations, are aware of certain limitations and challenges, and ensure that your players also understand the same, you shouldn’t have a problem.

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