How to Role-play by Email
Role-playing games (RPG) are rather like epic stories with no endings, or an on-going soap opera. How they're actually written is handled in different ways. Some are like ours, which is "play by email" (PbEM) and others are set up more like a round-robin.
A round-robin is usually used when writing fan-fiction. One person writes a chunk, usually one chapter or another designated length, then passes it on to the next person in the chain, who adds to it and passes it along. The character pool is shared by all the writers… that is, there are no personal personas. If the characters are X, Y and Z—all the writers utilize X, Y and Z in their writing. There's often a plot arc planned in advance, and the story is aimed along it with minor variations to allow for inspiration. In that way, it's more like co-authoring a novel.
A PbEM game like this one is more like episodal television or perhaps even more so, like a conversation. While there is an over-arching plot, characters react to one another and the plot, as the posts are made, according to their personalities. A setting and a "universe" is established, and plots and "hey, what if THIS happened, how would my character Joe react?" scenarios are played out within it.
Each person writes for their stable of characters only. If you "own" character X and I own character Y, you can only control X. If you write for my Y, you're powerplaying, which is naughty. (Unless I give consent, of course!) Powerplaying is discussed on the main Rules sheet, btw.
You write a post, I reply to what you've "said" therein, often interspersing my reply throughout yours. You respond to the hooks and hints or with what this has sparked in your character. Of course, if you want to go back and put comments in throughout the block of conversation that I just posted too, that's perfectly all right. That's why we have "fuzzy time." Nothing is sacrosanct and untouchable once it's been posted—if you want to go back and have your character respond to what was said in the last one, that's great.
If time is Fuzzy here, does it have to visit the groomer?
Writing is a linear process, but the action in a game is often not. The action in a game is more like watching a movie. Things can happen simultaneously in the game's world that might take hours or even days to play out through postings. It's rather like watching a Youtube video on very slow dial-up, sometimes. A second of action, a long pause. Two or three sentences spoken in a conversation, a long pause. Alas, until there's some sort of wet-ware hookup where we can all share a simultaneous voluntary mass hallucination, we have to find ways around the march of time in RL versus the slower pace of writing out every single action via email.
Our solution is to employ "fuzzy time" in this game. That means that players can go back and forth, adding bits to an on-going conversation without moving the game time forward, or can play out a thread even if game-time has moved on. Yes, this means that you have to keep up with whether it's past or present in a particular post, but once you try it for a while, it's not hard. And yes, it sometimes means that a character may temporarily be two places at once, though we try not to let that happen often. Ah, wish I could Fuzzy real life at times!
What are hooks and hints?
Things a charrie says or does that prompts some sort of reaction or thought from another. For example:
<<He flexed his fingers, feeling power tingle more sharply along them,
and decided that was going to be one of the first questions he asked
of George.>> Hook: Could another player have caught that fluctuation in his power? Noticed him flexing his fingers as if to form claws? Maybe, maybe not—but it is there to be picked up on.
<<The armaments in the Toyota itself? He'd let them find them on their
own-- or not.>> Hook: Even if the other character hadn't thought to search his car yet—or hadn't even been aware he'd come in his own vehicle, internal thoughts like that can be a heads-up to another player to maybe ask leading questions or have another character get the bright idea to search this newb's car.
<<"I had no intention of being the aggressor here, Loba," Aidan told
her evenly, meeting her eyes as an equal.>> Hook: Uhoh, a breach of Wolf etiquette—he's looking her in the eyes. Intentional or through ignorance? Will the Loba be offended or intrigued that he's not intimidated by her aura or position?
<<I'm newly infected, yes, but I'm far more effective at deadly force than the average human, and if I am trained to properly utilize the new strengths I've been given, I'll be a useful addtion to your Pack, to this safe-house. You want the Lycaon out of your life, I can help you accomplish that. If you allow us to stay with this Pack, we will obey your rules and I submit myself to your leadership-- on the condition that any punishment my family earns in this house will be taken out on me, not them.">> Hook: A whole tackle-box worth of hooks here. Just how new is he? Has he had his first full moon? Has he shifted at all? (He's a precocious shifter, and survived. That could be information the other charrie would want to have) Is he a braggart or does he really have the skills he's offering? And would she be interested—after all, she could let him assasinate the Lycaon and if it all went wrong, he'd take the heat as an insolent upstart who didn't know his place or the proper means of Challenge. And would she accept his terms of staying, that any transgressions by his "family" are to be taken out on himself?
Now, naturally not all hooks in a post can or should be played all the time, but if none of them are utilized, it makes it very hard for the other players to respond to your post. It's like talking to someone who never seems to follow up on anything you contribute to the conversation.
It may seem confusing at first glance, but like having a fun conversation with a stranger, or learning a new skill, once you dive in and start paddling, you'll catch on quickly.
Oh gosh, though, what if I make a mistake??!!
Well, Binkie, don't panic. It happens to all of us. You see all those examples up there? They came from a post in the first version of the game, where my character Donovan was holding a wounded woman in his arms. Unfortunately, between one day's posting and the next's--
I forgot about the woman and had him waving his hands around.
Um. Oops.
One of the other players caught it and brought it to my attention. In the next post, just add an OOC note at the beginning with your correction. It won't make the universe implode or anything. In 99% of the cases, we won't even ask for a rewrite. And if you want to laugh and point at me when I make another gaffe like that (and it's a certainty I will!) please do it quietly amongst yourselves, ok? ;-)
And please, any time you have a question or need to ask if something's allowable, please email us at Stone Mountain Council. We live for stuff like this. Hey, it beats sorting socks, which is what I should be doing at the moment….
A round-robin is usually used when writing fan-fiction. One person writes a chunk, usually one chapter or another designated length, then passes it on to the next person in the chain, who adds to it and passes it along. The character pool is shared by all the writers… that is, there are no personal personas. If the characters are X, Y and Z—all the writers utilize X, Y and Z in their writing. There's often a plot arc planned in advance, and the story is aimed along it with minor variations to allow for inspiration. In that way, it's more like co-authoring a novel.
A PbEM game like this one is more like episodal television or perhaps even more so, like a conversation. While there is an over-arching plot, characters react to one another and the plot, as the posts are made, according to their personalities. A setting and a "universe" is established, and plots and "hey, what if THIS happened, how would my character Joe react?" scenarios are played out within it.
Each person writes for their stable of characters only. If you "own" character X and I own character Y, you can only control X. If you write for my Y, you're powerplaying, which is naughty. (Unless I give consent, of course!) Powerplaying is discussed on the main Rules sheet, btw.
You write a post, I reply to what you've "said" therein, often interspersing my reply throughout yours. You respond to the hooks and hints or with what this has sparked in your character. Of course, if you want to go back and put comments in throughout the block of conversation that I just posted too, that's perfectly all right. That's why we have "fuzzy time." Nothing is sacrosanct and untouchable once it's been posted—if you want to go back and have your character respond to what was said in the last one, that's great.
If time is Fuzzy here, does it have to visit the groomer?
Writing is a linear process, but the action in a game is often not. The action in a game is more like watching a movie. Things can happen simultaneously in the game's world that might take hours or even days to play out through postings. It's rather like watching a Youtube video on very slow dial-up, sometimes. A second of action, a long pause. Two or three sentences spoken in a conversation, a long pause. Alas, until there's some sort of wet-ware hookup where we can all share a simultaneous voluntary mass hallucination, we have to find ways around the march of time in RL versus the slower pace of writing out every single action via email.
Our solution is to employ "fuzzy time" in this game. That means that players can go back and forth, adding bits to an on-going conversation without moving the game time forward, or can play out a thread even if game-time has moved on. Yes, this means that you have to keep up with whether it's past or present in a particular post, but once you try it for a while, it's not hard. And yes, it sometimes means that a character may temporarily be two places at once, though we try not to let that happen often. Ah, wish I could Fuzzy real life at times!
What are hooks and hints?
Things a charrie says or does that prompts some sort of reaction or thought from another. For example:
<<He flexed his fingers, feeling power tingle more sharply along them,
and decided that was going to be one of the first questions he asked
of George.>> Hook: Could another player have caught that fluctuation in his power? Noticed him flexing his fingers as if to form claws? Maybe, maybe not—but it is there to be picked up on.
<<The armaments in the Toyota itself? He'd let them find them on their
own-- or not.>> Hook: Even if the other character hadn't thought to search his car yet—or hadn't even been aware he'd come in his own vehicle, internal thoughts like that can be a heads-up to another player to maybe ask leading questions or have another character get the bright idea to search this newb's car.
<<"I had no intention of being the aggressor here, Loba," Aidan told
her evenly, meeting her eyes as an equal.>> Hook: Uhoh, a breach of Wolf etiquette—he's looking her in the eyes. Intentional or through ignorance? Will the Loba be offended or intrigued that he's not intimidated by her aura or position?
<<I'm newly infected, yes, but I'm far more effective at deadly force than the average human, and if I am trained to properly utilize the new strengths I've been given, I'll be a useful addtion to your Pack, to this safe-house. You want the Lycaon out of your life, I can help you accomplish that. If you allow us to stay with this Pack, we will obey your rules and I submit myself to your leadership-- on the condition that any punishment my family earns in this house will be taken out on me, not them.">> Hook: A whole tackle-box worth of hooks here. Just how new is he? Has he had his first full moon? Has he shifted at all? (He's a precocious shifter, and survived. That could be information the other charrie would want to have) Is he a braggart or does he really have the skills he's offering? And would she be interested—after all, she could let him assasinate the Lycaon and if it all went wrong, he'd take the heat as an insolent upstart who didn't know his place or the proper means of Challenge. And would she accept his terms of staying, that any transgressions by his "family" are to be taken out on himself?
Now, naturally not all hooks in a post can or should be played all the time, but if none of them are utilized, it makes it very hard for the other players to respond to your post. It's like talking to someone who never seems to follow up on anything you contribute to the conversation.
It may seem confusing at first glance, but like having a fun conversation with a stranger, or learning a new skill, once you dive in and start paddling, you'll catch on quickly.
Oh gosh, though, what if I make a mistake??!!
Well, Binkie, don't panic. It happens to all of us. You see all those examples up there? They came from a post in the first version of the game, where my character Donovan was holding a wounded woman in his arms. Unfortunately, between one day's posting and the next's--
I forgot about the woman and had him waving his hands around.
Um. Oops.
One of the other players caught it and brought it to my attention. In the next post, just add an OOC note at the beginning with your correction. It won't make the universe implode or anything. In 99% of the cases, we won't even ask for a rewrite. And if you want to laugh and point at me when I make another gaffe like that (and it's a certainty I will!) please do it quietly amongst yourselves, ok? ;-)
And please, any time you have a question or need to ask if something's allowable, please email us at Stone Mountain Council. We live for stuff like this. Hey, it beats sorting socks, which is what I should be doing at the moment….