New GMs Needed

[Jedaii]

Looking for GMs willing to run something other than D&D 3.5 or 5e or Pathfinder. We're in a true Golden Age of TTRPGs with hundreds of new games in all genres and varied systems. Even playing older games is a nice change from another D&D 5e/Pathfinder idea. And cost is no excuse: I just got FIVE TTRPG systems for FREE on Drivethrurpg 😊

This site is a haven for Play-by-Post TTRPG gameplay but if we don't have people stepping up to run games Myth-Weavers will fade away. Here's some guides for players who are thinking of taking the next step and becoming a GM:

• Myth-Weavers: The Basics of Play-By-Post
• Things I've Learned Running Play-by-Post
• DH's Guide to Play-by-Post Gaming
• 12 Tips for Internet Gaming
• Tips to Help Improve Your Play-by-Post Campaign
• 6 Ways to Speed-Up Your Play-by-Post Games
• Tips for Play-by-Post Engagement

[cailano]

Absolutely! The creativity in the TTRPG scene is being driven by the small indie publishers. You're missing out if you're only playing 5E (ug) or Pathfinder.

I'm running a Dungeon Crawl Classics game on Baldr, and I can't recommend that enough for PbP play. The modules are short enough to be realistically completed in a PbP format, and they lend themselves to episodic campaigns where you can regularly re-recruit if necessary. This is also perfect for PbP play.

DCC modules are incredible, and the system allows PCs to do awesome stuff without any clunky character-build mechanics. They also throw low-level PCs into stuff like traveling to alternate realities and dealing with gods right out of the gate. In PbP, where leveling can take a long time, I think you'll find players anxious to take on games that feature something besides your typical low-level tropes.

I'm also working on a custom adventure for the new Shadowdark RPG. That's another quick, rules-light system that should be intuitive for old or new-school players.

I'd love to see games featuring any of Free League's publications like Forbidden Lands, Vaesen, or Alien.

 

[Jedaii]

The site could definitely use more players shifting over to GM so we could have more games going. There's so many systems to choose from outside of D&D/Pathfinder/Call of Cthulhu. Plus, Play-by-Post is a great medium to teach players new systems and it allows players to try out running games as Co-GMs with an experienced GM.

[cailano]

It’s a low-stress way to run a new system, too. All you have to know is the basics, you just look everything else up as needed. 

[Cyber_Goddess]

So you want more GMs....but you also say that you don't want GMs if they run the most popular games that the most tabletop gamers will be familiar with?

I'm just checking here, because I'm semi-confused. Would a Pathfinder GM be disallowed from qualifying from what you're looking for? What exactly are you looking for with this request?

Edited March 20, 2023 by Cyber_Goddess (see edit history)

[Jedaii]

7 hours ago, Cyber_Goddess said:

So you want more GMs....but you also say that you don't want GMs if they run the most popular games that the most tabletop gamers will be familiar with?

I'm just checking here, because I'm semi-confused. Would a Pathfinder GM be disallowed from qualifying from what you're looking for? What exactly are you looking for with this request?

Hoping more players make the jump to GM so we have more games/stories going on the Weave.

[cailano]

9 hours ago, Cyber_Goddess said:

So you want more GMs....but you also say that you don't want GMs if they run the most popular games that the most tabletop gamers will be familiar with?

I'm just checking here, because I'm semi-confused. Would a Pathfinder GM be disallowed from qualifying from what you're looking for? What exactly are you looking for with this request?

You should run what you want to run, of course. I ran a Pathfinder campaign on the Weave that lasted for years and Paizo is a great company run by people that love these games and the community (more than I can say for Hasbro, obviously.)

That said, I second Jedaii’s opinion that it would be great to see more of the smaller press games. Shadowdark, Stars Without Number, Forbidden Lands, Call of Cthulhu, Swords and Wizardry, Basic Fantasy, Alien… so many good systems out there. 

I’ve been running Dungeon Crawl Classics lately and I think it might be almost ideally suited to PbP gaming. I’m going to post about it soon because it’s not getting nearly enough love around here. 
 

[Melkar]

My recent attempts at trying to GM haven't gone so well for various reasons so I'm hesitant to put my name forward to GM again.  That said, if I was going to do something like that it would be an attempt to GM Starfinder which I very rarely, if ever, see advertised.  

[cailano]

I'm usually not too big on those super crunchy systems, but the Starfinder setting is richly imagined, and I love some of the ideas. Paizo writes the best adventure paths, so it has the ingredients for a good time.

There are a lot of good GMs on the Weave if you ever want tips on keeping a PbP game going strong. PbP is tricky in some ways. Very different from a live game.

[Vladim]

I found the points made here interesting.

https://youtu.be/W90bIdMHqMQ

The video talks about why there is a GM shortage in 5e, but I think some of the points can be extended to other systems.

[cailano]

I watched that video. It's really a complaint about player expectations. I'd advise Game Masters to address those expectations by doing four things:

1. Only run episodic campaigns.
2. Remember that your scenarios are games, not stories.
3. Add a variety of lethal challenges (not just combat) to every scenario, and don't be afraid of PC death. It should be a fairly common occurrence.
4. Encourage your players to think their way around many of those challenges.

I won't add detail because I don't want to hijack the thread, but that's the solution to 80% of the problems in that video. The other 20% are solved by not playing 5E.

 

[Vladim]

I feel like managing expectations should be done by... well... communicating expectations. With clear OOC discussions rather than through IC approaches or punishments. Otherwise it can lead to bad blood, justifiably so. I don't like running or playing in adversarial games.

But anyway, as you say-perhaps this is off-topic.

[cailano]

Agreed on the communication, though. The goal shouldn't be to punish, but to help everyone have fun.

[GaryD20]

22 hours ago, cailano said:

The other 20% are solved by not playing 5E.

 

This! Death to 5E!

[Ratwalk]

On 3/7/2023 at 1:58 PM, Jedaii said:

Looking for GMs willing to run something other than D&D 3.5 or 5e or Pathfinder. We're in a true Golden Age of TTRPGs with hundreds of new games in all genres and varied systems. Even playing older games is a nice change from another D&D 5e/Pathfinder idea. And cost is no excuse: I just got FIVE TTRPG systems for FREE on Drivethrurpg 😊

This site is a haven for Play-by-Post TTRPG gameplay but if we don't have people stepping up to run games Myth-Weavers will fade away. Here's some guides for players who are thinking of taking the next step and becoming a GM:

• Myth-Weavers: The Basics of Play-By-Post
• Things I've Learned Running Play-by-Post
• DH's Guide to Play-by-Post Gaming
• 12 Tips for Internet Gaming
• Tips to Help Improve Your Play-by-Post Campaign
• 6 Ways to Speed-Up Your Play-by-Post Games
• Tips for Play-by-Post Engagement

As a Game Master more accustomed to other forms of running the game, and have tried to enter PbP, there are a lot of major challenges as the GM, especially since long time players are at a much greater skill level, and due to the 9:1 ratio of players to GMs, the likelihood of the best PbP GM is too busy being a player at the moment.

More so than that, it's a lot harder to teach PbP by the nature of the medium, and mistakes are a lot more damaging than in voice or offline avenues where we can rescind mistakes, while a mistake in a PbP can take days, and weeks to rectify. On top of this, GMs who get enjoyment from reactions and the social aspects of expressing a fun story to players miss out a lot. The player has lots of power in this exchange, since players have full right to simply leave a game, and there is no real penalty due to the nature of the game, but that etiquette can't be good for the stamina and creative flow of new GMs.

On top of this, there is a defined culture in established groups, and that is difficult to deal with from two separate directions. IRL friends and associates are going to obviously be more committed with long chains of responses, and superior writers will be faster to the draw, and the expectations are not always met.

I do deeply wish I could run a game properly, but every time I have gotten to running a game, it falls apart quickly, and because there's little feedback, I don't know how to improve in this medium.