"We should do another duet," said Dave.
"Yeah, but who has the time?" said Bill. "Family, work, Netflix, there's never enough time in the day!"
"How about we do it online? We're always online at work - we could do play-by-post!"
"Play-by-post? That's so slow - it's like a root canal performed at the speed of light!"
"Ah, wouldn't that be fast?"
"Dude, this is why you need to stick to fantasy RPGs."
"Whatever, but it would be better than nothing right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."

As a reminder, "duets" refer to roleplaying adventures/campaigns involving only a narrator and a player. This column is about how to run duets effectively, because they can be quite different in execution from traditional group campaigns. Previous installments have mostly focused on tabletop duet campaigns, but this month we are going to focus on how to run duets via play-by-posts. Sometimes play-by-post is the best compromise when time and space aren't cooperating to give you a chance to roleplay. I've been both the narrator and player in probably a score of play-by-post duets and have made a lot of mistakes and learned some good techniques that I am going to share.

Play-by-Post

By play-by-post (also known as PBP) I am refering to the process of exchanging messages to conduct a roleplaying campaign. This can be done over emails or perhaps on a forum, but they function the same - narrator and player take turns sending messages, with the player deciding his PC's actions and the narrator tossing out challenges and adjudicating the PC's actions. It's the same as any roleplaying campaign except that it's more structured with a clear back and forth. I am personally fond of using forums for play-by-post as it is more organized than emails so this article will be focusing on that type of play-by-post.

Finding a Player/Narrator and a Forum

If you're lucky, you already have a player or narrator. If you're really lucky, you also have a forum where you can run the duet. Now if you're not lucky don't worry, because it's easy to find a player/narrator and a forum if you keep a few things in mind.

In regards to forums - almost every RPG forums has a play-by-post section. Most likely one of the sites you already frequent has a play-by-post section. Just look around or ask and you'll find it quick enough. Check the rules for the forums. I haven't seen a play-by-post forums yet that bans duets but some do have rules restricting you to specific types of RPGs or how you can conduct your campaigns (i.e. content, number of threads, etc.). All forums have rules, some written, some not, and the trick is to find one that works for you. Some people like to set up their own forums for duets and that's great if you have players/narrators but if you need someone to play with then you need to go to an established forums.

In regards to finding a player/narrator, well, this can be tricky. The general rule in play-by-post forums is that more people want to play than narrate. If you are looking for a player all you usually have to do is advertise a simple pitch and you'll find people. One caveat - if you go too exotic you might have a hard time finding a player. Yes, the epic story of a psychic koala with human intelligence who fights evildoers through their dreams in 19th Century Paris may be your dream campaign, but you really might need to compromise if you want to actually run a campaign. If you are looking for a narrator you will definitely need to compromise, narrators are...well...okay, let's be honest narrators have big egos. They like to come up with campaigns and most of them have very specific play styles, but if you message a narrator about running a duet for you and toss in some compliments, mention your desire to learn to be a better roleplayer, and so forth most narrators out there will agree.

Running a Duet PBP

So all you need for a duet PBP is a narrator, player, forums, setting/campaign, and a system. The most important are the first four, in fact, you might not even need a system. As a bonus, I'll give you a system right now if you must have one:

Simple PBP System

Don't require a dice roll of any sort unless it would add to the suspense or you want the outcome to be random. Dice rolls slow down the game - don't ever use them unless you really need to.

Assign a difficulty to the task based on what the player is capable of doing; you don't need stats, just a feel for the character. All you really need is the player to come up with a good description of a character and her history to adjudicate for that character; attributes and statistics aren't really necessary. With PBP, the focus is the narrative. The difficulty can range from 1 (incredibly hard) to 5 (pretty easy). Roll that number in d6s and count the 5s and 6s as successes. 1 success is all you need, but more makes it a more impressive success. If you want, you can say that if the player rolls more 1s than successes a complication occurs. If two characters are in direct conflict, just determine who has the advantage based on their respective abilities. If the two characters are equal, then give them both 3 dice to roll, and whoever has most successes wins. It may take several rolls to establish a winner. If one character has a slight edge over the other, then the one with the advantage gets 4 dice and the other 2. If one has a significant edge, then that characters gets 5 dice and the weaker one 1. Adjudicate results and there you go.

Running PBP

First, don't get hung up on mechanics in PBP. If you do use an fully detailed RPG then gloss over the majority of the rules to make things run as quickly as possible.

Second, focus on roleplaying. Give the PC NPCs to interact with, moral decisions, and opportunities to ham it up.

Third, take your cue from the player. The more a player posts the more engaged the player is, so if your player is really posting a lot when the campaign is dealing with his noble family and its problems and then bogs down when you are dealing with the border war - that's a good sign to focus on the noble family. Some narrators have a hard time abandoning their preferred plots and really the player should humor the narrator, but it ultimately falls on the narrator to adjust the campaign and keep things engaging.

Fourth, focus on a tight story. Run your campaign in a month or two if you can but definitely aim for an ending. At the end everyone can discuss if they want to continue or not, but sometimes a closed story is very rewarding for all involved. Duets never last forever. Groups are driven by the players not the PCs, whereas duets are driven by the PC, and thus sometimes the story comes to an end.

Fifth, if things aren't working make changes. If the changes don't help then end the campaign. Sometimes things don't work and then it's best to just end things, but I find a lot of narrators prematurely end campaigns because they get bored with their original idea. The best narrators are the ones who love narrating not ones obsessed with their supposed brilliant ideas. Consistent and solid is the mark of a good narrator and the ones that their players will follow to the Abyss and back.

Alright that's enough for this column.