For one of any number of reasons - job pressures, health issues, family responsibilities, a site upgrade - it may be necessary for a GM to put a PbP game on a temporary hiatus. However necessary they may be, these sorts of breaks in the course of a game are dangerous to the game's health: almost by definition, these breaks stop a game's momentum. With the holiday season upon us (a season that typically sees a higher-than-normal frequency of necessary breaks in the game), it's an apt time to discuss how to handle hiatuses.

Pause or Stop?

As we typically do, let's start our look at a common PbP situation by questioning the need for it. If you know that an extended absence from the game is unavoidable, consider whether you've reached a good point to wrap the game up, rather than pause it and then try to get it going again. (We'll discuss the question of when and how to end a PbP game in a future column.)

Pre-Planning

Sometimes, unforseen or unforseeable events will cause a break in the game. When this happens, simply do your best to communicate with your players as much about the hiatus as possible - particularly about anticipated length - and try to kick the game into gear when you're able to return. This is a recreational activity that is sometimes going to lose out to higher priority concerns; there's no need to feel guilty about the other parts of your life intruding on the game.

That said, sometimes the need for a hiatus is forseeable. Maybe you've got a conference coming up and need time to focus and prepare; maybe you're taking a vacation; maybe you're having surgery; etc. When the future need for a hiatus appears, consider applying some of these best practices:

• Advance - but not too advance - notice. Let the other players know ahead of time that a hiatus is coming up, and - to the extent that you're comfortable with doing so - the reason for it. Ideally, this notice will come far enough ahead of the hiatus so that the other players can plan for it and avoid surprise, but not so far ahead that the other players either forget about it or allow it to become a cloud over the progress of the game. How far ahead of time this is will depend on the speed and nature of the game, but a few weeks is a good guideline.
• Create a Cliffhanger. Herding the cats that are players and PCs into any particular situation at a particular time is difficult. That said, the ideal situation on which to leave a game going on hiatus is in the middle of a scene in which there is something exciting happening. It might seem at first blush that a GM should arrange for the game to be at a good 'pause point' before going on hiatus - the end of a scene or adventure or plot arc - but this is the opposite of helpful to the survival of the game. Remember, the primary challenge of a PbP game is getting players to make their next post. Therefore, it's best to leave the players wondering what's going to happen to their characters and the game world rather than leaving them in a place where there's been some narrative closure.
• Restart on a GM post. Arranging things so that the game will naturally restart on a GM post (assuming the GM has called the hiatus) will smooth the restart of the game, as the person calling the hiatus will have direct control over its ending.

Restarting

Whether planned or not, the hiatus is over and the GM is ready to restart the game. There are several options for how to accomplish this restart, and deciding which is likely to work best requires condieration of the game situation, the nature of the hiatus, the personalities of the players, and innumerable other factors.

• Business as usual. The best approach, when available, is simply to announce your return in the OOC thread and, if appropriate, with a post in the IC thread advancing the exciting cliffhanger scene on which you left the game. Hopefully, this will be enough to return your game to its normal activity.
• The two-step. If the prior method is unavailable for whatever reason, then consider a two-step approach. First, announce your return and the resumption of the game. Then, if the other players don't return to normal posting, consider a second, more explicit call for resumption of normal posting combined with direct/private messages to the players letting them know that the game is ready to restart. Direct messages can feel awkward, but can also be effective where a general public call is not.
• The hard restart. In some situations, particularly involving lengthy, unexpected hiatuses, the best approach to restarting is to first poll the players to see who is still interested in the game, and then commit to a time jump in the IC course of the game that allows a fresh start with a new scene or adventure. This allows players who were put off the game due to the hiatus with the opportunity for a graceful exit and gives the remaining players a facsimile of new game excitement to fuel their interest in continuing the game.