Andy: I’m sitting here with Mitch Brock, resident of central Florida and avid Play by Post gamer. Mitch, what is it like being the GM of the two most popular play by post games on RPGBomb.com?
Mitch: I haven’t thought of it that way. I have some great players to game with and the staff over at RPGbomb.com makes everyone feel right at home. It is a winning combination.
Andy: Tell us about play by post games, how are they different from gaming around the table?
Mitch: Well… They are much slower. My sci-fi game, Justifiers, is the longer running of the two. It was started over a month ago on September 7th currently it has somewhere around 130 posts on the thread. I would say if I was able to sit down with my players at a table, where we are in the story would have been reached in a few of hours of play.
Andy: Wow! Over a month and you are only a few hours into the game? Why even play PBP games?
Mitch: That’s simple, convenience. The game takes longer but I am able to play with people from all over the world. They can take their turn at any time day or night.
Andy: Ok but is it as fun as playing around the table?
Mitch: That depends on your idea of fun in RPGs. Most of us love the camaraderie and the goofing off, like making Monty Python references, which is all part of the fun. However, the game nights we talk about years later are the nights where everyone was really “in character”, being creative in the description of their actions, and focusing on the mission at hand. Those things that make a game session great are all staples of any Play by Post session.
Andy: So you are saying with PBP’s you lose some of that out of game table chatter but you gain a much more focused game experience?
Mitch: Absolutely. Plus I love going back long after the PBP game is over and getting to read all the fun we had.
Andy: You mentioned you have a scifi game, Justifiers. Some of our readers may not be familiar with that “cult classic”, could you tell us about it?
Mitch: Yes, it is an awesome setting and I am using the D20 Modern game engine to make this cult classic more accessible to a wider group of players. “Justifiers” is a scifi game set in a gritty future where you play space explorers that have to survey uncharted new worlds for possible colonization.
Andy: How about your Fantasy PBP game?
Mitch: Actually, my Fantasy game is Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. I’m sure your readers have heard of that one.
Andy: If they are reading this, they should have. Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t need an explanation but what makes your game unique?
Mitch: I am using an obscure location in the Pathfinder setting by Paizo Publishing. Also all the adventurers are residents of this backwater town and have regular jobs. It is a lot like fantasy meets superheroes since the adventurers have mundane day jobs.
Andy: How does giving adventurers “day jobs” change the game dynamic?
Mitch: I find that the adventurers are less likely to act like drunken marines in some third-world country’s small port town and more like a band of heroes who genuinely want to help the people of the area. Part of the role of GM is to set the tone for the game and I like my games to be about real heroism.
Andy: Any new PBP games in the works?
Mitch: Not to GM, two is demanding enough. However, I am hoping to start playing in a Star Wars PBP ran by my friend SoloDM and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle PBP ran by my friend Rogue-z.
Andy: There you have it. PBP games they take forever but the best things come to those who wait. If you have the inclination please visit RPGbomb.com forums and check Mitch and the other play by post gamers, as Mitch points out, “any time day or night.”
