Tried any of the advanced player’s guide stuff? The classes /class mods/ race mods?
Any practical experience and opinions?
Not too much yet. When the Advanced Players Guide came out, the campaign I was running was coming to its conclusion, so the players all had pretty well established ideas about where they were going to go with their characters for their last few levels. We finished that campaign, I started up a new one, and I’ve got several players using the new material. But we’re only just starting out, so I haven’t yet seen how it will shake down.
I’ve run two games here, but they were Harn instead of D&D. The first one bogged down then just kind of petered out. It started out interesting enough, but I had no set ending for it, and the players had absolutely no direction. I also got too much into the rules. Players felt like they needed Ph. D.s just to armor themselves.
The other game was nice and tight, I put up enough neon signs that said “Adventure This Way—>”, and it had a simple plot with a definite ending. It was from a commercial product that was quite good.
One thing to keep in mind is that games here run much longer than the GM anticipates. Plots have to be super-simple, though they don’t need to be dumbed down.
I’ve played in quite a few play-by-post games on the Paizo message boards. In one of them I have an alchemist and in another I’m playing one of the monk variants (weapon master).
As noted above, play-by-post can be quite fun, but it’s different from tabletop play. For instance, it’s definitely not for the impatient! And you have to get somewhat resigned to the fact that players will quit and/or drop off the face of the earth from time to time.
If people are interested, maybe we can get it going. I can DM but I shouldn’t, as work and school suck up my time and I wouldn’t really be able to be creative.
As others have said, don’t underestimate how much of your time it will suck up. There’s a scenario that I’d love to GM, but it’s easily three times the size of the last one I did. If I started it now we’d maybe finish it up by Halloween.
Managing these games is a big timesuck. Everyone’s said this, but I’ll reiterate. Be prepared.
For those interested in such things, here’s where I play.
Here’s the games currently advertising for players.
Here’s a game that I read up on, a Mutants & Masterminds game with high-school age characters.
There’s a very versatile dice roller, a great system for setting up games in their own folders, awesome community.