open-pbp
An open roleplay gaming system for Play-by-Post sessions
why
After years of frustration with finding time to commit to organized, in-person play, I've decided what the gaming world needs is a modern solution for supporting post-by-play (PBP) sessions. Participants play when they can.
who
For now, this "engine" will go with the standard practice of having (at least one) gamemaster (GM) and at least two players.
what
Some features that I aspire to:
- Agnostic gameplay. Bring your own role playing game system. Open PBP makes few assumptions.
- Tools, not rules. No vendor-specific rules are implemented. Open PBP provides only the tools to automate and coordinate post-by-play gaming.
- Campaign and scenario-driven, text-based gameplay. One of the features I want to implement is clear distinction between in-character discussion and out-of-character discussion.
- Automatic post-session archival. The game organizes your sessions in a easy-to-read format that's searchable and entertaining to read. Has it been awhile since the last session? A synopsis of what happened last time will help jog everyone's memory. Long after the game is over, all participants are left with a wondeful story that they created together.
- Dice rolling. Extensible and customizable dice mechanics, using your rules for determining outcome. Each participant can have their own dice pool. The gamemaster can make reusable dice pools to share with players.
- Document sharing for handouts, like maps and game notes.
- Character sheets. But better: Track transient character experience, statistics, equipment and supplies, and other essential bookkeeping.
- Notifications. When the gaming session is waiting for input to move the plot along, participants get brief notifications to alert them that the game is waiting.
join me
I wouldn't mind a hand with this. I usually fail when I take on ambitious projects by myself.
What skills do I need? Right now I'm looking for contributors with similar technical skillsets: Javascript is the minimum. I learning towards Node for the back-end. The rest is up in the air.