Considerations about playing in IRC

[Aumpa]

WR&M is designed as a tabletop rpg. Thanks to dicebots, we can somewhat approximate the experience of tabletop play by IRC. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:
It's easy to keep a log of everything contributed during play.
People can write long narration without getting interrupted.
It's easier to schedule, since you don't have to travel, or even put on clothes to play.
We can have an IC channel and an OOC channel.

Cons:
It's hard to tell if someone is typing something big, or AFK, or watching TV instead of paying attention.
Messages get crossed, sometimes in contradictory ways.
Pacing: Some people type slow, or take their time crafting their words, while other people are impatient.
It's not really as social as face to face roleplay.

[Vaylon Kenadell]

I think the major problem is that people simply aren't online at the same time as others. I believe this could be mitigated by grouping players based on available play time; therefore, in this thread I would like you all to list three things:

1. Days of the week that you are most available for IRC play.
2. Hours of those days that you would prefer to play in. Make sure you list your time zone.
3. Whether you prefer IRC or forum play.

I will do my best to accommodate everyone.

[Aumpa]

Well, I'm generally available to start a session at infrequent random times between 9am and midnight, Pacific Daylight Time (between 4pm and 7am GMT) and I prefer to play by IRC.

That said, I don't recommend grouping players by availability.

It was not my original intention to have separate groups of characters in continuous ongoing missions that span multiple sessions. When the party split during the mission to find the druids, my plan was to simply wrap up the sessions by forum play. I had a scheme in the works for uniting the characters and allowing any available players to join in the next session by IRC.

In fact, the whole premise of the campaign setting of having characters teleport off of the island for missions was to allow any players available at that moment to join in sessions. I highly recommend we make an attempt to return to that format, as it allows great flexibility in starting a session with whatever players are available. Splitting the characters into groups that span multiple sessions will greatly decrease the likelihood that all players will be available, even with grouping by time zones.

For one-shot sessions with any available players to work, missions have to be designed to be short enough to play through to completion in about 2 - 2.5 hours. This makes for episodic play, but overarching plots, mysteries, and recurring villains can still span multiple sessions.