Fast Paced Play By Post

A year or two ago, I answered a call for a fast paced game. Every player would be expected to post daily, even weekends, and maybe as much as several times per day at certain times, such as during combat.

The call was answered swiftly, and we jumped in, made characters and were off. The game ground to a halt, the enthusiasm from the GM unequal to the test they set before themselves.

I play in some very fast games, but have not had much luck running fast paced games, other than one-on-one games with similarly enthusiastic players.

So, for those GMs that have sustained games where every player posts one or more times a day, every day of the week, what sorts of practices do you have to foster that pace and maintain it?

All you need to make a fast-paced game work is to have KCC run it 💁‍♀️

I've only been able to keep that pace (well, almost: we slow down at the weekend) in games with 2 or 3 players only. Low number of committed players is what I look for. And I don't mind that, you can still live a cracking story with only 3 players.
The chances of delays and downtime increase proportionally with the number of players, from what I've seen.

I like to keep a fairly quick pace in my games. Strike while the iron is hot. Games start with a lot of enthusiasm (hopefully, at least) and I like to work within that time-frame before things cool off inevitably. In the past, I’ve tried to keep one shots to 4-5 weeks. It’s always easy to post at the start of a game and at the end of the game. You want to start and finish right, so I find that posting keeps up.

Other than that, just getting lucky with your mix of players. On top of that, it’s always easier to post when it’s your turn, so I give as many characters a chance to do something in game as I can. Keeps everyone checking in and following their own little mini-thread. I find it’s easier to close a thread and wait for another player to post if something is addressed to the group. So while I think it involves a lot of juggling from the DM, having everyone doing something different keeps people engaged.

Finally, nothing kills everyone’s mood for a game than when you’re waiting for person X to take their turn and three days later you’re checking in and it’s still there, waiting for them. So unless something that a character is doing is very very important, I’ll usually move the group along and they can slot themselves back in whenever they get back to the site. No hard feelings on either side (I hope). Just keeping the game moving. Basically, it rests primarily on the DM’s shoulders to keep a game going. If you’re happy to wait 3, 4, 5 days to post, then expect players to take similarly long breaks from posting, too.