Modules for PbP

Your point about combat is a good one, and shows other ways to improve modules for PbP.

So a good PbP module for 5e would avoid monsters with tricky reactions and avoid high AC/high HP slogs - eg by using the DMG CR tables to reduce the defence but increase the offence. E.g. by having a higher CR dragon than usual, but making them wounded before the battle.

That's a pretty good thought!

Combat is good. Everyone loves to roll the dice, but then that is table top.

This is getting somewhere :D
Maybe some of the simplified rules from D&D-kids (or whatever) would fit well for PbP?
Other things are like how to go about combat: use maps and add battlemaps on the fly reference to the adventure, adapt rules for theater of the mind or both? Should the balance be more on RP or on skill and checks?

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Once everyone is happy with the PbP-brewed rules the next question is: full adventure or one-shot? Sandbox or a road with rails? :D
I mean... considering the pace of PbP a regular module would probably not work. Would serialized adventures work best?

Skill checks, sandbox, full adventure or one-shot, OtFBM text to be copy/pasted? I don't know. That would be up to the writer.

I think what I'm saying is that if someone wrote a 5e adventure that was designed to be run PbP, then I know I'd buy it. Hell! It'd probably even Kickstart it - and I don't Kickstart.

But is there a market for it (beyond just Adam)? We all have ideas that we know we would buy, but which just aren't commercially viable beyond a market of one.

What might make it viable?
* IMO, 5e. Love it or hate it - that's where the market's built.
* I think modules are often used by new DMs, so maybe it would have a preface explaining how to run 5e PbP.
* Discord friendly text. Yeah... I know... But vendors don't get to site the market. Although I'd like to see BBCode too (with sidebars about "how to run this on GP"!).

There could be two versions. One with Discord formatting where, if you buy that one, you get a sad emoji and on which the title says "Inferior version" and then the GP one with the happy emoji upon purchase and the "superior version" label

Lol.

I think if one was to release a PbP module, a section of it would have to be dedicated on how to run PbP in general. For instance:

- What is PbP?
- What are the advantages/disadvantages?
- What are good sites to run it on?
- How do I make maps?

I don't know if you'd need Discord-friendly text with emojis and so forth. It wouldn't hurt to suggest some bots that might be useful, such as dice rollers or a simplistic explanation of Avrae.

I agree that 5e would have to be the system, at least at the start, due to its popularity. Though, there should also be suggested PbP-friendly alternate rules, such as block initiative, changing monsters to be more interesting fights, and rolling saves or checks for your players in order to keep the Harrigan transactions down.

For an actual module, I don't think it would be hard. If the author wanted any money for it, then it can't just be an alteration of an existing module, it would have to be from scratch. That, or a hack of a super old module, similar to 5e conversions of older AD&D modules.

I think simplified dungeons, deeper explanations of NPCs (and their motivations) to allow for deeper roleplay, big tables so you can generate new characters on the fly.

As for the question brought up earlier, it should probably be a fairly short adventure, due to the slow nature of PBP

And, in my opinion, nothing with a focus on investigation.

Maybe that's just me but I find investigation pretty difficult in PBP because the clues are so much further spaced out than irl

This is really good point tough... That will exponentially increase the amount of work since you will have to add the market research and personalized tips for at least a few sites. Probably best to keep it site agnostic or just commit to one... lets say... GP? I heart it was ok ;)
Right, so there has to one Room of All Clues 😂

Yeah... about this question... Is any RPG adventure commercially viable actually?
My feeling is more like this would be an hobby to pay for a few beers and most designers don't even get that much xD

the challenge of becoming commercially viable in my opinion is more about being found, if you just throw your stuff onto the DM's Guild for example and don't have any further work you do your barely going to make anything even if your product was just as good as the official products. however if you run a Kickstarter which you advertise on places people would see before the launch date and somehow prove you have good quality then you'll have much more success. so it seems that if advertised properly which would probably cost money you could possibly even bring new people to Pbp.

we could (eventually) simply ignore the commercially viability at first and do one test run to raise funds for, say, GP.
(this would be because i assume none of us as time to make the full module and splitting the meager earnings is even less tempting :D)

I mean, the best way to test the viability is to... actually test the viability :D

Great Idea, but we must remember a good module requires a few things beyond the Story which I don't claim to have any skill at
1: good artwork
2: good formatting
And many more things which I'm probably not thinking of right now. in order for this to happen we'd need an Interested crew (Preferably at least in my opinion with some people who are unfamiliar with D&D that are only focused on story)

Side Note: I will say that one of the things I like about DCC modules is that they contain great stuff for PbP play. Boxed text, good descriptions, great dungeon art, and other art scattered throughout showing people, places and things from throughout the adventure...

I was listening to a podcast that had a Module writer on and they said that they actually shorten descriptions before producing said module, so potentially if you contacted the producer of a module and told them you were looking to run it for Pbp and explained how that meant you would want all of the lengthy descriptions they might be able to supply such.

One good property would be making it easy to work with on mobile. I often am on my phone when I post. It is quite a pain to copy bits of rules / box text and then format them with the bb code. PDF works great on my laptop, but on mobile it is pretty rough flipping back and forth through pages for references.

Meh, I don't see where doing a pbp module series should be looking at hitting the Jackpot in a niche market. I have an RPG self published on drivethrurpg and it's still getting sold a little at a time. I would think the same would apply to any module made for pbp. It would probably be a labour of love rather than a financial venture.

That being said, I would have to say, I have had plenty of success with one shots and shorter adventures. By the same token, I've run a few games that have lasted 2 to 3 years each, so I have some experience running pbp. I don't claim to be a good Game Keeper, but I can hold my own most of the time.

I think it's a matter of genre, system, and personal preference. I prefer an open format that allows players autonomy and discretion while providing enough information on NPCs, Locations and how one might approach some scenarios.

How would one make such a thing? What genre? (High Fantasy, Grim Dark, Cyberpunk, Cowboys and Lasers, Space Opera, Post Apocalypse Mutants, Spies, Space Marines...?)

It brings to mind all the universal rpg's out there that didn't have a specific campaign world. Some folks like to make their own worlds, some folks just don't care to, or don't have the time.

I follow a YouTuber that publishes modules and rulesets targeting the solo RPG market. It's a niche market as well. He's managed to create a pretty decent business for himself, but he generates a lot of content week after week. Here's the channel if you're interested