Sunday, October 21, 2012

Joined a Play by Post Game

I recently joined a Play by Post (PbP) game on the Labyrinth Lord forums.  I decided it'd be fun because I usually DM and I need to play more.  I wanted to get excited about my one character.  As luck would have it, the DM rolled me some above average stats, using the 4d6, drop the lowest and arrange in order convention, resulting in statistics which would suggest a fighter-thief if left un-rearranged.  Since he ruled out multi-classing, I chose an elven thief.    I'm excited about my character. 

I'm also excited to participate in a PbP game for the first time, simply because I'm curious about the mechanics.  In this game, the DM rolls all the dice, hence nobody has to rely on the honor system.  While that's fine, it got me wondering if one could make a "cheat detecting" spreadsheet that takes advantage of Bayes' theorem to estimate the probability of someone cheating, given that they rolled what they rolled.  Then, through Bayesian revision, one would gradually update that probability.  Thus, if one cheated, a high confidence level that they were cheating would eventually be achieved, and the offending player appropriately disciplined.

Part of the fun of RPGs to me, is rolling some dice.  I like the feel and sound of them.  Yes, from time to time I have taken advantage of smartphone apps and spreadsheet formulas to fill in when I don't have access to my dice, but using them seems to replace the visceral feeling of dice rolling.  Let's face it, it's not fun to hinge your success on the outcome of pressing the F9 button.  I'm always left wondering if I had reset my system's clock then something else would have happened.

2 comments:

  1. Hey! That is the game I am in! Welcome! ~Elrik (Thor)

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  2. Love playing PbP at Goblinoid Games Forums and Unseen Servant PbP forum. All good fun!

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