Has anyone here tried facilitating a play by post game of Microscope?
I’ve recently started participating in a PBP campaign and realised it might be a good way to “activate” some members of an RPG club I co-run, show them a great storygame and potentially create a world they’d be keen to explore in a more typical RPG, perhaps played face-to-face. Which is why I’m curious what kind of set up would be optimal for it?
I figured I’d create a Discord server with channels for out of play conversation, for holding the link to rules and our turn order/schedule, and for our Palette. Do you think it would be enough to work? Would some other set-up work better for this purpouse?
Thanks in advance for any and all tips you give 
Microscope PBP - advice on facilitating?
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I think Microscope more than many other games require active conversation about the game to keep it going. My experience is that PBP games in general need OOC conversation to survive, and Microscope has the added complication of all players having a strong say in the direction of the game which can easily make for one player being unhappy about what another brings in. It’s harder to bring up that kind of topic when you’re not playing face-to-face so anything you can do to lower the threshold is good. It’s fairly easy for people to drift away from a PBP game so keeping communication channels open is vital.
Basically, a running conversation about the game, the good as well as the less good, makes it easier for the players to talk things out rather than ghost when things take a turn they don’t enjoy.
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If I were to do it, I think I’d use a shared Google Doc as the table, with an outline format distinguishing between periods, events, and scenes.
I’d also limit scenes to dictated scenes, since roleplaying a scene would represent a major shift in the was players would need to interact.
And, like Anders said, a lot of OOC chatter would be needed to make sure everyone was on the same page. So an associated discord channel might be good too?
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I have tried and failed to run one and also participated in another one that failed. The biggest point is that it is very easy for Microscope to fall apart if the original palette is not crystal clear. In fact, in may only be possible to play Microscope by forum after a live / online discussion. The problem is that many times you can’t tell if the palette is getting a Yes if everyone is silent after a suggestion is made. When you can see the players, you can see them shrug or whether they are enthusiastic. Palettes where most of the players just shrug with the other players suggestions will fail immediately in PbF.
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I have heard of people using Trello to facilitate the card functionality, plus there’s a lot of discussion tools in it. Perhaps even a slack board since I know you can merge the two, though I’m not entirely sure how or how well that would work
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