One of the many pitfalls with running a PBEM game is to make sure the story keeps going forward and evolve. For this to happen, the players need to be kept entertained by the story.You would not keep watching a TV series if it was not good enough to keep your interest up, would you? The sme thing goes for a PBEM game. if you do not manage to keep the players’ interests up, they will stop posting or even leave the game. It is not an easy task, mind you. Remember there are very few TV series that keep going for several years, just as there are few games that manage to keep going for that long.
The game most often rely on the players to write posts that keeps the story going. If there players does not post, the game does not move forward and eventually fall apart. Therefore, you need to keep your active players interested in continuing the game.
What can you as Game Master do to keep the players interested in the PBEM game? Here are a couple of things to keep in mind.
You can start by setting a good example yourself. If you are actively posting in the game and bring the story forward at a steady pace, it gives the players more opportunities to post.
Keep feeding them ideas. You have to take an active part in encouraging your players to write posts and participate in the game. If you are one step ahead, you can help them come up with things to write about if they are having problems.
Take care of the players. If you take good care of the players that actively participates in the game, there is a better chance they will stay on. One way of doing that is to offer incentives to be active. For example, promotions (if applicable) or give them a chance to greater influence the choice of future stories/adventures.
Make sure the stories/adventures are fun and interesting to their characters. There is nothing more uninspiring than to not be able to post just because there is nothing to post about.