I’ve read several threads in which people mentioned that they love a certain roleplaying game, but that no one is around to play it with them.
I’m exactly like that. I play D&D with my friends, but only because they don’t want to play anything else. I’ve got several others RPGs that I die to play, but no one wants to. I’m a good game master, but somehow my players just want to stay with the familiar one. Feh!
So I was wondering, is anyone here interested in playing a certain game by email? I’m interested in playing anything usually and have access to several systems on my own. However, if someone else has good ideas for a system, I’m open to any suggestion.
The RPGs that I have are:
In Nomine (great, great, great! Can’t wait to play it: demons and angels stuff) Ars Magica (just as good, set in Medieval Europe. you are playing a Magus, i.e. wizard) Dark Matter (X-Files type roleplaying. Setting is today, conspiracies and supernatural events. Creepy) PlaneScape (AD&D setting on the Outer Planes. My favorite D&D game) Dark Sun (Another AD&D setting. Don’t like it much myself) Birthright (Again, another AD&D setting, but one I’m currently playing IRL, so not that interested in doing that by email).
I think I have one or two more, but I can’t remeber them (I have so many books, it’s hard to keep track), but that probably means that they aren’t worth playing…
robgruver, great! I’ve never played Vampire or Mage before, but the idea certainly appeals to me. If we can find a couple more players, we can vote on what we prefer to play and who we prefer to GM.
RKM, don’t worry. In a PBeM, the rules of a game aren’t that important. It is mostly the setting and the scenery that makes the game. More so than game mechanics. You will be fine if you have a good summary of the concept. And just to plug my devotion for In Nomine, I already have a great summary for that (But that doesn’t mean that I’m not open for anything else. Vampire, Amber and Call of Cthulhu come readily to mind as is any dark future campaign).
Jeff, there are different ways of playing PBeMs, and although I’ve never run one, I have played in some of them. The best way to do this is to skip most of the dice rolling, which makes AD&D not the best RPG to play by email. Other, less dice centred games are more suitable, like Amber (diceless alltogether), Ars Magica, or (again) In Nomine. Not sure about Vampire, although I believe that that one is quite dice centred as well.
In this scenario, you would come up with a character with strengths and weeknesses, and from that, most of the playing will be character interaction. Either, with the other players or with NPCs. When playing by email, you have the benefit that other players aren’t present when you are doing something with your character, so it is quite possible to break with the group and go out on your own. This is much harder to do during a live session.
When combat and dice rolls are necessary, there are a few ways to do this. One is to trust each other completely and roll at home, and sending the results in the email. This is not my favored way however, for obvious reasons. Another way is to let all the die rolls be done by the GM, a better solution, but usually not the players’ favorite. My prefered method is by sending excel spreadsheets with 20 to 40 numbers ahead of time to the GM, and him using them whenever necessary. This speeds things up and makes it honest, since you will never know what dice rolls you need ahead of time.
My favorite type of PBeM is when the characters do not necessarily know each other. That way you never know if the person you meet is a PC or an NPC. You will never send email to the other players, but instead send them to the GM who will relay them when necessary. This aproach requires less devotion from the players since the game can somewhat continue when one player is forgetting his or her turn. All in all, I would think that 3 or 4 emails per week is all that is required to play a good game, with more when the player wants and less when he is busy with other tasks.
You do know there’s an online dice roller at irony.com? I played in an online D&D game and that worked pretty well.
I can’t say I’ve ever played in a PBeM that works the way you suggests. That is so much more work for the GM. Of course, I consider 3 or 4 posts a week to be a really slow game too. On school breaks I’ve been known to run 30 posts a day with some of my players (I’m currently running an Amber game online).
Amber is pretty much all I play now. I have Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Changeling books, but I played them exclusively for years and have serious burnout. It takes a really original plotline to get me back into one. Although the whole new Year of the Scarb thing that White Wolf has done to mark their releaswe of Mummy as a stand alone game has got me playing Mummy in tabletop.
I know the dice rollers, but I found that it is too much work. Online dice rollers only work when player and GM are both online, and this is usually not the case in PBeM as people tend to come from different countries. Dice rolls that can be mailed are better, but this presents a problem when the GM wants the player to roll something that the player doesn’t know in advance. This will cost another two emails (GM requesting the player to roll, and the email back with the results), which can cost another day.
Three to four emails per week is only slow when there is combat and each and every action is done in one email. That’s why I think combat should be avoided as much as possible by email, and if necessary, should be done through ICQ or something. I’m not the type of person that enjoys combat all that much anyway (that’s why I’m not a huge AD&D fan).
As about the amount of work you mentioned, I really don’t mind. Roleplaying is a passion, and I don’t mind spending two or three hours a day for a good game. Most of the time, it’s rather quiet at work anyways
So, are you joining Arden, or were you just commenting?
Nah. irony’s dice roller mails the results to whoever you put in the address line and they can be verified by the GM later. Very cool.
Hon, you run an Amber game and I’m there. I’ve already got one running, so I don’t really want to start another one. But I can always play. Or just help you GM.
Don’t have any Amber material, so that would be difficult. I only played it once IRL and really liked it, but I’m not comfortable enough with it to actually run it. And on top of that only read the first Zelazny book, and didn’t even finish it (not because I didn’t like it, but because other things got in the way, like life for example).
Ohhhhhhh another RPG! loves RPG’s so much but can rarely get to the one chat she usually does… is interested in this I only know Vampire though and only have vague ideas of Werewolf… I never tried any other but I am willing to learn! goes to peek at the Amber sites curious about them
Yes, but… [sub]Hasn’t it been obvious that I really want to play In Nomine?[/sub]
Oh well… Will check out the links, Arden. If everyone wants to play Amber I guess Amber it is… But, who’s to run? I’m quite willing, but it will take time for me to familiarise myself with the setting…
I admit to having only a very vague understanding of In Nomine. No, that’s stretching it. I only have a very vague idea of the premise.
And I’m an Amber junkie. [sub]“well, no shit,” the crowd snorts[/sub]
But don’t feel you have to run it just because of me. There’s enough other interested parties in this thread for other games. It’s not like I’m not already playing in 8 or 9 PBeMs for Amber.
BTW: in the pre-Internet society, I had wanted to run an RPG-centered BBS. One of the features I had in mind was people taking tunrs running games in the message area.
Right, to ficilitate both Jeff and Arden (and anyone else interested), I will try to explain the premise of Amber (what I know if it) and then In Nomine.
The world of Amber is a parallel dimension similar to earth. In this world, several families live who are immortal. That is, they don’t die of age, but can be killed in any other way. You will be playing one of the decendants, meaning that you will be immortal and probably even have some super human powers. These people have the power to cross over to other worlds or times as necessity dictates. For some reason, they have a soft spot for our earth (at least, that’s what I understood from the first book). All is not well within Amber though. The king of Amber has died and several of the families (called Houses) want to see their Lord on the throne. There is also somthing about a Pattern, but I never understood that fully, maybe Arden can expand.
This is basically all that I can remember of Amber, it is too long ago that I read or played it. I’m sure that Arden can fill me in or correct me where I have been wrong.
The premise of In Nomine is that Armageddon is nigh. You will be playing either an Angel or a Demon (or a human who is caught in the midst of the battle). The fun is that even if you play a demon, you will not automatically fight against the angelic side. Sometimes interests will overlap and you will find yourself helping the ‘other side’. This all depends on what your role is in the ‘Symphony’ (as Creation is called in In Nomine). When you are one of the angels of Dreams for example, you might find yourself working with a Demon of Lust to accomplish a certain mission. This is the reason why this game works particularly well in a PBeM because most players will have a hidden agenda next to the game that they don’t want the other players to find out. In contrast to other RPGs it is very possible for players to actually win this game, especially if the GM has decided that there is definately an Armageddon to come (which is not necessarily so) and your character is on top of things when this time comes. There is a certain amount of backstabbing involved in this game, which might not appeal to all players, but is definately a factor when I would be running the game. I like playing the characters out against each other, although it is definately recommended to cooperate on occasion just to get ahead. The plus side of this game is also that it is set today so most players wouldn’t have a hard time to adjust to the setting, although playing an Angel is something to get used to.
BTW Jeff, if this game runs well, we could set up a certain society in which different people run different games. I’d love that. It’ll give the opportunity to learn new games that you would otherwise not think about of playing…
Figures by the time I could afford to setup a BBS, they’d be gone. I did pick up some RPG rules over the years but have not done much with them. I’d be very interested in running a Star Wars game, but I haven’t gone over the rules recently and am not sure how it would lend itself to PBeM. For those not familiar with the Star Wars RPG, the time period is just after the first movie (Episode IV).
(But that doesn’t mean that I’m not open for anything else. Vampire, Amber and Call of Cthulhu come readily to mind as is any dark future campaign).
On school breaks I’ve been known to run 30 posts a day with some of my players (I’m currently running an Amber game online).