Well it seems that a group of “friends” (I use that term loosely now, HA!) have nominated me to be the point of contact on a diceless homegrown Play By Email game. The problem is that I have never run a PBEM and the only one that I have played in had everything happening behind the scenes.
The premise of the game will likely change but it will likely be a fantasy setting (though it could go into modern day super heroes) since it is pretty flexible. Anyway, the basics are that there will be a two teams of players who will be trying to achieve opposing goals that will eventually lead them into conflict with eachother. In essence, it will be two seperate but similar campaigns where eventually the two teams will meet up all in one space. The problem is that I don’t really know the mechanics of a PBEM.
If I have 3 lists: one for both teams and a global list (that they can all see) and regulate the participants in the lists, will that be enough. I want both teams to also think of themselves as “heroes” and view the other team as villains. It should also be open ended enough for teams to have players defect to the other side and if they have the skill, spy. (That should be easily accomplished with moderator intervention.) So what else do I need to know to run a PBEM?
Sounds like it. You may want to make up a spreadsheet or something similar to make notes to yourself and keep track of where everything is going. Is it going to be more roleplaying or more hack n slash or…?
More roleplaying. Hack and slash is fun but it bogs down PBEM’s.
Heh.
OK. You have two choices: Use straight person to person email, or start a Yahoo group. Actually, you have three choices. You can set up a Yahoo mailing group for the global list and use straight email for the individual and grous posts.
You’re going to want a database for character sheets. I use Excel for my latest game’s record keeping, but you can set up individual mail folders for each player and stick all their individual information/posts/background in there. Whatever you do, print off a paper copy of everyone’s character sheets. I learned this the hard way when I lost all the data on both games I was running to a hard drive crash.
Don’t even try to keep everyone in the same time flow if they’re all off doing something diifferent. Some GMs try and keep everyone roughly together in game time all the time by waiting until everyone posts before they send out the next round. This will bog a game down faster than anything and create disgruntled players from your faster posters.
If you have a single place or event that everyone is going to experience at different times, write it up in advance and save it as a Word file so when you need it, it’s there.
Remind everyone that time moves s-l-o-w in a PBeM. What takes an hour to play out in your LR is going to take from anywhere between an week and month on a PBeM.
Have a plot outline and keep it near the computer. When players have extra time to compose responses like they do by email, they will always come up with something you didn’t anticipate and you’ll need to make notes on your outline for later.
When a character/group does Something Important, make a note in a Game Log. This way you remember what they’ve run into/learned. That may seem anal, but it does take a long time to play things out by email and even the GM ocassionally forgets things like the Random NPC #1 you threw in for color that they managed to talk to long enough to turn into Named NPC #234.
Using the GM Cloak of Indifference is a lot easier over email. 
Anymore questions?
I haven’t PBEMailed in a while, but let me second the Yahoo Group idea. I’ve used it for some collaborative stuff and the shared file section ALONE is worth doing.
I was thinking it may also work message board style through ezboard. Have you had experience with it that way? Should I put up notices that there shouldn’t be a lot of combat because it really bogs down the PBEM?
It will work messageboard style. I am hosting a Star Wars PBeM over on my Amber board in a hidden forum at the moment, and a freind of mine is using Bboards for her Exalted game.
I never remember the MB option because most people use ezboards and I have a personal bias against ezboards. 
It’s also a lot easier to check my email than it is to check a MB, especially one with nested threads.
If you use a MB, you can easily have a GM only forum in which you post all the character data and outlines.
I don’t know that I would put up notices about the combat but I would definately point out to the players that it will slow down play and you are wanting to emphasis the roleplaying and character development over who has the most kills to their credit. Rewarding outstanding roleplay with an extra XP or two tends to help that along.
Ah, thank you very much Arden Ranger, may I send you an email for more specifics?
yes, you may. ardenatbrightokdotnet