Birthright PBeMs?

[Nicholas Harrison]

Are there any good Birthright PBeMs running right now? I've had trouble finding them since pbem.com went down . . . .

[Jorgn]

Having a good list of ACTIVE ones would be nice yes. Personally I used to be active on that front myself, but have not in a long time. Personally I've GMed PnP campaigns since the setting first shipped, and still do. They tend to last 2-3 years each. Then I usually either have a followup campaign thats a few years after the one that ended, or having a fresh that somewhere in Cerilia (also done two in Aduria actually =)

Anyway back to the PBeM thingy. I've played in well over 40 of them myself, but never hosted one. Some might be interested to know that i do plan to host one from spring/summertime. I just want to draw up more info first. Its a lot more information heavy then standard setting, having the old base as a ground but with my own modifications on top of them. These modifications are in several areas influenced by people i've been in PBeMs with. Like Darkstar, Solmyr and the Green Knight.

One of the things I still need to do is to describe more the noble families of many of the realms. They actually do have a lot of influence and power in many realms, and the major families are good to have drawn up.

Personally I have no followed this place that much in the last few years, as personally i think a lot of it have been going in the wrong direction. Personally I find most of the BR "3rd ed" things to be just.. well... not as good in any way as the original take on things. What I've done instead is to instead update some parts of the original rules instead as I want them =)

Anyway, when i do get around to start the game, I no doubt will have a few spots I can have to random people in here. The game should last for around two and a half year, with two-three breaks of about a month each around holidays when people are wont to be gone (basically... i like to travel and in those holidays when im gone for a long time, there will be a period where people will have a few weeks longer to deliver their turns =)

Anyway, I'll try to keep you updated when i get around to start things.

[Arjan]

found two threads with links to BR PBeMs, although i dont know if they are still active, but its a start

http://www.birthright.net/showthread.php?t=2881&highlight=pbem+list

http://www.geocities.com/fearless_leader101/links.html

With the WIKI coming up i can dedicate a page for PBeMs

[Fearless_Leader]

I haven't been around on the forums much lately, as I've been pretty busy with grad school, but I've been giving a lot of thought into starting another PBEM in the January to February timeframe, though that will perforce depend upon how busy I am. I haven't run one in almost two years now, and so I'm starting to feel the "itch." There are also some other considerations... (Basically, much of my old gaming group has broken up due to people getting married and moving, and so there is some demand that I run a pbem in order that we can keep gaming together in some limited fashion). So in all, I'd say there's a better than even chance that it's something I'll end up doing.

[cyrano24100]

(...) I've been giving a lot of thought into starting another PBEM in the January to February timeframe, though that will perforce depend upon how busy I am. I haven't run one in almost two years now, and so I'm starting to feel the "itch." There are also some other considerations...

Yeah, I never ran a Birthright PBeM (only Diplomacy, and that was a lot of work!)... But I started a draft of something: see http://www.rjurikwinds.com/web/index.html, using Birmail. Again, it's still a draft, I still need to place people/characters and post rules, I wanted to switch the templates to php (not frames) etc... Besides usually that's easy part: managing the email, running the turns, and making the game "live" is the tougher part... So maybe I'll not keep my "resolution": I'd be glad if you did!

[Exile]

It does seem as if there's a moderate amount of interest in something being run... and a few people have toyed with the idea of getting a game off the ground. I've also been tempted, if only because I'd like to see _something_ up and active so that people not lucky enough to be players in LEBR or RoE might be able to play.

However, the largest domain-rulership game I've run had just ten players, and my web skills are nearly non-existent.

Still - might it make sense for a a couple (or more) people to consider collaborating on something?

[faithdreamer]

Instead of setting up a Campaign for play by e-mail, why not do it here on the Forum?
It could be set up and run by people who frequent these boards.
I am currently trying to set a game up at Giant in the Playground, but its slow going.

[Fearless_Leader]

Yeah, I never ran a Birthright PBeM (only Diplomacy, and that was a lot of work!)... But I started a draft of something: see http://www.stockphotopro.com/rw/web/index.html, using Birmail. Again, it's still a draft, I still need to place people/characters and post rules, I wanted to switch the templates to php (not frames) etc... Besides usually that's easy part: managing the email, running the turns, and making the game "live" is the tougher part... So maybe I'll not keep my "resolution": I'd be glad if you did!

Well don't let my perspective plans keep you from doing anything. I think it would be great to have more than just two or three games running.

[Exile]

Didn't even occur to me to check giantitp for Birthright games, Faithdreamer. :)

From your description, the game's to be set in Khinasi territory - but are you intending to define it any more narrowly than that, or would you take a spread of characters across the whole region?

[Exile]

It never occurred to me to check giantitp for Birthright games, Faithdreamer. :)

From the description there, the game's clearly set in Khinasi lands - but are you looking to have people scattered across the whole region, or focused tightly in a particular area (or realm)?

[faithdreamer]

My initial concept was to have it set in and around the Khinasi land of Sendoure.
Their position appears to be pretty tenuous, and the Khinasi and Brecht seem the most likely cultures to be so shifty there are an infinite number of problems.

I was planning to include all the Regions around Sendoure at some point, so I suppose players could use elves out of the Coullabhie, or Binsada Regents, or even a Goblin Regent who works for either of the two Awnsheghlien.

I don't have the Domain sourcebooks or anything like that, I am a recent arrival to Birthright, but I've played it before so I have a pretty good idea of how it works.
Oh, and I know Binsadans are a bunch of farmers and herders.

More players would be appreciated, but it looks like the game will start off small-scale considering the number of players I have.

I don't plan on doing every last realm on the face of Cerilia in my turn calculations, and will probably just make the NPC Regents of Anuire, Brechtur and Khinasi of relative strength when or if the players get to that level. Each realm appears to have its own problems anyway, so places Regents like the Vampire wouldn't have any aims on the realms of other Regents outside their immediate surroundings until much later in the game.

[Sarelth]

I always liked the idea of setting a PBEM or Forum Birthright game in a new environment, such as a set of islands possibly not even related to the regular BR setting.

While I love the setting, this appeals to me due to the fact that you can only play the same realm so many times before you have a set strategy and when it is not working out you just lose all enjoyment from the game for some reason.

I played in a PBEM called NovaTerra, it was set on a small continent that had been discovered by Regents from Anuire. There were some indiginous races and new features, there were some bloodlines on the continent and though they had different names they were actually just the original bloodlines.

Because it was a little different then the standard game it was much more appealing to me. Maybe because I got to design the race I played and eventually I even got a chance to help run the game for a little though sadly it died due to the other DMs all having life issues and I could not go on alone.

In another game, called Europa I believe, the DM was using a map originally done by Solymr I believe. It was a old map of ancient Europe. The Realms were custom made using a point based system that allowed for completely unique realms, though did require a bit of planning as many players seemed to lack insight into the system and built themselves into a sinkhole as they could not afford their own realms. My Realm in that was based around greece and upon starting the game I became one of the most powerful realms, without even doing anything besides planning my realm better than some of the other players.

So what I am trying to say is, is anyone running a game not based in Anuire? Or interested in such a game? I am not sure if I could run one by myself, but if I had the right group of people helping perhaps.

[Mantyluoto]

In another game, called Europa I believe, the DM was using a map originally done by Solymr I believe. It was a old map of ancient Europe. The Realms were custom made using a point based system that allowed for completely unique realms, though did require a bit of planning as many players seemed to lack insight into the system and built themselves into a sinkhole as they could not afford their own realms.

Did this allow you to design your own gods, military orders, Wizardly stuff plus lands cities etc etc?

[Sarelth]

Yes, the DM allowed for such things though he didn't have a set system for it. Was almost freeform, with direction. ;)

[Exile]

In the real world, I've run a few domain-rulership games - the most recent a "tiny" game of BR with just nine provinces and 17 total regents (including NPCs).

The IC notion was that it was a sort of post-apocalypse scenario - a large island (with a couple of small neighbours) had been discovered and part-settled by an iron-using, moderately advanced culture, that had mysteriously lost all contact with its parent empire some generations before the game began. Lacking external trade and resupply, technology had mostly regressed to the level of the natives who still made up the majority of the population of the isle, and who had regained the freedom to set up their own petty kingdoms free of "incomer" rule.

OOC, the notion was that I'd try running a completely isolated chunk of territory. No demands to "fill in the blanks on the map". No artifical boundaries beyond which players couldn't do anything, even though they could see on the map that there were realms there. No need to worry about how local events would play on the larger stage.

In the hope of making the game easier to understand for new players, and easier to run for myself, I used heavily trimmed-down rules (particularly for chargen, but with some elements lifted from Solmyr), removed regency save for magic... and still found it to involve an impressive amount of work. And I wasn't even maintaining a website.

My admiration for people like Solmyr who managed to run _huge_ online games on their own increased all the more.

The "point" of this is to say that yes, I would be interested in seeing a new-map / alternate-map game of BR start up. I might also be willing to run it, if it's very small, or to help run it. But anyone thinking of doing so should be aware that it involves a remarkable amount of work. Co-DMs might well help quite a lot with this, though there are a few ways to try to get round things.

[Mantyluoto]

I'm in too.

[cyrano24100]

Yeah, I went with the Rjurik setting for this one because it is well documented: less NPCs to "create from scratch" or less rivalry/history to have cooked-up, although you can still add as much as you want (or modify existing stuff)...

So I'm coming on further with my project. it's at http://www.rjurikwinds.com and I'm play-testing now with my two Pen-and-Paper guys. Contrary to Exile, I have OK website management and user interface experience; the hard part for me will be running a larger group and managing the chaos.. :D

[kgauck]

OOC, the notion was that I'd try running a completely isolated chunk of territory. No demands to "fill in the blanks on the map". No artifical boundaries beyond which players couldn't do anything, even though they could see on the map that there were realms there. No need to worry about how local events would play on the larger stage.


One of the ways to solve this problem is Poland. Good old Poland remained a medieval realm well past the renaissance. It was big and basically didn't fight many wars in the West at all (it participated in the relief of Vienna in 1683, and defeated a Turkish army already out of sorts from the siege). It did fight backwards Russia and threw its weight around the Baltic for a while.

So it was backwards enough not to defeat small western powers like Brandenburg, but so big that there is no way little Brandenburg could carve off a chunk of Poland. So Poland just sits there and aside from some trade routes and random events, its the end of the map.

Poland was eventually carved up at the end of the 18th century, well after a BR inspired period, when Russia had modernized and Brandenburg had aquired so much territory (Prussia, Silesia), that Poland eventually found herself surrounded by large modern states rather than small modern states or large backward states.

[dalor]

would this be a "traditional" 2nd edition, a 3rd
edition...what are you guys considering?


Anthony Edwards

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[Mantyluoto]

i play 3E D&D but prefer 2E Birthright rules for realms and bloodlines.

i think the only 3E stuff from the BCrs i used was the unit modifications.

I'd love to play in a game like this but i don't have the required time to run one.

[Exile]

One of the ways to solve this problem is Poland.

Even then, it's heavily involved in "external" affairs. Whether it be the Elector of Saxony becoming the King of Poland in the 17th century, the wars for control over the Baltic coast in the 16th and 17th centuries, saving Vienna from the Turks, or the interactions with Russia, it's not an entirely isolated territory....

Still, it's a pretty good option - and one on which Games Workshop some years ago based a boardgame ("Warrior Knights", if I remember correctly) of conquest and competition for the throne.

Part of the reason behind my choice of a completely isolated archipelago was that there would be _no_ external interaction at all. No decisions to go on a crusade against the Turk (or the Gorgon, the Sphinx, or any other "unkillable" off-map threat to civilsation). No attempts to haul into the game some other portion of the setting that the player likes ("I set up a trade route to the Magian's Realm..."). Overall, a game I thought would be small enough to run "properly".

Still turned out to involve a heck of a lot of effort, but it's something I'd like to make work at some point. Fewer NPCs and more PCs _might_ actually be a way of cutting down workload.

[Lee]

In a message dated 1/4/07 2:23:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET writes:

<< Good old Poland remained a medieval realm well past the renaissance. It
was big and basically didn`t fight many wars in the West at all (it
participated in the relief of Vienna in 1683, and defeated a Turkish army already out of
sorts from the siege). It did fight backwards Russia and threw its weight
around the Baltic for a while. >>

It was also a primitive republic, and balanced both Austria and Turkey
well before 1683.

Lee.

[cyrano24100]

Fewer NPCs and more PCs _might_ actually be a way of cutting down workload.

I agree that a game requiring lots of NPC interaction means more DM involvement. I've only run PBeMs on Diplomacy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_game) (7 players no NPCs) and I could conceive a similar board being run as a birthright campaign... But Diplomacy lacked the human DM element... And then it felt like every game had to be run like clockwork (speed diplomacy on sundays with orders in every 2 hours). We'd be starting a new game (read from scratch) every 3 months with many of the SAME players, only with different country assignment!.. I guess this would be the other extreeme that you describe: I like Birthright because of it's more human (and character adventuring) side to the game -- not just pure economics, not 100% diplomacy, not totally a roll of the dice, but a good mixture of all of them.

I guess I'm struggling same as Exile, with what the right formula and the right number of PC/NPC (or map) might be: I've only been DM-ing 2-3 players at a time (table top) for the last couple years... Mostly because it's tough to get more people together (schedule conflicts, people fall off, come and go): That has meant more NPC play for me -- especially on behalf of past or intermitent players, so playing NPCs is "fairly easy" in a world where getting actual people together is hard... I'm play testing my Rjurik Winds (http://www.rjurikwinds.com) PBeM right now, and it's going to be a challenge just getting my guys OK with the email side of things: They will miss turns, I know it. And they will forget to respond, or not even spend time writing back. They want to use chat, or SMS, or ideally just a conf call -- anything so that they don't have to make an effort at writing. :cool:

[kalgren]

I am interested in either playing or helping to DM a game. I been looking at running one for a long time and just could not figure out how to get adventures done easily with a PBEM. I have decided on a system (which isn't written yet) to randomly determine success, failure, and loss of life.
I recently found a mass combat system that seems to give me what I need in that area.

[cyrano24100]

I am interested in either playing or helping to DM a game.
Hey there Krage, I'm getting ready to start mine: I have a couple players signed-up. Rjurik setting.


I been looking at running one for a long time and just could not figure out how to get adventures done easily with a PBEM. I have decided on a system (which isn't written yet) to randomly determine success, failure, and loss of life.
I recently found a mass combat system that seems to give me what I need in that area.
I'm trying this out too. I'd be interested in your mass combat system; join in an if it looks like I could use help, I think I might be interested in seing how to improve mine (especially from PBeM point of view...

[kalgren]

the mass combat system I am working with is free and found at this site:
[link]http://www.farlandworld.com/program.html[\link]

I haven't really tweaked with it yet but so far it does look like it will give me what I need.

[kalgren]

Here is the link to the one I am toying with:
http://www.farlandworld.com/program.html

[Eyeless_One]

lebr.servegame.org/ (http://lebr.servegame.org/)

We are looking for a few more PCs at the moment. The setting is Anurie, 30years after the death of Michael Roele and a heir to the throne is needed.

News from turn 3 action 1:
Many attend investiture of Archprelate.

Boeruine announce withdrawal from race for the Iron throne.

Duke Marko feels ill.

Rhouvar the Bull attacks Taeghas.

Brigandage in Alamie.

Bran the blade resigns commision with Avanil and reforms merc group.