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Thread: PBeM going live

  1. #11
    Site Moderator Fearless_Leader's Avatar
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    Wow, I haven't been back to these forums in ages. They're all flashy looking and what not now. =)

    But anyway... to the OP, if you can find someone who's presently in a pbem or one of their DM's, you can probably advertise to that player base. A lot of people play in more than one game.

    I only came back here to the forums by chance a day or two ago, but I'd be interested in playing. The last few games I've participated in I have, I'm embarrassed to say, basically flamed out because I haven't been able to maintain my attention due to how crazy-busy I've been during the last three years. So I would probably need to limit my ambitions to something small and relatively innocuous.

  2. #12
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
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    I am interested as well.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by chumblefuzz View Post
    Exciting! I've never done a pbem, but I'm willing to give it a shot if birthright is involved, as I've not had much opportunity to play in this (seemingly pretty original and fantastic) gameworld.

    Interested, and eager to give it a go!

    Newb question the first - Would it be possible to begin play as a blooded lieutenant or vassal of some other regent? Begin blooded and organically come by whatever holdings through game play? Or are we to start as independent regents?
    Its good to see the continued excitement!

    To answer your question, in a table setting of BR, playing as a lieutenant would be more likely possible. In a PBeM setting, however, it is more fitting for you to play as a regent (landed or non-landed) and to develop your domain. There are two main reasons for this:
    1) You are more active in the game
    2) You will be able to make and create lieutenants and eventually your heir to your domain. We do play with an emphasis on heirs, and developing that character along with your main character can be really fun. We have had situations where the main regent and his heir (typically his son/daughter or very trusted adviser) were of clashing alignments which lead to treachery at times as well as an overall domain alignment shift because of the new regent. It leaves the door open for massive RP. Not to mention that grooming an heir is your only way to continue in the PBeM in the event that your regent dies (barring some special ways of course which will be revealed later).

  4. #14

    teaser info

    So, in order to tease you guys a bit more, I thought I would actually give you some factions and happenings that you might expect to see and hear in the opening days of the PBeM.

    1) A fanatical group of elves in the Aelvinwood, calling themselves "The Believers", are on a rampage through their ancient homeland. Supposedly, these are elves that are as fanatical as Rhuobhe and have even gone as far to ally themselves with goblins, ogres, and maybe even worse! The lands of Talinie, Alamie, Mhoried, and others have had trade routes interrupted, towns vandalized, and people murdered. Until this merciless band is stopped, they will continue to plague the Northern Marches.

    2) Gavin Tael is growing in years. He has always had a dream of being more than a "Baron." It appears that he is growing more ambitious with each passing year. How much longer will Ghoere wait before its war-like leader will be patient no more?

    3) Blood stones, veins of tighmaevril, artifacts that bend the power of sources, and many other lore and legends about powerful items roam through Anuire like the wind. However, there must be truth about some of these things. Otherwise, why and how would the people know to spin tells of such things?

    Keep watching, more to come!
    DM_Anuire

  5. #15
    Senior Member Arentak's Avatar
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    It sounds promising, but its also short on specifics. I currently play in 4 Birthright PBEM's, but I always have room for one more. Especially with the 2E rules in play.

    Edit: Also, check out Birmail to help you run an email game, if you haven't already.
    Last edited by Arentak; 06-29-2012 at 07:14 PM.
    I like PBEM's.

  6. #16
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    What mechanism are you using to track domain turns, holdings, etc? birmail, as mentioned is one, although it has it's idiocyncracies, word and excel have their uses, but in practice the key to me is consistency - updating for different spreadsheet versions is a chore for both player and DM.

    The issue will not be recruiting I suspect, but recruiting people who are around for more than one or two seasons.

    Some questions that I usually think about when considered pbem's:

    * What sort of players is the GM looking for, story-tellers, board-gamers, people willing to play to win rather than just pussy-foot around, historical realists, etc?

    * What are the GM's plans for NPC's, will they be reactive and passive, pro-active, etc? Does that apply for all NPC's, major players only, or npc's within a player realm?

    * Will domains have aims and goals pre-set, or just take on whatever the player wants?

    * Will the game be run via a website? Will it have an imperial senate / conclave / etc for stage-strutting, or will players need to hold a grand festival for that sort of thing?

    * Do players need to be active every day, or can it work if they log on just once a week - or just send in their domain turns without emailing anyone / posting on forums?

    * How fast are the turns expected to be? Once a week, once a month, once a quarter?

    * what sort of tone is the game meant to have? Heroic, chivalric, realistic, gritty, against the odds, courtly, board-game detachment, etc?

  7. #17
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    I'm also interested in the answers to AndrewTall's questions and have another of my own.

    Regarding people (like me) who haven't done a pbem before at all with any game, is there some resource we can look into to become acquainted with the process? Or some sort of guide you are going to offer so we understand the format enough not to bog down your game due to a lack of understanding as to how it works just generally speaking?

  8. #18
    Junior Member splinter's Avatar
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    that sound very interesting, i would like to know more

  9. #19
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    In RoE2 we had a 'soft start' - no one was to declare war, etc in the first few turns. That gave us new to RoE time to get our feet under the table before the vets started pulling the rug out from under our feet.

    There are several aspects to learning to play in a PBeM that I've come across:

    1. PBeM etiquette, i.e. every email subject line must be in the correct format (allowing the DM to quickly identify key emails, find submissions, etc), i.e. RoE 72 Dispatch HA to Mhoried diplomacy translates as RoE email, turn 72, email is a dispatch, sent from Haelyn's Aegis to Mhoried, contents are about a diplomacy action. Similarly if using a website forum typical etiquette may include "use forum w for events only, forum x for adventure actions only, forum y for rules queries, forum z for stories and floating rumours, when floating rumours please follow the guidance in the good player guide"

    2. Player etiquette. Some people are always in character, some people write ooc and expect you to translate their stuff into character (i.e. the duke responds in insulting tone and refuses your advances utterly), some mix IC and OOC in posts either with or without signposting which is which. Again this is a learning curve where being constructive and tolerant for the first few turns will probably be very helpful, DM instruction is handy i.e. "OOC is fine in forum's A and B, in forum C use IC only, in emails anything OOC should be labelled as such, if you forget the other person can take it as IC if they so choose)".

    3. Ruleset - tabletop. This is the table-top rules that apply to regents, lieutenants, npc's, adventures, etc. Generally easy to pick up for D&D players, of questionable use to many domains but important for flavour - and generally vital to wizard and to a lesser extent priestly domains. The DM needs to set out how important it is to the game and summarise any key aspects impacting the domain side of things.

    4. Ruleset - domain. This is the toughie, and is why the BRCS and original 2e ruleset are far less complex than many house rulesets. This area tends to have a steep learning curve that will deter many if they are not helped.

    5. Accountancy. Learning the rules can be tough, filling in the spreadsheet templates / whatever can be equally daunting for some. The best way to learn is for someone familiar with the domain ruleset to mentor the newbie but that's hard in a game that's setting out. One way is to use an existing ruleset, or by providing completed sample sheets.

    There's probably a lot more that could be usefully added, but that enough for me to give some simple advice:

    A: start small. You don't need to detail every npc in round one, heck, it's counter-productive as it stops you sparking off other people later on.

    B: don't sweat it. This is only a game, if it's driving you nuts or absorbing all of your time take a break and relax, ask to swap to a smaller domain, or to run an npc for the GMs for a while - you stay involved but cut your time to suit your resource.

    C: there is always another turn. While this sappy homily proven a lie by the d4-1 curse, if you play like there will be more turns to come then "wasting an action" becomes less important, you don't need to "win this turn", and generally you can take time to savour the inter-play of the players and GMs - all of which encourages game longevity.

    D: the players get out what gets put in. The people most at risk of burnout or overload are the GMs, so help them - if they want new structures, spels, etc design them, put them up on the forum and ask the other players if they are balanced, feel right, etc - the GMs can then pick the ones that they like and don't have to start from scratch.

    Similarly if the template spreadsheet is wonky see if you can fix it, start a conversation to summarise its problems and collate them into a coherent document that someone else can use to fix the sheet.

    The more support the players give the more likely the game is to survive, even if it doesn't you are likely to be remembered positively in a future game.

    E: Be a good player even if your character is an ass. Provide handover notes for your successor if you decide to leave the game, even if your character is trying to deceive their character, don't try to deceive the player, etc.

  10. #20
    I could also be interested. Look forward to more details to come.

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