SOA - The Society of Arms #13


There are few surviving records from the Society's formation or early times. This is because
the members of the Society, as it was then, did not want others to know much about them or
their organization; these were the times of the 'dark SOA'.
 
Back then a member would take any contract from almost anyone to do anything. Contact with
the Society was a real achievement on its own, for the shadows were the SOA's home, stealth
and deception its craft. When members of the Society did agree to meet a potential employer
they would 'allow' him or her to set up a meeting through heavy bribery, though the Society made
sure the meeting place permitted it to intimidate the offerer without revealing the identity of
its members. Most of the bribe money was used to support the Society's Guildhalls or
Black Markets as they were back then. When an individual asked too many pointed questions
they would receive a personal warning if they were lucky, most were just quietly 'disposed' of.

The dark SOA thrived on chaos; theft, espionage, arson, assassination and other 'underhanded'
acts were just tools of the trade. Basically, for the right fee, the SOA would do any "dirty works"
necessary to complete a contract. Also, if you wanted an illegal substance or good, the SOA
could get it through their contacts (many of which were notorious Pirates or Bandits) and deliver
it through their Black Markets. Even during this period of debatable morals did they did honor
a few ideals, some would say they were paradoxical, but it was very much a case of honor amongst
thieves. A member would only act if there was a signed contract, otherwise they might interfere
with the legitimate contract (sanctioned by the Society's hierarchy) of a fellow member. A member
would not work for an invader who sought to make Midgard their own because all members were
Midgardian.  Even though they felt they did not owe anything to society, they could operate within
it, whereas they may not be able to operate in a culture enforced by the invader. And although
the member clans were free spirited, their camaraderie and the power of the Society's leadership
meant a clan would never betray the Society, nor deny the Society its fair cut from deals it supported.

During those early times the SOA hated the Imperials, and their lap dogs the Merc Verk.
The Imperials sought to bring all under their rule eliminate groups they regarded as disruptive
or chaotic, and enforce foreign laws that in the SOA's eyes smothered the individual's freedom
of action. Meanwhile the Merc Verk, the supposed hired 'Knights' with some rigid 'code' and pompous
ideals, were loathed for their naive view of the world. To the SOA the Murk Verk's notion that
they were the champions of the common man was both misguided and arrogant. Life was a struggle,
all 'common men' struggled, and treachery, murder and theft were all part of those struggles,
so who were the Merc Verk to decide what was fair and just, and what was not.

Then came the cataclysmic meteor strike in Kalmar. It changed the world, it changed civilizations,
and it was indirectly responsible for fundamental changes to the SOA. It was logical to expect the
'dark SOA' to thrive in the chaos after the cataclysm.  In fact, the Society's clans were scattered,
many killed or disbanded as they struggled to survive in those harrowing times, and the SOA suffered
because the society which had given birth to and suckled it was quickly falling apart.

The SOA was not the only group to be hit hard. The Blood and Fire, which relied on the worship of
the common people, suffered a crisis of faith as many of Moorlock's worshippers saw the cataclysm
as Moorlock's move to destroy the world rather than let the Insane One control it. The SOA and
the Blood and Fire suspended their individual charters, merging to form the Serkeanar - a religious
military organization that would accept contracts that furthered the works of its church as well
as provide income.

Only recently have both the SOA and the Blood and Fire reactivated their individual charters and
separated from the Serkeanar. However, the time spent within the religion of healers, those that
sought to help the poor and equalize everyone, has caused a dramatic shift in the ideals of the
Society. Under the leadership of Kerin the Black, the Society announced that it was again operating
in its own right, but also that it had abandoned the earlier questionable ethics. In their place stood
the following tenants:

• A focus on making money through overt military operations and combat, rather than executing
'covert' operations;
• A resolve not to become the military of any one faction. The SOA would work for any Midgardian
faction, but remain independent of them,
• To fly the battle flags of their employer so everyone could clearly see that the SOA clan was
under contract, and who the contract was for, rather than cause deception or confusion by flying
the flags of another or none at all;
• To fight to the best of their ability for all employers, but never allow themselves to be used
as 'siege-fodder';
• To never release to any other faction any sensitive information received from an employer,
provided the employer upheld his or her obligations under the contract;
• To treat both the employer and opponent(s) fairly, Although today's enemy may be next month's
employer, this month's employer already had a signed contract,
• An undertaking that no clan or attached regiments would perform military actions against
a current or just recent employer for three cycles after a contract has concluded normally.

Today the SOA still retains certain characteristics of the original Society:
 
1) Its Clans still pick and choose assignments as they please,
2) The Society still refuses to work for any ‘Off-continent’ or ‘Invader’ Faction
( examples: Manchuria, Barbaria, Imperial Homeland, Alf-Heim ),
3) A SOA clan will not undertake any action for another faction without a signed
and verified contract and finally,
4) A SOA clan will strive to fulfil a contract to the letter, for its word is its bond.

With the transformation has come an easing of the tensions between the Imperials and
the Society; however, tensions still occasionally flare up between the Society and the
Merc Verk because they are now more similar and so compete for work. The Merc Verk
are also reported to be alarmed and angered by rumors that scattered cells of the SOA
still hold on to the notion that just because a tool is not pretty, this does not mean it
should be thrown out. No reliable evidence proving the existence of such cells has been
produced by the SOA's critics, making it easy for Kerin to brush it all off as mere
Merc Verk propaganda.  In turn the SOA accuse the Merc Verk of political bias, citing
the recent Merc Verk campaign against Fanglan as irrefutable proof. It is the SOA's
view that because politics plays a part in deciding what is fair and what is just, then the
core of the Merc Verk's vaunted 'code' will always cause the Merc Verk to be politically
biased, and thus not true mercenaries.

SOA  Benfit:

1 The SOA are, in comparison to Midgard Organizations, Highly disciplined
and ordered in combat.  They are known for their discipline training.


SOA Hierarchy:

0 Grand Master of the Society of Arms (GM/Computer)
1 Master of the Society of Arms
2 Master of Contracts
3 Master of Weapons
4 Master of the Council
5 First Council Member
6 Second Council Member
7 Third Council Member
8 Fourth Council Member
9 Fifth Council Member
10 Agent for Contract Enforcement
11 General on Call – East
12 General on Call – Center
13 General on Call – West
14 Commander
15 Society Initiate
16 Mercenary First Class
17 Mercenary Second Class
18 Mercenary Third Class
19 Mercenary Fourth Class
20 Mercenary Fifth Class

SOA Goals:

1 To become Midgards’ primary mercenary faction
2 To remain neutral in the politics of Midgard
3 Increase the number of clans belonging to the SOA
4 Protect all SOA holdings and property
5 The establishment of at least one SOA Guild Hall
in all major Midgard cities

SOA Skills:
CMD-Command
STR - Strategy
TAC - Tactics

SOA Factional Office:
The SOA Office allows clans to train their clan retainers, but there were talks to redesign the office to offer a 2nd benefit to a city of a increase in the number of weapons on a cities market by +1% per office.

The Buccaneers #16:




Buccaneers are not just sea-going bandits.  Buccaneers are a tough people living
a tough life.  Their sailing and fighting skills are very high.  Their experience
levels are also very high and Buccaneers are not likely to be merciful. 
Buccaneers will make a "deal" with any clan or Faction as it suits them. 
They will always adhere to such a deal unless of course, they elect not to. 
If you want to be sure that they will remain friendly to your Faction, give
them reason to want to keep you around (perhaps by offering them a series
of perpetual cash payments?).  Ignore or rebuke them and they will feed upon
your shipping and your coastal holdings.  Buccaneers rarely attack one another
because of the significant risk involved.

Buccaneers Bonuses:

1 Buccaneers can out sail and out navigate any other Faction in Midgard
except possibly the Barbarians.

Buccaneers Hierarchy:

0 The Supreme One - Merchant (umpire/computer)
0 Lazarus – Pirates (umpire/computer)
0 Sir Valent – Naval Mercenaries (umpire/computer)
1 Head Pirate
2 Pirate Commander
3 Pirate Leader
4 Pirate Admiral
5 Pirate Vice Admiral
6 Pirate Rear Admiral
7 Senior Buccaneer
8 Buccaneer
9 Senior Corsair
10 Corsair
11 Senior Freebooter
12 Freebooter
13 Senior Picaroon
14 Picaroon
15 Senior Rover
16 Rover
17 Sea Dog
18 Sea Robber
19 Sea Rover
20 Sea Wolf

Buccaneers Goals:

1 Become the primary naval Faction in Midgard.
2 Increase and protect Buccaneer Fleets and Raiding Forces.
3 The looting of any and all seagoing merchants.
4 Raid all coastal Cities.
5 The establishment of one area of Midgard to function as a  Buccaneer safe haven and base.


Buccaneers Factional Building:

Bucc Shop - allows someone to purchase a Map of either the region your in or and adjacent region
to the one the city is located within. The shop also increases the size of the cities Shipyards by 2% per
each Bucc shop added to the city, and it also increase the number of ships built and available for sale
on the cities market.  If within a Bucc declared city, then the Bucc only ship designs will be available
for sale within the city as well.

Buccaneers Skills:
 
NST - Naval Strategy
NTA - Naval Tactics
NAV - Navigation
SEA - Seamanship


Note: There are Bucc Ship special designs and I need to locate them to post here

The Cymru - Faction#32 (created in Midgard USA - Zan E.):

Note: The faction was designed to be in Kalmar, but it could be redesigned to be
In Midgard or both locations jointly. The faction focus was for players that wanted
to roleplay and explore within the world.

The Cymru faction was created after the Great Cataclysm.  The effects on Kalmar were
far worse than the rest of the world.  All the cities in Kalmar were harmed in some way
and some were even completely destroyed.  Most of these cities were left as a small
fraction of there former glory.  The faction was formed when the remaining cities of
Kalmar started to recover and people from other lands began to appear in Kalmar taking
over these weakened towns and cities.  These clans and factions posed a threat to the
lands of Kalmar and its culture.  The feeling was that these foreigners could soon take
over Kalmar as the Imperials once did to Midgard.  That is when great individuals of
Kalmar stepped forward, realizing something must be done to protect Kalmar and its
culture or it would be discarded like the garbage.

Once formed, the Cymru faction promised the people of Kalmar that they would be
free to live their lives as they have for centuries.  These men and women promised to
give their lives to protect their way of life and keep their communities free from the
totalitarian control of others.  They have no stated enemies other than those that
hinder and harm the culture and people of Kalmar.

Cymru Skills:

CMD - Command
STR - Strategy
TAC - Tactics
ORA - Oratory
REC - Recruitment
ENT - Entertainment
PCB - Personal Combat

Cymru Bonuses:

1:  The ability to learn/hear of Events or Happenings or Situations that people are talking about. 
2:  Being able to double arm LI/LM, LI/MM, MI/LM, MI/MM
 
Cymru Hierarchy:

1  The Speaker of the People
2  The Benefactor of the People
3  The Defender of the People
4  The Singer of the People
5  Duke
6 Baron
7 Count
8 Earl
9 Lord
10 Knight
11 Master at Arms
12 Master of The Hunt
13 Master Archer
14 Master Bard
15 Hunter
16 Archer
17 Minstrel
18 Scout
19 Tracker
20 Storyteller

Cymru Goals:

1 Cymru presence in every Kalmar City (11 Offices)
2 Prevention of closed cities in Kalmar
3 Keeping Kalmarian markets as true free markets
4 To stop any oppression against the people of Kalmar
5 Connect all the cities of Kalmar with a road system
6 Stop any Bandit activity in Kalmar
7 Restoration of all former cities of Kalmar

Cymru Factional Building:

Cymru Tavern/Inn :  A place for the people to gather and talk, with good entertainment and song. The
Tavern greatly increases the chance to learn of some happening or rumors within the area of the city.
The Cymru are very Bardic in nature and were extremely close with the people.  They are the patrons
of culture and have their hands on the happenings within the cities. The benefit to the city was to increase
the Tax income to the cities +1%/Tavern, and increase the Happiness rating +2%/Tavern within the city.

Faction #32 - Seekers:

NOTE: Under Midgard USA -Zan Faction #32 was the Cymru, later under Midgard UK -Stephen Faction #32 was the Seekers (Using the above pic):
*******************************************************************************************************
The Seeker Motto:

Draw upon the Book of Knowledge
to Illuminate the Darkness
that the sons of man and
daughters of woman might see.
Seeing, Illuminate the Darkness
for thy brethren and bring the light
of civilization into the corners
of the world.


*******************************************************************************************************
Seeker History:

Days before the great catastrophe, many skilled in the arcane
arts foretold the doom of the island city of Valspar. Then the
men of science did indeed see their doom rushing toward them.
Time and time, calculations were check and recheck, but the
answers were all the same, the great city of Valspar, center of
culture and learning, was doomed.

Thus began the great exodus, many of Valspar sailing away that very
day, even though it would be weeks before the huge rock would
arrive. But the High Council of Librarians, deciding to try and save
as much of the great Library as they could. Bought what few ships
remained. They loading the ships with the contents from the Great
Library and decided to stay there to the last, securing what ever they
could to rafts made of remaining available materials once the purchased
ships were filled. Then, sealed in waterproof containers were years of
secret knowledge.

Then the skies darkened and with a thunderous BANG!, the island of
Valspar was no more. A thousand years of culture and knowledge
gone in the blink of an eye. The great Library of Valspar was gone
and so was the city and any who made the great sacrafice to remain
behind to make sure as many books and scrolls as possible were
prepared and loaded ontp anything seaworthy.

The people of world were thrown from their feet. Waves taller than
the greatest building in the land swept over them.  Lives were lost,
cities crumpled and some were completely washed away.

Now the few descendents from Valspar, sons of the high council
members, have taking up where their fathers left off. They have
started a gathering of like minded souls to rebuild and then even
surpass what was once lost.

The Seekers have awaken........

****************************************************************************************************
Seeker GOALS:

1) Establish a Seeker homeland.
2) Add or build one city per year to the Seeker factional control.
3) Construct one or more Seeker Towers in every city in Kalmar and Midgard.
4) Master as many skills as possible.
5) We are neutral to all factions that do not prevent the free flow of knowledge.
6) Rediscover the island city of Valspar, and either rebuild it or salvage anything useful.
7) Build at least one Great Library (30 Towers) in both Kalmar and Midgard.


****************************************************************************************************
Seeker RANKS:


0: All Knowing Eye
1: Master of the Eye
2: Law of the Eye
3: Guardian of the Eye
4: Instructor of the Eye
5: Oracle for the Eye
6: Watcher of the Eye
7: North Eye of the Tower
8: South Eye of the Tower
9: West Eye of the Tower
10: East Eye of the Tower
11: Beholder of the Eye
12: Keeper of the Tower
13: Beacon of the Tower
14: Teacher of the Tower
15: Graduate of Tower
16: Dedicated of the Tower
17: Student for the Tower
18: Initiate of the Tower
19: Searcher for the Tower
20: Follower of the Tower


****************************************************************************************************

Seeker Skills:

ORA - Oratory
REC - Recruitment
SCT - Scouting
PCB - Personal Combat
STW - Streetwise
RSH - Research
TRN - Training

Note: If I was setting up a clan here is the starting skill set...

Seeker Setup (Clan Name):
LDR: RSH-1, TRN-1, ORA-1, REC-1, STW-1, SCT-1, PCB-1
  F1: RSH-1
  F2: RSH-1
  F3: RSH-1

Game play with this faction is more a explorer and investigator within the game. The search for knowledge and quest to look into things. The focus is not combat but the other matters within the game.

Seeker Factional Office - Library of Knowledge:

The Seeker office was the Tower of Knowledge, and the befit is that for each Library you have a +2% per Library to find a trainer in any skill or finding out knowledge on a topic. The more offices the better the chance. When there are (30) Library in a city you have a Great Library.  You then have greater access to deeper secrets and knowledge that is not normally know, plus higher +6 level skill. Also the Seeker Towers add a increase of +1% money to the cities Taxes as well. Also it takes less time to train in a skill at a Seeker tower complex, with (10) Towers it takes only 5 cycles to obtain a skill level, with (20) Seeker tower complex it takes 4 cycles to obtain a skill level, and with (30) Seeker tower complex it takes 3 cycles to obtain a skill level.

The Great Library of Valspar:

Here is a excerpt of the Independent description from a version of the Midgard Rulebook:

INDEPENDENTS:

The Independent (or non-declared) clan is one who operates totally outside any Faction or specialty as shown above. 
Influence points are accumulated, though not as quickly as if a declared clan of the Faction giving the points, and a
non-declared clan may do tasks for any Faction and receive rewards.  Powerful non-declared clans may be offered
city positions.  There is no Hierarchy.  All clans start the game as Independent clans.

Selecting the path to follow can be done at any time.  Any player not making a selection will receive points for his
activities from the various Factions.  It is possible to earn points in almost every Faction without selecting or
"declaring" which way you desire to go.  You may change your mind at any time during the game.  Changing your
mind will involve greater and greater costs to you as you gain stature.  Your followers and retainers rely on you
to provide a certain political stability and will resist change.  Your renown also suffers.  None of these consequences
are severe at the lower levels. As an Independent clan, you may also decide to try your hand at specializing as a
Bandit, Pirate or Heretic.

Alternate Clan Names:

Bandits, Buccaneers, and Pirates (only) have the added benefit of operating under an alias.  You may declare their
alias name using the NAME ALIAS action.  The alias will appear on all reports when you are operating in a region
where you are known (you are "known" if you have Renown in the region).  When you are operating outside the region(s)
where you have recently performed your trade, your name will revert to normal so that you may otherwise continue
to be an "honest" citizen.  Your Alias will be used anytime you issue a mode change to RDB TRIBUTE (Roadblock
for tribute) or PCY (Piracy).  Only these two modes will allow you to gain renown in a new region.  Once gained, your
name change will be automatic and all other modes will be available to you.

Each act of Banditry or Piracy will create a certain amount of renown (under your alias) in that region.  This renown
will fade with time as people forget, but whenever you enter an area where you are "known" then your alias clan name
will be shown and you will be recognized. This ability to "change names" will allow your clan an opportunity to survive.

Bandits:

Bandits attempt to gain wealth by any means, including violence.  Bandits will attempt to look and behave like normal
character organizations and are extremely difficult for other characters to identify as bandits.  Scouting reports
will report them as any of a variety of Factions.  As the Bandit clan gets bigger and bigger, they will be awarded points. 
Successful raids against others will generate points, as will successful roadblock actions.

Heretic:

The Heretic is a character who supports a religion different than those shown here.  To become a Heretic you must
create your own religion and submit it to the umpire for inclusion into the database and into the game model.  The
submission should detail your theology and the practical consequences of that theology.  For example, if one of the
tenets of your new religion is the conversion of the masses of Midgard, one practical consequence would be an
unwillingness to raid villages or farms.  If another aspect of your religion called for the elimination of secular
powers, you might stress the importance of acting against the Families and the Imperials.  Clearly, the process
of writing an outline which includes beliefs, practices, and activities can be difficult.  Once you have drafted
your submission to the umpire and it has been returned approved, heretics face the task of recruiting other
characters to the belief.  One way to do this is to give the potential converts assistance.  As a Heretic you also
gain points through converts who remain loyal to your religion each cycle.  Heretics also gain points by building
Temples in cities.

Been a long time since I wandered the halls of Charles' creation.  And even longer since I played any other PBM than Hyborian Wars (and a chess game, but that is with only a few friends).  I am endeavoring to change that.  I wrote games back in the day (70s and 80s), played a lot of wargames, RPGs, PBMs.  Never really gave thought to trying to write a PBM.  Would imagine it is not dissimilar to creating a multi-player RPG or wargame.

In any case, I have not played in a while, have little idea what is available or even what I'm really looking to play.  Going to be re-reading all my copies of S&D and see what I find.  Anybody have any suggestions for easing into PBMs?

Hello Midgard players,

I wanted to break the ice and start talking about different factions. I know that Davin is working on "the game mechanics" for the game, but we the players really can't talk about that very much. We simply are not doing the coding for the game mechanics, but what we can talk about are the factions and dig into details about them.  So first here is the last list of the factions that have been in the last couple of versions of the game:



The faction I would like to talk about in this thread is: Faction #16 - The Cult of the Dark One.

Now this had been a Non-Player (NPC) faction but a lot is known about it and was in the process of being worked on to open up as a Player based faction. So lets talk about them.

The Cult of the Dark One or Cult as it was normally know was based in Kalmar and Southern Midgard continents. The Cult #0 actually was the Founder #0 for Faction #32 The Cymru (player faction)and eventually stepped down with a new #0 standing in to take up that spot. Much was learned about the Cult and the faction was being flushed out to be played in the different versions of the game.

The Cult of the Dark One is basically a version of one of the Old Gods, specifically Moorlock. Now a lot of the work on this faction happened in Midgard USA version, but was changed slightly in the next version because the next version did not include either #10 The Serkeanar Religion or #32 The Cymru. A new faction #32 was stood up and put into play ,The Seekers (based in Kalmar and Southern Midgard). Through that interaction again more was learned and worked on through declared #17 Heretic clans that were trying to bring the Cult faction live. Being that we are in another new restart of this game, that is being redesigned it is our intent to help design this faction to eventually become a live player faction in the game. So below are our collective thoughts about the design of this faction, of what it might become in this version of the game. I know the GM Davin wants to start with the core factions, but this discussion can help to set those other factional discussions in motion.

I should also point out in the past under all the versions of Midgard, the standard to stand up a new faction was to have either a declared #19 Independent or #17 Heretic clan with a note to the GM that they were intending to declare for that new faction when it became live. Now you need to have (10) or more Players, and (20) or more Clans that are going to declare  to the new faction. They also must play in that status for (12) turns/cycles consecutively, once that is reached then the faction comes live. Before the clans do the declare and intend to start for the new faction, a lot of Special Actions has to happen to design the faction and find a #0 Senior founder NPC.

So with that said lets talk about this faction...

Faction #16 - The Cult of the Dark One:

One of the Old Gods...Moorlock, The God of Bringer of Forbidden Knowledge.

Druidical in Nature with close ties to natural setting, they also one with nature and skilled in Concealment/Ambush in nature. They focus on Bow weapon types and excel of raged stealth attacks from concealed locations to get a jump on their targets. City ownership is not really that import, having more Cult shrines is more import. Basically helping the people and spreading the teachings of the Dark One is more key. So they tend to be super Secretive, hidden in nature, not always understood, strike from the Shadows and from Ambush. They do care about helping the health of the people and their Medical knowledge is the key.

The factional perk is that they can Successfully Conceal themselves in nature with relates to giving them the ability to Ambush/Surprise someone. They are a foot based factional

Religious faction building: Shrines (Stonehenge like) -stone circles on a small hill with a stone alter, with a underground stone grottoes.

Shrines within a city bring a equal split in both Cult and Independent Influence to the city it is built for. Shrines increase a cities Health and act like a better Hospital for a city. Also since the Cult are archers, they increase the number of Bow Weapons; LM, MM types on a cities market. They also add HM to a cities market the numbers are based on the number of Cult Shrines a city has. Also the Cult shrines add to the % of LM and MM on the market added to the market depending on the number of armories in the city.

The factional skills are:

 PRE - Preach
 REC - Recruitment
 HRB - Herbalism
 APT - Apothecary
 SCT - Scouting
 STW - Streetwise
 

A new startup clan skill set up might be: (Standard is 10 skill levels in skills some assigned (8) and other picked(2) by the player):

LDR: PRE-1, REC-1, HRB-1, APT-1, STW-1, SPY-1
  F1: STW-1
  F2: STW-1
  F3: STW-1, SCT-1

I do have a copy of the Midgard Version 8 of the rulebook

Here are some notes on the versions...

Version 7.65
Rulebook in transition
this version is in a transitory stage
culminating, in Version 8.0

Original design and development by Time Space Simulations, Inc.

Versions 6.0 and 7.0: Editing and design changes: by Alexander M. Erskine, Jr., Alan Yanko, Terry Cookston, Al Pare, Michael Barnhart, Jim Early, Frank McCloy, David Ward
Version 7.41: Editing and design changes: by Alan Yanko and Alexander M. Erskine, Jr.

Programming by Alexander M. Erskine Jr., Jon A. Capps, Davin Church, and Neil F. Avery

Original design and development by Time Space Simulations, Inc.

MIDGARD PBM Game Design and Rule System
Copyright ã 1993-2000 by MIDGARD USA, INC.

MIDGARDä is a trademark of MIDGARD USA, INC.

Here are the factions:



 

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Greeting to everyone!

For me I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all!!!

Take care.

Hello, I'm a life long gamer, recently rekindling an interest in "Slow Gaming" and looking into play by mail and other early forms of multiplayer gaming. I'm predominantly interested in running these games, and would like to know the technical aspects of how early PBM games were run on the back end.

Because of that, I've been trying to find a copy of Carol and Ken Mulholland's "Gamesmastership: How to Design and Run a Play-by-mail Game" (I mean, it's right in the title!)

There's a member on this forum that mentioned having a copy of it, so I've joined up to try and contact him (or ANYONE else who might have a copy they'd be willing to sell or even lend to me, it'd be very grateful!)

Untill I find it, I'll be lurking around here, and hopefully find a game or two to participate in, with an eye at running my own before too long.