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+--- Thread: Treachery: A force for the good of PBM gaming (/showthread.php?tid=319)
Treachery: A force for the good of PBM gaming - GrimFinger - 12-04-2011
The Realm of Darkness is an Empire that has been built on the foundation of warfare and treachery. The Xythron are consummate warriors and are unparalleled in their skill at forming Alliances of convenience and then breaking that Alliance when doing so is the most damaging to their victim.
Excerpt from the rulebook for the Play-By-Mail game Galaxy: Alpha
Bob McLain's recent announcement that he would be relaunching his old magazine, PBM Universal, was preceded by a quip by this Dreadlord of the play by mail genre, one that he posted in another thread titled, "Will the real King Midas of Play By Mail please stand up?" Specifically, the quip of his in question, this Bob-ism, if you will, was thusly stated by the exalted one:
"I've been out of the hobby for quite awhile. Every so often, I get the urge to play one of my favorite PBM games, but few still exist. And even if they did exist, it wouldn't be the same. For me, the excitement of a new game was meeting fresh players and nurturing (okay, stabbing) them, usually right after I sold them a subscription to my magazine. Now, it's mostly the same players, over and over again. They do catch on."
While PBM diehards like Walter await the return of PBM Universal with baited breath, already proclaiming to throngs of play by mail gaming fans that have yet to gain awareness of this fulfillment of some ancient PBM prophecy of dark origins that he intends to be the first to subscribe , I pause, today, to reflect upon Bob's poking at himself with the stabbing remark.
In the old days, back when the postal service rode the crest of PBM gaming's never-ending wars of every stripe imaginable, treachery was a commodity traded with feverish regularity in PBM circles. Being stabbed in the back while playing the board game Risk paled in comparison to what it felt like being stabbed in the back in PBM games. The pages of such turn results for these correspondence games impacted the player like deadly blades of paper. The text came alive, and was vested with substance and meaning. No, none of it was real, but oh, how very real it was!
Like the spice, Melange, made famous by author Frank Herbert in his Dune series of books, treachery was the Melange of play by mail. For the uninitiated, it may seem a bit of a stretch. But, that's only because they haven't experienced it, yet, PBM-style. Oh, sure, we all know what treachery is. We all know what it feels like. But, until you have suffered treachery mid-stream in the PBM river of first-hand experience, you remain relegated to a mild dose of this thing that is like spice to the entertainment aspect of gaming.
Whether PBM gaming is currently undergoing an extended lull, or whether the postal genre of gaming is already in its death throes, remains a matter of ongoing debate. Bob McLain now confesses that he has "spent substantial time over the past few months accumulating material, locking in contributors, devising a unique delivery system, and thinking hard about what will work and what won't work." As Bob prepares to up the ante once more, with his pending launch of a new website to accompany the relaunch of PBM Universal, one cannot help but to wonder what all that Bob McLain has up his sleeve, and what it shall ultimately mean to PBM gamers everywhere?
PBM is likely experiencing multiple lulls, right now. Specifically, the lull that I am referring to in the paragraph above is a lull in the existence of a magazine that has play by mail in its focus.
Bob's definition of PBM is "broad enough to encompass turn-based gaming in all its many forms." While it may well be said that PBM gamers were once the Templar forces of turn-based gaming, will Bob McLain's broader take on turn-based gaming be the antidote for what ails play by mail?
Can Bob McLain dredge PBM gaming up from the depths of postal gamers' despair, by relaunching his magazine vessel of old? I did take notice of the fact that Bob not only registered here, recently, but that he also registered over at Lloyd Barron's "Road of Kings" forum site, a site that serves as a strong bastion of PBM players, many of which are veterans of many years of gaming by mail.
With Paper Mayhem long lost beneath the sands of time, and with Flagship magazine adrift since Carol Mulholland's health mishap, no magazine has hoisted the banner of play by mail gaming, to declare the continued existence of this segment of gamers to the gaming world at large.
A sea of postal gaming entertainment awaits this planned relaunch of PBM Universal. If you have a bottle of champagne, grab it, and help to christen its maiden voyage.
All hail the Dreadlord! All hail Bob McLain!!
May his undertaking mark an increase in treachery in PBM circles.
RE: Treachery: A force for the good of PBM gaming - ixnay - 12-05-2011
I remember in one of my "team" PBM games, we had an initial flurry of activity as we organized ourselves, made our plans, and conducted orderly development of our in-game economy. All that was fine and good. But then one of our members launched a civil war, catching most of us by surprise. Wow those next few turns were something else! We had numerous phone calls, an emergency 2nd edition of our newsletter, immediate efforts to retool and face this internal threat, etc. VERY fun, in spite of our universal indignation.
RE: Treachery: A force for the good of PBM gaming - tstone - 01-17-2012
Eh. Treachery fit just fine in some games. In fact, some would be less if they didn't have them. But treachery was entirely inappropriate in some games, too, such as team based RPGs where the characters were expected to work together to solve a mystery and accomplish a goal.
If one tried to shoe one's treacherous urges into that sort of game, one was simply being an asshole.
This happened at least once in my PBM career.