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PBM News Blurb - March 27th, 2011
#1
The Road of Kings
A large group of Duel2 players (about 20 of them, give or take a few) recently decided that they would try to play a game of Hyborian War. They are looking for a few additional people to sign up for this game of Hyborian War, so that the game can get off and running as soon as possible. If you think you qualify as a relatively new player (or are returning from a long absence) and would like to join this friendly game, then check out the discussion thread that they recently started on The Road of Kings website.

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PlayByMail.Net
I recently received several e-mails from that infamous PBM personality, Bob McLain. Bob insists that he has no photos of PBM conventions - because he never attended any, and that he always had an Associate Editor attend on his behalf, when it was cost-effective - which wasn't often.

Bob McLain said that his biggest splurge was hiring a pair of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders to pass out Gaming Universal flyers at an Origins in Dallas, back in 1983 (or thereabouts). Mark Kaiser, one of Bob's magazine's Associate Editors, was in charge of making sure the girls had the flyers, knew what to do, and so forth, but Bob thinks that Mark mostly made sure that he got their phone numbers.

Years later, the woman who owned the agency through which Bob McLain hired the cheerleaders told Bob that the girls never gave out their own numbers, but instead, gave out the number for a local pizza shop. Bob McLain said that he always imagines Mark calling that pizza shop, asking in his very precise, avuncular way for Denise, and being offered her as a special, take-out only. Bob also said that it's likely that this is what drove Mark Kaiser out of play-by-mail, and off the face of the earth. Bob told me to feel free to share this story in the PlayByMail.Net forums.

In more Bob McLain related PBM news, Bob said that he currently owns the rights to the famed PBM game, Quest of the Great Jewels. Apparently, Bob sold the game to Jeffrey McKee of Mesa, AZ, in January 2000, with a contract stipulation that if Jeffery wasn't running the game within three years of contract execution, then the rights to the game would revert back to Bob McLain. Bob also asserted that this very same contract guarantees that himself, Mike Shefler, and Rich Van Ollefen are entitled to lifetime free play of Quest of the Great Jewels. Bob also still has a copy of the rulebook and source code for Quest of the Great Jewels.

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Empire Forge Conquests
Jeff Sullins has announced that the Beta Test for Empire Forge Conquests has started. If interested in joining this Beta Test, then contact Jeff via the Empire Forge Conquests forum.

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Flying Buffalo
A new game of Starweb has started, recently, this one designated as SW-1378. This game is a 2-week regular game of Starweb, according to this post in The Flying Buffalo Gamer Forums.

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Middle-earth Strategic Gaming
Heading over to the Middle-earth Play-By-Mail forums, I came across an interesting (albeit very short) discussion thread titled, "How I got addicted to MEth..." It's a good thread about becoming addicted to this PBM game.
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#2
I just looked into that Empire Forge beta. In order to play, you have to sign up through their web form, but their web form requires a java plugin to run. I am reluctant to install a plugin without know what it's doing. Can a player sign up without using that form?
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#3
(03-28-2011, 11:56 AM)ixnay Wrote: I just looked into that Empire Forge beta. In order to play, you have to sign up through their web form, but their web form requires a java plugin to run. I am reluctant to install a plugin without know what it's doing. Can a player sign up without using that form?

I sent Jeff Sullins, the games programmer, your comments. His response to me was:

As far signup for the game goes, the Java plugin is required. However, it should be noted that the Java browser plugin has been around well over a decade, and is pretty standard stuff. "What it's doing" is allowing the browser to run applets, which are generally simple Java programs. Applets are not allowed to access a user's file system, and generally can only display data or communicate with a remote server. A user's files are not accessible to applets.


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#4
I know all about Java, but I had not seen that particular problem before in my general browsing. So, thinking it might be that I have an old version of the plugin, I used the link provided on his site, downloaded the installer, installed it, and restarted my browser, but I still get the same problem.

Does the game itself also require the plugin? Can they accept a sign-up via regular email? I suppose I should go to their forum and ask these questions! I'll keep you posted...
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