newly inspired to PBM!!!

[walter]

Ixnay,
I played the game in the past. Enjoyed it, had to stop playing due to things i am not gonna write down on this board. The game is great, full-scale war and players dropping like flies... Like that game of game.....

[ixnay]

I just sent inquiries to the moderators of both Renaissance and Victory. We'll see how the onboarding process goes. Expect a new game-log or two if and when I get set up.

Another thought -- I never actually played a game of Starweb, even though it's been so widely praised in the PBM world. What if we got enough people here on this forum to sign up for a private game? I think it's 15 players. Anyone interested?

[ixnay]

Both moderators replied promptly and professionally. I was slightly delayed in follow-up, however, and it appears I may be too late to join Game 93 of Victory. Bulgaria was the one slot open when the moderator replied, but according to their forum (which is all abuzz with excitement for V93), someone has just claimed her. Usually PBM games suffer from high drop-out rates, so I'm asking to be on stand-by to take over the first one. We shall see.

Renaissance's moderator has picked out an existing noble family and location for me to take over -- something in the same general area as you, Bob. (I asked for something near you, or in the Near East, or perhaps Bulgaria, haha). This is a game that runs monthly turn cycles 12x year, and I can just squeeze into the upcoming 6/24 deadline. If anyone else reading this wants to join and see what a 30+ year PBM game looks like, jump in now. With prepayment, turn fees are as low as $2.90!

Today's task is to set myself up with a paypal account so I can fund these accounts. (Checks are so twentieth century...)

[walter]

Hi Ixnay,
believe me, the character Spongebob is just bluffing he plays Bulgaria.
A REAL long story, on short, Bulgaria is still open.

I would indead ask a stand-by position if I were you! Hope to see you in the game!

[ixnay]

Renaissance -- I am now printing the rules to study on the train. Need to race to get this month's turn in.

Victory! -- Got confirmation that I am running Bulgaria. On the game forum, someone posted a map with the player positions colored in. holy crap. I am surrounded by larger, fiercer enemies with no nearby lebensraum. I'm going to have to put my diplomacy hat on, big time. And the rules -- Bob, you weren't kidding when you said there was no comparison with Battle Plan! This is basically along the lines of those old "monster games" that took 1000 hours to play. And I'm on a deadline for THAT one, too. I think I have 2 days to get my first turn put together. It will most likely be an early bloodbath, but I will game-log it here to the hilt and see how much fun I can have with it...

[walter]

Sorry to post this to the this site guys...

Ixnay can you contact me private for a little chat about game 93?

[ixnay]

To those lurkers out there who are curious about PBM gaming (are there any out there?) -- here's another incident to shed light on a common occurrence -- missed turns!

I had a personal matter take me off of PBM for a few days -- at a most inopportune time. (No, wait. I *planned* it. I *wanted* to miss my turns, so I could write about it here! Yeah, that's the ticket!)

Renaissance's moderator sent me an alert, offering to hold up the turn for a few hours if I could get my orders in. He even suggested a few opening orders. Alas, I wasn't near email and didn't submit anything. He was a good sport and said he wouldn't charge for that turn. I now have some time before the next turn is due. I plan to get orders drafted WELL IN ADVANCE. I can always hold off mailing them, in case I want to change my mind about anything.

My position in this game seems pretty powerful, to me anyway. I have a family of 5 personae, each with a strong skill set, lots of money and local power, and a capable military array. I plan to start by mastering the local trade routes and perhaps building contacts with Near East and Central Asian families. I'll start a thread in the PBM Games section to blog about that game in detail. I will point out, though, that the game newsletter announced some half-dozen new players this turn. Not bad for a 31 year old game!

As for Victory!, the moderator said that the first turn can be back-dated almost up until the second turn is due. I assume that's because no hostilities are allowed until turn 3. So there's not much I can do on turn one that would impact anyone else. My beloved homeland of Bulgaria has a small but functioning economy and a skeleton army garrison to provide nominal protection. I have no air forces or naval fleets yet. That's what the first couple turns are for, I guess!

So while the pressure is still on, I have a few days to get my orders truly straightened out. I will blog about that game in its own thread as well. I should warn you that I want to learn my lesson from that Far Horizons game -- no sensitive information will be published! Just vague details to convey a sense of what's going on! However, I will keep a full running narrative for myself (and a select few others?) to be published when the game is finished.

[ixnay]

It has been about a year since my last post in this thread (or anywhere else on this site.) I won't get into the details, but I had been dealing with the loss of two direct family members and another indirect one in the space of 2 years, and the accumulated weight of all that got to me.

I am ready to kick my PBM career off again, now, though I might start a little slower than before.

2 updates and 1 new item to report:

First, the Renaissance moderator has continued sending me newsletters, and I got a friendly ping from one of the major players who gave me a little history of my position. I need to get with the moderator, apologize for my long silence, and figure out what I need to do to get back in his game and cover his inconvenience (of having to deal with a dropout.)

Second, that Victory game went ahead without me as well. I will do a similar circling-back with Rolling Thunder Games to see what I owe them for grabbing a position and then disappearing. (Mind you, they gave me the most difficult position to start with -- Bulgaria.) I got a friendly ping from another player in that game as well. So I hope to set things right and see if there is a new game on the horizon which I can join.

Finally, Vern from Empyrean Challenge (now called Cluster Wars) is getting back on HIS horse. His "pre-alpha" test game had come to a stopping point, and he and his team have incorporated a slew of updates and improvements since then. They are launching "game 2" now -- first turns are out and due back 6/20. I believe there are 20 positions in the game, and all are filled. But (as we have seen in this thread), dropouts are common and new positions will not be materially behind if taken over within a turn or two.

My brother is waiting in the wings to join this game by taking over the first dropout. If anyone here has read anything on this site about EC and wants to give it a go, I recommend contacting Vern and lining up for those dropouts yourself.

The game is a monster of a space-empire game. It's economic at first, but with serious military aspects later on -- to the point where one player posted to the effect that this game is more about information and tactics than about economic power (though size does matter.)

I'll be running my first turn later tonight, and will blog about it here.

In summary -- sorry for dropping out of the scene for a while. I hope to make up for that with some quality gaming (and posting), especially with the inspiration of this new EC/CW game!

[GrimFinger]

I should warn you that I want to learn my lesson from that Far Horizons game -- no sensitive information will be published! Just vague details to convey a sense of what's going on! However, I will keep a full running narrative for myself (and a select few others?) to be published when the game is finished.

Perhaps you learned the wrong lesson.

The narrative posted after the game has ended approach is all fine and dandy - but it won't do anything to drive interest during the game.

[Nazareth]

Renaissance is an excellent game, but it is an open-ended power game. I got into the game back in 1982 and played for about 4-5 years. At one time there were close to 1000, I'll say families being played in the game, as players were allowed to play up to 3 families if I remember correctly. I'd guess probably around 700 players at its height. One of the best games I ever played. I joined again in 1999, but Constantine revised the mechanics of the game between the time I left and returned to allow him to take advantage of the computer in running the turns. Game slowed some, not the turn around but in game activity. After about 6 months I left the game. Still a very good game, but patience is required as getting things done takes about a long as doing them in real life!
I would imagine that while most of the major power families are taken, there should be quite a few noble families available, for example one probably could become an Emir, maybe of Aleppo, Alexander or numerous other cities within the Mamluk Empire, or a Mercenary family like the Vitellis of Italy. A little research and you can find some good families with excellent skills.
Good luck in your game. Constantine might even have some old newsletters from the early 80's that he might be willing to share. I would be willing to pay a little something for them. Didn't keep them once I quit, but wish I had.