New to PBEM, looking for some advice to get started

[ravenzachary]

Hello all, I saw a blurb about Midgard on Wikipedia "did you know?" section of all places, which led me down a rabbit hole ultimately to this forum!

I've never played a play by mail game, other than some advanced squad leader thru vassal. My background is in tabletop rpgs and wargaming. I'm looking for some place to get started! I've been to tribenet's website, I'm waiting to hear back from them after sending them an email. On Midgard website I made an account but I'm not sure where to go from there. I'm also interested in other games that are out there as well.

Just wanted to stop by say hello and hopefully get some advice how I can quickly get into some games and get started playing!

Welcome! Here's a mostly up-to-date list of all play-by-mail games currently being operated:

https://suspense-and-decision.com/index/

I've been back into the hobby for the past four years after being an active player in my teens during the 1980s and 1990s. What I've found for myself is that I've gravitated more and more towards open-ended games over the past four years, as these are unique formats compared to other forms of gaming out there. There are some great victory-based games with defined endings, too, but these are more akin to long board game or video game experiences. Other than some rare role-playing campaigns, what other forms of games can you say that you've been playing a continuous game for years and years? TribeNet, SuperNova, and Takamo are the three open-ended games I'm playing presently. Midgard has potential, but it's undergoing rapid changes during the beta process and I decided to drop and check it out when it's further along in its development later this year or next year. Open-ended games tend to be more complex (not always), so if you're intimidated by long rulebooks, you might want to start with something more simple?