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(09-13-2013, 06:21 PM)ixnay Wrote: In regard to your last post, I must ask -- is this magazine intended to cover traditional PBM only? Postal turns, postal results? Is PBEM excluded? PBWeb?
The magazine must, for me (and me, alone, for the purpose of responding to your question), encompass play by mail. That is not to say that it must encompass only the postal genre. But, it can't shy away from it, and indeed, it should glory in it.
A couple of quick examples of ancestral descendants of postal genre games that come to mind for me are the Middle-earth and Alamaze variants that prevail, today, in the modern era. To me, these ancestral descendants enjoy a birthright, of sort, to inclusion in the pages of this new magazine. It would be tantamount to heresy to exclude them. They are cut from the same cloth. They present an equivalent experience.
My own focus in whatever I do going forward with this new magazine will, I feel, invariably return to my play by mail roots.
How to word it? The magazine will seek to bridge eras. The PBM Apocalypse is over, so to speak. Many were they that survived it. We live. We exist. We never surrendered.
We are at war. We will kick ass and take names. We will take prisoners. Some will likely get lost in a genre of gaming - in a fashion of gaming - that many no longer know even ever existed.
The Internet has remade the world. We have arrived to lay claim to it.
That's sort of how I look at it.
We are a stout breed - a hardy lot. The Warcrafts and other modern ilk of the gaming world don't threaten us. Rather, we are threatened by the quiet - by peace, itself.
We were bred for conflict. We were designed for war.
That's who we are. It's what we do.
Does that answer your question?
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Not quite. I get the focus on traditional PBM. But does that exclude, say, Cluster Wars or Far Horizons, which use client software and email respectively to get turns sent back and forth? Some of these games use a web interface to the same effect. The concept is still the same -- turn-based, multiple player, hidden movement, diplomacy, game plays out over time (ie: not in one day), etc., but they are not strictly-speaking PBM.
If this is a magazine that will encompass all the "PBM-likes" out there, just with a special emphasis on traditional PBM, then that's one thing. If it is about Hyborian War and Cruent Dei and Alamaze and that handful of other old-school turn-sheet-and-print-out style of gaming, then that's another.
As per my many posts on this forum, I am highly optimistic about the future of the former, and not so much about the latter. I love it, and I still look over my turn sheets from 20 years ago with fondness. But it's not a realistic channel anymore, as far as newbies are concerned. I would love to contribute to the larger community of "PBM-likes", and would be somewhat less enthusiastic if the scope were limited to just the "PBMs". I love them, but I think an exclusive focus on them would doom any such projects to the present cloistered enclaves.
More practically, if I wrote a "PBM is dead, long live PBM" article that elaborated on (among other things) the PBM-likes, would it be in-scope for your zine?
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(09-13-2013, 06:59 PM)ixnay Wrote: Not quite. I get the focus on traditional PBM. But does that exclude, say, Cluster Wars or Far Horizons, which use client software and email respectively to get turns sent back and forth? Some of these games use a web interface to the same effect. The concept is still the same -- turn-based, multiple player, hidden movement, diplomacy, game plays out over time (ie: not in one day), etc., but they are not strictly-speaking PBM.
If this is a magazine that will encompass all the "PBM-likes" out there, just with a special emphasis on traditional PBM, then that's one thing. If it is about Hyborian War and Cruent Dei and Alamaze and that handful of other old-school turn-sheet-and-print-out style of gaming, then that's another.
As per my many posts on this forum, I am highly optimistic about the future of the former, and not so much about the latter. I love it, and I still look over my turn sheets from 20 years ago with fondness. But it's not a realistic channel anymore, as far as newbies are concerned. I would love to contribute to the larger community of "PBM-likes", and would be somewhat less enthusiastic if the scope were limited to just the "PBMs". I love them, but I think an exclusive focus on them would doom any such projects to the present cloistered enclaves.
Cluster Wars and Far Horizons are both ancestral descendants of that which came before. They are like-companions, they offer an equivalent experience.
My interest lies not in excluding contemporary games, per se, but rather, in focusing the bulk of my personal energies on the postal genre. I don't dislike technology. My interest in undertaking such a project, at all, originates with PBM gaming of the postal genre variety.
I am not opposed to others advocating for technological contemporaries.
(09-13-2013, 06:59 PM)ixnay Wrote: More practically, if I wrote a "PBM is dead, long live PBM" article that elaborated on (among other things) the PBM-likes, would it be in-scope for your zine?
Sure. I don't take a narrow view. The point isn't to exclude, for purity's sake. If it were, then there would be no way to bridge eras.
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(09-13-2013, 06:59 PM)ixnay Wrote: But it's not a realistic channel anymore, as far as newbies are concerned.
Tell that to players of Hyborian War, including the players new to the game.
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(09-13-2013, 01:47 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: What is the "essence" of what we "are about?"
Turn-based gaming, to be certain. But, is that the essence, or is there something more?
Fun? Entertainment? Camaraderie?
What about choosing sides? I mean, basically speaking, isn't the whole underlying purpose of going to the time, effort, and trouble of crafting a new magazine of this nature from scratch to invade the gaming world anew?
PBM is back. Right? Turn-based gaming takes many forms. Right?
What is the full measure of this essence of which you speak? For that matter, what is the bare core of the same?
The magazine is going to open the door of adventure to the reader. Right?
Or, is the essence simply - and only - turn-based gaming, the kind made famous by play by mail, but not limited thereto?
Flagship was the The Flagship of Postal Gaming!
So maybe your magazine should be, The SOMETHING of TBG?
And yes, you have to make the reader want to open the door and come in so you can convert him/her into a PLAYER :-)
I merely outlined the PRIMARY aim, not all the fun details of how to achieve it.
As for the bare core of TBG, what it has to offer over other forms of gaming, I think that could be an article for issue 1.
Harlequin
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"How to word it? The magazine will seek to bridge eras. The PBM Apocalypse is over, so to speak. Many were they that survived it. We live. We exist. We never surrendered.
We are at war. We will kick ass and take names. We will take prisoners. Some will likely get lost in a genre of gaming - in a fashion of gaming - that many no longer know even ever existed."
Hmm, surely "Ready To Explode" is the name you are questing for then?
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I am torn over whether "PBM" or "TBG" is the better tag for this hobby. PBM has a long history, and while it's not an accurate description for what is now largely taking place via email, it might have more solidity and street cred among the wider "gaming in general" community. And it is, after all, the name of this esteemed web site.
Turn-based gaming seems more accurate, except there are lots of games that are turn-based. Monopoly, for instance. And it says nothing about the nature of communication and contact in this genre. It has merit, but it is as flawed as PBM.
I thought of "Distance Gaming", but that doesn't quite work either. It correctly presents the form as pitting opponents/teammates together from many various locations, but there are many forms of gaming that do the same thing today -- World of Warcraft would count as a "distance game".
"Turn-based Distance Gaming" would be pretty spot-on, but is horribly technical.
In view of such a deadlock, my advice would be to either stick with "PBM" or use some non-specific name that is otherwise vaguely inspired by the genre.
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Hi Grim, Im certainly up for supporting the magazine with news and explaining what my games are about to new players, whatever the name of the tome may be.
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What about "play by post"? That covers both snail mail and internet, in terms of lingo. And the concept is central in the term -- you "play" by posting your orders, and the moderator posts results to the players. It cuts out the likes of World of Warcraft, but still holds the tent flap open for play-by-web games, client-based, games, etc. PBP gaming.
Any thoughts?
(For humor's sake it could be "play via post", just to get PvP gamers riled up.)
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'Play be post' is forum gaming. TBG can also refer to playing boardgames online, though for many games they are largely scaled up board games, so the terms is most accurate. Our games are not however normally designed for single players. I suppose we could go with multi-player turn based games - MPTBG or MTBG if you treat multi-player as a single word.
Anyway, I am happy with whatever if it works and have already submitted an article on Phoenix.
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