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Enough reading and reminiscing. I want to play some PBM games.
Please recommend your favorites! I trend toward empire-building, but am open to other experiences as well.
I am thinking I'll play one free game and one professional game and post my turns on a thread here, just for fun...
Empire building preofessional try The Glory of Kings.....
forum discussion: http://agema.darkbb.com/f2-the-glory-of-kings
Wkipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glory_of_Kings
Wiki: http://lgdr.wikia.com/wiki/The_Glory_of_Kings_Wiki (this covers all the games and has some newspapers and in game stuff as well as some rules etc to look at)
The game of Far Horizons I started recently might have a player drop in the second turn. If you don't mind taking over a turn that is two turns behind, then you can jump in right away.
Far Horizons is probably right up your ally, it is sci-fi themed "empire" builder with some roleplaying elements. The official one sentence summary is:
"Far Horizons is a strategic role-playing play-by-email (PBEM) game of galactic exploration, trade, diplomacy, and conquest."
This first game (titled "Galaxy Alpha") is your standard text-based PBEM. The orders and turns generated by players will help me develop the GUI client for future games.
Ramblurr, I just read through the FH sub-forum, and would definitely like to pick up that open/drop-out position, if it's still available. Should I work through your site to register?
[quote='ixnay' pid='393' dateline='1300890671']
Ramblurr, I just read through the FH sub-forum, and would definitely like to pick up that open/drop-out position, if it's still available. Should I work through your site to register?
[/quote]
Send me an email with the email address you want to use for the game: farhorizons at binaryelysium dot com
Turn 3 just went out this morning, so I'll send it to you right away.
For a pay game, I would suggest that you consider trying Hyborian War (for its character system), Middle-earth PBM (for its character system), Cruenti Dei (so that we can get more details about that game with its tasty map), or Agema's Scramble for Empire (so that we can see some actual details about that game).
As a general rule, though, I disfavor games where you have to pay for the rules. That's been the case for years, where my view on such matters is concerned. However, for what you pay for turn results, games other than Hyborian War and Middle-earth PBM will likely allow you more turns for your dollar.
Or, just shop around on your own, and find one. Just keep us informed, Ixnay.
Just out of interest we may be adding the rules for TGOK to our wiki page shortly....
[quote='4am' pid='369' dateline='1300837403']
you could try En Garde! nice and simple game. where you can get some good rpg done. it is many about fighting duels and social climbing. there are some good ones listed on here and also at http://www.engarde.co.uk/
[/quote]
Briny en Garde is about to start in the next 2 weeks oe even less so you could get in at the beginning with all the other new characters, its free and by email....
Edited Mar 23, 2011 18:49 UTC
[quote='Toppers' pid='402' dateline='1300906072']Briny en Garde is about to start in the next 2 weeks oe even less so you could get in at the beginning with all the other new characters, its free and by email....[/quote]
It would be more tempting, if the forums were not so hard on the eyes, just trying to read what was posted.
Toppers - I just checked out the site, and am interested in signing up. You say it's free, but it looks like it's based on a table top game? Do I have that right? Would I need to buy the game in order to participate? Or does only the GM need that? How do I register to join the upcoming game?
Grim - after reading all you've written about Hyborian War, I'd like to sign up for that. Is there a preferred site for registering? Or a preferred player-run "shard"?
I will be posting my misadventures here in all these games, to maximize my enjoyment.
[quote='ixnay' pid='404' dateline='1300909153']Grim - after reading all you've written about Hyborian War, I'd like to sign up for that. Is there a preferred site for registering? Or a preferred player-run "shard"?[/quote]
The fastest way to start a new game of Hyborian war from scratch is to join an organized game. Try this link on The Road of Kings website, to see which organized games are forming, presently.
If you want lots of action, then a kingdom in the northwest corner of the map will help you to maximize your chances for war, early on. All 36 player kingdom set-up reports are available for download for free on this page of my other site. If you want all 36 of them in one easy to download zipped file, then just click here.
I'd like to humbly propose my little game of empire building, Cruenti Dei.
The map on that page is wee bit out of date; current maps may be found here:
http://www.sardarthion.com/cruentidei/resources/map017.pdf
http://www.sardarthion.com/cruentidei/Ora/Oratoa_map_017.pdf
cheers,
thom
Edited Mar 24, 2011 15:42 UTC
[quote='4am' pid='408' dateline='1300928413']
[quote='ixnay' pid='404' dateline='1300909153']
Toppers - I just checked out the site, and am interested in signing up. You say it's free, but it looks like it's based on a table top game? Do I have that right? Would I need to buy the game in order to participate? Or does only the GM need that? How do I register to join the upcoming game?
[/quote]
you will probably need copy of En Garde! but the house rules cover most things about the game, but things like how to duel are not covered in detail. It is based on a old table top rpg but suits PBeM better. Briny is just starting up i think that you will need to join both the Briny En Garde forum and the Briny yahoo Group or ask on the forum on how to start. Yup it is free.
how it plays you have you turn is broken down into 4 weekly orders (courting, training ) + orders that don't take anytime (e.g. buying, dueling)
the GM will then follow the orders and you get a email back telling you how your turn went. say that if you went to a club in week1 and a member of rival ship was there at the same time then you may have insulted each other and have to fight a duel next turn.
The GM will also take everything that happen that turn and write it into the form of a news paper. So that all the players can see what the other players were doing.
At the hart of of it, its a pretty simple game. But all the politicking as you rise up into high society. asking favors, giving favors, climbing over people, risk your life on the battlefield, slandering your enemy's in the paper and and so on. its this that brings in the rp.
[/quote]
Cheers for that and you are right about it our house rules will be out shortly, its just a modified version of the original rules. our version is a naval version and set in England usually they are set in Paris and use french army units ours use warships....
[quote='Sardarthion' pid='422' dateline='1300981300']
thom
[/quote]
Thom - I looked at your site. $25 is a pretty high paywall to scale, just to enter the game (which then costs $25/3 turns). I am not necessarily opposed to this if it's an exceptional game with active players. In a way, the high cost will probably cut down on the dropout rate. (Dropouts have been a problem in almost every PBM game I've played. I remember one game tried to address this by holding a $10 deposit from every player, returnable upon completion. The winner would get all the defaulted deposits. But still dropouts persisted.)
Any further info I can get on your game before making such a big commitment? At this point, I'm inclined to try Hyborian Wars first, just to get back on the PBM horse, and then perhaps return to your game down the road...
[quote='4am' pid='408' dateline='1300928413']
you will probably need copy of En Garde! but the house rules cover most things about the game, but things like how to duel are not covered in detail. It is based on a old table top rpg but suits PBeM better. Briny is just starting up i think that you will need to join both the Briny En Garde forum and the Briny yahoo Group or ask on the forum on how to start. Yup it is free.
how it plays you have you turn is broken down into 4 weekly orders (courting, training ) + orders that don't take anytime (e.g. buying, dueling)
the GM will then follow the orders and you get a email back telling you how your turn went. say that if you went to a club in week1 and a member of rival ship was there at the same time then you may have insulted each other and have to fight a duel next turn.
The GM will also take everything that happen that turn and write it into the form of a news paper. So that all the players can see what the other players were doing.
At the hart of of it, its a pretty simple game. But all the politicking as you rise up into high society. asking favors, giving favors, climbing over people, risk your life on the battlefield, slandering your enemy's in the paper and and so on. its this that brings in the rp.
[/quote]
Looked at a description of the game on boardgamegeek. Looks like you play cards during duels. Is all that handled by the gamemaster? I was also able to find sites with the rules posted. Would that be sufficient? Or is it truly necessary to own the game itself? (Not opposed to that -- I can use it at my local game night to add to our options on friday nights...)
Edited Mar 25, 2011 15:23 UTC
If you have decided on trying Hyborian War, there is a new game starting up that is very newbie friendly. About twenty players of RSI's Duel2 game decided to try Hyborian War, and Sandy of RSI is filling the remaining spots with new or relatively new Hyborian War players. I suspect that if you contact RSI to be entered into a game for the first time, you'll end up in this game.
The following kingdoms are still available as of this writing:
Asgard
Corinthia
Hyperborea
Juma's Kingdom
Kambulja
Kosala
Koth
Kush
Punt
Shem
Tombalku
Vanaheim
If you are actually the type to call up RSI to get placed in a game, you can specifically request to be put in the "newbie-friendly" game that is starting up and while on the phone with them, you can select which of the remaining kingdoms you would like to play.
If you do decide to try Hyborian War, good luck and I hope you enjoy the experience!
[quote='paway' pid='487' dateline='1301157690']
If you have decided on trying Hyborian War, there is a new game starting up that is very newbie friendly. About twenty players of RSI's Duel2 game decided to try Hyborian War, and Sandy of RSI is filling the remaining spots with new or relatively new Hyborian War players. I suspect that if you contact RSI to be entered into a game for the first time, you'll end up in this game.
The following kingdoms are still available as of this writing:
Asgard
Corinthia
Hyperborea
Juma's Kingdom
Kambulja
Kosala
Koth
Kush
Punt
Shem
Tombalku
Vanaheim
If you are actually the type to call up RSI to get placed in a game, you can specifically request to be put in the "newbie-friendly" game that is starting up and while on the phone with them, you can select which of the remaining kingdoms you would like to play.
If you do decide to try Hyborian War, good luck and I hope you enjoy the experience!
[/quote]
Thanks for the tip - I will check it out this weekend!
EDIT:
Just signed up for the forum in which that Hyborian Wars newbie game is forming. I hope I'm not too late to join the game...
Edited Mar 28, 2011 12:01 UTC
[quote='ixnay' pid='492' dateline='1301165989']
Thanks for the tip - I will check it out this weekend!
EDIT:
Just signed up for the forum in which that Hyborian Wars newbie game is forming. I hope I'm not too late to join the game...
[/quote]
It looks like the "new player" Hyborian War game has just begun. I received my 1st turn's results in the mail today.
Did you end up joining the game, ixnay?
Sadly I did not join. I was running short on time, and between the FH game and my nascent efforts to draw up my own PBM game, I ended up putting the HW thing on hold, as well as Briny en Garde. Regretting that now, since FH is apparently suspended and I'm back to jonesing for some PBM action.
I might check into Cruent Dei just because something that costs that much as gotta be good. HW kind of fits in that category too.
Or I'll just re-survey the field of available games this weekend (holiday weekend!) You can be assured that any game I play will end up being glogged here for all to see... (Like that word "glog"? You heard it here first, folks...)
Ixnay, You might want to give Midgard a looksee. As Ali, the gm said, watching 'The Game of Thrones' has gotten him ready for the restart.
The game is an open-ended game of Medieval flavor. It has been shut down for well over a year for a rewrite of programming code. The last missive from the GM, last week, stated they were very close and expected to begin turn processing shortly, i.e. within a couple weeks I'm guessing. Worth looking at the website and peaking around some. Super maps, excellent gming, great history and a game that has been run by several gms on 3 continents since 1984.
Just out of interest the first turn of Briny is out:
newspaper here http://www.brinyengarde.co.uk/e107_files/newspapers/01-95%20Report.pdf
Well, I am back to looking for some PBM action. What's hot?
I have been clicking around the links under "Hivemind" to find out which games have *active* forums -- a sure sign that people are actually playing. I'm just dabbling at the moment, but I find myself intrigued by Rolling Thunder's "Supernova" game. Open-ended computer-moderated space empire thing.
I haven't done an open-ended thing in many long years, and never a computer-moderated one. It's $6/turn minimum, with 2-week turns. The rules are tantalizingly complex. Anyone have any reviews?
I'm also up for this Rimworlds beta. When will it launch? I would love to test it out with the free "one ship" option, and then step up to a subscription when appropriate.
Cruent Dei, as good as it looks, is a little pricy for me at the moment. Maybe when my wife goes back into the workforce. ;-)
If anyone wants to try a good human moderated team based well established fantasy RPG, check out Antony Dunk's Xott, which I've been playing since the late 80s.
http://xott.wikispaces.com/