:I am planning to run a private MegaTraveller play-by-email game.
....
:James and Richard, since you have coordinated this sort of thing
:before, I would appreciate any tips, suggestions, caveats, advice you
:might have. Tentatively, following the lead of a very good friend of
:mine who runs a play-by-surface-mail fantasy rpg, I intend to (a) NOT
:run things at the tactical level (i.e., we won't get tied up going
:blow-by-blow over the mail), (b) have a multi-generational campaign, and
:(c) allow the players to be movers & shakers if it happens to work out
:that way.
I agree completely with all of the above. My primary rule has been
to let the players tell their characters to (try to) do anything
the player can thinkd of. How it works out is the GM territory, though.
My second rule has been to try to remain impartial (like the "real")
universe, rather than adversarial.
My third rule is "don't give the GM ideas." Metlay says it's his
first. :=)
Finally, I guess, don't be a slave to the game clock. See what is happening,
and try to have it make sense in some kind of time frame, rather than
sticking to the rules.
:By private, I *think* that I mean "handling things the same way the
:Richard's PBEM handled it", but I'm not sure. What I mean is that
:player turns would be sent to me, and my responses sent back to them via
:e-mail, not posted to the TML for public view. Am I correct in
:believing that that is the way Richard handled it? However, if most
:players agree, and TML readers are interested, I would post a synopsis
:of current events in the PBEM to the TML for all to read. Opinions,
:anyone?
I started out trying this "double blind" approach, in which players
would not know whose character was whose. You might be able to do it,
if you keep the number of players really small (six or less?). I found
I couldn't handle the volume because of mail delays, schedule problems,
people talking ot each other "above board" i.e. person-to-person anyway,
etc. So I let it open up to direct character-to-character mailings,
on the proviso I got a copy. (I didn't always, BTW.)
So it's a possibility, but hard to do, and it messes with your real life.
I found TMLers are ALWAYS interested in a synopsis of what's happening
in various games, so by all means post.
Finally, I found a totally different kind of satisfaction and gratification
running the PBEM than I do with table-top adventures. It's truly NEAT
to have people from all over the world get to know each other, to have
fun together, and to create together. I hope you enjoy it as much.
If you want any other help, just ask.
- --
Richard Johnson [email removed]
"We've learned a great deal about how to keep the American people
pacified." Ex-CIA director William Colby after the Church hearings