@~As you can see, this article has been in the files for a while! PBMs - A Beginner's Revelations By James Judge. Ever since I started taking Red Herring, I have been fascinated by the column by Tim Lomas - PBMer extraordinaire (or he is, by the sounds of his articles). A year passed with me reading his articles and, after getting my PC, I decided to write to him to see if he could give me any info about the world of PBM. Just in case there are any of you who have never heard of this phrase, it stands for Play By Mail. This means that there are a great many games out there that you can play via the mail (oh, an Americanism - Mail. Hmm, like it better than 'post', though, so no matter what certain non-existent dwarves say about our cousins across the water, I'm going to stick to it, dude (maybe that is going a BIT too far...)) and you never need to boot up a computer, grab the nearest set of d10 or unfold the roadmap type board from a board game. Nope, instead all you need is a pen, paper, envelopes and stamps (oh, and some money and free time) . What happens, basically, is that you start playing a game (more on the types of game later) and after your startup bumf (rules etc.) you start playing the game by sending your instructions to the GM (Games Master) who then either enters your wishes into a computer or does it himself (as if he was the DM in a game of D&D), along with all of the others players' moves. He then lets the computer churn away (or prepares to roll a lot of dice) and then gets printing out all of the turn sheets. These turn sheets are what happens once your instructions have been executed so, if you just asked to talk to the drunken mage in the corner of the bar, you may only get a one-liner saying 'Uuurgh' (but that would be with bad games. See later...). BUT, if you had asked (no, demanded) for your armies to invade the nearest three countries simultaneously you should get (hopefully) pages upon pages of battle reports etc. that would put a copy of the Independent to shame (well, maybe not). Along with battle/character reports you may get messages from other players, maps, pictures, newsletters and additional pages of info that just add to the weight of the envelope that you should receive. So, you know what the idea is, but is it any good? Well, I hope to explore this region of adventuring with this article/series of articles (I don't know how long it will be, probably an issue or two after this one). It'll be written in the style of a diary (no, not 'Dear diary, I'm having this problem...') so that I can actually remember what has happened when it happens instead of having to rely on my memory. Before I start the diary, let's just have a look at the different types of game available: At this current date, Tim's letter is sitting somewhere in Jean Childs' house so, forgive me if I sound a bit vague. Firstly you have got your wargame. A game of war. A game where you take control of an army where you must, in the end, take control of the world in which you are playing the game. There may be a lot more to it, with economic and diplomatic decisions coming into the game quite often: 'Ah, minion, I want another three hundred tanks in sector A5' 'Er, master, there is a slight problem. You know, what with the increased taxes the people have gone on strike, the plague has struck and we are running out of metal' 'Oh. So what about ten tanks, minion of mine?' 'Er, another slight problem. Our supply routes have been cut off because you didn't reply to the letter from General Oiks.' 'Um, one tank?' 'Er, master, let me put it kindly - if you want a tank you are going to have to go into the battle field, scrape together some odd bits and bobs and build one yourself! Get the idea, oh master?' 'OK then. How about aeroplanes?' [An excerpt from the diary of General Optimism] The next type of game is the old RPG. You take on the role of someone else, leading them through a series of tasks to an ultimate goal. You could situate an RPG anywhere and just because I prefer killing dragons and solving riddles it doesn't mean that someone hasn't set an RPG in a supermarket with you playing a distraught mother who has got to fill a shopping list with a hoard of youngsters at her feet/climbing in the trolley. The fun of RPGs is to escape from the world in which we live and enter somewhere completely different - just as if you were reading a book, but this time YOU have the ultimate say in what happens! Then we have got Sci-Fi stuff, which can be a mixture of RPGs and Wargames (just with photon guns and laser torpedoes). Also there are Space Operas which are open ended Sci-Fi games much in the vein of Frontier. Not in the respect that you are just a lowly trader, it is just that you have got such a large choice of things to do and an indefinite time limit. There are also Sports games which, from what I can remember and gather, are more on the managerial side of things instead of commands being shunted to and from the GM saying 'Dribble left. Tackle number 8. Goalie: jump five foot to the left'. There are other game such as a Railroad Tycoon one, something about gangsters, the stockmarket and I'm sure that if you searched long enough, you'd find something to do with even the most bizarre interests. That's about it for the types of games. If you want more info write to companies. And where are these PBM companies situated? Well, get yourself the latest issue of Flagship by writing to: FLAGSHIP PO Box 1733 Handsworth Birmingham B20 2PP and enclose a cheque/PO for œ3.00. In the back you'll find a list of all of the UK companies running PBM games at the moment (according to Flagship there are 283 of them). It also lists games from all over Europe - Most of the large countries are covered. There is also a US edition of this magazine, so those of you across the waves aren't left out. So, let's start with today's entry: -- 'Captain's log, stardate 11th March 1994, 22:24:58' About two weeks ago I wrote to Tim Lomas and I got his reply a few days later, outlining the different types of game available in this strange world of PBM. I wrote to him again, saying thanks and saying what I would like. He also said that he may be able to get me an issue of a magazine and would it be alright if he passed my name onto the mag. Well, being a stingy goit, I said yes in my best Scrooge impression (in a world where everything costs something, you need something free now and again (OK, that makes no sense)) and a few days later I received the magazine. Looking through its pages I came across a few games that tickled my fancy. The most were RPGs, but there were a couple of others (one was a war game and the other where you took charge of a clan of bods and took them to world domination ) that made me take notice. The first thing I had to bear in mind was cost. Some games charge you a yearly subscription for playing their game - either with limited or unlimited use. The second (and the most common) is that you have to pay for every turn that you play the game. Costs of this can range from 20p (the cheapest I've found) to œ14 (the most expensive I've come across!). Each turn can take between a week or a month and if you are playing a long running game (that could run into a few years in length) you are looking at a big cost. Take an average cost of œ2.00 per turn with a turn occurring every two weeks. You've been playing the game for a year and it looks as if it will be playing for another two years until a winner is found. That makes a game cost œ156 in total - that's a lot of money for just one game. But, what you have got to remember is the level of detail you find in these games is (from what I can understand) quite astonishing, with one game that is new on the market boasting a map that is four square yards and three pounds of reading material! And they are just the rules. Anyway, I wrote to three places - Age Of Heroes, Clansmen and Midhir. This evening (8pm) the 'phone rang and it was the GM (Colin) of the Age Of Heroes. The reason why I was interested in this game was because it was free (apart from a œ10 contribution). Within five minutes Colin had persuaded me to join the game and I outlined a character that I wanted to play. After grabbing a green pen Colin jotted down all of my notes on the reverse side of my letter (cursing the fifty pence I had stuck to the letter) and then he explained the rough outline of the game. What I did was to write all of this in note form on the comp. and here are my notes for your viewing: Game System: Age Of Heroes Game Type: Role Playing Game GMs: Colin Player Name: Jegayer Rengut Player Info: Human, 23 years old, 5'6", 10 stone with fair skin, blue eyes, shoulder length dark black hair. Thin face that is clean-shaven. Information before play: From what Colin said Jeg will enter a town that is owned by adventurers. In the city (or near it) there is a war currently going on. He will arrive via the sea, feeling ill. He will visit a tavern and see a singer (female, black skin, silver hair, blue eyes and fall for her (I think she is in love or married to another man, though). He will be carrying a knife and have spell bonuses - that is all I learnt in that respect. For the first twenty moves Colin said that he'd look after me - so I didn't die too soon. He also hinted that the more powerful players may help me and there was a certain shop in the town that supplied good kit. The militia also gives kit - dunno whether I'd be able to join though, maybe a wizards' guild. Also some of the females aren't female - they are homanids (come on heat every twenty eight days) which is fun for both parties! Also the world is a female dominated society - most of the good jobs are the females' but males do get a look in. The game is based so many millions of years into the future so religion (as we know it) has gone to hell. Instead there are twenty four cults with which you can align. Death is not an obstacle - you can get resurrected! AIMS: To find out about this singer, get a job and make friends. Keep head down while war is warring. I should get my first turn by about Thursday and then it is all go from there - wow! I have started PBMing. Right, I'm going to round off for today as I'm tired, very tired. Tomorrow is another day and I may get something from the other PBM games I wrote to, you never know... -- TUESDAY, 12th March, 1994 19:30:27 (doing this early so I can watch Eastenders - my, it's thrilling) Today did bring the postie and three letters - one from Floppyshop (catalogue update), a package from Simon Avery and a reply to one of my letters. This time it was from Clansmen and it doesn't look very good at all. Well, it may be good, but it is costly with the price of a turn going up to œ2.50 after 30 turns and each turn takes a week - oh, that means that once I hit the 30 turn mark, I will be paying out about œ10 a month for one game - not in my price bracket. So, I've filed the letter away under experience and I've lost the address . Nothing much happened today. Oh yes, last night Colin did recommend another PBM game to me - Lands Of Nevron which I have written to. At only 20p a turn, it may be a good bargain. Then again, it may be a rip off. One last thing that Colin said, every month there is a newsletter produced that costs 4 1st class stamps but as I had sent fifty pence (which he was still cursing) he'd send me the latest copy - sounds good. Right, I'm going to have a quick go at Doom, and then watch TV. -- Friday, 15th March 1994 Today I received another letter from Tim Lomas. He recommended a couple of games to me, but at the moment I don't want to pay out œ2.50 a turn on one game just yet - maybe when I am acquainted with PBM games more. One game that has been making me think is Zylock Wars, a strategy game with a cost of œ1.60 per turn and a setup cost of œ5.00 (rulebook and two turns). It received a very good review in Flagship saying that although it wasn't groundbreaking, it is fast moving, fun and easy to get to grips with. Actually, it sounded a lot like Civilisation. So, I have just reeled a letter off to Steve Gray (the GM of ZW) asking for info as to when I could join in a game. That is all that has happened today. If nothing happens tomorrow, you'll just be seeing the useful addresses after this. If something does happen (which it should, as I still haven't received my turn from AOH yet) I'll let you know before I send this off to Sue on Monday. -- Saturday 16th March 1994, 18:43:58 Nothing from Age Of Heroes - snivel, but I did get something from Timewyrm - the company that runs Midhir! At the moment, there are no available Baronial positions, but there are plenty of role playing positions at the moment. With a vacancy coming up, though, I'm going to see whether I could play a role playing position for a while, and then take on a Baronial position as well. With turnaround being once a month, spending œ1 on each position won't matter. They also sent me info on their other three games - En Garde!, Diplomacy and Parliament. The only one out of those three that really grabs my attention is En Garde!, but it isn't set in a mythological world - Paris, instead (although with EuroDisney...). -- USEFUL ADDRESSES: FLAGSHIP PO Box 1733 Handsworth Birmingham B20 2PP Age Of Heroes 21 Sandylands Prom Morecambe Lancs LA3 1DN Lands Of Nevron Ian Affleck 15 Maple Grove Westfield Woking Surrey SU22 9PJ Timewyrm `Seaforth' Gaza Portmahomak Ross-shire IV20 1YR Mark Palin 44 New Park Close Castlefields Shrewsbury SY1 2SQ - o -