PBM (3) - Update
                       by James Judge

Well, it seems that my PBM articles have been held off for a
little while and I gave up on writing a diary (too much hard
work).  Anyway, it had been just over a year now that I got
interested in PBM and quite a bit has happened since then...

First off I dropped out of Seek, Locate, Destroy. None of the
other players would talk to me and it was getting intensely boring
and repetitive - not even worth a stamp, if you ask me.

Then there was Midhir. A game that was originally run for
strategists, but was adapted to allow a few Role Playing places to
be set up. Unfortunately it isn't really an RPG game - each turn
takes about 6 months (game time) and there is no way you can plan
ahead for that amount of time. For the money and the feeling of
helplessness I just wasn't getting VFM, so I dropped out.


Then there was Zylock Wars - looked good, but the old coffers were
creaking, so I didn't play at all in the end. If you enjoyed
Civilisation, though, this just may be the thing for you!

So now I am left with Age Of Heroes and it is a mighty fine game
too. Jean never did join, but James Jillians did and we've met in
the game. It's a real laugh and I'm now in contact with seven
other players and doing pretty well for myself (unlike James, I
don't need to ride on someone's coat-tails to get anywhere in the
game <grin>). It seems that a group of us are going to kill a few
religious type people who killed a friend, nearly killed (and
raped) another two and levelled a couple of towns. Survival
predictions aren't all that good (from the 12 players and 13 NPCs
that are going only three to five are expected to return alive!)
but I just keep saying it will be a laugh - especially with a
character called Eric The Warrior along for the ride. He is a bit
of a klutz, but should be teaching old Jegayer (my character) how
to turn into a dragon (along with a few other nifty bits) in my
next turn.

James is doing OK for himself too. He is being carried along by
this NPC at the moment who is a born gambler. James is thoroughly
enjoying sitting back saying 'how high' when Melody (this NPC)
says 'jump' and he reckons he's onto a good thing.

Still, for company I'm not doing too bad - I'm now friends with
the top three PCs in the game, the two runners of this city I'm in
(Basram) and have a few people who come to me for help. Also I've
got a good female friend and have two other powerful ones sworn to
protect me. Oh, and I seem to be close to this psychopathic PC who
is ill in the mind.

Anyway, the game is good, the turns are well written and it is
damn good fun.  Sometimes getting turns back is a bit slow - a
couple of months is the longest I have had to wait for one, but
then (a) it is free and (b) I have had, a couple of times, two
turns in two weeks, so it all evens itself out in the end.

The game is pretty full at the moment, but I think Colin is going
to have a clear-out of all the players who aren't trying hard
enough (as he does now and again) to make room for the people who
have been on the waiting list for ages.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. This PBM thing is really good fun
and if you can spare the time, effort and money you're sure to
find a game to suit yourself and will probably meet quite a few
like-minded individuals (I've had some stunning 'phone
conversations over the past year to a couple of the players in AoH
and am in regular contact by letter to six people).










                              - o -