Re: want to learn

From: Brian Carpenter <btc2@cornell.edu>

Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1993 05:29:17 +0000

>Well, I'm fond of Adventurer's Guild.  I just sent in my ninth turn
today.
>It costs about $9.75

I don't care how good the game is, ~$10 is a bit steep for a beginner to
get into the industry.

I'm in two games currently, both of them inexpensive, and both of them
quite enjoyable and easy enough to learn.

DUEL - Duel of a Different Color
Fractal Dimensions
Dueling with a twist.  $5/turn gets you five students, each of whom duels
each Turn ($1/student/turn, turns every 2 weeks).  You throw magical
spells at each other in an attempt to distract, wound, incapacitate or
kill your opponent while also trying to gain control of the three of the
five mystical crystals orbiting the arena.  The laserpringed outputs are
beautiful (and getting better all the time), replacing the 'raw
statistic' reports with a narative.  I've been getting turns on the order
of 13-14 pages in length.
  Andcon 1993 "Best PBM Event of Show"

QUEST
Adventures by Mail, imported from KJC Games
This seems like a PBM version of the popular computer game 'Ultima',
having 1000 player run parties roam the world of Kharne.  As the game I'm
in is fairly new (no more than a few turns into it), I can't say too much
about it, though the customer service is pretty good and if you've played
any of the 'Ultima' series, or those like it (SSI's AD&D games, Wizardry,
Might & Magic, etc), it's easy enough to grasp.  Price?  $3/turn (turns
~10 days) for a party of 6-15.  You can even have up to 3 parties/game
(though you pay separately for each one).  Output is laserprinted, and
consists of two parts: ORDERS and PARTY INFORMATION.
  Game Master International Fantasy Awards "Best PBM Game"

Good games don't have to cost you all that much money, and both of these
are easy enough to learn and use as a platform to jump into the PBM
industry.  The quality-price ratio is quite high for these games.  Hope
to see you in the dueling chambers or QUESTing

References

Re: want to learn
dag@chem.ucla.edu (Great Cthulhu)
Thu, 09 Dec 1993 01:06:44 +0000