How do I start a PBM? From: dpanchyk@hotmail.com (Dave Panchyk) Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 20:00:44 +0000 I'll give everyone a moment for the heaving of sighs, rolling of eyes, giving sad and knowing tsks, etc. Ready? Right then, here's the question more completely stated: what are the first steps I should take toward running a hand-moderated, open-ended, commercial fantasy narrative RPG PBM that will ascertain whether I have good ideas, the ability to hold an audience, and won't get utterly overwhelmed by the work involved? Stage 1, I figured, would be to have the basic design down, then run it for a small circle of friends for a period of time, say 10 turns. Then refine the system, automating whatever can be automated, and open it up for a larger, closed-ended playtest. Looking even at what I wrote for Stage 1, I see a lot of assumptions--the "basic design" is likely to trip me up, given that (as some in this group have stated) design can't carry over from tabletop RPGs, and there are undoubtedly expectations that have to be established for the players (even in a "you can do anything" kind of world). Thanks very much for any and all advice on the matter. Dave Panchyk Referenced By Up