Re: State of the hobby? : Commercial games

From: Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>

Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 15:33:27 +0000

Dave Womer wrote:

> Back in the early 80s I played many Play by Mail games.  David Webber
> was still running "Paper Mayhem" and Bob McClain was working on a new
> mag to cover the hobby as well.

Afraid David Webber has died, and Bob McLain fell ill - no-one's taken
over 'Paper Mayhem', though Bob still provides an American News column
for 'Flagship'.

> In the late 80s many games were able
> to lower prices and speed processing time by taking turns over the
> internet or email and I thought the hobby would really take off.  Real
> life got in the way for me and I have been away from the PBM gaming
> for some time.  I was wondering how people feel about the hobby now,
> many of the companies running PBM games are gone and those remaining
> do not seem to have the large following that existed before.  Has
> anyone started a hobby mag to replace "Paper Mayhem"?

There are big firms, still - FBI are still going and (in the UK) KJC,
with Madhouse and Harlequin rising as new firms. Though Harlequin are
UK-based, they run some of the best US designs by email world-wide -
Middle-Earth, Legends, Crack of Doom.
In 'Flagship', we published the second of two articles on Legends last
issue and have a big feature on Middle Earth in the issue we're
currently preparing. And though we're UK-based, we welcome news from the
US and other countries.

> Your thoughts?

Don't be too discouraged because some of the older firms have closed -
most of the best games are still available under licence, and there's
still plenty going on. I think many of the one-man RPGs have moved from
PBM to PBeM, though they do still exist. There's enough PBM news to fill
our 48 or 52 page issues every 2 months.
    PBM and PBeM have never been ways to make a fortune, and even the
biggest firms are pretty small: there's bound to be a steady turnover of
businesses, therefore. (Hm, I'd better add that there aren't many dirty
folds and we do run a Refugee Rescue scheme through Flagship.)

Check out our website:
   www.flagship-pbm.co.uk

Carol

References

State of the hobby? : Commercial games
womerd@lvcm.com (Dave Womer)
Thu, 08 Nov 2001 08:23:38 +0000

Referenced By

State of the hobby? : Commercial games
womerd@lvcm.com (Dave Womer)
Thu, 08 Nov 2001 08:23:38 +0000