Re: New to PBMs...

From: "Kerry Harrison (Madhouse USA)" <kerry@madhouseusa.com>

Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Grondar wrote in message <37A5DD5B.1E91B548@nni.com>...

>Hi there. Lately I have been searching the net for a good PBM and I
>found one that looks good at http://www.reality.com. It is called War of
>the Avatars. It is set in the Forgotten Realms world. Has anyone tried
>this? If you did can you please respond with a review. Also, I have
>heard of a PBM called WWIV (I think that is it). It is a war PBM. Does
>anyone have any information about this, a web page maybe?

Actually it's just usually called Forgotten Realms.  It's a fantasy wargame
and as such it's an okay game.  WWIV is World World IV - I don't think any
of the US GMs have a website for it but I believe the UK GMs: Pagoda Games
(http://www.pagoda-games.demon.co.uk/) has some info on it on their website.

>Also, does anyone currently play in a PBM that they really like and
>would recommend it to others? I am looking for a fantasy PBM, no sci-fi
>stuff, but wars would be ok. I am new to this whole PBM thing, but would
>like to get involved in a good one.

Sure, check out our game DungeonWorld at http://www.dungeonworld.com/ - it's
the best new PBM game of 1998 (I'm not making that up, it won the Origins
Award in that category <g>).  It's a character-based fantasy adventure game
very similiar to DnD.

>I have also been told there is a magazine called Paper Mayhem that is
>all about PBMs. Has anyone read this? Is it good? Also, do they have a
>web page or at least and address that you can send to for an issue? I
>don't see it in stores around where I live and was wondering if anyone
>could help me out with some info about it.

Yes and yes, unfortunately it's no longer being published.  They didn't have
a web presence.  For the US the only choice for a general interest PBM
publication is the PBM Report (http://www.pbmreport.com/pbmreport/) which we
just recently took over publication of.

>p.s. What is a acceptable price to spend a month on a PBM? I don't know
>too much about PBM pricing either, so if anyone can respond to that
>question as well, that would be great.

That's a really a matter of personal choice.  I know people that spend as
little as $3 a month to as much as $1000 a month, so like any hobby the
spending levels can and do very greatly between individuals.  If your asking
about average turn fees for a game those tend to run around $5 and games
tend to have around 2 turns a month so the average monthly sending on a
single game with a 2 week turn cycle and a turn fee of $5 would be $10.

Kerry Harrison
Madhouse USA (http://www.madhouseusa.com/)

References

New to PBMs...
Grondar <grondar@nni.com>
Mon, 02 Aug 1999 00:00:00 +0000