Re: rec.games.pbm Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

From: rcgill@banet.net

Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Greg Lindahl wrote:
>
> Archive-name: games/play-by-mail
> Last-modified: 1998/08/22
> Play by Mail Games Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
>
>
> Play by Mail Games Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
>
> Welcome to rec.games.pbm! This is a newsgroup for discussing play by
> mail games, both ordinary mail and electronic mail, and both wargames
> and non-wargames.
>
> There is a PBM WWW homepage at: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm.html
>
> 1) What is Play By Mail?
> 2) What games get talked about here?
> 3) What other games are there?
> 4) Are there any FTP sites for PBM games?
> 5) Are there any mailing lists for PBM games?
> 6) Are there any free e-magazines for PBM games?
> 7) What if I can't FTP?
> 8) I read German or Russian or Italian. Do I win a prize?
> 9) Is commercial advertising allowed here?
> 10) How do I ftp that list of all PBM games? Be precise.
> 11) How can I generate trustable dice rolls?
> 12) How do I find oponents for board games?
> 13) Why do so few postings in this group identify
> what game they're for?
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1) What is play by mail?
>
> PBM stands for "play by mail". Since this IS the Internet, we use it
> to mean both ordinary postal mail and electronic mail. Games like
> Diplomacy have been played via postal mail since the 1960's, starting
> with John Boardman's 'zine. The US commercial PBM market was started
> by Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo in the early 1970's. Now there are
> commercial PBM companies all over the world. In addition, there is
> some activity in role-playing games via mail.
>
> Why play PBM games? Well, even though the commercial games are
> expensive, they offer some things that some people have a hard time
> finding face to face -- good opponents, convenient playing times, and
> games with lots of hidden information. Non-commercial games can offer
> the same benefit, as long as the people running it are dedicated.
>
> How do PBM games work? Generally you mail in orders to a moderator,
> human or computer, once a week, and they mail the results back to you.
> A PBM game can be as simple as a human running an ordinary Dungeons &
> Dragons game, or a 45,000 line program moderating a fantasy
> strategic/role-playing game with 50 pages of rules.
>
> PBEM games -- those conducted via email -- are generally played by
> mailing human-readable files back and forth. A few games require
> special software on your home computer; if so, it will be mentioned in
> the game desription, if there is one.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2) What games get talked about here?
>
> Many postings on this group will have a game name mentioned in the
> subject line. If you post, please mention the game in the subject so
> that others who are interested in the same game will actually read
> your postings. Some frequently mentioned games are:
>
> Adventurer's Guild (AG): a commercial fantasy arena combat game.
>                          It has its own FAQ posting.
>
> Atlantis: a free or commercial strategic fantasy PBeM.
>
> Duelmasters (DM): a commercial fantasy arena combat game.
>
> Galaxy: a free PBeM written by Russell Wallace, with a space setting.
>
> Legends: a commercial D&D-type simulation in which 200 players
>          wander around a large map trying to become more powerful.
>
> Middle Earth (ME-PBM): a commercial strategic simulation of J. R. R.
>                        Tolkien's fantasy universe.
>
> Olympia: an open-ended commercial fantasy PBEM game. There's also a
>          beta-test of a new Olympia version going on.
>
> Quest: an open-ended commercial fantasy PBM game.
>
> Detailed information about all these games is in the PBM List, which
> is discussed in question (3).
>
> In addition, other PBM games are discussed in separate newsgroups:
>
> Core Wars and C++ Robots:  a game of battling programs. An email server is available
>             for an ongoing tournament. Discussion about Core Wars
>             generally takes place in rec.games.corewar.
>
> Diplomacy: a boardgame often played by email. Discussion for this
>            game generally takes place in the group rec.games.diplomacy.
>
> Board games: games such as Empires in Arms, Third Reich, and Axis and
>              Allies are discussed on rec.games.board, and are
>              sometimes played by mail.
>
> Chess: discussed in rec.games.chess.play-by-mail
>
> Fantasy Baseball and Football: discussed in rec.games.sport.baseball.fantasy
>                                and rec.games.sport.football.fantasy
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 3) What other games are there?
>
> The PBM List is a list of all PBM Games on the planet, pretty much. It
> has details about all the free games that I know of, plus a paragraph
> each on a bunch of commercial games, plus a list of all PBM Games on
> the planet courtesy of Flagship Magazine.
>
> In addition to being on the web in searchable for, the PBM List is
> available for anonymous ftp on ftp.pbm.com:/pub/pbm/PBM.list.gz. If
> you need detailed instructions on ftp, see question (11). The PBM List
> is also posted to rec.games.pbm once a month.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 4) Are there any FTP sites for PBM games?
>
> Two ftp sites are available with identical PBM information:
>
> ftp.pbm.com:/pub/pbm
>
> ftp.funet.fi:/pub/doc/games/play-by-mail
>
> The files on these sites are compressed using the "gzip" compression
> program.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 5) Are there any mailing lists for pbm games?
>
> There are several:
>
> PBM-FORUM is general PBM discussion focusing on player interests.
> Send email 'subscribe pbm-forum your_full_name' to listserv@starjammer.com
>
> PBM-AGORA is general PBM discussion focusing on moderator interests such as
> game design and marketing.
> Send email 'subscribe pbm-agora your_full_name' to listserv@starjammer.com
>
> These concentrate on particular games:
>
> Adventurer's Guild -- write majordomo@teleport.com saying
>            `subscribe guild-l' in the body of your letter.
> BSE (Beyond the Stellar Empire, RTG version) -- write majordomo@pbm.com saying
>            `subscribe bse-list' in the body of your letter.
> BSE (Beyond the Stellar Empire, KJC version) -- write
>            majordomo@pvv.ntnu.no saying
>            `subscribe uk-bse' in the body of your letter.
> DM (Duelmasters) -- write listserv@ambience.com.au saying `help'
> EiA (Empires in Arms) -- write majordomo@indiana.edu saying `help'
> Legends -- write majordomo@listbox.com saying
>            `subscribe legends' in the body of your message
> LOTE (Lords of the Earth) -- write majordomo@list.play-by-mail.com saying
>            `subscribe LOTE-L' in the body of your message.
> ME-PBM (Middle Earth) --  (actually a newsletter) --
>             write kazandar@ix.netcom.com or mason@chara.gsu.edu
> MI (Monster Island) -- (another newsletter) write abb21@dial.pipex.com
> Midgard -- write majordomo@midgardusa.com saying
>            'subscribe midgard' in the body of your message.
> Quest -- write Joshua_Gallagher@scada.ccmail.compuserve.com
> SDW (Stars of the Dark Well) -- write majordomo@kern.com saying
>            'subscribe sdw' in the body of your message.
> Third Reich -- write goldfarb@texas.net (Chris Goldfarb), he has a
>                list of people interested in PBM play.
> Victory! -- write majordomo@list.play-by-mail.com saying
>             subscribe Victory-L (that's an upper-case ell at the end...)
> World War IV -- write listserv@play-by-mail.com saying
>             subscribe ww4-list firstname lastname in the body of your message.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 6) Are there any free e-magazines for PBM games?
>
> Yes, the PBEM Fanzine is available by email or other means, and has
> articles about all sorts of free PBEM games. If you only have email
> you can subscribe to a mailing list which distributes this
> fanzine by writing majordomo@pbm.com saying "subscribe pbem-fanzine".
>
> There has been at least one false start on an e-magazine covering all
> sorts of PBM games. The biggest problem is probably a dearth of
> articles. I certainly can never get enough for the PBEM Fanzine!
>
> There is a newsletter focusing on human-moderated role-playing PBeM
> games. Back issues are at the ftp sites. Email riba@magic.mb.ca
> with the subject "I subscribe" to receive new issues.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 7) What if I can't FTP?
>
> FTP is an acronym for "file transfer protocol", and it is only
> directly available to the privileged few who are directly hooked to
> the Internet using heavy-duty hardware. There is a way to use ftp via
> email, and if you can get email to me, I will send you a document
> explaining how to use it, or you can get this information by yourself
> by sending email to any of the following addresses with the word
> "help" in the body of the message, and they'll send back instructions:
>
> bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu            (USA/New Jersey)
> ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu              (USA/North Carolina)
> ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com               (USA/West Coast)
> bitftp@vm.gmd.de                     (Europe/Germany)
> ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au                (Pacific Rim/Australia)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 8) I read German or Russian or Ialtian. Do I win a prize?
>
> Yes! There is a newsgroup de.alt.games.pbem with some interesting
> things going on, but it's all in German. Some German-language games
> are included in the PBM List mentioned in section (3) above.
>
> Likewise, there is a newsgroup relcom.games.pbem, which is mostly
> in Russian. They play a lot of "Galaxy" in Russia.
>
> Likewise, there is a newsgroup it.comp.giochi.pbem, which is mostly
> in Italian.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 9) Is commercial advertising allowed here?
>
> Usenet is traditionally a non-commercial place, because many people
> who read the Net are actually paying to receive articles. Posting an
> advertisement is somewhat like sending them junk fax. However, there
> are three exceptions to this rule:
>
> A) There is an entire hierarchy of commercial groups, called "biz.*".
> These groups allow advertising. But this group isn't in that
> hierarchy, and biz.* isn't well propagated because no one wants it.
>
> B) Traditionally, a single, short, tasteful, fact-filled (not
> hype-filled) advertisement for a product will be favorably
> received.
>
> C) Most groups, like this one, have some informational postings which
> will list, in one place and in a consistent format, commercial
> information. In this case, the list is the "PBM List", mentioned in
> section 4 above, which is posted twice a month and is available via
> WWW and ftp.
>
> So if you are a commercial company and wish to make information about
> your game available on Usenet, (C) is your best bet. Send email to
> lindahl@pbm.com and I'll tell you what information I need to put you
> on the list.
>
> [ For more information about this Usenet tradition, please
> see http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/usenet/advertising/how-to/part1.html. ]
>
> Other than posting basic information about your game, supporting your
> game on the group is encouraged -- if folks have questions, post and
> answer them. It's only repetitive hype-filled postings, or perhaps
> repetitive answers of the same question, that will tick off
> Usenetters.
>
> If you did post an advertisement, it might pay to use the [AD] keyword
> for it, but you might not want to use that for a single, fact-filled
> advertisement ((B) above) because people might ignore it, thinking
> it's a repeated ad. I haven't seen much use of this keyword yet, so
> I don't have much practical advice to give regarding it.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 10) How do I ftp that list of all PBM games? Be precise.
>
> % ftp ftp.pbm.com
> Connected to ftp.pbm.com.
> 220 ftp.pbm.com FTP server (Version 6.16 Thu Nov 5 10:24:57 PST 1992) ready.
> Name (ftp.pbm.com:lindahl): anonymous
> 331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password.
> Password:                                     (here I typed "guest")
> 230-Welcome, archive user! [...]
> 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
> ftp> cd pub/pbm
> 250 CWD command successful.
> ftp> ls
> 200 PORT command successful.
> 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
> PBM.list.gz
> ..
> 226 Transfer complete.
> 91 bytes received in 0.0098 seconds (9 Kbytes/s)
> ftp> binary
> 200 Type set to I.
> ftp> get PBM.list.gz
> 200 PORT command successful.
> 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for PBM.list.gz (14925 bytes).
> 226 Transfer complete.
> local: PBM.list.gz remote: PBM.list.gz
> 14925 bytes received in 2.6 seconds (5.6 Kbytes/s)
> ftp> quit
> 221 Goodbye.
> hydra ~ % gzcat PBM.list.gz | more
>
> Note that the file PBM.list.gz is in compressed format. If you don't
> know how to read that format, just get PBM.list instead, and the ftp
> server will uncompress the file for you.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 11) How can I generate trustable dice rolls?
>
> Many boardgames and other self-moderated PBEM games need lots of dice
> rolled. One good way to do this is to use an email server: you tell it
> the address of your opponent, and it rolls dice and sends a mail
> message to both of you. This way, both sides can trust the answer.
>
> One such email server is:
>
> dice@pbm.com
>
> Send mail with "help" in the body of the message, and it will send
> instructions.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 12) How do I find oponents for board games?
>
> Eric Pass maintains a directory of gamers who want to play various
> board games by mail. You can contact him at epass@nyx.net or you can
> check out his WWW pages at:
>
> http://www.nyx.net/~epass/pbemlist.html
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 13) Why do so few postings in this group
> identify what game they're for?
>
> They actually do label their topics -- but your newsreader may be the
> guilty party. You see, several frequent postings on this newsgroup are
> digests of mailing lists, and some newsreaders split digests into
> individual messages, many of which won't have the appropriate words in
> the subject line.
>
> If your newsreader is "nn", you can tell it to stop doing this by
> editing your ~/.nn/init file and adding the line "set split off".  If
> you DO want a digest split, you can split it by typing "G" when you're
> looking at it.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you think of other useful topics for this FAQ, please send me mail
> at lindahl@pbm.com. If you're tired of seeing this posting, add the
> subject line to your kill file.
>
> Greg
> Lindahl
> (lindahl@pbm.com)

References

rec.games.pbm Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Sun, 30 Aug 1998 00:00:00 +0000