PbEM RPG

[YankeyMCC]

I'm curious, anyone here know what I'm referring to in the subject line? I've participated in PbEM's off and on for over a decade, right now I'm not involved in one but I'd like to be again.

Of course to anyone who doesn't know what PbEM means this is all gooblygook. :)

PbEM RPG stands for Play by E-Mail Role Playing Game.

The ones I participate in are not online D&D games they are collaborative writing projects. A group of 6 to 10 (sometimes more) people pick a setting (the majority of the pbems I've participated in have been based on the Star Trek universe) and create original characters and then start writing a story each person sends in a piece via email to a list server (or sometimes bulletin board type forums are used).

Unfortunately it's difficult, particularly lately (maybe it's me...maybe I've outgrown most of the existing groups...although the idea that I've matured seems alien ;) ) to find a good and stable group.

It occurred to me there might be people here familiar with the activity and/or interested.

Of course this would probably mean I would have to commit to run it (unless there's someone else here who's familiar enough and willing to take that up) and I don't know that I will have the time. But that means we could just take our time figuring it out and discussing things until enough of us are ready.

BTW: It certainly doesn't have to be Star Trek based. I've always hoped to create or participate in one based on Asimov's Foundation universe. Or it could be some completely original creation (borrowing an existing universe is easier though in terms of giving us all a common understanding of the setting).

[Ready4Change]

1. I've seen that done in forums.

Haven't seen it in email form, but makes sense for it to be done that way, too. (Would keep unwanted/uninvited people from jumping in, too.)

Not really a game though. More sort of a group fantasy thing. Unless you incorporate rules and such. (Like, Captain Morgan has Strength of 75%, so he has a 20% chance of forcing open those closed airlock doors.)

Nothing wrong with a group fantasy thing. Basically what goes on in an RPG, only without the rules. But I can also see it being VERY group dependant, for if one person doesn't adhere to everyone elses idea of how the "world" works, their contributions won't make sense.

Game rules help control that sort of thing. Gets everyone more onto the same page.

[YankeyMCC]

2. Game isn't a good term for it

you're right. But that is one reason for using something like Star Trek as the setting so you don't need those sorts of roll the dice sorts of rules.

Despite the intense debates out there on how a warp engine works :) pretty much everyone knows what everything is in the Trek universe (which is by far the most popular probably because it is so well known) and how things work in terms of story writing.

Here's an example: http://atrek.org/endeavour/

[Orsino]

3. I've played in three.

One by the Fuzzy Heroes people, playtesting the world that became this module. There were face-to-face players running heroes, and those of us in the e-mail game concurrently ran deities competing for worshippers. We got custom turns written for each of us, which made the difference. I won, too, by not getting involved in the internecine rivalries among the other gods. Never did get my prize, which was to be a copy of that module.

My wife ran one, too, set in Greyhawk's Furyondy. She also wrote custom turns, but had too many players, including a couple of munchkins that she had to quarantine (meaning not letting their crazy-assed actions affect/ruin the game world for the rest of us). It was an excellent writing exercise while it lasted.

My third and final PBEM was very brief, a modern-day Call of Cthulhu adventure. The game ran in digest form, so that every player got a boatload of e-mails every day, and we were never sure what was actually happening and what was just stated intent. One player got booted within a turn or two in some acrimonious dispute withthe GM. I quit soon after, when I realized the sheer volume of crap I would have to wade through. Pity.

I won't consider another PbEM unless the GM promises custom turns.

[Ready4Change]

4. What is a custom turn?

Curious.

[Orsino]

5. Rather than one big everybody-sees-all turn...

...published to the group, a custom turn is individualized for each player, and reveals only what one character should know/perceive.

It's a lot of work, but it certainly enhances the immersion.

[Ready4Change]

6. So, who does the writing?

Do the players write their parts, and then the "editors" meld those together into a single narrative? Or do the players just detail what actions their characters take, and then the "editors" write a story using those actions? Or something else?

[Orsino]

7. The game master functions as editor...

...stitching together player narratives, deciding what really happened and how much of it each player should know.

All RPGs are collaborative storytelling, but PbEMs handled properly resemble stories more than any other form of gaming would.

[Nevernose]

8. Actual collaborative writing project:

This was in my email the other day:


--------------------------------------------
Remember the book - "Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus?" Well...here is a true-life example from the
University of Phoenix. An English Professor assigned
his students to a joint writing exercise that quickly
degraded. Check it out...

"Today we will experiment with a new form called the
tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will
pair off with the person sitting to his or her
immediate right.

As homework tonight, one of you will write the first
paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your
partner that paragraph and send another copy to me.
The partner will read the first paragraph and then add
another paragraph to the story and send it back also
sending another copy to me. The first person will then
add a third paragraph, and so on, back and forth.

Remember to re-read what has been written each time in
order to keep the story coherent. There is to be
absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and
anything you wish to say must be written in the
e-mail.
The story is over when both agree a conclusion has
been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of my
English students:
Rebecca (last name deleted), and Gary (last name
deleted).

THE STORY:
(First paragraph by Rebecca)
-----------------------------------------------
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she
wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite
for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much
of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he
liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all
costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was
suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her
asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out
of the question.

(Second paragraph by Gary)
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the
attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more
important things to think about than the neuroses of
an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom
he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S.
Harris to Geostation 17", he said into his
transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established.
No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could
sign off, a bluish particle beam flashed out of
nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo
bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out
of his seat and across the cockpit.
(Rebecca) -----------------------------------------
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but
not before he felt one last pang of regret for
psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had
feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its
pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of
Skylon 4.
"Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and
Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one
morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored
her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth,
when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree,
with no newspapers to read, no television to distract
her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the
beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's
innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.
(Gary) --------------------------------------------
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds
to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the
Anu'udrian mother ship launched the first of its
lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks
that pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament
Treaty through the Congress had left Earth a
defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who
were determined to destroy the human race. Within two
hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian
ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough
firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one
to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical
plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the
atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret
mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off
the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive
explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85
million other Americans. The President slammed his
fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this!
I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of
the sky!"
(Rebecca) --------------------------------------
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of
literature. My writing partner is a violent,
chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
(Gary) -----------------------------------------
Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic
whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent
of Valium. "Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I
have some other sort of F***ING TEA??? Oh no, I'm such
an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele
novels."
(Rebecca) ---------------------------------------
A**hole.
(Gary) ------------------------------------------
B****.
(Rebecca) ---------------------------------------
Get screwed.
(Gary)-------------------------------------------
Eat sh**.
(Rebecca) ---------------------------------------
SCREW YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!
(Gary) ------------------------------------------
GO DRINK SOME TEA - *****.

(TEACHER) A+--I really liked this one. Only pair to
get an A.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

9. I've been in one for the last ten years

Talk about your long-running campaigns. :)

It's been a combination of play by e-mail, play by Usenet, play by IRC, play by WWW and so on. I started out as a lowly footsoldier back in the summer of '95, and now I'm the official GM/Editor of the entire franchise. And they said I'd never amount to anything.

Anyway, our group works from an original universe born out of old Internet in-jokes and the creator's love of old GI Joe cartoons. It expanded into a pretty comprehensive universe from there.

If anybody's interested, they can check out the fruits of our labors here. This includes the fictionalized results of our current campaign... which may be of some interest to the average DUer. :evilgrin: