Gaming by E-mail

[omorka]

I probably ought to post this to the gaming filter, but it's really almost more internet or writing-related than it is gaming, in some ways.

A number of people on my friendslist are in various PBEM games. I find the idea intriguing, but I've never been in one. Partly that's a matter of not having sought one out aggressively enough, but it's mostly because the vast majority of the PBEMs I know of are Amber games, or sometimes a hybrid of Amber and something else.

And I'm a bad gamer/fantasy fan, because I've never read the Amber books, and the one sample I read once in the long ago and far away leads me to believe I have much more pressing things to read first. :-/

I guess I just feel a little bit left out, even though it's totally under my control. Meh. It's not as if I'd have a chance to do regular turns during the heavier parts of the school year anyway. (Sour grapes and all that.)

Comments

[kansas-dave.livejournal.com]

I was in a PBEM campaign once... years ago. Father Tom ran it back in the heyday of Metropolis.

[princejvstin.livejournal.com]

Have you considered lurking in a PBEM game? A few of the games in my circle (including mine) accept lurkers since they are open list, rather than private list games. Then, at your pace, you can read PBEM posts and get a feel for how they work.

[briareos.livejournal.com]

The entire two main Amber series are such a quick read, there's not much excuse for not having read them at least once, IMHO. At the very least, the Corwin series is classic stuff. I thought they were really good, myself, and Amber role-playing is quite unique.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I've played in several In Nomine PBEMs, and run a couple. The trouble is (a) progress is very slow, and (b) the games tend to grind to a halt if someone stops answering emails in the middle of a fight, chase, etc.