Re: (TFT) [A] Further up the creek...

[jh@metheny.brainiac.com (Joe Hartley)]

Chris Nicole <chris@loran.karoo.co.uk> wrote:
> I am curious about the PBEM games various folk are running. How do you
> handle the combat turns? Isn't it rather slow if you are waiting for
> replies from several players for each round?

It can be.  The time per round can increase according to the number of
players.  My games have all been one-on-one so far, and depending on how
much time people spend at their computer, things can move pretty fast, or
amazingly slow.

I happen to live most of my life chained to the machines in my study/office,
so I've knocked off a combat round in a single night with someone who was
also at their machine all evening.  (This would have gone even faster had
I known about NetMeeting at the time!)  I've also played games where a
combat round took well over a week, because there was a single move exchanged
per day.  It was OK, but a PBeM does require a certain commitment on the
part of the players.  In my GrailQuest game, the GM has taken a lot of trouble
to give the game a lot of atmosphere.  There's a lot of narrative that's
gone into the game on top of the basic "Sir Robert swings, hits, does 9
points damage - 2 for armor, that kills the Hobgoblin" mechanics.  The GM
has emphasized character development, and I dove right into that, so there
are paragraphs on Sir Robert of Fripperton's moral dilemma in killing,
even as he skewers a band of robbers.

There's actually a good read in there, and it's my intention to eventually
post the narrative and the game as a walk-trhrough for those who are
interested.  The game's on hiatus, though, and I don't know that anyone
would really be interested in half a story.

The point here is that we put so much into this that it wasn't the combat
that took the time; we'd have combats resolved in a reasonable time (usually
a week or less), but the other moves were what took the time, but it's been
an amazingly satisfying experience.


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        Joe Hartley - jh@brainiac.com - brainiac services, inc
 PO Box 5069 : Greene, RI : 02827 - vox 401.539.9050 : fax 401.539.2070
  Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
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