I'm just about to re-start my Saga with my players after a summer hiatus for other games. But I am unfortunately the Alpha, and only, storyguide. I would of course love to play but my players are as yet uninterested or unwilling to Storyguide in my place.
So I'm looking for opportunities to play in a Ars Magica 5th Edition PBEM or PBP game. Anyone know of one or running one themselves?
But it appears as if most of the games are tabletop. And there is no indication of how old the games are, whether they are active, or whether they are open to new players. I am cautious about randomly spamming people. But I welcome any additional links of places I could look or other suggestions. Thanks.
look for rpol.net/
I'm playing in game there called life on the siljan. Set in sweden with 7 active players. We usually get 5-15 posts a day, and it appears that a seasons play occurs every month or so (getting a seasons council concluded is slowing it down at the moment)
There are a couple other ars magica games on there as well but in different langauges than english.
As the game I mentioned is pretty full up I thought I might try my hand at running one. As most players of pbp don't want to buy new games were using 4th edition which is free.
I have been thinking about starting a PBP game. I only have one player lined up for it so far, so not sure if it is viable. I have been trying to entice a couple other people that I know, but I am not sure if they will be reliable in a PBP environment.
I would definitely be interested in playing, especially if it's a 5th Edition game. I would also be happy to assist in developing the covenant or elements of the local setting. Although I am fairly busy right now (at least until the start of next year), I might have the bandwidth to act as a Beta Storyguide at some point.
Definitely let me know if you set something up. And thanks.
In one game I am playing in, I was trapped in a faerie regio, but there were five magi at the covenant taking part in the winter season council. The council started being posted on 7 of september in real time, it was still going a month later, and they hadn't finished all their business. The same discussion would have taken only an hour in a table top game. These discussions are slowed to the posting rate of the player who cares about the game least.
For other things it is much faster, but still if you only post once a day and then wait for the gm to respond it does get depressing, you never want to get into a battle where the gm insists on playing round by round, and that every player must act in the round before the next round occurs. Turns a thirty second fight into a two week posting marathon.
The best games are Ars magica games where each character does its own thing, and spends most of the time in private exploration or study. Where the council decisions are made mostly by npc, and the players only provide input, and where the gm is brave enough to play the characters whose players disappear for a while.
For examples take a look at the site I mentioned above.
I missed out on thrakhath's game and I'm definitely interested in joining a PBP Ars saga too. 4th of 5th Ed would be great, and I'd be happy to be a beta storyguide.
Please keep me in the loop if you do decide to run one.
I am looking over the RPOL.net site to see if I want to use it to host a game. With you and Hargifex both interested, and the third guy I have lined up, I think I can begin a game pretty soon.
It will be 5th Ed., drawing upon all the published material, but I don't have a firm plot idea in mind yet. Feel free to send me any character, covenant, or saga ideas you have in mind.
I will begin working on any specific guidelines I think will need to be considered and get them posted once I settle on a host site.
A LOT depends on the ST, too, and their policies. If they don't prompt the slow posters to get their act together, or if they disappear and don't respond to IC posts, or whatever, then, yes, it can be glacial.
But that's no diff than a tabletop ST who has the TV on, and lets tangent conversations spiral out of control, and lets players talk on their cellphones, or loses half the group to a munchies run, and so on- I'm sure many of us have been in table-top games that have been S...L......O...........W...
Play by post has a huge advantage over PbEMail in that you can have multiple,dedicated threads, and you can easily navigate and see all the posts right there together. Many boards (like RPoL) also allow individual portraits for individual Characters (not just Players!), so each character, magi, companions, grogs, NPC's, all are distinct individuals when they post.
PbP boards also often allows jpegs and links to be imbedded in the posts, making the job of supplying maps and background material much easier.
I'd love to play in one.
