Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 16 Feb 2006 to 17 Feb 2006 (#2006-29) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 18/02/2006, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 14 messages totalling 656 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. PBEM, PBChat (7) 2. Alphaks (was: Flaems...) (4) 3. Alphaks (3) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:09:12 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar ha scritto: > Hi, folks! > > I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to use the PBEM rules to it). > > Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advance. Hi, I've DMed a PbeM for some three years, and I'm currently playing in a Play-by-Newsgroup DMed by another listmember. There are a few points you might want to consider: - Pace - Style - Rules Pace: you should take into account the fact that PbeM games are slower than tabletop games. This affects the number of combat encounters you can put into any adventure (a single combat encounter will never take more than 10 or 20 minutes in tabletop, but it can well take a few weeks if played out in full, one mail per round). Style: since combat isn't as easy to play out, then other elements must be stressed, especially intra-group interaction, and interaction with NPCs. Rules: in addition to the excessive time taken by combat, one must take into account the lack of dice in PbeM games. This can be solved by introducing a different random element (e.g., hash of the message-id or other pseudo-random element carried by the mail), by having the DM roll all dice, or by using a diceless/randomless ruleset -- e.g., all actions happen as if the dice results were always average, but can be modified by speding points from a special "luck pool" (like the Character Points and Force Points in Star Wars, or the Panache in the Savage Coast) Or, you can let the DM solve all actions without rolls, based on the descriptions provided by the players. Well, that's all I can think of right now, hope it helps. GP P.S.: PbChat games are actually very different from PbeM, since the Chat is a synchronous medium. Since you can find all kinds of support programs -- from dice rollers to software like OpenRPG -- and have all players active at the same time, it isn't any different from tabletop RPG. The only difference is that people write instead of speaking (and even then, with all the current interest in VoIP, it might be possible at some point to have speaking as well). ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:06:02 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Alphaks (was: Flaems...) Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time imagining an Alphatian civilization that spans an entire galaxy? A bubble of air that encompasses a galaxy? On 14/02/06, Andrew Theisen wrote: > Giampaolo Agosta wrote: The Alphatian /di= d/ manage to destroy an entire universe... > > > Well, not a whole universe- just a planet. The Alphatian galaxy still e= xists, and is still contained within a bubble of air (as seen in module M1:= Into the Maelstrom). There are still quite a few inhabitants of that galax= y, as well (at least of the planetary region around the remnants of Old Alp= hatia, anyway). Many of them are survivors of the Alphatian cataclysm (the = inhabitants of Gammar, Belthar, and the other two planetoids whose names I = can't recall offhand). > > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:26:54 -0600 From: Daniel Subject: Re: Alphaks (was: Flaems...) galaxy? I thought it was their solar system. Besides. It's magic. Steven Carter wrote: > Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time imagining an > Alphatian civilization that spans an entire galaxy? A bubble of air > that encompasses a galaxy? ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:48:23 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Alphaks (was: Flaems...) Steven Carter wrote: Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time imagining an Alphatian civilization that spans an entire galaxy? A bubble of air that encompasses a galaxy? Yeah- I may have overstated that a bit, actually. I don't know if it ever referred to as their entire galaxy that is filled with air, but their immediate planetary system. It may not even extend as far as their entire solar system, but only their planet and nearby planetary bodies. Certainly, the "bubble" of air on the map in M1: Into the Maelstrom doesn't extend that far (and would only cover a less than Earth-sized planet, if I recall the calculations I made correctly). I'll have to double-check my figures to be sure, but I'd imagine the Old Alphatians probably only encased their planet, several nearby satellites, and the area around it, within the "air-bubble". Wouldn't be enough to make space travel throughout their galaxy or solar system possible, but it would enable them to make easier trips back and forth from their moons, and would be an impressive feat. (Of course, it might slow such trips down, actually, if you are using Bruce Heard's "Up, up, and away" rules, where planets traveling through the Void actually move faster the further they are from planetary bodies. I get the impression that only applies to vacuum-space, not air-space.) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:00:36 -0600 From: Daniel Subject: Re: Alphaks Dawn of the Emperors, Book 3: Player's Guide to Alphatia, pg 4. "The Time of Air & Fire" - Second paragraph "The Air Wizards accomplished miraculous feats with their air magic - such as summoning a great bubble of breathable air to surround the Alphatians' solar system." Sorry to be a "rules lawyer," had the book out from the other night. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 14:11:02 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Alphaks (was: Flaems...) My meagre mortal mind can understand a magical Dyson Sphere sort of thing - even if it's just magical forcefields and such holding in the air - and that's what I was remembering as I've only read through M1 a single time. And I know it's magic and all but after reading the first two Penhaligon trilogy books and being told about Dark Sun, I always considered magic to be an extension of natural laws and thus subject to the law of conservation of mass and energy. This was reinforced by the fact that the Radiance was draining away magic. If it's magic and not subject to said laws of conservation then the Radiance shouldn't have "drained" anything. On 17/02/06, Andrew Theisen wrote: > Steven Carter wrote: Is it just me or does a= nyone else have a hard time imagining an > Alphatian civilization that spans an entire galaxy? A bubble of air > that encompasses a galaxy? > > Yeah- I may have overstated that a bit, actually. I don't know if it ev= er referred to as their entire galaxy that is filled with air, but their im= mediate planetary system. It may not even extend as far as their entire sol= ar system, but only their planet and nearby planetary bodies. Certainly, th= e "bubble" of air on the map in M1: Into the Maelstrom doesn't extend that = far (and would only cover a less than Earth-sized planet, if I recall the c= alculations I made correctly). I'll have to double-check my figures to be s= ure, but I'd imagine the Old Alphatians probably only encased their planet,= several nearby satellites, and the area around it, within the "air-bubble"= . Wouldn't be enough to make space travel throughout their galaxy or solar = system possible, but it would enable them to make easier trips back and for= th from their moons, and would be an impressive feat. > > (Of course, it might slow such trips down, actually, if you are using B= ruce Heard's "Up, up, and away" rules, where planets traveling through the = Void actually move faster the further they are from planetary bodies. I get= the impression that only applies to vacuum-space, not air-space.) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 14:12:34 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Alphaks Summon. Okay, where did they summon it from? Nebulas in their galaxy? From the elemental plane of air? Suck it off planets with a MegaMaid? ;) On 17/02/06, Daniel wrote: > Dawn of the Emperors, Book 3: Player's Guide to Alphatia, pg 4. > "The Time of Air & Fire" - Second paragraph > > "The Air Wizards accomplished miraculous feats with their air magic - suc= h as summoning a great bubble of breathable air to surround the Alphatians'= solar system." > > Sorry to be a "rules lawyer," had the book out from the other night. > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:46:52 -0800 From: Ricardo Matheus Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat [LURK OFF] If you planning to play by chat you could you a good (and free) software called OpenRPG. It's a chatting software, with a drawing board in which you can load maps and character sprites, a dice rolling routine, private chating (very usefull for DMing) and capacity for storing character sheets and other usefull stuff. I used it for some time and I made oD&D character sheets for it. Let me know if you want them. URL: http://www.openrpg.com/ Ricardo Matheus a.k.a. Darkblood www.geocities.com/darkblood18 > Hi, folks! > > I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to use the PBEM rules to it). > > Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advance. > > Thanks in advance, > Vini ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:25:23 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat I agree. OpenRPG is very, very good. Not a perfect nor does-everything-solution but very nice. On 17/02/06, Ricardo Matheus wrote: > [LURK OFF] > > If you planning to play by chat you could you a good (and free) software > called OpenRPG. It's a chatting software, with a drawing board in which y= ou > can load maps and character sprites, a dice rolling routine, private chat= ing > (very usefull for DMing) and capacity for storing character sheets and ot= her > usefull stuff. I used it for some time and I made oD&D character sheets f= or > it. Let me know if you want them. > > URL: http://www.openrpg.com/ > > Ricardo Matheus > a.k.a. Darkblood > www.geocities.com/darkblood18 > > > > >Hi, folks! > > > >I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also > >plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to > >use the PBEM rules to it). > > > >Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advanc= e. > > > >Thanks in advance, > >Vini > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 14:27:09 -0600 From: Daniel Subject: Re: Alphaks I'm going with the MegaMaid personally. Then again knowing the way they did the canals in Glantri City I'd go with the elemental plane of air. magic doesn't always have to be this from that though, conjuring things from thin air (haha) is possible. Remember the Alphatians' had to relearn magic (or at least the higher levels) when they came to Mystara, showing the rules of their home plane/world were different from what "we" know as true. Steven Carter wrote: > Summon. Okay, where did they summon it from? Nebulas in their > galaxy? From the elemental plane of air? Suck it off planets with a > MegaMaid? ;) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:10:48 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar" Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat Maaaaany thanks, Ricardo Darkblood and Steve! Anyone else? Vini At 16:25 17/2/2006, you wrote: > I agree. OpenRPG is very, very good. Not a perfect nor > does-everything-solution but very nice. > > On 17/02/06, Ricardo Matheus wrote: > > [LURK OFF] > > > > If you planning to play by chat you could you a good (and free) software > > called OpenRPG. It's a chatting software, with a drawing board in which you > > can load maps and character sprites, a dice rolling routine, private chating > > (very usefull for DMing) and capacity for storing character sheets and other > > usefull stuff. I used it for some time and I made oD&D character sheets for > > it. Let me know if you want them. > > > > URL: http://www.openrpg.com/ > > > > Ricardo Matheus > > a.k.a. Darkblood > > www.geocities.com/darkblood18 > > > > > > > > >Hi, folks! > > > > > >I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also > > >plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to > > >use the PBEM rules to it). > > > > > >Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advance. > > > > > >Thanks in advance, > > >Vini > > > > ******************************************************************** > > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > > > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:20:52 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar" Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat Dear Brazilian fellow and lurker, I heard about a certain WebRPG. Do you or Steven or anyone else know it? Thanks in advance, Vini At 15:46 17/2/2006, you wrote: > [LURK OFF] > > If you planning to play by chat you could you a good (and free) software called OpenRPG. It's a chatting software, with a drawing board in which you can load maps and character sprites, a dice rolling routine, private chating (very usefull for DMing) and capacity for storing character sheets and other usefull stuff. I used it for some time and I made oD&D character sheets for it. Let me know if you want them. > > URL: http://www.openrpg.com/ > > Ricardo Matheus > a.k.a. Darkblood > www.geocities.com/darkblood18 > > > >> Hi, folks! >> >> I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to use the PBEM rules to it). >> >> Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advance. >> >> Thanks in advance, >> Vini ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:59:44 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar" Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat At 20:40 16/2/2006, you wrote: > The only experiance I have playing D&D other then PBeM And what is your experience with that? > has been in a private chatroom using AOL and AIM. How was it? Many thanks, Boonedale! Vini > --- "Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar" > wrote: > > > Hi, folks! > > > > I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM > > (play-by-e-mail) format. I also > > plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I > > think it is possible to > > use the PBEM rules to it). > > > > Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are > > welcome. Thanks in advance. > > > > Thanks in advance, > > Vini ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:09:40 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar" Subject: Re: PBEM, PBChat At 07:09 17/2/2006, you wrote: > Vinicius R. de Moraes - USP Solar ha scritto: >> Hi, folks! >> I plan to start a D&D *campaign* in PBEM (play-by-e-mail) format. I also plan to have a "PBChat" one (does that exist? I think it is possible to use the PBEM rules to it). >> Who knows rules for that? Any info or idea are welcome. Thanks in advance. > > Hi, Thanks, Gianpaolo! > I've DMed a PbeM for some three years, How was it? > and I'm currently playing in a Play-by-Newsgroup DMed by another listmember. Is it like PBEM? > There are a few points you might want to consider: > - Pace > - Style > - Rules > > Pace: you should take into account the fact that PbeM games are slower than tabletop games. This affects the number of combat encounters you can put into any adventure (a single combat encounter will never take more than 10 or 20 minutes in tabletop, but it can well take a few weeks if played out in full, one mail per round). So you recommend to dratically lower the number of combats? > Style: since combat isn't as easy to play out, then other elements must be stressed, especially intra-group interaction, and interaction with NPCs. The adventures tend to be more role-play and less of a hack'n'slash, right? Please tell me more about "intra-group interaction". > Rules: in addition to the excessive time taken by combat, one must take into account the lack of dice in PbeM games. Why no dice? > This can be solved by introducing a different random element (e.g., hash of the message-id or other pseudo-random element carried by the mail), by having the DM roll all dice, What is the problem in players also rolling dice? > or by using a diceless/randomless ruleset -- e.g., all actions happen as if the dice results were always average, but can be modified by speding points from a special "luck pool" (like the Character Points and Force Points in Star Wars, or the Panache in the Savage Coast) What is the Panache? > Or, you can let the DM solve all actions without rolls, based on the descriptions provided by the players. > > Well, that's all I can think of right now, hope it helps. > > GP > > P.S.: PbChat games are actually very different from PbeM, since the Chat is a synchronous medium. Since you can find all kinds of support programs -- from dice rollers to software like OpenRPG -- and have all players active at the same time, it isn't any different from tabletop RPG. The only difference is that people write instead of speaking (and even then, with all the current interest in VoIP, it might be possible at some point to have speaking as well). VERY interesting! Never thought about it... you're right! Writing is good for recording who did what and when. It sort of fills in what is missing in a spoken game! Cheers and again many thanks, Vini ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 16 Feb 2006 to 17 Feb 2006 (#2006-29) ***************************************************************