nic
Also, you dont necessarily need your own server for a game, since many message boards, like the one here or at rpg.net, will host such games.
Wizard of the Coast has their own die-roller for quick and easy access.
You could go the Play By Message Board or Play By E-Mail variant. Both work, but will take a long time to finish. Expect something that would normally take a couple of minutes(like a short battle) to span a couple of days IRL, with either version.
In my last Darksun campaign, I recruited a good friend to play my villain. I wanted a truly villainous opponent, not one that had DM fiat on his side to give him victory. Someone who would make the PCs emote.
Unfortunately, my friend went to London, England, which is inconveniently distant from Sydney, Australia. So I started a little PBM side project. Whilst the regular PCs participated in a tabletop game, my friend in England 'caused mayhem and slaughter from the afar.'
So, I had some time to note how this sort of thing can work...
Firstly, a table top game largely consists of two things, very wordy dialogue and cinematic action sequences.
Largely, description is assumed or ignored as it is much harder to provide everyone a single unifying vision of Eretus the Defiler when you can plainly see that Davo has a receding hairline and bad posture. As an example, ask players to describe the same character or NPC without help. I am often suprised as how disparate physical descriptions are in people's minds.
Tone and mood are usually expressed through the NPCs and events that take place rather than through description. This is okay, as you can easily convey both to your audience with the tools available.
On paper, a table top game would read something like a first draft movie script.
A PBM game however has the problem of lack of direct interaction. It is much harder to get a pasionate argument to take place in character when both sides have no time limit on their response. Dialogue thus tends to be series of speeches and rebuttles. It becomes more of a debate rather than a conversation or argument.
Action sequences are also much more harder to accomodate, again for the lack of response time. I have found it simpler to almost totally throw out anything but the most basic nod to combat rules and run with 30 second combat rounds and the like.
However, on the plus side, it is much easier to describe the world. Tone and mood can now be given in description. This can be an added bonus as it makes it easier for everyone to have a common image of the scene and it's characters since everyone has the same info.
On paper, a PBM game would read something like a rough first draft at a novel.
Basic strategies that seemed to work for me were:
1) Describe stuff a lot. PCs are not going to be easily able to ask questions, so it is usually better to provide them with too much information than too little. This helps keep things moving along.
2) impose time limits. Some players will have trouble getting back to you on time, whilst others respond promptly. Letting PCs know that failure to respond will have the PC at best written out of the scene or worse still NPCed by you is something that I found very useful when I was working under time constraints.
3) Avoid combat. These things take time. Sooooo much time. However, PCs do a lot more planning for battles. So if you are interested, you can do some cool strategy/tactical stuff if you are prepared to go the hard yards.
4) be prepared for the game to run slowly. a normal table top game frequently runs slower than real time. PBM games can easily be slower again. I found it helpful to run more 'downtime' on average than my tabletop game.
regards
Shaun, the cute and fluffy DM