Play By E-Mail Campaign for 1st Level Characters
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:25 pm
Game Basics
I am starting a Play By E-Mail (PBEM) Castles & Crusades game for four to five players. I am looking at a long term campaign so I would like dedicated and reliable players who are interested in playing for a long time. I will be using 'vanilla' Castles & Crusades rules; i.e. no house rules and only classes, races, equipment, etc. from Players Handbook and Monsters and Treasure. This may change as the game progresses and I will incorporate the Castle Keeper's Guide when it is published and I have a copy. Although this is a PBEM game, if all players are using Skype then it might be fun to occassionally have a real-time session. After encounters and certain points in the game I will write up a story and post it here. Although it will not be riveting fiction it will allow all of us to look back on the game and see what we have accomplished. It is also a way of easily remembering places, people, and so on.
Campaign World
The campaign takes place in human lands, in a fertile region of the world through which run two great rivers. Along these rivers and in a few other locations are city states that control a number of towns and villages around them. The politics and geography will be explained in a later post when the game is about to begin. Your characters are from a small village some distance from a southern city. You have lived in this village all your lives except for the several years you spent in the city learning your professions.
Character Creation
Characters begin at 1st level with maximum hit points and you should roll for your starting gold. I will contradict my previous words about no house rules by introducing a house rule about rolling attributes. Roll 4d6 for each attribute and discard the lowest die. If your character does not have a total of at least +3 in modifiers then you may reroll the lowest attribute score until your modifiers total at least +3. Also, no single attribute may have a modifier below -1 and no character should have more than one attribute with a modifier of -1.
Before deciding on a race and class please read the following notes.
Races
Human: The campaign takes place in human lands and this is the most logical choice for a character's race. Humans have Anglo-Saxon type names such as Hrothgar or Alodia. An Internet search will give you many options.
Dwarf: It is possible to play a dwarf and a possible reason for the dwarf character living in the starting village would be that the character came there long ago as a craftsman. Dwarfs would have Slavic sounding names such as Borislav.
Elf: Elves are acceptable player characters though it will take some thought to invent a reason why an elf would be living in a farming village with humans. Elves have Latin names such as Augustus or Olivia.
Gnome: Gnomes are extremely rare in the campaign area. A gnome may have set up a toy workshop in the village and sells to passing merchants. Gnomes have Greek style names such as Antigone or Thales.
Half-orc: Not recommended.
Half-Elf: There would be no problem thinking of a reason for a half-elf to have grown up in the village if he or she had embraced their human heritage. Names could be elvish or human or some combination of the two.
Halfling: It is plausable that a halfling family would be living in a human village as farmers or craftspeople. Halflings have modern English or Irish sounding names like Patrick or Pamela.
Classes
All classes are playable except assassins. Barbarians are okay but your starting village is a long way from the uncivilised regions so you will you have to think of a reason you would have settled there. I don't forsee a strong need for a rogue in the party but if you want to play one you will have to tell your fellow villagers that you learned 'locksmithing' in the city while you were away. Nobody wants a thief living near them.
Playing the Game
I think all of the people here at the forum are honest, mature people and so I do not require that you use an online dice roller and post the link. I used to do that at another roleplaying site and it was inconvenient.
If you decide you want to play in this campaign, send me your email address. My email address is my forum ID at gmail. When I have everyone's email address I will send them to all players. When playing your turn, please send your email to all players in the group. Unless, of course, you are doing something other characters wouldn't be aware of.
I think it is not unreasonable to expect an email every 24 hours but this is not always possible. I would like to make a 48 hour deadline and if you haven't taken your turn by then I will make a decision about what your character does. I won't unnecessarily endanger your character or have your character do something you probably wouldn't do yourself.
A Few Odds and Ends
I think the best games are cooperative so no evil characters, please. Characters will not always agree on everything but I really discourage PC vs PC fights. These are no fun for anyone, disrupt the game, and help the bad guys win.
Don't expect to get rich quick in my game. You definitely won't starve to death but gems and magic swords aren't lying around in the street protected by giant rats.
The first few adventures will be straightforward missions and encounters and later become a bit more complex once the campaign world fills out.
It is much more difficult to follow the thread of a game when we are communicating by email once every couple of days and it is easy to forget details such as an NPCs name or what he may have said a week ago in real time. But, please read my descriptions and email carefully so you do not get too lost. I once played with someone on PbP who would consistently waste time because he hadn't read my posts.
Checking your email for spelling errors, confusing sentences, and incorrect information before sending would be much appreciated.
If I have forgotten something or you have questions, please ask away!
I am starting a Play By E-Mail (PBEM) Castles & Crusades game for four to five players. I am looking at a long term campaign so I would like dedicated and reliable players who are interested in playing for a long time. I will be using 'vanilla' Castles & Crusades rules; i.e. no house rules and only classes, races, equipment, etc. from Players Handbook and Monsters and Treasure. This may change as the game progresses and I will incorporate the Castle Keeper's Guide when it is published and I have a copy. Although this is a PBEM game, if all players are using Skype then it might be fun to occassionally have a real-time session. After encounters and certain points in the game I will write up a story and post it here. Although it will not be riveting fiction it will allow all of us to look back on the game and see what we have accomplished. It is also a way of easily remembering places, people, and so on.
Campaign World
The campaign takes place in human lands, in a fertile region of the world through which run two great rivers. Along these rivers and in a few other locations are city states that control a number of towns and villages around them. The politics and geography will be explained in a later post when the game is about to begin. Your characters are from a small village some distance from a southern city. You have lived in this village all your lives except for the several years you spent in the city learning your professions.
Character Creation
Characters begin at 1st level with maximum hit points and you should roll for your starting gold. I will contradict my previous words about no house rules by introducing a house rule about rolling attributes. Roll 4d6 for each attribute and discard the lowest die. If your character does not have a total of at least +3 in modifiers then you may reroll the lowest attribute score until your modifiers total at least +3. Also, no single attribute may have a modifier below -1 and no character should have more than one attribute with a modifier of -1.
Before deciding on a race and class please read the following notes.
Races
Human: The campaign takes place in human lands and this is the most logical choice for a character's race. Humans have Anglo-Saxon type names such as Hrothgar or Alodia. An Internet search will give you many options.
Dwarf: It is possible to play a dwarf and a possible reason for the dwarf character living in the starting village would be that the character came there long ago as a craftsman. Dwarfs would have Slavic sounding names such as Borislav.
Elf: Elves are acceptable player characters though it will take some thought to invent a reason why an elf would be living in a farming village with humans. Elves have Latin names such as Augustus or Olivia.
Gnome: Gnomes are extremely rare in the campaign area. A gnome may have set up a toy workshop in the village and sells to passing merchants. Gnomes have Greek style names such as Antigone or Thales.
Half-orc: Not recommended.
Half-Elf: There would be no problem thinking of a reason for a half-elf to have grown up in the village if he or she had embraced their human heritage. Names could be elvish or human or some combination of the two.
Halfling: It is plausable that a halfling family would be living in a human village as farmers or craftspeople. Halflings have modern English or Irish sounding names like Patrick or Pamela.
Classes
All classes are playable except assassins. Barbarians are okay but your starting village is a long way from the uncivilised regions so you will you have to think of a reason you would have settled there. I don't forsee a strong need for a rogue in the party but if you want to play one you will have to tell your fellow villagers that you learned 'locksmithing' in the city while you were away. Nobody wants a thief living near them.
Playing the Game
I think all of the people here at the forum are honest, mature people and so I do not require that you use an online dice roller and post the link. I used to do that at another roleplaying site and it was inconvenient.
If you decide you want to play in this campaign, send me your email address. My email address is my forum ID at gmail. When I have everyone's email address I will send them to all players. When playing your turn, please send your email to all players in the group. Unless, of course, you are doing something other characters wouldn't be aware of.
I think it is not unreasonable to expect an email every 24 hours but this is not always possible. I would like to make a 48 hour deadline and if you haven't taken your turn by then I will make a decision about what your character does. I won't unnecessarily endanger your character or have your character do something you probably wouldn't do yourself.
A Few Odds and Ends
I think the best games are cooperative so no evil characters, please. Characters will not always agree on everything but I really discourage PC vs PC fights. These are no fun for anyone, disrupt the game, and help the bad guys win.
Don't expect to get rich quick in my game. You definitely won't starve to death but gems and magic swords aren't lying around in the street protected by giant rats.
The first few adventures will be straightforward missions and encounters and later become a bit more complex once the campaign world fills out.
It is much more difficult to follow the thread of a game when we are communicating by email once every couple of days and it is easy to forget details such as an NPCs name or what he may have said a week ago in real time. But, please read my descriptions and email carefully so you do not get too lost. I once played with someone on PbP who would consistently waste time because he hadn't read my posts.
Checking your email for spelling errors, confusing sentences, and incorrect information before sending would be much appreciated.
If I have forgotten something or you have questions, please ask away!