PBEM Approaches

[jibbajibba]

Most of of my Amber games have been PBEM. I just like to be running one or in one in the background.
Once the auction is done and the characters are all in I build the rest of the world, the city and the castle and the like from the PCs ideas then I start each player off with a written 'Turn 0'. Its a bit rail-roady but its based on their own objectives character background and tries to set the scene I am aiming for. the PC has already outlined their gaols to me and how they feel about each familiy member.
I thought I would share some of the the Turn 0's from my last game as I think its a shame that onlyh the player gets to read them and I pour heart and soul into them.
Would appraciate comments on whether this approach feels too heavy handed and on any PBEM processes other peopel have suceeded with. I play most of my game via exchange of email but run combats, and ecounters through a forum where I can do so.

Anway I give you Serge. Absent from Amber for years Serge acted as Oberon's eyes in Shadow and maintained close contact with his father (oh as an aside I never have any of the Elders in my games aside from Oberon and Dworkin I am looking for the Pcs to take on this mantle oh and all turn 0's  start with a rather cheesey poem ...)

Serge Turn_0

Across unending leagues of life's dark ocean he glides
(ghost of many dreams crushed and broken);
An infinity of night's candles beckoning him onward...
Toward what, I do not know.

Fate's wind,
Ever laying fair or angry hand to his forlorn visage,
Now caresses softly,
Beckoning him towards the solace of a gentle shore,

'Til he is blasted seaward again by the vagaries of fortune
Which seem to come from aeons past,
To impale his soul upon relentless spears of incident.

The Hymn of Serge the Wanderer - Ariel , the Dark Siren

********************************************

 You watch as Cailin takes his leave of TuLoc's Grand Hall. Werewindle seems to react somewhat to his presence and you can feel the blade vibrating in its sheath. The rest of the party got a little riotous when TuLoc took Cailin into his private quarters with that pair of Helmite dancing girls, but has died down to a few sleeping drunks now. You smile at the thought of your own first experience of the Helmite Veil Dance then taking your goblet you head for TuLoc's private chambers.
Rodriges and Finn guard the archway, both sober as judges and cursing the day they drew this shift. They square off to block your way but a nod from you and the recognition in Finn's eyes is enough. They let you pass unmolested.

 TuLoc lies sleeping, his legs entwined in the supple limbs of two flawless female forms. You take a seat on the cushions opposite and as you do so TuLoc opens a heavy lidded eye and grins at you. Sitting up he rolls off the two girls and strokes his beard. He prods one with his toe and she wakes and stumbles off with her companion. TuLoc admires their retreating forms as he pours himself another finger of Bugundian brandy.

"Well?" you enquire. "How much does he know and what do you make of my little brother?"

"He doesn't have any idea at all of what might be going on. Which makes two of us. He did say that Oberon left for shadow a hundred days ago.."

"A hundred days you say?" something just doesn't add up.

"Yes and he and took Ernaux with him and that they haven't been heard from since. As for his character. I like him very much indeed. In fact he reminds me rather of you though with out the haughty arrogance you have developed over the last 400 years." With this he flashes you another grin. "He has no mind for politics and is a man of action not words, he is honest, speaks his mind and isn't afraid of anything."

You regard your old friend as he lounges on his silken cushions. The years have certainly been kinder to you than him. He has put on a good few pounds and seems to have sprouted body hair from all kinds of unusual orifices. His grizzled beard is shot through with grey and a livid scar runs down one cheek.

"Any idea why he is here?"

"I think it is just as he says. Once Oberon had been missing for a while he thought it time to go and inspect his fleet. Apparently he caused a bit of a storm in Bergma, demoted the squadron captain and balled the men out."

"That would be Captain Dover right?"

"Yup that's him, lazy toad I wouldn't have him cleaning out my bliges to be honest. Well are you going to tell me what you are doing here? Why you just happen to turn up a day before the Warden of Storms makes an official visit not having set foot round here for 30 years?"

"I could tell you Loc, but then I would have to kill you." You grin back at him.

"See what I mean about you getting all haughty and full of yourself!"

"Suffice to say I recieved some information of sufficient import to make me return to Amber and you were on the way." The full truth of the matter is more complex. You were indeed heading for Amber but the stop in Thassa was caused when you felt Cailin's pattern travel bringing him to the port.

"Ah reduced to a footnote. Alas such is the fate of those of us born to simple mortality." TuLoc downs the rest of his brandy. "You must excuse me old friend but I have to meet the Trade Federation in the morning, goodnight." With that he retreats to his bedchambers upstairs.

You sip your wine and muse about the events that bought you here. About ten days ago you recieved a contact from Oberon. He was in no mood for nicities and bade you head for Chaos at once and identify the nature of some threat to Amber. He had learnt from Dworkin that there was a plane of great power which contained a primal force known as the Maelstrom, a primal force with the ability to destroy Amber, to wipe the Pattern clean. Dworkin as usual was incoherent and unable to give any information aside form a vage location. Factions at the Courts had discovered the Maelstrom and were sending a force to capture and exploit the power. Oberon had decided to intercept and take control himself hoping to destroy the place somehow.
He had taken Ernaux, left the Sanctum in charge and travelled light. They had made progress but Dworkin's directions were as usual vague at best. It had taken then a week to gather an army and they were zeroing in on their destination. He needed you to go to Chaos and fnd out who was behind the army and try to root out the supporters. He would report back to you in a week but the timeflow in his shadow was confusing and so he was unable to gauge that period in Amber time so you could contact him as you needed to through the blade.

You travelled at once to Choas and set about uncovering some details. It was not easy, moving about in Chaos never is but in a few days you had the information required. [NOTE - Chaos runs at 5 times Amber base timeline and this is the fastest differential you have encountered though in theory Pattern could be used to manipulate this you have never been able to push past this five time multiple]

The Chaos forces were led by Honshu, who is called Demonseed, and his untold hosts. In addition to this most formidible of forces Demonseed had recruited the help of the Jinn Mok. The Jinn Mok are the formless ones the first of Demonkind whose realm is the very depths of the Abyss itself. All in all this made for a formidible force indeed. This was the first time that Demonseed had thrown his forces against Amber. Usually he was far too concerned with his own political standing in the Courts to get involved in anything so risky. As always in Chaos the political situation is complex. The Church of the Serpent, the single most powerful political body outside of KIng Swayvil himself, was split on the issue. The split was largely due to internal political wrangling, a huge sucess by Demonseed would elevate him and the arm of the Church that support him into such a position that the other factions would be swept aside. In truth the main reason why Amber still stands is because the forces of Chaos have never been able to mount a coherent unified attack. There are always factions who profit from the status quo.
You were unable to garner any more information about the nature of this Primal force however and all your investigations in that matter have proved fruitless.

With this information to hand you sought to contact Oberon. but to no avail. Using the power of Werewindle you sought to reach out to Ernaux who carries Arkmight, the Blade of Stone but to no effect [Note - please see separate doc on the Pattern Blades and indeed the nature of the pattern itself]. Now Oberon had refused connection from you before, the process is much like refusing a trump contact but this was different there was simply no connection there at all.
Understandably, you became worried and tried to contact him through trump and via other methods, all to no avail so you set off to reach him direct and began a Hellride. It was without doubt the most challenging you have ever attempted. You first tried to seek out Oberon directly [Note - seek object of desire and improved pattern walk] but you could get no trace on Oberon no sense of his location and after casting about for some time you decided to head back toward the source and seek to follow his path, after all if he was leading an army it should cut a swathe a fool could track. You headd back toward Amber and caught site of the trail. An army of perhaps quarter of a million heading through shadow. The way was complex and you found signs of conflict along the route. Locals told tales of a huge army and that it had been plagued by attacks of dark creatures. One village spoke about how the neighbouring townsfolk had all become possessed by dark forces and attacked the army as it moved though the valley below, the funeral pyres were all too visible. The army sustained casualties but seemed very much in tact until in the shadow of Dunansy it had just disappeared. There was no trace of it no route for it to have gone. You spent a day there but to no avail. Locals said that the army had camped in the water meadows the night before and in the morning it had just gone. The field showed signs of encampment but you could find no trace in shadow of its departure. You know of only one other, save perhaps Oberon and Dworkin themselves, who can follow a trail through shadow better than you, your brother Etienne. He is crass and petty at times but his ability to follow a trail is unsupassed. You searched out his trump and tried to contact him but despite the hints of a connection nothing. He was obvously blocking out incoming connections [Note - you can contact Etienne directly via email but in character he is blocking all incoming connections so in character there is no way for you to reach him].
Short of other options you turned and headed for Amber. It was on the journey here that you first noticed that the timelines were wrong following your route back to Amber through shadows you had been in days before weeks had passed. Using the pattern lens you studied this phenomena in detail. It was not that these shadows had been accellerated but that the time line further towards Dunansy  had been slowed and slowed to a degree you had not before thought possible. Perhaps 10 or 12 times slower than Amber time and worst of all you had not sensed it as you travelled.
You determined to return to Amber as fast as possible but sensing the presence of a force moving through shadow as you approached the city you took this detour and reaquainted yourself with TuLoc's hospitality.

And so you sit in Thassa and brood over what course of action to take. Logially you can continue to Arden locate Etienne and press him for assistance, however, Cailin's presence here must be more than co-insidence and you are tempted to pay him a visit. In Amber itself you would think that Thomas might have more information from dad and a trip to the Primal pattern to have a few words with Dworkin might be in order as well. Aside from all this it would be good to get a Chaosite feel on things and you understand that Tyrone has moved to Amber now. If he can be trusted he might be able to shed more light on things especially as he was an Inquisitor in the Church of the Serpent during his time in Chaos.

The options are up to you.

[jibbajibba]

Oh and Trista. She started the game as a member of a Noble house and not the Royal family though she has the blood for it we suspect. The spy network and its short term objectives, Mort Queasy, the relationship with Hugo (an NPC) who was training her as a trump artist, were all part of her character background, the Emerald necklace was given to her by Hugo as a gift in a character design chat session.

Trista – Turn 0

When night's black Mantle could most darkness prove,  
     And sleep (deaths Image) did my senses hire,  
     From Knowledge of myself, then thoughts did move  
     Swifter then those, most swiftness need require.  

In sleep, a Chariot drawn by winged Desire,  
     I saw; where fate bright Trista Queen of Love,  
     Her eyes like dark torches, still adding Fire  
     To burning hearts, which she did hold above,  

But one heart flaming more then all the rest,  
     The Goddess held, and put it to my breast,  
     Dear Cupid now shut, said she, thus must we win;  

He her obeyed, and martyred my poor heart.  
     I waking hoped as dream it would depart,  
    Yet since, O me, an unrequited Lover I have been.

Trista, Queen of Love – by Phillip (he may have been pretty but he wrote awful poetry)

*********************************

You sip a little more of the Desault brandy. It really is very fine indeed and the crystal sets it off just so. However, even these pleasures do little to improve your mood.
“Mort, you are not a fool and you must have come here expecting to receive the full vent of my rage. To allow one of our spies to be exposed to the Messengers is beyond reproach.” [Note – the King’s Messengers are the agents of the Warden of Seals, Royce, they are the very best at what they do which in theory is root out the enemies of Amber but in practice is to do the bidding of the Warden. Sometimes the two may overlap.]
“It is not as bad as you may believe, my Lady,” this comment causes you arch your eyebrows. “Kell was new he only knew his own cell so we can limit the damage. If we can reassign…”
“Kill them.”
“But Peters in particular has …”
“Kill them all I want them dead by nightfall, two accidents and a knife fight or duel or some such. I leave the details to you.”
“So be it, my Lady,” Queasy knows better than to argue with you when it comes to protecting the secrecy of your organisation.
“How was he discovered?”
“As you requested my Lady we were tracking the movements of the Royal family in this case Cornelius. Kell had been assigned to keep a discrete eye on the apartments he keeps here in the city. Well it seems he was observed somehow and taken by the Messengers right from his post.”
“We are of course sure it was them?”
“No doubt my Lady they left a little calling card. A sigil drawn in chalk. They do it when they want to warn people off.” The sigil in question looks like an M with 2 horizontal lines through it. You do not doubt Queasy’s assessment after all ex-Messengers are in very short supply, it’s not a career you usually get to leave feet first. You have never probed too deeply into his past but suffice it to say he once took the coin of the Enforcer (this is the underworld term used to refer to Royce) but that was a different face and half a dozen names ago.
“So do we think that it was coincidence or does Cornelius merit special protection?”
“There is no such thing as a coincidence, my Lady.” This is one of Queasy’s pet sayings. “I will investigate the issue myself and report back to you.” With that he bows to take your leave.
“Remember by nightfall Mort.”
“Yes my Lady.”
You return to the brandy and thoughts of the rest of your day. You have a number of small tasks to attend to You have been toying with preparing a trump of Mort to call upon him when needed but you know that this would be too great a risk in case it might be discovered. Instead you have been working on your own version of a Royal deck but have included your brothers, mother and father. In fact Zacharias was your first trump when you were working through the process. You are currently working on trumps of Cailin and Arden. They have both been away for so long that you have only recently met them and even then not for very long. Hugo has assured you that you can prepare a decent trump of someone after just one meeting but you are still having some trouble with this and need a few more meetings to get their likeness just so. Your deck currently consists of Hugo and six other members of the family [Note – you can specify which ones or even if you want say that she has done all that she has met which would mean only Dworkin, Serge(dead), Ariel, Tiberius, Sloane and Prospero would be missing] that you have met at various social gatherings. As you think about this you find you have been toying with the sapphire necklace given to you by Hugo. It is strangely comforting.
So you return you your sitting room to work on the Cailin portrait [Note – in might well be that she does not paint in her sitting room but as its raining outside that means she can’t use the balcony and I need her near her rooms for the seemless lead in to the last bit. Let me know if she has a studio set up and if she keeps these trumps secret as I suspect is the case although she might be more open about her family trumps]. Outside the rain hammers down against the windows and the wind shakes them in their frames. As you have been taught you focus on what was for you the dominant feature, with Cailin it was his blue-grey eyes. With this fixed firmly in your mind you proceed to add a little more to the image. The cheek bones seem right and the nose and the hair. Yes this is definitely coming together. You can hear his voice, that infectious laugh and the wry smile that seemed to come to his lips unbidden. You have only met his briefly and only once at a Royal function given when he returned from shadow and was granted the title Warden of the Storms. You can certainly see why he quickly became the talk of the ladies of the Salons. After a couple more hours or so of work the trump is near completion.
[Note – I have already given you a breakdown of your trump powers but here they are again
Trump Artist (20)
10   Make Trump Sketch (only works within one Shadow)
    5   Mental, Verbal, and Visual Contact crosses Shadow
        5   Transport crosses Shadow – these are “normal” trumps
Trump Tricks (20)
    5   Blackout Trump (no visual image when using)
    5   Sense and Identify Trump Items
    5   Trump Caller Identification
        5   Trump Spying

It takes you approximately a day’s work (10 hours) to produce a trump of someone you know well but four times that for someone you have only briefly met. A simple trump sketch would take perhaps an hour (4 hours for a one time meeting)]

“Lady Trista,” it is Agatha. “I have laid out the White dress for this evening as you requested.
“Ah Agatha it is good that you have reminded me. When I get engrossed in my work I do tend to lost track of time. What do you think on the likeness”
“It is excellent my Lady. You almost feel you could reach into the picture and touch him. He is a very handsome man.”
“Yes indeed though perhaps a little too short.”
“I am sure he has no problems in that region my Lady.”
“Away with you Agatha,” you laugh. “Lay out the silver dress I have changed my mind about the white and see if you can find the diamond pendant Valdemar gave me on my last birthday.”
“Right away my lady.”
You feel a gentle mental probing. It is rather like a knock on the door. You recognize it at once as a Trump contact. You have learn the art of sensing who is calling before you answer just as you can sense which trump you hold without looking at the face. It is Hugo, who else as your family have not yet mastered the art of using them. You decide to accept the call.
“Trista, you look tired.” When Hugo does not begin a meeting with a florid tribute to your ‘everlasting beauty’ you know he is in a foul temper or a great hurry.
“You catch me before my toilette Hugo. Though I think tired is a little unfair.”
“It is about your meeting I wish to talk to you. I have heard that you are dining this evening with my brother Tyrone. I would warn you of some of his idiosyncrasies.”
“Do go on.”
“First he is not to be trusted.”
“A trait you both share.”
“No I mean even more so than I. He is a hoarder of information. In Chaos he was an Inquisitor of the Church of the Serpent, this makes him an expert interrogator and diviner of secrets. You must make sure you reveal nothing, especially in regard to our relationship. I would hesitate to reveal anything of your trump knowledge to him. He is a trump artist of sorts himself but lacks your skill or dedication.”
“You think he might become jealous?” you scoff.
“Indeed he might and I have seen him kill men over smaller trifles than that. So be warned and be on your guard. I must go there are things to attend to here.”
With that the trump contact abruptly ends. You have still not learnt to read Hugo and that last comment was particularly disturbing.
You attend to your hair and make up. The rain still hammering down outside. The carriage will take an hour to make the journey to the City. Oh how much more convenient if you could use a trump of Tyrone.
With that thought in mind Agatha helps you to dress. The silver was a perfect choice.
You take up an ermine cape, although the rain seems to be dying off at last, to guard you from the chill. You admire yourself once more in the mirror. How well the sapphires look upon your throat you think as you leave. Valdemar’s diamond pendant lies forgotten on your vanity…

[gabriel_ss4u]

Here we go, some of the rare glimpses of what goes into a game from the GM's POV, and detail only single players get.
I like it!
I have never played PBEM, though I would try it with a group on this board.
I congratulate you on the time, effort, and details you put forth for your players.
Kinda like part 'which way adventure book', part 'write your own chapter'.

I personally think F2F is king, but when ya haven't got that, this sounds like the next best thing.
Great work Jibbajibba

[jibbajibba]

Yeah I agree F2F is the best but in aPBEM game you do get a lot of nice artefacts you can revisit.

As I say these written sections are only for turn 0. they are much the same as hte intro you woudl give in a f2f Game to explain why the party were all waiting in the library for the Chaosite Ambassador to arrive.

After that its all done through a forum/wiki/chat server mechanism.

to be honest what kills the games off and this is my fault I am sure is where 2 characters are scheduled to meet each other. Real life intervenes and one of the players gets bored and quits.

I have tried running games where i avoid Pcs meeting up but it gets a bit false and the joy of Amber for me is the quality of the Pcs and their backgrounds and how they all interact.

[Croaker]

Agreed.

I've done about 3 Amber PBEM, and everytime, the game was killed by players quiting, some because they didn't care, some because they couldn't, with the remaining players, while still motivated, being deprived of allies, pawns or opponents
For a more personnal exemple, I'm currently struggling to keep up with PbeM Ars Magica, and, due to RL, this is very difficult, and cause some stories to slow down to a crawl

[gabriel_ss4u]

I'm down with phone gaming for Pbem if 1 on 1 pc's should need time.
I agree that real life tends to get the best of us all, but I'm willing to work around it for an enjoyable scenario.
How awesome would that be to have Jibbajibba, me, Croaker, Nihilistic Mind, RPGPundit, Uncle Twitchy, James McMurray, (am I missing anyone?) oooo, now that would be a great game. Though I'd be a little shaky, as I never did pbem before and I type slooooooow, and look @ the keyboard as I do, I may miss 1/2 the game... LOL.
oh, and weilide too, I like his style.