So, what is this about and why should you care?

Hello! This is my first blog ever so if it seems amateurish I apologize, especially if the jokes fall flat. In fact, I am going to attempt to avoid jokes altogether; there are bloggers out there far better at it than me.

The purpose of this blog is for me to post articles concerning Play By E-Mail, or PBEMing. What the heck is that, you may ask? PBEMing is role playing via e-mail, but it can also refer to those games that use message boards as well or other means of internet communication. It is also known as Play By Post, but for simplicity's sake I am calling all games of this nature PBEMs from here on out. PBEMing covers just about any genre you can think of, from traditional role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons to playing a version of the old television series Falcon Crest. All that is needed is a GM (game master, for those of you utterly ignorant of role playing jargon) crazy enough to run it and players insane enough to participate.

What I wish to do is to discuss issues concerning how to run a PBEM, how to handle the multitude of problems that might crop up and point out possible resources available to the GM. I will note mistakes I have made over the years as well as ones I have observed. I will post at irregular intervals based on availability of time and whether or not I have something to say, and more often than not the subject matter is probably going to stray from the initial subject. I will most likely talk about my feline overlords, or movies, or what books I am reading or what movies I saw. I will be very careful to keep my posts spoiler free, because I hate it when someone dicks me like that and I'm not going to do it to you (Some day I may speak of the incident between my older brother and The Three Generals. But today is not that day).

This blog will be apolitical: my ill-informed political views are my own.

This blog will be very opinionated where some subjects are concerned, sometimes passionately so.

Now, you may think "Who is this guy who presumes to lecture the PBEM community on how to run a game?" or something along those lines only less flattering. I have successfully run a super hero game called The Vindicators for eight years. I think the length of time and the ability to keep a strong and creative core of players for that long speaks for itself. It means I have been able to maintain their interest and earn their trust and friendship, and based on that plus thirty years or so of playing table top RPGs (Role Playing Games, again to those of you without your geek dictionary) and PBEMs I think I am qualified to throw out thoughts and opinions that might contain some merit.

So I hope my blog may help, or at the very least mildly amuse you. Thank you for reading.

Tom