What game system is best for PbEM or PbP

[diaglo]

rock scissors paper

 

[Odhanan]

I'd recommend the Lejendary Rules for All Players by G.E. Gygax. Actually, the Lejendary Adventures Basic Set published by Troll Lord Games would be ideal.

The frame is really simple, and the details focussed enough to know what character plays what and what they can do accordingly.

 

[Thanee]

There are two options... a very rules light system, which will allow everyone to focus on the roleplaying part more, or a rather well-defined ruleset, like D&D, but then everyone involved should know the rules well enough to avoid confusion.

I'm comfortable with running PbP with the D&D rules, using a battlemap for combat and making use of the various mechanics the rules offer to resolve various situations instead of just arbitrarily decide what happens, which would be the rules light approach.

The advantage is, that everyone has a pretty clear idea of what's going on.

Bye
Thanee

 

[catsclaw227]

I think I will end up using d20 3.5 rules. Though I was wondering if anyone has used a "Rules Lite" system like C&C or True20 for this.

 

[Lobisome]

Hi S'mon,

I'm one of many RPG gamers whon aspires to be an PBP GM.

I was doing my research and found this old post from you:
"I developed my own simple system for PBEM play, which worked well and was adopted by several other PBEM GMs - you can find it at:

http://www.geocities.com/s.t.newman/EaToC2.html
..."

I'd love to check this system of yours but this site is not working... may I get an alternative site with your game? May I dare to ask you for for the document itself?

Thanks in advance O

 

[S'mon]

Hi S'mon,

I'm one of many RPG gamers whon aspires to be an PBP GM.

I was doing my research and found this old post from you:
"I developed my own simple system for PBEM play, which worked well and was adopted by several other PBEM GMs - you can find it at:

http://www.geocities.com/s.t.newman/EaToC2.html
..."

I'd love to check this system of yours but this site is not working... may I get an alternative site with your game? May I dare to ask you for for the document itself?

Thanks in advance O

Hi Lobisome, thanks for your interest - the system can be found at a mirror site http://www.geocities.ws/s.t.newman/EaToC2.html

I think some of the lighter OSR D&D variants are ok for PBEM, the main problem is that advancement by level tends to be extremely slow. So some kind of more incremental advancement as in my system, Savage Worlds or d6 System (eg Mini-Six) I think is usually best. Also, dungeon crawling by room does not work well in PBEM, it's best to go more scene by scene. Conversely it's easy to create content on the fly due to the slower pace, so less need for a monster manual or set of wandering monster tables.

 

[Afrodyte]

If you're looking for systems that are easy to transport to a PbEM format, here are a few I've heard good things about and/or have very simple mechanics (yes, simpler than D&D) that don't require a lot of randomization.

• De Profundis
• Fiasco
• Musette
• Callisto
• S/Lay with Me
• In the Shadows of the Trees
• Wushu
• Minimal6
• Wonders Wild & Deep
• One Seven Design

There's a lot more than these, but if you were open to something a little different, these are some great places to start.