Anyone want to join in a HRE Play by E-mail game?

**econ21** · February 16, 2007, 04:47 PM

Over on the Org, we've started a HRE Play-by-E-mail (PBM) game. We have about 10 active players at the moment, but could use a few more. Anyone here interested?

The idea of Total War PBM is basically simple: one player (in this case, "the Chancellor") plays part of a single player campaign and then passes on the savegame to another player, who plays a bit more.

To spice it up a little, we've added a few twists. The Chancellor is elected every 10 turns by all the players and all the players can vote on laws (edicts) to direct or constrain him. Furthermore, all players are represented by generals (avatars) in the game; if their general gets into a battle, they download the pre-battle savegame and fight the battle. We've divided the players into four noble Houses (Franconia, Austria, Bavaria and Swabia) to encourage some factional loyalties and conflicts. Players are encouraged to write up their battles in after-action reports, make in character speeches and try to role-play the vices and virtues of their avatar.

Right now we are about 20 turns into a game and have just gotten into a war with Milan. We don't have spare generals to provide as avatars, but should be picking up some soon.

If you want to see examples of the battle reports, you can see them here:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=77457

And this is the thread where we debate things in character:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=77086

Anyone interested or have questions, please post here:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79554

**Bizzair** · February 16, 2007, 07:05 PM

Sounds cool. But wouldn;t that get a bit hard, wtih players in different time zones/ go inactive?

**econ21** · February 17, 2007, 06:08 PM

Time zones are not a big problem, as we play at a fairly sedate pace. We played one RTR game in this style and it lasted over 6 months.

The Chancellor has the savegame and plays at his/her own speed; ideally reporting to other players every couple of days. If another player's general gets into a battle, the savegame is uploaded and the player has 48 hours to fight the battle or it is an autoresolve.

The debating sessions last for 3 days, so people have enough time to propose new laws and discuss them. There is then a 24 hour period of voting.

Inactive players ultimately get dropped from the game, but they tend not to have had avatars anyway, so it is not a big deal. If they do have good avatars, we reallocate them to anyone still in the queue for one.

It may sound like quite a big commitment, but all you have to do is surf a couple of threads every day or so, then fight the odd battle. If you become Chancellor, it's more intense but you only reign for 10 turns so it is not too much of a burden.

**Bizzair** · February 17, 2007, 06:10 PM

I think I may be interested.

But I dont want to play, I only want to purpose new laws, have my own general etc. I', not really sure how I transport save files etc.

But I am sure interested in the forum part and passing laws etc.

**econ21** · February 18, 2007, 05:21 PM

Bizzair - that would be great. Please post your interest in this thread:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79554

You will need to pick a House to join: Swabia (west), Franconia (north), Austria (east) or Bavaria (south). I recommend Austria or Franconia, as they are the shortest staffed (so you should get your own general most quickly if you join one of them).

The way we transport savegames is through an uploader at the Org. It's really easy - for example, if you want to have a look at the current situation, just click on the following link to download the latest savegame (you'll need to unzip it after downloading):

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/kotr1124-2.zip