Virtual PBM. The acronym PBM originally referred to Play-by-mail games [PBM], a
form of entertainment popular in the 1970s through the early 1990s.
Inevitably, the onset of the computer-moderated PBM game (primarily the
Legends game system) meant that the human moderated games were pushed into the
"non-profit-making sector" of the industry.
"To make a small fortune in Play by Mail, start with a large fortune..."
--Judith Proctor, GM, Delenda est Carthago.
Mechanics
The mechanics of play-by-mail games require that players think and plan
carefully before making moves. Because planned actions can typically only be
submitted at a fixed maximum frequency (e.g., once every few days or every few
weeks), the number of discrete actions is limited compared to real-time games.
As a result, players are provided with a variety of resources to assist in turn
planning, including game aids, maps, and results from previous turns. Using this
material, planning a single turn may take a number of hours.
Actual move/turn submission is traditionally carried out by filling in a turn
card. This card has formatted entry areas where players enter their planned
actions (using some form of encoding) for the upcoming turn. Players are limited
to some finite number of actions, and in some cases must split their resources
between these actions (so that additional actions make each less effective). The
way the card is filled in often implies an ordering between each command, so
that they are processed in-order, one after another. Once completed, the card is
then mailed (or, in more modern times, e-mailed) to the game master, where it is
either processed, or held until the next turn processing window begins.
By collecting turn cards from a number of players and processing them all at the
same time, games can provide simultaneous actions for all players. However, for
this same reason, co-ordination between players can be difficult to achieve. For
example, player A might attempt to move to player B's current location to do
something with (or to) player B, while player B might simultaneously attempt to
move to player A's current location. As such, the output/results of the turn can
differ significantly from the submitted plan. Whatever the results, they are
mailed back to the player to be studied and used as the basis for the next turn
(often along with a new blank turn card).
While billing is sometimes done using a flat per-game rate (when the length of
the game is known and finite), games more typically use a per-turn cost
schedule. In such cases, each turn submitted depletes a pool of credit which
must periodically be replenished in order to keep playing. Some games have
multiple fee schedules, where players can pay more to perform advanced actions,
or to take a greater number of actions in a turn.
Some role playing PBM games also include an element whereby the player may
decribe actions of their characters in a free text form. The effect and
effectiveness of the action is then based on the judgement of the GM who may
allow or partially allow the action. This gives the player more flexibility
beyond the normal fixed actions at the cost of more complexity and, usually,
expense.
