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Links

Irony Games PBeM Site

There is only one site that could possibly start off this links page and that is Irony Games PBeM site, without which there would be no Bohavia. Chances are that if you have stumbled across this page, then you will be aware of this site. If not, then go there now and check up on what you're missing. It should definitely be the first port of call for anyone interested in getting involved in PBeMs, whether as a player or as a GM. If you want to start playing almost immediately, you'll usually find more than 100 GM's looking for players, around 30% of which are for AD&D. If you're looking to host a game of your own, then you'll have no problem in finding plenty of good players here. So what are you waiting for? Check it out now!

The Phoenyx

If you think that you're not quite ready to start playing yet, and would rather spend a while as a 'lurker', then this is a site that you should definitely check out. The Phoenyx hosts a number of different PBeM's, some for AD&D, including the Bohavia campaign,but mostly for other game systems. Although the majority of the games featured on The Phoenyx are not looking for players, its great advantage comes with the simplicity that people are able to 'lurk' in games. Due to the Phoenyx's fully automated system, it is possible to subscribe to mailing lists, and then unsubscribe, without having to notify the GM. In this way, it is possible to spend a week or two 'lurking' in one game, then change to 'lurking' in another one, without risk of annoying the GM. If you're totally new to PBeM's, then this is a great way to see games working in action.

 Nick's Soap Box

Not a separate web site, but simply a page of myself ranting about what I think are good and bad things about PBeM's and some of the things that I have learned about making games more enjoyable for myself and other players. You might find some useful tips here. You might think I'm talking garbage. You'll just have to see for yourself.

Betsy's PBeM Homepage

Betsy played Aneira in Bohavia and now she plays Aithne. Most of the time, however, she takes the DM's seat, DMing no less than four PBeM's of her own, all of which can be accessed from her homepage. Betsy has a good eye for what makes a good player and the standard of those involved in her games is incredibly high. The pace in the game also moves fast, with two or three major DM's Postings per week for each game. How does she find the time, I wonder?!

 Zhenoma

I've been involved in about ten PBeM's to date - some good, some bad, some average. Zhenoma is the game that I have been playing in the longest - nearly two years now. Drew the DM is creative and the players are committed to both the game and also to arguing with each other at every possible opportunity! Well worth checking out if this site has aroused your interest in following AD&D PBeMs.

 Adventures on Oerth II

Bill plays Yaz in the Bohavia campaign and runs this web site for the campaign he plays in, which is DM'ed by Mike, one of Bohavia's most recent players. Adventures on Oerth II contains some of the most original characters that I have seen for a long time, and the campaign is reported in a dialogue style similar to reading a movie script, making the game a lot of fun to follow. Definitely one of the most interesting PBeMs that I've witnessed. 

The Green Dragon Inn

Mike and Bill readily agree that the style of the above-mentioned Adventures on Oerth II is very much influenced by the writings of Thomas A. Miller, who chronicled the adventures of his college AD&D group under the title of 'The Adventurers'. When the group of players split up, he carried on running the characters himself, producing a new installment every week through most of the 90's, guided by input from lurkers. Sadly 'The Adventurers' are currently on hold, but the entire 600 episodes that he wrote for the series are archived on this web site. A great read if you've got nothing planned for the next year or two.

 

 If you're a DM who is incredibly creative and can spend a huge percentage of your life working on your PBeM , or if you only post once per week, then these links are probably not going to be that interesting for you. If you're like the rest of us, however, and have a full time job, partner and other interests, then you could probably use a little help from a few tools to take some of the mundane elements out of running a campaign. Below are links to some of the tools that I use to take the donkey work out of running a campaign.

AD&D Core Rules CD-Rom

At around $50, this is not a cheap purchase, but it does give you a lot for your money. Included on the CD are the three main AD&D books plus all of the Players' Option series and other supplements, which would cost something like $250 if bought in book form. It's a useful CD to have if you run your campaign when your supposed to be working, or if you are on the move a lot. For me, however, the most useful thing about this package is the random encounter generation tables, NPC generators and treasure generators to name just three. In addition, the package contains two very useful mapping programs that allow you to generate maps of areas, towns or the insides of buildings. With this package, it is possible to create important details for your campaign in minutes rather than hours.

Campaign Cartographer

Included in the AD&D Core Rules 2 CD, as mentioned above, is a copy of Campaign Cartogapher 1, which is a very powerful and flexible fantasy mapping program. I now use the upgraded v.2.0 to make most of the maps for Bohavia, along with the Dungeon Designer 2 for the insides of buildings and dungeons. To be honest, I find the interface very tricky to work with, because I'm not very technically minded. However, after a few tantrums and another read of the manual, I can usually get it to do what I want it to, and the results that it produces are undeniably excellent. Recommended if you know your way around graphic programs OK.

 Tablemaster

Similar in its uses to the AD&D Core Rules, Tablemaster is not specifically designed for AD&D. It is actually a neat piece of software that allows you to set up tables for anything that you can imagine. It takes a little time to set the table up in the first place, but is very simple to use once you get the hang of it. The software comes ready packed with a number of useful tables that are very useful for any AD&D campaign.

 Irony Games On-Web RPG Tools

Another plug for those great guys at Irony. This on-line gaming tool is a gem. It allows you to randomly generate just about any map that you could possible need for your campaign - from a tavern to a star system - which you can send to your players. Additional elements can populate taverns and towns and even provide adventure ideas.

 Irony Games' Dice Server

A great tool that solves two problems. If you're at work and want to roll up dice without the boss seeing what you're up to, then you can do it here. More importantly, however, is the fact that it's the only way of allowing your players to roll their own dice without their being able to cheat. Great if you want to give your players some control over their destiny but don't trust the cheating bastards!

Quadrunner

Rezz plays Faewen'il in Bohavia, but to the PBeM community she is best known for being 'The List Queen'. The service that she offers PBeM DM's is free lists for games, which makes it easy to run games with lots of players and lurkers, as the list automatically takes care of sending on messages to everyone on the list. The service that Quandrunner offers is similar to that of The Phoenyx, but is less elitist than The Phoenyx, which only takes on new lists a few times per year if they meet their high criteria. Bohavia uses two lists, a Quadrunner list for players, as it is faster than the Phoenyx list, and a Phoenyx list for lurkers, as the Phoenyx site publicize their members more than Quadrunner does.

The Cave

The best thing to come out of Sweden since Clawfinger! This is a wonderful looking site that contains some excellent tools. First is a random village generator. Irony's site has better maps, but The Cave has great details about the occupants. The random name generator is the best that I've seen, but the best part of the site is the random character generator, although some personality traits would be a useful addition.

NetRPG

Although the above sites are the best, in my opinion, if you're thirsty for more generators, then NetRPG has the best collection of links going. NetRPG also has a number of downloadable programs which I haven't looked at, but could save you the trouble of having to go to the web every time you want to generate something.

 

RPG Links 

About.com (formerly Miningco.com)

The problem with most list of links is that the quality of them varies a great deal and you end up having to trawl through a lot of garbage before you get to something interesting. About.com sifts through all of the dross and just lists those sites that have something interesting to offer, with a short description as to what that might be, which saves a lot of time. For more links to interesting sites for AD&D or PBeM's, checking out some of the links from here will be lot less frustrating then simply using a searchengine.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

This is not actually a role playing game. Instead, Warhammer Fantasy Battle is a tabletop miniatures game that allows players to control entire fantasy armies, based upon all of the standard races. While commanding a fantasy army is a great experience, it is not a hobby for the dabbler. Building an army and painting tens, if not hundreds, of miniatures is a very long and expensive exercise, but is highly rewarding once it has been accomplished. The background to WFB is very rich in its detail, and I have 'borrowed' many of their ideas in designing the Bohavia campaign. When the campaign gets to the fully-fledged battle stage, then I intend to resolve them using the WFB rules. This link is to the official site, although much more interesting sites can be found through a power search. There is also a role playing version of the game which I play face-to-face. I like the world that it is set in, but AD&D plays better as a system in my opinion.

 

Technical Stuff 

Geocities

If you don't know already, then Geocities is a site offering web sites absolutely free. You get 11MB of server space to use - which sounds a lot, but it does fill up surprisingly fast, an easy-to-use menu and a number of tools to use when designing your site. If you're already running a PBeM and fancy running a home page to show the world what you're up to, then Geocities is the best choice around, although there are now many other companies offering a similar service. The pop-up advertisements and the ghostly watermark on Geocities sites are very annoying though, I admit.

HTML Editors

If anyone would have told me a couple of years ago that I would have been able to create my own web site, then I'd have said that they were stark raving mad, as I am virtually computer illiterate. However, there are now hundreds of programs around that are as simple to operate as a word processor. There are so many of them available for free on the web, that I can't even begin to list them here, just make a search under 'HTML Editors' on a search engine and you'll get plenty to choose from. Now there is no excuse for not creating a website for your game. If I can do it, then anyone can!

Paint Shop Pro

The majority of graphics programs that I know of are both horribly expensive to buy, and very complicated to use if you're not a PC expert. Paint Shop Pro is a graphics program for us amateurs, which is great for putting graphics up on websites and making very simple maps and diagrams. At $99, it's still not cheap, but the simplicity of its use and the huge range of things that it can do make it great value for money, even at this price.

Hotmail

A free e-mail account that you access from the web. There are many reasons how this can come in handy, so I won't list them here. I use my HotMail address as a back up, as I am constantly having problems with my regular address, and it is also handy when I'm on the move. There are hundreds of similar services available, all providing a similar service.