Anyone running any pbem games right now? I'm considering creating a campaign for pbem and would love to hear about what other folks thought about electronic DM'ing.

It's definitely not the same as paper/pencil/pizza but then again I don't really have the time for that anymore. Gotta get my fix somehow!

It's painfully slow. I have never DMed in PBEM but I played and it did really work out. Everything just took so long you almost forget what was happening. A single battle could take a week! If you are into playing or even DMing I say join a MUSH or wait until NWN comes out. Sorry I can't help from the DM side.

Getting back to you comments in the NWN section, I haven't been on the Shadowland site. I want and looked at it and it's 'kind of' like a MUSH but I'm not sure. I played a much of MUSHs before (Shadowrun, Amber) and they are fun. I think the interactive element is great but of course it's all text. I think the reason NwN would be better is that it will have a graphic interface. But there is a trade off. In a text or table top environmnet you can do almost anything but in a graphic interface you are limited but the quality to the program.

Yeah, the Shadowland site definitely requires some suspension of disbelief to be successful. Some combination of the two would be best, where you have graphical regions to explore coupled with a messaging/story building component.

Re: PBEM, I agree that it requires some serious dedicatoin to make it work (and possibly the occasional session via WebRPG to speed up certain encounters...)

Thx for the feedback!