Thank you for your application to run a game on the Phoenyx. We're glad that you've chosen us to host your game and look forward to adding you to our family. The Phoenyx takes pride in maintaining a collection of high-quality games run by talented and reliable gamemasters. So a request for a list on the Phoenyx isn't just the bits of info needed to set up a list... it's an application for acceptance into the Phoenyx family of games. Your application will be reviewed by a group of your peers, other gamemasters running games on the Phoenyx. Don't worry, they're not a tough crowd, but it is important that your game meet our standard of quality. Accordingly, your application should attempt to show that you know what you're doing. Spelling and grammar count, as do the ability to coherently tell us what your game is going to be about. Your "blurb" should attempt to both convince a prospective player that this is the game he wants to play in *and* convince the review group that your game will be a welcome addition to the Phoenyx. You're trying to sell your game to us and this may be the only chance you'll get. Tell us something about the world, about the story you have in mind, and what kind of characters you're expecting. If you have never played a PBeM (Play-By-eMail) roleplaying game, let alone run one, do not assume that experience in the face-to-face roleplaying arena is going to translate to PBeM. PBeM is a different critter, and while there are many different ways to run email games, you'll find that they are, almost as a rule, quite different than face-to-face or chat-room gaming. Even if you are an experienced gamemaster in other media, we strongly suggest that you spend some time playing in someone else's PBeM game or at least read some of the archives of other games to get a feel for how it works. Another place where prospective GM's fail is to underestimate the commitment they are making. Where you might want to run a "quick" PBeM game, understand that many PBeM games run for *years*. Westwind, one of the Phoenyx' oldest games is close to five years old and still running with the same GM and many of the original players. The shortest of our games are at least six months and the story lines don't progress very far. If the game would take you six months of regular (weekly) play to finish in a face-to-face game, you can count on it taking years by email if it develops the level of detail necessary to attract and keep good PBeM players. So if you still think you're up to the challenge of running a top-notch game on the Phoenyx, please take the time to write a more complete description of your game and resubmit it on the application web page or in reply to this email. We'll be happy to review your game and welcome another gamemaster to our group. (Why do you want to go through all of this when you could get a free mail list somewhere else? Because we do have a reputation for quality games. Having a game on the Phoenyx tells other people that your game is worth checking out because we weeded out the bad games for them. And because we give you support. We'll help you find players and even co-GM's or even a replacement GM should you find yourself unable to continue in that role. We give you a place to discuss your game with other GM's to seek advice or just talk. We give you a community to belong to, not just a mail list server. And most important, if you've thought through all of this, have written a clear picture of your game, and still want to GM a game, we think that you'll probably do a good job and come through with a successful game.) -- Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Old immortals never die, they just... don't. -- -------------------------------------------------------------- Listowner tools are found at http://www.phoenyx.net/listowners
