THE HUB:
Introduction

by Mike Kelley


A Note from Mike...

Greetings, gamers, and welcome to the The Hub!

Before I go any further, I'd first like to thank everyone for the terrific responses I've received from the online community after my initial announcements back in autumn. There's been a steady flow of suggestions, requests and ideas from GMs and players from all over the 'net, and you've made my job both easier and more difficult. Easy, because you've given me plenty of leads to follow for upcoming articles. Difficult, because I'm faced with the tough choices of deciding which games to follow now and which to save until later. For all those who are still waiting for me to get back with them, I apologize once again for the delay. Rest assured, with each coming issue of the Journal, I promise to try and get to as many of you as I can.

In the meantime, enjoy the The Hub's debut edition. This column, now slated to be a regular feature here in our Adventure Journal, will provide a dedicated look at online Star Wars gaming groups, from sim clubs to IRC games and everything in between. Originally, this issue was to have reviews for five different Play by E-Mail groups. Unfortunately, just as I was finishing their rather lengthy reviews, 3 of the 5 suddenly crumbled. Sigh. Such is the way of the Internet, sometimes. However, the remaining two, Riggs' Darkstyder and Wyzzard's JEREC, are two of the best PBeMs I've seen, and definitely worth checking out. Also in this issue, two articles on techniques to improve your online gaming: Cut-scenes & Montages, and Establishing Posting Standards.

Coming up in March, it'll be the BBS groups' turn to shine, with an inside look at some of the great bulletin board RPGs that can be found out there on the Web. Additionally, The Hub's announcement page will [hopefully] remain active, as hot tips and random messages find there way to my Inbox. You might do well to keep checking in there from time to time. Just follow the "Online Gaming Central" link from this site's main page.

As always, if you've got any comments or suggestions, my mailbox is always open at: mwkelley@tir.com

Share & Enjoy!
  /MikeK


The Grit Explained

"The Grit" section of each game review is my way to give readers the straight information about a game, free from any ramblings and arbitrary opinions from me, the reviewer. In the words of Joe Friday, "Just the facts, ma'am." Hopefully, it will provide a subjective way to compare different groups, helping prospective players find the right game for them, not to mention giving GMs something to brag about. Here's a quick explanation of the terms used:

GM - Obviously, the campaign's Gamemaster, along with his primary e-mail address.

Players - The number of people currently playing characters in the campaign. The second number ("Original") is the number of those current players who were one of the group's original PCs. Following the numbers is a complete roster of all the players, and the characters that they play in the campaign.

Started - The month and year that the group officially started playing.

Service - The online service that the group uses to play, if any.

Webpage - Pretty self-explanatory. The group's website, if any.

Setting - The location and time period in which the game takes place.

Adventures - The number of adventures that the campaign has gone through so far (including the current one, hence the fractional portion). Note that, in an online game, its sometimes difficult to define where one adventure ends and another begins. For practical purposes, all the events that take place on a single planet are taken as one "adventure".

Turn Rate - This figure describes the average amount of time (in days) between a GM's post, all the PCs replies, and another GM's post on the same thread. This figure can be a good indication about the actual pace that the game's story is currently moving.

Volume - These numbers, when taken together, describes the amount of message traffic that the game generates on an average day. The first number is the number of average number of posts you could expect to recieve on a daily basis, the second number, in the parentheses, is the average length (in words) of an in-game message. (Note: an average paragraph is between 75 and 100 words long)

Rules - The rules system that the GM is using to run the game. (e.g. "SWe2" denotes The 2nd Edition rules)




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