I've been running some campaigns online for some time, through chatrooms, and have also been involved in a couple of PBEM's. The top tips I would give are:
- Keep things simple. You will always proceed at a far slower rate than a tabletop game, so keep this in mind. Try and slim down the rules as much as you can, too.
- Encourage player interaction. This is very important with a PBEM, as the players will talk to each other in between turns.
- Provide extra information. Get a website and use it! Post history, legends, maps, all sorts. (My campaign site is at
http://www.tongue.fsnet.co.uk/Pelinore.html - you might want to take a look).
- Make long posts. Your posts should provide as much detail as possible - they will likely be all a player has to go on for some time.
- Have set times for turns. Make sure every player knows when to send in their turns.
I'll give a shameless plug for Almanac One here - an article 'Hosting a Campaign Online' in it covers precisely this subject in great detail. You can buy it at RPGNow.
Richard Tongue,
Transfinite Publications,
http://www.transfinitepublications.com
**Almanac One is Out!!**