Gangsters Vassal Module PBEM Conventions

Updated 150902


Design considerations requiring play difference from Face-to-Face tournament play

  1. There is no feasible way to enforce a time limit for a player executing a turn. Hence a player will have a more optimized move as time constraints are removed. It is common in FTF tournament play to use a timing device limiting a player turn to for example two minutes. Hence stellar performance in PBEM play is not an indication of the same player's ability to execute effective turns in tournament play with severe time constraints.
  2. All player's money banks are public knowledge in this module, whereas this is often secret in FTF tournament play. As players could choose to keep records or each players income and expenditures, there is no justification to add complexity to the module to ineffectively keep this knowledge secret.
  3. All the tracks on the gameboard have been removed and instead displayed on a secondary map (General Track). Unlike in FTF play, all PEBM players will have the same perspective when viewing the board. Tracks at rotated and upside down orientations are not justified to keep the map identical to the published gameboard.

Turn execution using VASSAL

  1. When starting a turn, use File/Start Logfile. You will be asked to name the file and the storage location on your computer. All Game tokens should be moved one space at a time to allow the movement to be documented in the game control window. All comments, die rolls, changes made to the General Track, and actions within a turn are recorded step by step
  2. When your turn is complete, File/End Logfile. This will write the logfile. Send this file to the next (or all) player(s)/GM per the GM procedure. DO NOT File/Save. This latter action will only save the end position of the map and delete the logfile.

Map Issues

  1. All spaces on the map have an invisible named zones corresponding to the map.
  2. The awkward hexes involve the Central Avenue Bridge and The Viaduct. The zones for the higher elevation moves through the center of the space. The lower elevation spaces are at the outside or abbreviated to the start of the zone. This may take awhile to get use to.

Subways

  1. This is a frequent problem area for new players.

Organized tournament play.

  1. Although it would be at the Gamemaster's desecration, it is anticipated all die rolls and pass off of turns to be noted using ACTS [http://acts.warhorsesim.com/login.asp]. All players should be registered users (there is no cost). ACTS keeps both a permanent record of all die rolls (in addition to sending a email to all players) and keep track of time lag between all player turns. The latter aids GM's determine who is the player most responsible for games not completed within the required time window.
  2. The inherent VASSAL die roller is suitable for online play and PBEM player between familiar trusted players in casual games. However many prefer the use of a third party server for AREA rated and/or tournament play. This avoids guilty feelings for a succession of excellent die rolls or despair for a succession of poor die rolls. Everyone can blame the die server [nobody's friend].
  3. A more common issue is the loss of die rolls not captured due to forgetting to turn the log file on.