GMing a GURPS wargame/intrigue/dungeon crawl into hell.

... and here I mean that the PCs are going to Hell, not the players...

Here is the setup

I wanted a campaign with more PCs influencing a large scale project such as the reclaiming of Khazad-dum by the dwarves of Middle-earth. I spent years running modern-day wargames, using NATO compliant maps and formatted communications. I think that I've got a strong stomach: adding fantasy to a crunchy wargame can only be fun. Who needs a finicky MLRS battery when you can cast Terror upon your enemies by beating a drum? Although a JLENS deployed over the Area of Operation would come handy to any TL4 armed force.

Step 0

Create a number of PCs, all member of the royal family and throw them into a political intrigue to determine who will lead the expedition. Interestingly, the King got bumped off the leadership position and a PC got the job. 

Step 1

Find a way to effectively play a multi-threaded ply-by-post campaign. I've got something, but I have yet to show that it will work. To do this, I needed some kind of wiki and forum hybrid (with configurable page permissions). Google Sites turned out to be pretty good for that. Here is a screencast walking through the interface for the players. Figuring out how to configure permissions and what is the best way to communicate will require a good sense of humor on the part of all for the next few weeks. But it should work.

Step 2

It dawned on me that I can narrate much faster than I can write. So I decided to try virtual GMing to walk through some tricky parts and let the players watch if they want, and whenever convenient to them. I think that this approach opens some possibilities for the future. It turns out to be pretty time efficient for me as well. Here is my first rambling attempt:

What is next? 

We need to find a tempo as the PCs are spreading their wings. I need to make sure that the relevant information for each player gets to the players, and that it doesn't turn into information overload. I can't wait to get the next G+/Roll20 session going, probably when 2-3 of the PCs will be scouting ahead to find a ford over the river Anduin, and do a bit of diplomacy with the neighbours. 

In the end, hopefully a lot of fun will come out of this.