Date: 	Thu, 24 Jul 1997 21:01:15 +0100
From: "Robert F. Heeter" 
Subject: W2WT: Introduction to the Remailer

[ Please read this even if you are not yet certified or have not
yet been subbed into a game.  We will not leave anyone behind! ]

Greetings, Warlords -

Most of our Practice Round games are ready to go, so once this message
is sent, all Moderators are asked to start carrying out the
game-creation procedure!  Over the next few days you will receive a
warning message from your moderator, then (if all goes well) a long
message from the Warlords Remailer (see below), and finally
a confirmation message from your Moderator.  You will then
be asked to "check in" and reply to the Moderator to confirm
that you got the Remailer introductory message and are ready to
play!  We will probably need to find a few substitutes and
straighten out minor glitches, so this process will probably take
the whole weekend.  Headquarters (me) will be on a 5-day vacation
during this period, so we will officially start playing the games
after I return, probably next Thursday (July 31), if all
goes according to plan!  (In the meantime, urgent crisis emails
can be sent to the Backup Headquarters, Gary Best, gsb@compupick.com.)
Gamefiles will not be distributed until everything is ready.
[ If you are a PC player in the #1 slot of your game, and you
haven't yet told your moderator what you wish your hero to be
named, do so immediately! ]

*** Introduction to the Warlords Remailer ***

This message is to let all of you know some essential things about
the Warlords Remailer, which we use to run our tournament games.
(You will want to read this even if you are not yet Certified or
involved in a game.)

The Warlords Remailer (http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/Remailer.html)
was designed to automate most of the tedious tasks of play-by-email
gaming, including the enforcement of turnaround time limits and
the transfer of gamefiles and diplomatic messages.  It was
developed by Elam Birnbaum (elam@pixgen.com) in collaboration with
the tournament organizers and playtesters.

At this point you only need to know a few things about the Remailer.
First, the Remailer has two interfaces, the Web interface above,
and an email list-serv type interface (warlords@pixgen.com)
described below.  As soon as this message goes out, the Moderators
will start to create new games in the Remailer.  It may take
a couple of days (Moderators have lives too), but it will happen!
When a new game is created, a long introductory message is sent
out.  This message is an essential reference for your game and
you should save it immediately.

Virtually everything that you need to do to play in the tournament
can be done by email commands to the Remailer.  The remailer
accepts commands sent in the Subject: line of an email message.

A basic Remailer command looks like this:

	To: warlords@pixgen.com
	Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, MyCommand

Note that each game has a name (P01 to P43 for the Practice Round)
and a password (which the moderator chooses; it is included in
the introductory message you get from the Remailer.)
REMEMBER YOUR GAME NAME AND PASSWORD, AND warlords@pixgen.com!!!

The only other Remailer command you really need to remember
is the Quick Reference command:

	To: warlords@pixgen.com
	Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, reference

Sending a message with this subject will result in the Remailer
sending you a nice summary of all the Remailer's commands.

For example, in the (now completed) Duel playtesting game, the
password was "timesup", so this worked:

	To: warlords@pixgen.com
	Subject: Duel, timesup, reference


The Most Important Remailer Commands are these:

1. Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, query
2. Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, message
3. Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, gamefile
4. Subject:  MyGame, MyPassword, noarchive

1. The first command ("query") sends the body of your message
(whatever you send to the Remailer) back to all players in the
game, plus the Moderator.  This is the normal way to carry
out discussion *about* the game.  Whatever you send is logged
on the Web site in the "Event and Query Log", for later reference.
Messages with attached files will be rejected.

2. The second command ("message") acts just like the "query"
command, except that it is used for actual diplomatic traffic
*in* the game.  Official "message" emails are archived on the
Web site in the Diplomatic History.  Only three types of email should
be sent this way:  (a) your official turn-report message,
sent after you complete each turn (more on this next week),
(b) your official diplomacy message (limit one per turn in
addition to turn reports), and (c) corrections of the
diplomatic history in case of rules errors.

3. The third command ("gamefile") is (of course!) used to send
gamefiles.  In the tournament all players are entitled
to receive all gamefiles, and that is the default setting
of the Remailer.  (Ask your moderator if you need to change it.)
To send a gamefile, simply attach the compressed file
to the message with the Subject: MyGame, MyPassword, gamefile,
and the Remailer will pass the gamefile on to the other
players (but not the current player).  The Remailer will
also update the turn, reset the timer for the game,
and send out a turn-change notice stating whose turn it
is and when the next move is due.

4. The fourth command ("noarchive") is used for emails that
are either unrelated to the game (fun stuff, real life,
etc.) or emails that have attached files.  "Noarchive"
emails are sent to all players and the moderator, but
they are not logged.  The "noarchive" command is
especially useful if you need to re-send a gamefile
without making the Remailer change the turn.
Attachments (scenarios, army sets, screenshots, etc.)
are limited to 1 MB.  Elam asks that you not use the
Remailer for anything other than Warlords gaming.

There are many more features to the Remailer, but these
are the most important to understand, especially at the
start of a game.  We will explain the more sophisticated
features when the time comes!

After the games are created, but before the gamefiles are
sent out, we will send out more specific instructions about
how to take your turn and send it to the next player.
But that is the subject of a later message!

A mighty battle is brewing...

-- Bob Heeter, Tournament Coordinator