Ilkor: Dark Rising is a Hand Moderated Play-By-Mail (PBM) Game.
It’s run by a small part-time gaming company called Gad Games which in turn is solely owed and run by myself, Sean Cleworth.
I’m now living in Cape Town, South Africa and married with 3 kids. As my girls get older I am slowly finding a little bit of free time on my hands to pursue a passion of mine…running a PBM Game.
My current day job is in the role of the Software Development Manager at Global Kinetic. In my evenings and weekends I turn to my school-boy interests of game design.
I’m not new to the PBM Hobby. Back in the 80’s and 90’s I started Gad Games. At the time I was living with my parents in the UK and still attending school. It all started in my bedroom with a game I created called World of Chaos.
Like Ilkor: Dark Rising, World of Chaos was also a hand-moderated game.
I ran Gad Games for 10+ years fulltime, eventually employing over 40 staff members and running several games, such as Middle Earth, Soccer Supremos, Battle of the Planets, etc.
With the arrival of the Internet the PBM industry started to take a dive and Gad Games slowly reduced in size until eventually it ceased to operate. It’s games were sold off and I moved to South Africa.
My objective today is different to back when I started Gad Games.
Firstly, I want to have fun running a Hand Moderated PBM Game again. This time it will be run part-time and will be run for free with no catch, no adverts, etc.
Secondly, I want to see if I can blend technology with the main components of a classic PBM game that made it great. I’m up for the challenge and I think I have a winning formula. Only time will tell.