PRIMVS INTER PARES is a Play-By-Mail game.

You control a Roman/Carthaginian/Foreign family and send your orders in to us, we process those and send you a return The return tells you what has been going on (or at least those parts of the Ancient World you would be privy to) and your current situation.

The game runs in real time, one real month equals one Roman year divided into 30 'dies' (the Kalends, Nones and Ides - it is the job of the Censors to keep the Roman calendar in 'season'.) The elections occur on the first day of the Roman year. You can return as often as you want - you gain one order per day and can stock-pile these.

There are over 130 orders luckily divided into sections:-

I. Family (resting, learning, travel, suicide...)

II. Legal (suing, prosecuting, defending, laws...)

III. Politics (voting, vetoing...)

IV. Forum (speeches, arson, murder, conspiracy...)

V. Religious (sacrifice, marriages...)

VI. Games (chariot, gladiators, betting...)

>VII. Economic (buying/selling, manufacture, farming in a fluctuating market place)

VIII. Military (a full war game against player enemies)

IX. Civil (roads, grain supply, tax...).

The return consists of:-

I. Orders sheet.

II. Gens - your characters, property and such like.

III. Fasti - summary of your nation, the posts held, legal cases pending...

IV. Dramatis Personae - league table of families, personalities and the chariot and gladiators league with odds. V. Peregrine - Foreign players, Roman towns, etc.

VI. Itinerary - Buildings in the towns where your characters are.

VII. History - Both public and private events that have happened on a daily basis.

Options exist for Roman families, Carthaginian families (our hope is to combine the two 'games' for the Punic wars at some future date) and the enemies of both Rome and Carthage. These 'peregrines' consist of Celts, Italian nations, Greek city states in Italia, Sicily and Africa, Numidians and Aegyptians. Rules and start-up £10 (uk pounds), then £4.75 a month (or £4.00 a month for a peregrine). You gain an extra credit for paying five months in advance. There is sometimes a slave revolt option available. People living abroad (outside the UK) have problems getting sterling to us, so that's their first hurdle. We don't charge them any extra. It's a fully computer moderated and turnaround is a couple of days.

There's further information on our web pages:- www.interesting-times.co.uk www.tightbeam.com/interesting-times A hope that's given you a flavour of what it is all about. Any other questions just drop us a line. David B. Wake, 160 Beaumont Road, Bournville, Birmingham. B30 1NY. UK. Email: dbwake@cix.co.uk