Over in the General Discussion forum, there was some interest in trying out the newly published 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. I've already had experience running versions of the rules through the playtest program, and so I've offered to run a play-by-post game for it.
So far, interested players include: linklord231, caelic, and bhu. Ideally, I'd like to limit it to 5 players, with a hard maximum of 6.
You'd probably need access to the new Player's Handbook, though access can be granted to the information needed to play if you don't have the book.
I'm thinking that the best place to start is either 3rd or 4th level; level 3 gets you to the first class specialization options (Fighter/Rogue Archetype, Paladin's Sacred Oath, etc.), while 4 gets you your first ability score improvement or feat, depending on your choice.
For ability scores, I'm willing to take a vote between rolling or point buy. Rolling would involve 4d6 drop the lowest for 6 ability scores (probably through Invisible Castle), arranged per player's choice, and if the first set of rolls is abysmal, you can reroll the whole set one more time and then choose between the two sets.
Point Buy would probably be 30, which is higher than the published standard but doesn't allow anything to get out of hand.
Above all, try to make a character, rather than just a pile of stats. Though the idea is to test the game mechanics, particularly in a PbP setting, that really involves seeing how all aspects translate, including roleplaying, exploration, and social challenges in addition to combat. The PHB section on backgrounds actually seems like a good way to come up with an idea, even randomly-generated if you like. I'm certainly interested to see how that works out.
Optional rules that are definitely in-place include feats, multiclassing, and others as I think of them. You may also suggest some if you'd like.
Starting Wealth is going to be less of a concern, but assume that you'll begin with just about all of the typical equipment that you'll need for adventuring. Official magic items for this edition haven't been published yet, though there are many offered in the playtest documents I've still got, and some can be converted from other editions fairly easily, so this won't be low-magic campaign.
Speaking of which, I haven't decided whether or not to run this in an established campaign setting or not. There's enough fluff available in the PHB to set it in any of them, and most other details can be ported over easily. Feel free to suggest one if you have a preference, otherwise I always have homebrew stuff I can work from.
