those with "lone wolf and small positions". In 1995, at the Andcon '95 conference, Midnight Games published the Swords of Pelarn module. It had no turn deadlines although turns were processed every 14 days. Swords of Pelarn was a fantasy role-playing game available for up to 200 players each iteration. It was available for play by postal mail or email. Story line, roleplaying, and questing were elevated in importance, allowing easier advancement through exploring and questing. Victory paths were available through adventuring as well as conquest through battle. Expected game length was several years. By 2002, multiple modules were running simultaneously, with North Island Campaign games 24 and 26 active as well as Swords of Pelarn game 22. By this time, Harlequin Games was publishing Legends under a license. In the same year, a US company, EpicMail, also licensed the game from Midnight Games, launching a module called The Ruins of Rome. This game eschewed competition while enabling rapid gameplay—allowing daily turn orders. In 2009, The One Ring was released, based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It went on to win Best PBM Game at the 2010 Origins Awards. As of 2022, Harlequin Games offered multiple game modules: Adventures in Avalon, Blood Tides Rising, Crown of Chaos, Immortal's Realm, Jade Eye, North Island Campaign, Swords of Pelarn, The One Ring, and Twilight Crusade. Game modules Gameplay Legends has a medieval setting. Gameplay occurs on a large scale. The 2002 version comprised a world measuring 130 × 80 multifaceted provinces. At the time, the first and second years of play in a game focused on "exploration and consolidation" and conquest, respectively, while players pursued victory conditions in the third year. Multiple observers characterize it as a power game. At the outset, players design characters using numerous available variables. Besides the basic name and sex, these include an insignia, race, culture, characteristics and attributes, spells (over 400 available), equipment, and others. Each module can encompass 200 players. Over 5,000 non-player characters (NPCs) are in the Legends world, some of which players can enlist to service. The elements of gameplay are Characters, Forces, Guilds and Markets. Forces comprise groups of characters such as Legions or Fleets, but also physical locations such as Castles and Towns as well as Lairs and Ruins. Thematic options in the modern game range from "a warlord ruling a great empire, to a heroic adventurer, to a