Thanks for the input. Gandalf I am not sure; did you want in as well?
Klepto and Immaculate; of course, you're welcome. I've added you to the player list in the first post.
There are at least two other newbies I expect to join in, so other than a place for those two, it's free for all.
I have experience with other PBEM games so that won't be a problem.
There's also an old little utility called PBEM Helper, which automates PBEM turns for certain games, but I don't know if D3 is supported. I have to check.
I am all for the more automation the better. I am willing to act as gamehost or 'leader', but I would prefer a certain automation in handling all data.
I am really not sure about playing your first game with any mods, though. If the majority prefers to enable one or the other I'll go along, but shouldn't it be better to go vanilla at first and appreciate the intricacies of the mods later?