Hosting an Online 3.5 Game

[Magugag]

And I've never done one before! In the past I've always played pen-and-paper with a group of friends around a table. But, recently, I've had several people express their interest in an online post-by-post campaign with me at the helm as the DM. Now, I can already see a few things that might be very difficult to pull off online, the top one being combat. In person, I can just throw out a mat with terrain on it, but online that becomes quite a problem, for instance.

Does anyone have a lot of experience playing D&D 3.5 online? Even better, does anyone have a lot of experience DMing D&D 3.5 online? Can you help me identify some common problems, and some possible solutions? Roleplaying I'm not concerned about at all; if anything I feel like writing out all posts will be more of a help than a hindrance here, but as for the rest I'm entirely in the dark.

[The Dark Fiddler]

One thing you have to deal with when playing D&D online that you normally wouldn't have to deal with in real life is sudden, unexplained absences. Just ask anybody who frequents the Ongoing Games section of this forum... games die like fruit flies. While the slower-paced gaming makes it a lot more accessible, it also makes it easier for people to just... stop. A few days' delay and you may have already lost the game, in some extreme cases. I'll let others more knowledgeable than me comment on the other problems, but this one is pretty important.