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Trajan's Treacherous Trap
''Trajan's Treacherous Trap'' (or ''Treacherous Trajan's Trap'') is a play-by-mail game that was published by Flying Buffalo in 1979. Development and gameplay ''Trajan's Treacherous Trap'' was a fantasy role-playing game designed similarly to Flying Buffalo's dungeon adventures for solo players. The game was hand-moderated. Rick Loomis described it as a PBM version of ''Tunnels & Trolls''. It was a "solo dungeon by mail" with basic elements of gameplay. Orders were multiple choice and turn sheets were normally short—about a page long. Loomis 1980. p. 6. Loomis ran the games and adjudicated the turns according to ''Tunnels & Trolls'' rules. Starting players were fighters with a sword. The setting was a "devilish dungeon designed to kill 999 out of 1000 players who enter". The dungeon's exit was on the bottom of its three levels. Loomis warned that solving the dungeon would be costly and challenging, but would earn a sizable reward. By mid-1979, Loomis stated that there were a ...
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Rick Loomis
Rick Loomis (August 24, 1946 – August 23, 2019) was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo, which he managed until his death. Career Early years Richard F. Loomis was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona and attended Coronado High School.Helser, Linda"War on the Homefront: Scottsdale inventor makes conflict and mayhem a game" '' The Arizona Republic'', Phoenix, Arizona, 96th year, number 349, April 30, 1986, page C4. He served in the United States Army for three years starting in 1969, and was stationed at Fort Shafter in Oahu, Hawaii. He had discovered the wargame '' Gettysburg'' by Avalon Hill in a toystore, and in 1970 had invented a game called '' Nuclear Destruction'' which—unlike most tabletop games—included hidden movement; in January 1970, Loomis started sending mail to readers of '' The General'' who had advertised for play-by-mail (PBM) opponents, offering to moderate multiplayer ''Nuclear Destruction'' games. ...
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Tunnels & Trolls
''Tunnels & Trolls'' (abbreviated ''T&T'') is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more accessible alternative to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and is suitable for solitaire, group, and play-by-mail gameplay. History Ken St. Andre, a public librarian in Phoenix, Arizona, liked the idea of fantasy role-playing after reading a friend's ''D&D'' rule books but found the actual rules confusing, so he wrote his own. "I just wanted something I could play with my friends at a reasonable price, with reasonable equipment,” he said. The first edition of ''Tunnels & Trolls'' was self-published in April 1975. In June 1975, publisher Flying Buffalo Inc. released a second edition of the game, and ''Tunnels & Trolls'' quickly became ''D&Ds biggest competitor. ''Tunnels & Trolls'' had similar statistics, classes, and adventures to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' b ...
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Fantasy Role-playing Games
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic, magic practitioners ...
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List Of Play-by-mail Games
This is a list of play-by-mail (PBM) games. It includes games played only by postal mail, those played by mail with a play-by-email (PBEM) option, and games played in a turn-based format only by email or other digital format. It is unclear what the earliest play-by mail game is between chess and Go. ''Diplomacy'' was first played by mail in 1963. In the early 1970s, in the United States, Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Inc, began a number of play-by-mail games; this included games such as '' Nuclear Destruction'' (1970). This marked the beginning of the professional PBM industry. Other publishers followed suit, with significant expansion across the industry in the 1980s. This supported the publication of a number of newsletters from individual play-by-mail companies as well as independent publications such as '' Gaming Universal'', ''Paper Mayhem'', and '' Flagship'' which focused solely on the play-by-mail gaming industry. The sourcing of play-by-mail games in this list largely ...
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Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the creation of '' Dungeons & Dragons'', SJ Games created several role-playing and strategy games with science fiction themes. SJ Games' early titles were microgames initially sold in 4×7 inch ziploc bags, and later in the similarly sized Pocket Box. Games such as '' Ogre'', ''Car Wars'', and ''G.E.V'' (an ''Ogre'' spin-off) were popular during SJ Games' early years. Game designers such as Loren Wiseman and Jonathan Leistiko have worked for Steve Jackson Games. Today SJ Games publishes a variety of games, such as card games, board games, strategy games, and in different genres, such as fantasy, sci-fi, and gothic horror. They also published the book '' Principia Discordia'', the sacred text of the Discordian religion. Raid by th ...
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The Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The magazine is no longer published, but the rights holders maintain a web presence using its final title ''Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer''. History ''The Space Gamer'' (''TSG'') started out as a digest quarterly publication of the brand new Metagaming Concepts company in March 1975. Howard M. Thompson, the owner of Metagaming and the first editor of the magazine, stated "The magazine had been planned for after our third or fourth game but circumstances demand we do it now" (after their first game, '' Stellar Conquest''). Initial issues were in a plain-paper digest format. By issue 17, it had grown to a full size bimonthly magazine, printed on slick paper. When Steve Jackson departed Metagaming to found h ...
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Fighter (Dungeons & Dragons)
The fighter is one of the standard playable character classes in the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A fighter is a versatile, weapons-oriented warrior who fights using skill, strategy and tactics. Fighter is a generic and broad class; individual fighters have diverse backgrounds and different styles. Bodyguards, adventurers, former soldiers, invading bandit kings, or master swordsmen are all fighters, yet they come from all walks of life and backgrounds and often find themselves on very different alignments, goals, and sides in a conflict. Publication history ''Dungeons & Dragons'' The "Fighting Man" was one of the three classes in the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game; the other two classes were Magic-User and Cleric. The paladin was introduced in '' Supplement I - Greyhawk'' (1975), as a subclass of Fighting Man. ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 1st edition The fighter was one of the standard character classes available in the original '' Player's ...
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Play-by-mail Game
A play-by-mail game (also known as a PBM game, PBEM game, or a turn-based game) is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. ''Diplomacy'' has been played by mail since 1963, introducing a multi-player aspect to PBM games. Flying Buffalo Inc. pioneered the first commercially available PBM game in 1970. A small number of PBM companies followed in the 1970s, with an explosion of hundreds of startup PBM companies in the 1980s at the peak of PBM gaming popularity, many of them small hobby companies—more than 90 percent of which eventually folded. A number of independent PBM magazines also started in the 1980s, including '' The Nuts & Bolts of PBM'', ''Gaming Universal'', ''Paper Mayhem'' and ''Flagship''. These magazines eventually went out of print, replaced in the 21st century by the online PBM journal ''Suspense and Decision''. Play-by-mail games—becoming known as "turn-based games" in the ...
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Flying Buffalo Inc
Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI) is a game company with a line of role playing games, card games, and other gaming materials. The company's founder, Rick Loomis, began game publishing with '' Nuclear Destruction'', a play-by-mail game which started the professional PBM industry in the United States. Loomis added games and players while introducing computer moderation and soon incorporated into the company Flying Buffalo Inc. The company published games in other genres, including card games such as ''Nuclear War'' and a role playing game called ''Tunnels & Trolls'', a game similar to ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Flying Buffalo acquired its 10,000th customer account number in 1980 and reached its largest size of 21 employees in 1983. In July 2021, Webbed Sphere bought Flying Buffalo with plans to incorporate Flying Buffalo's products. The PBM games were not included in the sale and were continued by a separate company called Rick Loomis PBM Games. History Flying Buffalo Inc. was founded in Ja ...
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Flying Buffalo
Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI) is a game company with a line of role playing games, card games, and other gaming materials. The company's founder, Rick Loomis, began game publishing with '' Nuclear Destruction'', a play-by-mail game which started the professional PBM industry in the United States. Loomis added games and players while introducing computer moderation and soon incorporated into the company Flying Buffalo Inc. The company published games in other genres, including card games such as ''Nuclear War'' and a role playing game called ''Tunnels & Trolls'', a game similar to ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Flying Buffalo acquired its 10,000th customer account number in 1980 and reached its largest size of 21 employees in 1983. In July 2021, Webbed Sphere bought Flying Buffalo with plans to incorporate Flying Buffalo's products. The PBM games were not included in the sale and were continued by a separate company called Rick Loomis PBM Games. History Flying Buffalo Inc. was founded in ...
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Play-by-mail Game
A play-by-mail game (also known as a PBM game, PBEM game, or a turn-based game) is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. ''Diplomacy'' has been played by mail since 1963, introducing a multi-player aspect to PBM games. Flying Buffalo Inc. pioneered the first commercially available PBM game in 1970. A small number of PBM companies followed in the 1970s, with an explosion of hundreds of startup PBM companies in the 1980s at the peak of PBM gaming popularity, many of them small hobby companies—more than 90 percent of which eventually folded. A number of independent PBM magazines also started in the 1980s, including '' The Nuts & Bolts of PBM'', ''Gaming Universal'', ''Paper Mayhem'' and ''Flagship''. These magazines eventually went out of print, replaced in the 21st century by the online PBM journal ''Suspense and Decision''. Play-by-mail games—becoming known as "turn-based games" in the ...
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