Flying Buffalo

Last updated
Flying Buffalo Inc.
Type Public
Industry Role-playing game publisher, Play-by-mail game moderator
FoundedJanuary 1970 [1]
Headquarters Scottsdale, Arizona
Key people
 Rick Loomis, Steve MacGregor, John Ward (Webbed Sphere CEO)
Products Tunnels & Trolls , Nuclear War
Website www.flyingbuffalo.com

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.

Contents

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 January 1970. [2] That year, Rick Loomis invented a game called Nuclear Destruction , a play-by-mail game, for which he moderated multiplayer games. [3] : 34 Nuclear Destruction started the professional PBM industry. [4] He soon had more than 200 players involved across multiple games, and asked fellow soldier Steve MacGregor to write a computer program to help moderate the games; they started renting time on a computer near Fort Shafter, using the name Flying Buffalo devised by Loomis. [3] : 34  [5]

A Raytheon Data Systems 704. Used here as an onsite seismic data processing system in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1974 RDS 704 onsite seismic processing system.jpg
A Raytheon Data Systems 704. Used here as an onsite seismic data processing system in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1974

Loomis published the first issue of his bi-monthly magazine in September 1971—one two-sided page. [6] [lower-alpha 1] Initially called The Flying Buffalo's Favorite Magazine, Loomis eventually renamed it to Flying Buffalo Quarterly. [7]

After leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc., or FBI. [3] : 34  Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run turns for their PBM games. [3] : 35  According to Loomis in 1971, the computer cost $15,000 and had "4000 words of memory ... a teletypewriter, and a paper [tape] reader/punch". [8]

Also in 1972, Loomis acquired and published Nuclear War ; it soon became one of Flying Buffalo's best sellers. [3] : 35  In 1975 they published Tunnels & Trolls , a fantasy role playing game generally similar to Dungeons & Dragons . Later products included background materials for fantasy role playing games, which became the "Catalyst" series. In 1976 the company started running a space exploration/conquest PBM game titled Starweb . In 1978 they purchased a board wargame titled Schutztruppe from game designer Jim Bumpas. [9] Also in 1978 the company began publishing Sorcerer's Apprentice. [10] The company's gross sales in 1978 was $125,000 with expenses at $130,000. [11] [lower-alpha 2] 1979 brought some additional changes. Flying Buffalo's Vice President, Dave Slight, died, slowing PBM operations. The company purchased another Raytheon computer from a local doctor's office, which promised to speed printing by an order of magnitude (although it initially was missing some key required equipment). [11]

In 1980, the company stated that it had more than 3,000 players worldwide. [12] The staff reached its largest size of over 21 employees in 1983. [13] : 2529  The company also ran a gaming store at various locations in Tempe, Arizona until 1985. In 1985, Flying Buffalo reached a milestone, assigning its 10,000th account number. [14] The company noted that, although account No. 1 went to its founder, Rick Loomis, account No. 10,000 went to a customer from Athens, Alabama. [14]

In 1992, the fiction book Mage's Blood and Old Bones: A Tunnels & Trolls Shared World Anthology was published by Flying Buffalo. [15] Following the dissolution of TSR in 1997, Flying Buffalo remains the oldest pen-and-paper role-playing game publisher in the world. [13] : 115 

In July 2021, Webbed Sphere purchased Flying Buffalo Inc. with plans for Flying Buffalo to join its existing product lines. [16] The PBM games were not included in the sale and a separate company, Rick Loomis PBM Games, continues to run nine PBM games originally published by Flying Buffalo, including Heroic Fantasy , Nuclear Destruction , Starweb , and others. [17]

Play-by-mail games

Flying Buffalo noted in their 14-years history to 1985, some of their PBM games had been run hundreds of times each, including over 870 games of Starweb , 930 of Battle Plan, and 720 of Nuclear Destruction . [14] The company was also up to No. 50 in its print run of Flying Buffalo Quarterly, its company magazine. [14] [lower-alpha 3] The company published various play-by-mail games. [19]

Other products

The company produced a range of unusual dice, such as a set to determine which toppings to order on pizza, and currently hold the printing rights to the Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds flip book systems.[ citation needed ]

Awards

Various Flying Buffalo games have won awards. [20]

The Origins Hall of Fame award is given to game designers who have the best contributions of their field. Multiple Flying Buffalo writers and designers have won this award.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Loomis said he had 150 customers at the time.
  2. ↑ Loomis said the company had run for two years as a hobby and seven years as a business at a loss. [11]
  3. ↑ Flying Buffalo Quarterly was initially called The Flying Buffalo's Favorite Magazine from issue No. 1 to at least issue No. 36. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Play-by-mail game</span> Games played through postal mail, email or other digital media

A play-by-mail 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.

Starweb is a closed-end, space-based, play-by-mail (PBM) game. First published by Flying Buffalo Inc. in 1976, it was the company's second PBM game after Nuclear Destruction, the game that started the PBM industry in 1970. Players today can choose a postal mail or email format. Fifteen players per game assume one of six available roles and explore and conquer planets within a universe comprising 225 worlds. The object of the game is to attain a predetermined number of points which are generated by various actions during gameplay. Multiple game variants are available. Starweb is still available for play as of 2021 through the company Rick Loomis PBM Games.

Catalyst is a series of fantasy role-playing game supplements created by Flying Buffalo as a series of game aides that could be used with any medieval fantasy-themed role-playing game system. The first supplement, Grimtooth's Traps, was released in 1981. Numerous other Catalyst books were produced, including the Citybook series, seven Traps books, Treasure Vault, and the Lejentia campaign setting. The latest, City of the Gods Map Pack was produced in 2011.

<i>Legends</i> (play-by-mail game)

Legends is a turn-based, fantasy role-playing game. It is a closed-ended, computer-moderated game with a medieval setting, currently published in English by Harlequin Games. Jim Landes, owner of Midnight Games, began developing the game in 1984, eventually publishing it in December 1989 as a play-by-mail (PBM) game after over a year of playtesting. The initial game comprised a module and game system built on the publisher's existing game, Epic, and was run briefly as Swords of Pelarn before publication as Legends. The first of numerous game modules was Crown of Avalon, which allowed up to 200 players per game. Demand by 1991 was "incredible". Games could be lengthy, initially between three and ten years of play, settling into an average of three years by 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Loomis</span> American game designer (1946–2019)

Rick Loomis was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo, which he managed until his death.

<i>Empyrean Challenge</i> Play-by-mail game

Empyrean Challenge is a strategic science fiction play-by-mail (PBM) game. Published by Superior Simulations in 1978, its introduction was important to the nascent PBM industry. 150 players per game strived to dominate a cluster of star systems. Diplomacy, combat, economics, technological development, colonization, and other factors were important aspects of gameplay. Detailed work was required in all aspects of the game, requiring a significant investment in time for players. Reviewer Jim Townsend stated in 1988 that Empyrean Challenge was "the most complex game system on Earth".

Trajan's Treacherous Trap is a play-by-mail game that was published by Flying Buffalo in 1979.

<i>The Nuts & Bolts of PBM</i>

The Nuts & Bolts of PBM was a magazine dedicated to play-by-mail games, first published in June 1980 as Nuts and Bolts of Starweb, and edited by Richard J. Buda. The magazine incorporated in 1983 to Bolt Publications. Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games stated in 1985 that the Nuts & Bolts of PBM was the first PBM magazine not published by a PBM company. He stated that "It was a fun magazine, but somewhat ahead of its time, and it had no financial backing." Afterward, the name changed to Nuts & Bolts of Gaming.

<i>Heroic Fantasy</i> Play-by-mail fantasy game

Heroic Fantasy is a computer-moderated, dungeon crawl play-by-mail game. It has been active since 1982 when it was published by Flying Buffalo. The initial edition involved nine dungeon levels. Flying Buffalo published subsequent editions due to challenging gameplay initially, eventually limiting the game to four dungeon levels with a fifth outdoors level where players can assemble an army and capture one or more castles. The game is open-ended; gameplay continues until players decide to stop.

<i>Galactic Conflict</i> Play-by-mail game

Galactic Conflict is a space-based, computer-moderated, play-by-mail game originally published by Flying Buffalo in 1982. As August 2021, Rick Loomis PBM Games took over as game publisher. During gameplay, six to fifteen players expand across the galaxy, building industrial capacity and pursuing Civilian Projects through various means. Some player diplomacy is typical. The game received multiple reviews in the early 1980s, receiving generally positive comments.

<i>Hyborian War</i> Fantasy role-playing game

Hyborian War is a play-by-mail game published by Reality Simulations, Inc. It takes place during the Hyborian Age in the world of Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The game has been continuously available for worldwide play since its inception in 1985 and has changed little in its overall format. It uses a computer program to adjudicate player orders. Although it relies on postal mail or email and has turnaround times which are relatively long for the digital age of video games, Hyborian War has remained active into the 21st century.

Illuminati is a computer-moderated play-by-mail game published by Flying Buffalo Inc. It is based on the Illuminati card game by Steve Jackson Games. It was originally owned by Adventure Systems but transitioned to Flying Buffalo Inc in 1986. The game's central focus is on conspiracy and intrigue and involved 24 players playing either by email or by mail in turns processed simultaneously by computer. Illuminati has won the Origins Award for Best Play-By-Mail Game seven times, once in 1985 and six times in the 1990s, and was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in 1997.

Midgard is an open-end, medieval fantasy play-by-mail game. It was published in 1984 by Time Space Simulations. Through 1996, the game passed through more than four different publishers, including Midgard USA. As of 2022, Talisman Games is the publisher. At initial publication, Midgard was computer moderated with partial human moderation.

<i>Nuclear Destruction</i> Fantasy role-playing game

Nuclear Destruction is a play-by-mail (PBM) game. It was published by Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Inc. in 1970. As the first professional PBM game, it started the commercial PBM industry. Offered by postal mail initially, the game is available by email as well in the 21st century. Active for 52 years, as of October 2021, Rick Loomis PBM Games publishes the game. Players use strategic missiles, factories, money, and other elements of gameplay with a focus on diplomacy to win by becoming the sole survivor.

Lords of the Earth (LOTE) is a play-by-email game, first published by Thomas Harlan in 1983 during a growing era of PBM games. Initially played by postal mail, the game featured mixed moderation—it was computer moderated with some human assistance. By 2002, the publisher processed turns by email (PBeM). Lords of the Earth comprises multiple campaigns, each one a separate game. Campaign 1 is the oldest, set in the mid-1800s in the "Age of Air and Steam". The settings for other campaign starts range from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE on a global scale, although one featured an outer space setting.

<i>Battle Plan</i> Play-by-mail space exploration game

Battle Plan is a closed-end, military strategy, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. It was first published by Flying Buffalo Inc. in 1972, as one of the company's game offerings after Nuclear Destruction, the game that started the PBM industry in 1970. In August 2021, Rick Loomis PBM Games began publishing the game.

<i>Galac-Tac</i> Play-by-mail space exploration game

Galac-Tac is a closed-end, science fiction, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. It was first published by Phoenix Publications in 1982. By 1990, the publisher had changed its name to Delta Games, and then later to Talisman Games. In 2010, Talisman Games changed ownership and transitioned Galac-Tac to a web-based game. It is still available for play by postal mail or email for those with web access challenges. The game has been updated as well as reviewed multiple times in its 40 years of active play. Various reviews in the 1980s and 1990s provided both positive and negative comments as well as potential areas for the game to improve. The game has been featured numerous times in the modern PBM magazine, Suspense & Decision.

<i>Victory! The Battle for Europe</i> Play-by-mail wargame

Victory! The Battle for Europe is a closed-end, military strategy, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. The game was first published by Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. in 1991 after a period of initial growth in the PBM industry. The game centers on Europe while including parts of North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. Forty players start each game with equal resources among countries, although geography causes differences between starting positions. Games last for about three years each. The game received positive reviews and rankings in the PBM magazine Paper Mayhem in the 1990s, including tying for second place in its Best PBM Game of 1995 list.

<i>Quest</i> (game) Play-by-mail fantasy game

Quest is an open-end, fantasy, play-by-mail (PBM) role-playing game. Initially released in the United Kingdom in 1991, by Adventures by Mail, it later became available for play in the United States, Australia, and other countries in Europe. The game has a First and Second Age, initially comprising about twenty worlds of up to 1,000 parties controlled by players. After the year 2000, the worlds consolidated into four. The current publisher is KJC Games.

References

  1. ↑ "PBM Company Listing". The Journal of the PBM Gamer (7th ed.). Paper Mayhem. 1993. p. 44.
  2. ↑ "PBM Company Listing". The Journal of the PBM Gamer (7th ed.). Paper Mayhem. 1993. p. 44.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  4. ↑ Townsend, Jim (1988). "The PBM Corner". White Wolf Magazine . No. 11. White Wolf Publishing. p. 20.
  5. ↑ Wichner, David (August 12, 1991). "Flying Buffalo rounds up players Moves mailed to fantasy game entrepreneur". Phoenix Gazette . p. B5.
  6. ↑ Loomis, Rick (October 1984). "Golden Anniversary". Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 50. p. 1.
  7. ↑ Loomis, Rick (October 1984). "The Flying Buffalo's Favorite Magazine: Issue #1 [Reprint]". Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 50. p. 16.
  8. ↑ Loomis, Rick (October 1984). "Golden Anniversary". Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 50. pp. 1, 16.
  9. ↑ "Schutztruppe: East African Guerilla Warfare, 1914–1918 (1975)". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Forrest (May–June 1980). "A Guide to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Game Publishers". The Space Gamer. No. 28. p. 15.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Loomis, Rick (June 1979). "Editorial". Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 39. p. 1.
  12. ↑ Flying Buffalo, Inc. (August–September 1980). "StarWeb". Different Worlds . No. 9. p. 48.
  13. 1 2 Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, MD: Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-075-5.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Flying Buffalo (Jan–Feb 1985). "Gameline – News and Items: Flying Buffalo Assigns 10,000th Account Number". Paper Mayhem. No. 10. p. 18.
  15. ↑ Mage's blood & old bones : A tunnels and trolls shared world anthology.
  16. ↑ Jeffrey Dohm-Sanchez (August 4, 2021). "Webbed Sphere, Inc. Acquires Flying Buffalo, Inc". ICv2. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Flying Buffalo Has Been Sold". Rick Loomis PBM. August 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Back Issues". Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 39. June 1979. p. 11.
  19. ↑ Charles Mosteller (6 January 2011). "PBM Boneyard". PlayByMail.net. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Awards we have won". Flying Buffalo.
  21. ↑ "Origins/Charles Roberts Award Winners (1980)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  22. ↑ "Origins Award Winners (1993)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  23. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1982". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  24. 1 2 "Origins Game Fair Winners 1990". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-10-04.
  25. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1991". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-09-24.
  26. 1 2 3 "Origins Game Fair Winners 1992". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-10-04.
  27. 1 2 "Origins Game Fair Winners 1997". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  28. 1 2 "Origins Game Fair Winners 1983". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  29. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1984". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  30. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2000". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  31. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2003". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  32. ↑ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2006". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  33. ↑ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1988". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  34. ↑ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1993". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  35. ↑ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1995". GAMA – Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  36. ↑ "Len St Andre Inducted in the Origins Awards Hall of Fame". Dungeon Master Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
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