Star Venture

Last updated
Star Venture
Designers George V. Schubel
Publishers Schubel & Son
Years active1982 to Unknown
GenresSpace fantasy, Grand diplomacy
LanguagesEnglish
SystemsComputer moderated
Playing timeOpen-ended
Materials requiredInstructions, order sheets, turn results, paper, pencil
Media type Play-by-mail

Star Venture is a play-by-mail game begun by Schubel & Son in 1982. The game was open-ended and computer moderated.

Contents

Gameplay

"Many players have come into the game from Schubel & Son's Tribes of Crane, and a more competitive and cunning collection of players would be hard to find."

—W.G. Armintrout, 1983. [1]

Star Venture was a play-by-mail computer-moderated game set in a 125-star galaxy, in which each player has one or more starships at their disposal to use in whatever way they need. [2] The game is open-ended and players have no victory conditions to achieve to win the game. [1]

Within certain limits, players begin at their starport (called Imperia) by purchasing from a menu of available starships. [1] Ships are differentiated by space available to carry items (cargo, weapons, personnel, etc.), and their damage rating. [1] Players use ground parties and colonies to explore worlds in the game; according to reviewer W.G. Armintrout, "Colonies are what people fight over", for economic reasons. [1] Combat is part of the game to include combat between ships and between ships and colonies. [1] According to Armintrout, competition in the game was fierce because many players came from Schubel & Son's game The Tribes of Crane . [1] He also noted the importance of alliances in the game. [2]

Reception

In the April 1983 edition of Dragon (Issue 72), Michael Gray stated "This game is thematically quite like Star Master , though it seems to be more closely structured." [3]

W.G. Armintrout reviewed Star Venture in The Space Gamer No. 63. [4] Armintrout commented that "Star Venture is a fascinating game. I recommend it, with a few warnings: (1) This is not a game for novices, and (2) it requires some mathematical ability and a blazing competitive will. I also commend Schubel & Son for their lightning speed in publishing errata and in implementing player suggestions (already adding convoy and special message rules)." [4]

See also

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 1975, 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.

Starmaster is a open-ended, computer-moderated play-by-mail game that was published and administered by Schubel & Son.

The Tribes of Crane is a play-by-mail game that was published by Schubel & Son. The game was launched in 1978.

Universe II is a computer-moderated, science fiction, play-by-mail game designed by Jon Clemens and published by Clemens and Associates, Inc. in 1979.

<i>Empyrean Challenge</i> Science fiction 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 strove 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".

<i>The Nuts & Bolts of PBM</i> American play-by-mail magazine

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.

Starlord is an open-ended, computer moderated, space-based play-by-mail game. Designed and moderated by Mike Singleton, gameplay began initially in the United Kingdom, with Flying Buffalo launching a version in the United States in 1983. Gameplay was limited to 50 players roleplaying as Starlords with the goal of becoming emperor by conquering the Throne Star. Starlord was reviewed multiple times in magazines such as Dragon and The Space Gamer in the early 1980s, receiving generally positive reviews, with one reviewer noting the possibility of the game lasting for years.

<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.

Catacombs of Chaos is a play-by-mail game that was published by Schubel & Son.

<i>Galactic Conflict</i> Science fiction 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.

Alien Conflict is a play-by-mail game by Schubel & Son begun in 1983.

Star Trek: The Correspondence Game is a play-by-mail game that was published by Entertainment Concepts, Inc.

Strategic Conflict is a play-by-mail game by Schubel & Son begun in 1983.

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.

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—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". Other campaigns begin from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE. Settings were global in scale, with one campaign featuring an outer space setting.

Schubel & Son was a hobby and gaming company that published play-by-mail (PBM) games. The company began in 1974 and expanded to large-scale PBM games in August 1978. It also published the game The Tribes of Crane in 1978, followed by StarMaster in 1980 and Global Supremacy in 1982.

<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.

Arena Combat is a closed-end, computer-moderated play-by-mail (PBM) gladiatorial combat game.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.