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Last time I checked, these are still around. I was thinking of starting in on, recently.

However, when I went to the Flying Buffalo Website they distracted me with the new Japanese "Lost Worlds" gamebooks (which are sort of like the old Lost Worlds games books, except containing perverted pictures of cartoon girls in place of the rather dull "Man with Sword" or "Skeleton with Shield" I remembered from my childhood.).

Oh, don't go there! I don't want them to sell out of any more and have to order them from Hobby Link Japan again!

There was (and still is) a company called Flying Buffalo that ran play-by-mail, computer-mediated games. Their all-time favorite was called StarWeb, but they also had a game called Time Trap. In it, you placed units on a playing field, and they attempted to destroy each other. Units could move, shoot, or store energy; with enough stored energy, a unit could move backwards in game time. Moving N turns back took N^2 energy units, and the computer re-resolved the position from the earliest intervention.

There's still prior art to be had, but it's not quite so easy to find it.

Persistent virtual worlds have existed since the 70's. They had a snail mail interface.

Flying Buffalo

The first multi-player play-by-mail game (probably Starweb) may not be considered persistent (it had victory conditions, and games ended), but persistent games followed. I played a game called Empyrian Challenge in the early to mid 80's. It was a large-scale, persistent game.

Playing by email was a logical extension. Playing in realtime was a logical extension. Adding 3D graphics was a logical extension (prior art: video games).

Card games cause violence too. My coworker got me into the Nuclear War Card Game and now I keep a stockpile of ICBMs just in case. Come to think of it, my neighbor has been blocking us in with the way they park their car. *pushes button*

Here ya go http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/stamps.htm ;-}

On the Amiga: http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/nucl earw.htm

and on the tabletop (for you youngsters, we used to play games using playing surfaces made from compressed paper products that involved actually having people in the same room):

http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/nucwar.htm

Now, Tunnels and Trolls made this their focus for a while. I have a ton of Solitare dungeons for T&T.

Chaosium had their Alone Against series, though I think there were only two, Alone Against the Wendigo and Alone Against the Dark, I have both. Pagan Publishing published a similar solitare scenarion Alone on Halloween which I do not have, and looking at the current price probably never will.

Oh, and there is something called Fighting Fantasy which is apparently British, so I missed out on that.

Still, being an angry loner as a teenager really paid off for me, as you can see....

The disparity of incomes allowing some gamers access to more resources or opportunities in games is not a new problem. In the play-by-mail games arena, it was a problem from day 1. When I played Starweb (http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/) in the late 70s, I had access to free long distance calls at night (this was before Bell was broken up and long distance was pretty expensive), quite an advantage in doing diplomacy compared to the players that had to rely on letters. The Schubel and Sons game "Tribes of Crane" allowed players to run multiple tribes and pay to submit extra order sheets with each turn. A basic turn was on the order of $10 in constant dollars, and there were players spending $200 per turn. On multiple positions. Submitting orders every 10 to 14 days. Needless to say, they owned your posterior if they took a dislike to you.

Nuclear War, a classic, still in print (and it has a couple expansions). Good for 4+ people, fast to set up and play. There's not a terrific amount of skill involved, but there's a high "screw you" factor, if you're into that sort of thing :)

And if you can find it, Family Business by Mayfair. Another fast game for 4+ people, and lots of backstabbing. Too bad it's not in print any more.

And I'll throw my "Me Too" behind Cosmic Encounter which IMHO has an absolutely huge replay value, particularly the old Eon version.

No Nuke War?
No Illuminati?
No Hackers?

I pronounce you all BLASPHEMERS and revoke your geek status, ALL OF YOU!

And after all, who can forget doing combinations?

"OK, I'll see your Bavarian Gnomes, and I'll sic Skippy on your servers at No Such Agency!"

From the comments here, it seems quite a few people here have only tried games like Diplomacy, chess etc. You're missing a whole other world of games which aren't chess. :-) Some of the hand-moderated games, in particular, have incredibly detailed worlds and plotlines. Ever wanted to be in a novel?

You might want to start here, with the PBM list. Or you could drop by the rec.games.pbm newsgroup for recommendations, chat etc. (Actually, do that anyway.) You might even consider looking at Flagship. There used to be a policy of sending a sample copy to interested folk, although I don't know if that policy still exists.

From games I've played, Lizards! is good fun; Madhouse run some good games, and have extremely good customer service. You've also got Middle Earth Games running various LoTR games.

Go on, have a stab. You too can get addicted. ;-)

I've been part of an active PBeM RPG for a few years now. Slow paced, but a fun diversion. But the original post seems more along the lines of what Flying Buffalo has been doing forever...

A full list is here http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/pbm.htm (The junk filter won't let me quote the page with links...)

I've been part of an active PBeM RPG for a few years now. Slow paced, but a fun diversion. But the original post seems more along the lines of what Flying Buffalo has been doing forever...

A full list is here http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/pbm.htm (The junk filter won't let me quote the page with links...)

Were you one of the T&T guys, maybe? I'd guess Rick Loomis or Michael Stackpole?

I am not concerned - I have the Super Vaccine and a 100 Megaton bomb and I ain't afraid to use them!

Per my post in the other /. thread on this sort of subject:

Nuke War.

Gotta be Nuke War.

Got change for 25 million people?

Per my post in the other /. thread on this sort of subject:

Nuke War.

Gotta be Nuke War.

Got change for 25 million people?

Nuke War.

Gotta be Nuke War.

Got change for 25 million people?

Nuke War.

Gotta be Nuke War.

Got change for 25 million people?

Wizwar from Jolly Games is a Great card/board game for 2-4 Players... and What says X-mas more than a game of Nuclear War? Talk about a great card game.. From back before card games were hot. Check out flying buffalo games for Nuke War and many others.

-Jason