Starweb (or 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.
Starweb has received numerous reviews from the 1970s to the 21st century with positive and negative comments. Reviewer and game designer Timothy B. Brown stated in 1990 that "StarWeb is arguably the best-loved, most widely known play-by-mail game in history,"Brown 1990. p. 76. and the editor of Flagship magazine said in 2009 that it was "one of the best turn-based games ever". The game has won awards across multiple decades from the 1980s to the 21st century. These include the 1984 Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Play-by-Mail Game, the 1997 Origins Award for Best Ongoing Play-by-Mail Game, the 2000 and 2003 Origins Awards for Best Play-by-Mail Game, and the 2006 Origins Award for Play By Mail Game of the Year.
Play-by-mail genre
Play-by-mail (PBM) games feature a number of differences from tabletop games. The typical PBM game involves many more players than an average tabletop game can support.Greenberg 1993 pp. 8–9. PBM game lengths are usually longer, depending on a number of factors. Turnaround time is how long a player has to prepare and submit "orders" (moves and changes to make in the game) and the company has to process them and send back turn results.Paper Mayhem Jan/Feb 1993 p. 1. The average turnaround time in the 1980s was two weeks, but some modern PBM games are play-by-email (PBEM) with shorter turnaround times of twice per week or faster.Flying Buffalo 2020. Open ended games allow players to strengthen their positions without end, with players continually entering and leaving the game. Examples include Heroic Fantasy and Monster Island.Townsend 1987 p. 24; DuBois 1997 p. 4. Conversely, closed end games typically have all players starting on equal terms, with rapid, intense, player vs. player gameplay that ends when a player or group achieves some victory condition or is unopposed.John Kevin Loth III 1986 p. 42; Paper Mayhem Jan/Feb 1993 p. 1. Examples include Hyborian War and It's a Crime.Lindahl 2020. The complexity of PBM games can range from the relatively simple to the PBM game Empyrean Challenge, once described as "the most complex game system on Earth".John Kevin Loth III 1986 p. 42; Townsend 1988 p. 20.
Once a player has chosen a game and receives an initial game setup, gameplay begins. This generally involves players filling out order sheets for a game (see example image) and sending them to the gaming company. The company processes the turns and returns the results to the player, who completes a subsequent order sheet. Diplomacy is also frequently an important—sometimes indispensable—part of gameplay.Townsend 1987 p. 29; Mouchet 2017 p. 11 The initial choice of a PBM game requires consideration as there is a wide array of possible roles to play, from pirates to space characters to "previously unknown creatures".John Kevin Loth III 1986 pp. 42–43 Close identification with a role typically increases a player's game satisfaction.
History Some games have long been played by mail between two players, such as chess and Go.McLain 1993 PBM play of Diplomacy—a multiplayer game—began in 1963.Babcock 2013. p. 16. The emergence of the professional PBM industry occurred less than a decade later. Rick Loomis, "generally recognized as the founder of the PBM industry",The Editors 1985. p. 35. accomplished this by launching Flying Buffalo Inc. and his first PBM game, Nuclear Destruction, in 1970. Professional game moderation started in 1971 at Flying Buffalo.Townsend 1988. p. 20. For approximately five years, Flying Buffalo was the single dominant company in the US PBM industry until Schubel & Son entered the field in about 1976 with the human-moderated Tribes of Crane. It was within this environment that Starweb entered the PBM field.
Publication history In the mid-1970s, Flying Buffalo discovered significant demand for a space-based PBM game through survey.Loomis. Consequently, Rick Loomis invented Starweb which Flying Buffalo released as its second PBM game.Appelcline 2011. p. 35. The game launched in 1975.Loomis 1987. p. 26. By 1979, the company had about 360 active Starweb games.Loomis 1979. p. 1. Starweb was Flying Buffalo's most popular game in 1984.Loomis 1984. p. 4. The original game instructions were in a "mimeographed" manual which eventually required a second edition to address player confusion.Reese 1977. p. 35. The instructions went through multiple additional revisions over the following decade. By 1992, the company had run more than 1,100 games of Starweb.Loomis 1992. p. 51.
Starweb has been featured in various gaming magazines. The Nuts & Bolts of Starweb was the first PBM magazine not published by a PBM company.Loomis 1985. p. 36. Although it morphed over time, its publisher, Rick Buda, started it as a fanzine for Starweb in June 1980, especially to discuss how to play his favorite character, the Berserker.Buda 2015. p. 91. Starweb has also been reviewed in gaming magazines such as Challenge, The Space Gamer, and White Dwarf as well as PBM magazines such as Flagship and Paper Mayhem. In 1980, the game enjoyed substantial growth from advertising in science fiction magazines.
Starweb is still available for play. After the August 4, 2021 sale of Flying Buffalo Inc. to Webbed Sphere,Flying Buffalo Inc. 2021. the PBM games—which were not included in the sale—continued under a new company: Rick Loomis PBM Games.Crompton 2021. p. 1. The company, run by Loomis' sisters and their PBM computer expert, continues to offer Starweb by postal mail and play-by-email (PBEM) as of August 2021 to include several variants.Rick Loomis PBM 2021. p. 2.
Gameplay According to reviewer Jay Reese, Starweb "is a science fiction game of stars and star fleets". Each game has fifteen players, each with one homeworld.Starweb 2008. These players compete for the 225 available worlds. Six different identities are available for play: Apostle, Artifact Collector, Berserker, Empire Builder, Merchant, and Pirate. Each character type obtains points for different actions. For example, Apostles earn five points per world controlled and one point per ten existing converts, among other methods, to gain points in a given turn.Flying Buffalo Inc 2008. Artifacts provide points as well—the game has ninety standard and various special artifacts available during gameplay. Holding a standard artifact provides a player five points per turn while a special artifact can provide a larger number of points, such as the Treasure of Polaris at 20 points per turn. Diplomacy and player interaction is a critical aspect of gameplay, and Timothy B. Brown emphasizes that "Starweb is a game of diplomacy."Brown 1990. p. 77.
The editors of Flagship magazine provided the following as a summary of gameplay in 1983: You are the ruler of a single planet of beings just beginning to explore a web of 225 planets linked by complex and unmapped paths. You can build ships to explore and conquer; each of your ships and planets will get a report on enemy forces at or moving past the planet, as well as a list of the neighboring worlds, thereby enabling you gradually to build up a map of the Web.Flagship staff 1983. p. 11.
Loomis stated that in 1979 the Merchant character was winning the most, and was, at the time, "the easiest position to play, generally, and the hardest to stop, once he gets started" while an Empire Builder or Apostle would likely require a longer game to score a victory.Loomis 1979. p. 1. As of 1980, player's moves were written in a precise, but complex coded format. However, according to reviewer Paul S. Person, game mechanics were simple—even simplistic for some—with a universe limited in size and "easily written" orders.
The game ends when a player reaches an unrevealed point total determined at the beginning of the game. Although this total is normally between 1,000 and 10,000 points, "[s]trategy changes radically in longer games". Graham Bucknell described a version of Starweb called "25,000 Starweb" in the Winter 1983 issue of Flagship where the game ended when a player achieved 25,000 points.Buckell 1983. p. 11. In a March 1983 issue of The Space Gamer, A.D. Young stated that the average game ended on turn 22 with an average of 7,500 points.Young 1983. p. 12. In 1980, turns took three to four weeks, allowing fifteen to twenty turns annually, causing some games to take longer than a year,Reese 1977. p. 36. as full games take about eighteen turns, according to reviewer Timothy Brown. In late 2008, the publisher stated that approximately 10,000 points was the game's goal.
Variations Rick Loomis stated in 2014 that a "Multi" game of Starweb allows each of its five players to roleplay three different identities as one position.Loomis 2014. p. 35. According to the game publisher, this is more costly, more challenging, and for advanced players. Another variation is anonymous play, which prevents player interaction. "Bitter End Starweb" is played without points, ending when "one player owns more than half of the worlds on the map". Games of this version have lasted longer than four years.Loomis 1984. p. 3. A longer variant, played with points, is "Extra-long Starweb", where 50,000 versus 25,000 points won.Loomis 1980. p. 2. Other variations include combinations of variables, such as "Slow Multi Anonymous Starweb". In 1980, the company offered a computer version, where custom programs could play each other (human assistance not allowed).Loomis 1980. p. 3.
In the late 1970s, Flying Buffalo had additional Starweb variations. These included "Blitz Starweb" with 9-day versus 14-day order turnarounds, "Slow Starweb" with 3-week turnarounds (automatic for foreign players), "Anonymous Starweb" which prohibited diplomacy, "Bribery Starweb" which allowed players to purchase extra game items, and "California Starweb" which comprised players from the state of California.Flying Buffalo 1979. p. 16. Flying Buffalo offered similar versions for New York, Chicago, and Florida.Loomis 1978. p. 7. "War Against Robots" pitted empire builders and Berserkers against each other in equal numbers.Loomis 1978. p. 12. Reviewer Glenn T. Wilson described a pending variant called "15-Character Solitaire" in 1985, as one-player race to 10,000 points for each of 15 characters.Wilson 1985. p. 5. In 1986, Flying Buffalo attempted an All-Female version based on recommendations.Loomis 1986. p. 2. In 1997, there was a "Time Travel" variant offered where players could redo their previous turn once during the game.Loomis 1998. p. 1.
Reception