#flying buffalo

[oldschoolfrp]

Playing for the snails and salamanders in the heart of the forest (John L Barnes cover for Sorcerer's Apprentice 15, Flying Buffalo, Summer 1982)

[vintagerpg]

This is a copy of the Starweb PBM rules from 1991-ish (though the game was launched in 1976). It’s closed-ended, in that the 15 players are going for an unknown number of victory points in a range from 1,000 to 10,000 (every player puts a value on their starting sheet, which are then averaged by Flying Buffalo, so no one ever is entirely sure when the game will end). Starweb is apparently much loved, won a pile of awards and along with Heroic Fantasy, Battle Plan, Mobius I and five other legacy games, is apparently still available to play, thanks to Rick Loomis’ heirs (at least as of 2021).

Players can take one of six roles and hail from one of fifteen different homeworlds. They then compete to control as many of the remaining worlds — there are over 200 to gobble up. Each of the roles have different advantages and disadvantages, especially in relation to the length of the game — a merchant or pirate is going to have a slightly easier time of it than a conqueror or a religious zealot, who require time to rack up big scores.

I feel like I could actually play this one. It feels a little simpler, the commands less complex than Battle Plan, less tuned toward conflict, more emphasis on diplomacy. With a big universe, too, I feel like I don’t have to worry as much about proximity to my rivals. I think this comfort stems from the fact that I logged a lot of time playing Trade Wars and Solar Realms Elite on local BBSes back in the ’90s. Starweb reminds me a lot of them.

Michael Carroll on the cover, Steve Crompton on most of the interiors, but Liz Danforth snuck one in!

[rpgcovers]

Tunnels & Trolls: Alice in Weirdworld ~ Flying Buffalo (2020)

[adventuresandshopping]

Adventurers Compendium T&T solo/gm - Flying Buffalo | DriveThruRPG.com

Adventurers Compendium T&T solo/gm - The latest addition to our collection of solo adventures is actually 9 solo adventures and 3 GM adventu

[dungeonsandcartoons]

[rpgsandbox]

Mercenaries Spies & Private Eyes RPG by Michael Stackpole

A New Edition of the rulebook for Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes (MSPE) a modern role playing game by Michael Stackpole.

Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes RPG was first published in 1983 by Flying Buffalo Inc. MSPE (as it came to be known) allowed players to run rpg adventures from the 1800's all the way to the modern era, ranging from Victorian steampunk, and crime noir, to super spy thrillers in the cold war. Michael Stackpole wrote the MSPE role playing game, using the Tunnels & Trolls framework as a jumping off point.

In 1986, Flying Buffalo took a hit from an unrelated disaster, and sold the rights of MSPE to Sleuth Publications. They came out with an edition that had a black & white cover, and they left out a few things that Buffalo had included, and inserted a few new things that weren't in the Buffalo edition. The last existing copies of the Sleuth edition have sold out, so now Flying Buffalo is printing a third (Combined Edition of MSPE) which includes all the material that was in both editions!

The Combined Edition: What's in it? The new edition will contain all the original text and art from the Flying Buffalo and Sleuth editions.  From the Buffalo edition, we will use the amazing painted cover and will include the Tunnels & Thompsons section (which was not in the Sleuth edition) along with some missing art. We have also made various corrections to the rules text that have been found by players and fans over the years.

    Restored and enhanced covers and the Tunnels & Thompsons section

The Sleuth edition had several extra sections at the end of the rules that are not in the Buffalo edition. These include optional rules on aging; 13 fully described statted Non-Player characters (including Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty - illustrated by Liz Danforth) and a special folding version of the MSPE Character sheet. All of these will be added to the Combined Edition.

PLUS New material: On top of that, we are also going to add some new information on using MSPE in sci-fi environments and info on stopping distances for vehicles. All newly illustrated by Steve Crompton. We just might also add a few other rule enhancements based on the response to this Kickstarter.

Plus sample characters/portraits, and additional material added to the Combined Edition!

We will be including all of this in the Combined Edition - (Along with  possibly a few other surprises!)  The rules will  be printed as a trade paperback 8 x 11, and for little extra you can even get your copy of the rules signed by Michael Stackpole. (see details in the pledge levels)

If you are a Tunnels & Trolls player you should get this book to see how T&T evolved to allow for guns, grenades, cars, planes and tech skills. And you can easily adapt the MSPE rules for use with your T&T characters and campaigns. Trolls with grenade launchers? Elves with machine guns? Why not!)

We've already scanned and restored all the pages and the book is ready to go to press. All we need to do is add the page of backer names and give it to the printer. (Assuming we get the money from you - our loyal backers.) So there really should not be a delay.

Pledge today and help bring this classic piece of RPG history back to life again!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Tue, March 26 2019 7:46 PM UTC +00:00

Website: Flying Buffalo Inc

[gruchu]

#Finished commission: Appa from "Avatar: the last Airbender" This monster is ~180 cm long and consist of 80 parts and 13kg of stuffing!  ⭐⭐⭐ < sewn commissions are still closed until 1st June! >

More of my works -> LINK

[oldschoolfrp]

Flying Buffalo's Sorcerer's Apprentice featured more well-known authors than most gaming magazines. The special double issue #9/10, Winter/Spring 1981, included fiction by Roger Zelazny, non-fiction by C J Cherryh and L Sprague de Camp, a T&T dungeon by Larry DiTillio, and a feature by Michael Stackpole. This issue also would have premiered a new story by Manly Wade Wellman but the editor postponed it when Lee Brown Coye's illustrations were temporarily lost in the mail. (Richard Becker cover art)