Lords of the Earth

Example Hyborian War turn 1 order sheet for the Border Kingdom

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.[3][lower-alpha 1] 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.[5] 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.[6][lower-alpha 2] 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.[7] 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.[8] Examples include Hyborian War and It's a Crime.[9] 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".[10][lower-alpha 3]

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.[5] The company processes the turns and returns the results to the player, who completes a subsequent order sheet.[5] Diplomacy is also frequently an important—sometimes indispensable—part of gameplay.[12] 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".[13] Close identification with a role typically increases a player's game satisfaction.[8][lower-alpha 4]

History

The earliest play-by-mail games developed as a way for geographically separated gamers to compete with each other using postal mail. Chess and Go are among the oldest examples of this.[14] In these two-player games, players sent moves directly to each other. Multi-player games emerged later: Diplomacy is an early example of this type, emerging in 1963, in which a central game master manages the game, receiving moves and publishing adjudications.[15] According to Shannon Appelcline, there was some PBM play in the 1960s, but not much.[16] For example, some wargamers began playing Stalingrad by mail in this period.[16]

"Rick Loomis is generally recognized as the founder of the PBM industry."

— The Editors of Space Gamer Magazine, 1985.[17]

In the early 1970s, in the United States, Rick Loomis, of Flying Buffalo Inc., began a number of multi-player play-by-mail games;[18] these included games such as Nuclear Destruction, which launched in 1970.[6] This began the professional PBM industry in the United States.[19] Professional game moderation started in 1971 at Flying Buffalo which later added games such as Battleplan, Starweb, and others, which by the late 1980s were all computer moderated.[11][lower-alpha 5]

Turn results for Empyrean Challenge could be 1,000 pages in length.[11]

For approximately five years, Flying Buffalo was the single dominant company in the US PBM industry until Schubel & Son entered the field in roughly 1976 with the human-moderated Tribes of Crane.[11][lower-alpha 6] Schubel & Son introduced fee structure innovations which allowed players to pay for additional options or special actions outside of the rules. For players with larger bankrolls, this provided advantages and the ability to game the system.[11][lower-alpha 7] The next big entrant was Superior Simulations with its game Empyrean Challenge in 1978.[11] Reviewer Jim Townsend asserted that it was "the most complex game system on Earth" with some large position turn results 1,000 pages in length.[11]

In the early 1980s, the field of PBM players was growing.[23] Individual PBM game moderators were plentiful in 1980.[24][lower-alpha 8] However, the PBM industry in 1980 was still nascent: there were still only two sizable commercial PBM companies, and only a few small ones.[25] The most popular games of 1980 were Starweb and Tribes of Crane.[25][lower-alpha 9] It was in this environment that Thomas Harlan launched Lords of the Earth.

The 1st Lords of the Earth Campaign started in 1983.[26] Thomas Harlan designed the original rules.[27] In 1995, the game was run by postal mail and had mixed-moderation—it was hand moderated with computer assistance.[26] By 2002, the game had become play-by-email (PBeM).[28]

In 2002, Martin Helsdon asserted that Campaign 1 (LOTE01) might have been the "longest continuously running PBM" game after more than twenty years of play.[29] Campaign 1 was the oldest of many Lords of the Earth universes.[30] This campaign was set in the mid-1800s, in the "Age of Air and Steam" which was global in scale.[31] According to Warren Bruhn, campaigns have started in periods from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE.[26] Although the games typically have a global scale, game settings have included outer space as well.[26]

In 2002, the 1st Campaign included players from across North America, as well as Australia, France, and the United Kingdom.[32]

Each player represents a nation, with more than fifty players competing in certain campaigns.[26] Various nation types are available, depending on the campaign, such as barbarian or seafaring, secret nations, religious groups, and merchant consortia.[26] Map features include varied terrain, religions, wealth, as well as the ability to resist others using diplomacy or warfare.[26] The game is open-ended, with no set victory conditions.[26] One game takes about 25 years.[1]

The 1st campaign focused more on nation development versus expansion by conquest.[26] By 2002, gameplay had progressed from the year 1000 to 1752 CE.[29] It supplemented the base rules with a Renaissance and Industrial addition.[33] A subsequent Modern Age rulebook combined all rules editions for the campaign.[34] In the 1st campaign, gameplay spanned combat, economics, intrigue, and social and cultural topics.[33] Additionally, "Players found universities, build cities, create trade routes, massacre populations, enforce religious conversions, engage in both overt and covert warfare, forge alliances, break treaties, and sometimes suffer the dread dynastic failure, when their nation implodes".[33] Global calamities were much more frequent in Campaign 1 relative to other campaigns.[33] Player interaction is significant, occurring by phone, email, and online discussions.[35]

Gamemasters for subsequent campaigns can adjust Harlan's original rule set. Leslie Dodd added a diplomacy addendum to Game 42.[27] Game turn periods begin at five years each and decrease as the game continues.[36]

Martin Helsdon reviewed the game in various issues of Flagship magazine in 2002–2003. He noted drawbacks such as lengthy rules and "GM burnout".[2] He recommended the game, stating that "it is an intriguing and frustrating game with a depth and breadth not equalled by any other I have encountered".[2] He noted that some players took gameplay overly serious, even "using false identities or smear campaigns".[2]

• List of play-by-mail games