Played for points, Starweb is primarily a hidden movement wargame. Six different types of players gain points in different ways; nevertheless, most victories come from taking something away from somebody else. Players write down their orders using an arcane command language, which is then entered into the Starwebcomputer program and the orders calculated simultaneously. The results are then printed and mailed back to the players. In recent years the system has moved to e-mail. Scoring rules differ based on the character class. The game ends when any player reaches a score determined at the beginning of the game. One interesting concept in the game is the idea of "artifacts", a number of which are randomly scattered around the game map during setup. The artifacts have certain point values for each class, but the Artifact Collector gains considerably more points for holding collections of them in a single place. One of the artifacts, The Black Box, has a random effect which is not revealed to the players. Starweb uses the term "Berserker" with permission of Fred Saberhagen; Saberhagen returned the favor by using a fictionalized Starweb game as a backdrop for his novel Octagon.
Publication history
When players expressed an interest in PBM in a science-fiction setting, Flying Buffalo released Starweb as its second PBM game.
Reception
Jay Reese reviewed Starweb in The Space Gamer No. 11. Reese concluded that "If you can get past the early errors and discouragement, you will find that Starweb can be a fascinating game." Chris Harvey reviewed Starweb for White Dwarf #19, and stated that "So if you like what you've read, then save up your pennies, cross those empty evenings off your diary and jump into the new hobby of CM PMB." Paul S. Person reviewed Starweb in The Space Gamer No. 29. Person commented that "Starweb is a smoothly-run game which emphasizes diplomacy at the expense of detail. It is recommended for those who like galactic empire themes and who would like a game with lots of hidden intelligence." In the April 1983 edition of Dragon, Michael Gray stated "This is Flying Buffalo’s science fiction play-by-mail game of conquest, trade, exploration and diplomacy. And it's nothing short of a masterpiece!" The game has won a number of awards over the years. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Starweb as one of the Millennium's Best Games. Editor Scott Haring said "Starweb is the king of -- the industry's most popular and longest running.... Beautifully balanced, with a design so well-polished it gleams."
