HYBORIAN WAR: A mind-blowing experience?!
(2013)
by Charles Mosteller
“Reading through the rules of Hyborian War is a mind-blowing experience, and makes me want to do some type of Barry Smith inspired Conan cover for the next issue.”
– A. Kaviraj (Front cover artist for issue # 1 of Suspense & Decision magazine, who had not previously encountered PBM games.)
A mind blowing experience. Wow! Just imagine if he had actually played the game, yet. From my own first-hand experience in playing Hyborian War over the years, I can attest to the fact that it can be both addicting and a lot of fun to play. Along with Middle-earth PBM and Galaxy: Alpha, Hyborian War is a play-by-mail game that helped to mold my views on the postal genre of gaming. Those are three crown jewels of the genre against which I measure all other comers to
the hobby.
The greatest strengths of Hyborian War, as far as its game design goes, are its character system, and the setting of the Hyborian Age made famous by author Robert E. Howard. Certain magic spells, such as fire wall, black death, reincarnate, and prophecy stand out in my mind as worthy of honorable mention.
Within the character system, itself, it is the names of the characters that imbue the game with a lot of flavor, with characters from different kingdoms enjoying their own respective exotic flair, where character names are concerned.
But, the name methodology, however colorful that it might be, is of secondary importance. It is the characters’ attributes in seven different categories that lies at the very heart of why Hyborian War remains a personal favorite of many PBM gamers, after many years of playing the game.
As the game progresses, certain turns, called peace years turns, help to advance the passage of time within the game, for these characters. They age and they die, with the passage of time. Hyborian War has three main elements of play – troops, characters, and provinces. If the character system were removed from the game, then Hyborian War would have died off long, long ago. Of that, I have no doubt.
Conquest of provinces is the path by which all kingdoms grow in size. Yet, characters enjoy the possibility of halting invasions by enemy armies through resort to peace treaties and the disrupting of war pacts.
Hyborian War can be a frustrating games, at times, due to characters successfully negotiating peace. Yet, it can also be a wonderfully invigorating game. Through the play of it and through inter-player diplomacy, many great and lasting friendships can be forged.
Of all the PBM games that I have played down through the years, I played Hyborian War the longest – more than all the rest of them put together, in fact. Yes, I liked it THAT much! It’s a great game. It’s not a perfect game, but I have yet to encounter a game that I consider to be more enjoyable.
The province-based conquest system reminds me of the board game, Risk, a lot. But, it is there that the similarities with Risk end.
It is the players of Hyborian War, replete with their respective colorful individual personalities, that cement the Hyborian War playing experience for me. The largest gathering of players of the game can be found over on Lloyd Barron’s
website, The Road of Kings, which can be found on the Internet at: http://www.warbarron.com/
If you’re tired of playing other games, whether of the play-by-mail variety or any other kind, then I heartily recommend Hyborian War to one and all, alike. Give it a try, and check it out for yourself.
If you dare.
