StarMaster

[P5-133XL]

I am willing to scan in the StarMaster and StarMaster II manuals but since they are copyrighted, I need permission from the publisher. Anyone know where I can get such permission?

[Starkadder]

I would be amazed if a nationally scaled GM moderated game could be a profitable enterprise in the United States today. I considered StarMaster to be expensive back then and it would only be more so today. Perhaps, if the moderators were in a foreign country where hourly rates were much lower but then they'd be dealing with language and culture issues that would complicate the situation enormously.

Bulgaria and the Philippines do level up services for WoW characters. So the practice is not unheard of. But I think you are right about the complications. Not only would you need to find people who could at least read and write English, they would also need to be able to create a story from the turn's hard data.

The gamemasters for StarMaster tried modernizing their software so they could automate more of their work, but that work and the actual running of the game, did them in. As it was near the end, it took weeks and/or months to receive a turn. They simply did not have the time to run and moderate the game, while having a steady job and family life.

[P5-133XL]

When I was playing I was assigned Account #140, ID #2982 from an itemized turn cost sheet on 6/14/84. The #140 is only on the itemized cost sheet but the #2982 is on every turn sheet. It is my assumption that the ID# was computer ID that specified every race in the StarMaster game including NPC's and the Account number would be the bookkeeping account to keep funds separate.

Those numbers are low enough to know that there were not very many people playing/paying. One does not ever reuse account numbers and they tend to be enterprise-wide (rather than specific to a game) for fear of accidentally mixing people's funds. It also tells something about how rare my manuals are since the standard way to get them was to signup and play which would generate a new account number. I do not even know if the numbers are unique to StarMaster or whether they applied to every game Schubel and Son ran at the time. I have no timeline for all the different games Schubel and Son ran and thereby know not how many, if any, ran concurrently over what years. Even if it is just StarMaster with the larger number of 2,982 paying players It is still hard to believe they could stay in business with multiple game masters to pay wages for.

A successful modern business would need vastly larger numbers to make a profit. WoW works because it is in the millions ... I would argue that Schubel & Son's business model was more a motivation for the love of the PBM idea than for profit.

P.S. I do not remember excessive delays while playing. It may be my poor memory (30 years ago); a function of the lack of players when I was playing vs. when you were; Or just the number of GM's/player that KSK Concepts hired vs Schubel & Son.

[Sinperium]

I started playing StarMaster when I was 14 and played till I went into the military at 17.

The biggest problem is that when it reached a certain size, the human processed turns began to bog down and be missed or very, very late. It was a small operation (staffwise) and it was more than they could do.

The extra "dimensions" are when they started breaking up the "universe" and were essentially different games (so the GMs could process turns separably).

The biggest issue with it today was Star Master became very "Pay-2-Win" as a result of the need to increase staff to process turns. I did a time analysis and came up with the maximum number of players I could process and it was pretty limited within that two week window. Eventually, I think they reached the point of diminishing returns having to hire processors.

All that said though--fantastic game and wonderful fun. My uncle was in his twenties and started playing (after first telling me how dumb it looked).

One of the things that made it fun was you got to "hand build" your race. You created a unique creature (think "Spore") and then with the strengths and weaknesses of your design you joined Pinky and tried to take over the world (or hide well).

The game ran pretty smoothly but in the end you could tell the turn processing was just killing them. One thing they did do in the last couple of years was generate unique, GM introduced encounters. You'd discover a black hole and an "entity" would invite you to come inside--if you would swear an allegiance to them. That sort of thing. Waiting 1-2 weeks for turns was soooo tension building.

[P5-133XL]

Yes, designing my own race was the best part and mine is included with my scans. I actually had hope for Spore but it was very disappointing.

[P5-133XL]

It was always my intention to sell my copy of StarMaster. Here is a link to my Ebay Auctions for anyone interested in purchasing.

StarMaster
StarMaster II

P.S. Both items sold ...

[Starkadder]

If any of the old StarMaster players, still keep in touch or have contact information for Kevin Novack, (he was the leader of the Lyrian Star Imperium), he might still have a wealth of information and more importantly, battle results.

Though getting in touch with those two old game masters from KSK Concepts might even be better.  Interviews with them would probably be fantastic.  Will have to dig up their names from my old turn result envelopes, when I get home from overseas.

[Gorice]

It was always my intention to sell my copy of StarMaster.  Here is a link to my Ebay Auctions for anyone interested in purchasing.

StarMaster
StarMaster II

P.S. Both items sold ...

I only found this site recently--- Richard Lloyd was the creator & GM for StarMaster from "KSK Concepts" --I worked with him in processing the turns, also wrote the software the turn sheets were generated from (running off one of the old model Apple Macs of the time). If anyone's interested I can put you in touch with him, for questions/interviews etc.

[GrimFinger]

I only found this site recently--- Richard Lloyd was the creator & GM for StarMaster from "KSK Concepts" --I worked with him in processing the turns, also wrote the software the turn sheets were generated from (running off one of the old model Apple Macs of the time). If anyone's interested I can put you in touch with him, for questions/interviews etc.

Send me his e-mail address, if you have it.

[Gorice]

His email address is: mirrorEarths@compuserve.com -----