Webbed Sphere, Inc. acquires long time game publisher Flying Buffalo, Inc.

In June it was revealed that Flying Buffalo -- the oldest RPG company currently in existence - was being sold to an undisclosed buyer. That buyer has now been announced as a holding company called Webbed Sphere, Inc., which describes itself as "a management and holding company for numerous ventures including online retailer Troll and Toad, home decor brands Darware, Decorae and AuldHome; game and toy publisher Toy Vault, and jigsaw puzzle manufacturer Mchezo. Its array of companies also specialize in property acquisition and development, business and consumer fulfillment services, liquidation outlets, and hobbyist gardening supplies."

Tunnels & Trolls - Rebellion Unplugged

World-renowned independent creative studio Rebellion is delighted to announce the acquisition of Tunnels & Trolls, one of the trailblazing games of the fantasy genre, and the second roleplaying game ever published.   First published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo as a more player-friendly...

flyingbuffalo.com

Webbed Sphere Inc. announced today that it finalized acquisition of pioneering, award-winning game publisher Flying Buffalo, Inc., best known for the Tunnels and Trolls role playing game and bestselling Nuclear War card game series.

The deal was finalized July 31 with the estate of Flying Buffalo founder Richard Loomis. Loomis created the play-by-mail game Nuclear Destruction in 1970, and founded Flying Buffalo with Steve MacGregor in 1972. The company initially focused on running play-by-mail games, and later became well known for publishing the second-ever role playing game Tunnels and Trolls, originally designed by Ken St. Andre, starting in 1975. The Scottsdale, Arizona company is currently the oldest active publisher of pen-and-paper role playing games in existence.

“Flying Buffalo and Rick Loomis hold an esteemed position in the history of gaming, and we are proud to now be a part of that legacy,” said John Ward, CEO of Webbed Sphere. “Flying Buffalo has thrilled generations of gamers over the past 50 years, and it will make a great compliment to our Toy Vault and Mchezo brand lines. I am excited about what the future holds.”

Since its founding, Flying Buffalo published many popular board games and roleplaying game titles including: Tunnels and Trolls, Nuclear War, Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes; Death Dice, Ace of Aces, Lost Worlds, Monsters! Monsters!, Imperialism, Origin’s award winning Citybooks and a series of role playing supplements that included the famous Grimtooth’s Traps. The company was also groundbreaking in its release of the first solo role playing game modules using it’s Tunnels and Trolls system, starting with “Buffalo Castle,” written by Rick Loomis and published in 1976.

“It's always hard when your child finally grows up and leaves home, but I'm looking forward to a bigger, brighter future for Tunnels & Trolls under the organization of Webbed Sphere,” said Ken St. Andre, creator of Tunnels and Trolls. “May T&T spread even further to the greater world than it already has, and may Webbed Sphere make all their saving throws going forward!”

Douglas Malewicki, the inventor of the Nuclear War™ card game in 1965, said he’s excited about the opportunities the purchase of Flying Buffalo represents.

“I’m excited and really look forward to working with the new Flying Buffalo team,” Malewicki said. “I definitely want to help ensure that Nuclear War continues to improve, evolve and thrill new generations of gamers. The fun begins!”

Specific announcements about Flying Buffalo properties will be forthcoming in the near future. The company plans to work diligently with retailers and distributors to make sure products are in stock and available to the public.

Flying Buffalo also plans to be an exhibitor at Gen Con, to be held in Indianapolis Sept. 16-19, and will release more exciting news as the show approaches.

About Webbed Sphere
Webbed Sphere Inc. is a management and holding company for numerous ventures including online retailer Troll and Toad, home decor brands Darware, Decorae and AuldHome; game and toy publisher Toy Vault, and jigsaw puzzle manufacturer Mchezo. Its array of companies also specialize in property acquisition and development, business and consumer fulfillment services, liquidation outlets, and hobbyist gardening supplies.

About Flying Buffalo, Inc.
Flying Buffalo, Inc. is a publishing company best known for the second ever role playing game distributed to the mass market - Tunnels and Trolls. It was founded in 1972 by Rick Loomis and Steve MacGregor as a play-by-mail game company, but also published numerous popular role playing games, card games, and gaming supplements. It is located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

 

[Iamoutofhere]

So...no rpg publisher should ever be sold because it’ll all go horribly wrong every, single, time...In some hugely boring predictable way? All contenders to take on an old favourite like Tunnels & Trolls should give up before they even started because no matter how committed or talented they are it doesn’t matter..they are doomed to fail like every pointless attempt that went before them? Cool.

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm actually pretty excited about this. If Webbed Sphere (aka Toy Vault) can produce T&T material of the same quality of The Princess Bride RPG, this can only be good. The Princess Bride RPG is an amazing product, both in terms of design (it uses a customized Fudge implementation that ranks among the best I've seen) and aesthetically (the unlimited edition is of a quality most publishers reserve for limited edition books and the limited edition is out of this world good). Further, The Princess Pride RPG shows that Webbed Sphere cares about honoring both acquired IP and its diehard fans (in this case, both TPB and Fudge fans). That's a good sign. If the old T&T writers are still on board (or hired as freelancers), the future for T&T looks pretty bright, IMO.

 

[Morrus]

So...no rpg publisher should ever be sold because it’ll all go horribly wrong every, single, time...In some hugely boring predictable way? All contenders to take on an old favourite like Tunnels & Trolls should give up before they even started because no matter how committed or talented they are it doesn’t matter..they are doomed to fail like every pointless attempt that went before them? Cool.

Calm down. D&D did OK when WotC bought TSR.

 

[Iamoutofhere]

Calm down. D&D did OK when WotC bought TSR.

Hi Russ, hope you are well...I’m nice and chilled thanks...just disappointed with the huge amount of negativity coming from people about the purchase...talking about GW being bad to employers (how is that even relevant to this?), how this evil corporate takeover is going to crush the history of Flying Buffalo etc. Webbed Sphere have done nothing wrong yet as far as I can tell and until they do perhaps folks should give them a chance? They have a decent track record with The Princess Bride and I don’t get the impression they are part of some global conspiracy to destroy the little rpg hobby industry

 

[Garthanos]

Lost Worlds was my first diceless "roleplaying" combat system ie where your choices really make a difference .... and I interacted with Flying Buffalo's Rick Loomis to the degree of designing a custom cover for the Unicorn book. Though it turned out the demand was low enough it never came up, sigh.

I actually have a ton of fan creations around for Lost Worlds

 

[aramis erak]

So...no rpg publisher should ever be sold because it’ll all go horribly wrong every, single, time...In some hugely boring predictable way? All contenders to take on an old favourite like Tunnels & Trolls should give up before they even started because no matter how committed or talented they are it doesn’t matter..they are doomed to fail like every pointless attempt that went before them? Cool.

You're the only one drawing that conclusion.
I'm saying, the odds are, historically about 3:1 that it's not going to be good for the extant fans of Flying Buffalo's IP, and until they prove they're in that 1, it's not time to rejoice.
The IP in question isn't a huge seller - but it has been a steady one.

Mr. Crompton, for better or worse, made a chicken-little style claim whilst running one last bundle deal...

There's no ground to rejoice. There is ground for (very) cautious optimism, as the holding company is in games already.... but it's not going to be rejoice time until they actually start to deliver. If they ever do.

 

[Iamoutofhere]

You're the only one drawing that conclusion.
I'm saying, the odds are, historically about 3:1 that it's not going to be good for the extant fans of Flying Buffalo's IP, and until they prove they're in that 1, it's not time to rejoice.
The IP in question isn't a huge seller - but it has been a steady one.

Mr. Crompton, for better or worse, made a chicken-little style claim whilst running one last bundle deal...

There's no ground to rejoice. There is ground for (very) cautious optimism, as the holding company is in games already.... but it's not going to be rejoice time until they actually start to deliver. If they ever do.

The only conclusion I’m drawing is that people on this forum thread might consider to lighten up and look on the brighter side of life a bit more rather than casting doom and despair about the purchase of a company making games that simulate the adventuring lives of fairies, pixies and other wee magical folk.

I wish Webbed Sphere the best of luck.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now...as opposed to TTYF lol)

 

[aramis erak]

The only conclusion I’m drawing is that people on this forum thread might consider to lighten up and look on the brighter side of life a bit more rather than casting doom and despair about the purchase of a company making games that simulate the adventuring lives of fairies, pixies and other wee magical folk.

I wish Webbed Sphere the best of luck.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now...as opposed to TTYF lol)

We're not "casting doom and despair" - you're reading that in yourself. And Mr. Crompton, the acting CEO/COO of Flying Buffalo, was casting gloom and doom.
If one keeps an unsupported optimism about company purchases in the gaming industry overall, since it goes poorly more often than not, RPGs tend to be the lowest profit margin and so tend to be allowed to languish, this isn't good news, merely the lack of clearly bad news.

There is literally nothing to be celebrating, and taking a lighter attitude is delusional behavior. It also isn't time to be calling for memorials to Flying Buffalo. That's not gloom. That's reality, cold and hard. They aren't talking their plans, and until they actually do, and then follow through, it's still too soon to tell.

 

[Garthanos]

Rick Loomis is no longer with us and I am pretty sure he was the only reason FB existed for a long time, and that gives a reason to think a new owner is a good thing shrug, it means someone else is giving it a try.

 

[Mezuka]

They have a new website. Not sure when it went online. Flying Buffalo Inc

About Us: In August of 2021 Webbed Sphere Inc, purchased Flying Buffalo and are pushing the company forward into the 21st century with an emphasis on quality products that hold true to the company’s history of excellence.