286:, Fred Hemmings complained that the game had little to do with Leiber's stories, given that Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were enemies in this game. He also did not like the use of weapon and transportation counters, which led to teetering stacks of counters for a hero or warrior that was mounted and carrying three weapons. And he found the combat system too reliant on random luck. But he liked the weapon variety, the atmosphere of the game, and the clarity of the rules. He concluded by giving the game a below-average rating of 6 out of 10, saying "The game has its faults despite these and other minor flaws,
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317:, noted that Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are partners in Leiber's stories, so "The objective — to capture your opponents’ citadels — makes little sense in the context of the fiction, but was a comfortable fit with 70s board game logic." O'Neill also noted that "Most of the components, including the playing cards and counters, are printed on very flimsy stock. But the map is gorgeous."
200:, they created the fictional world of Nehwon, and within it the city of Lahkmar (spelled slightly differently than "Lankhmar" in later years.) Leiber and Fischer then created a very large (5 ft x 2½ ft) three-dimensional square-grid diorama of Nehwon, using of layers of corrugated colored paper representing various terrains, and designed a wargame titled
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Each player is given one of the four heroes at random, as well as eight warriors, several weapons counters, and horses, boats and/or camels. Each player is assigned one of the four citadels at random. Each player then draws a Geas card to start the game. If the Geas card contains a quest, the player
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Optional rules can add complexity to combat, add healing to the game, allow resurrection of a dead hero in their home citadel, or introduce the
Sinking Lands — a piece of land that sinks beneath the waves and then rises again. Any counters caught on the land when it sinks are removed from the game.
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Engage in combat. All personal combat is resolved with a die roll. A counter that is hit twice is eliminated. A player who loses their hero in combat can still continue the game using any surviving warriors. To successfully attack a citadel, a player must move more units into the citadel than the
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to publish the game. Gygax wrote to Fritz Leiber on Guidon letterhead, seeking permission to use the world of Nehwon for a game that would be a companion to
Megarry's game. As Gygax envisioned it, players would have overland adventures in the Lieber-inspired game and underground adventures in
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game. Ultimately Lowry turned down the opportunity to publish
Megarry's game — he thought the board would be too expensive to print — but Gygax and Lieber continued to correspond about using Lankhmar material in a game. After Gygax co-founded TSR and published Megarry's game as
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to be used with this map. Games were very long, often taking an entire weekend to complete. The game was only played by Leiber, Fischer, and a handful of friends during their time at
University of Louisville, and was never published.
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that had become an industry standard for wargames. The original geography of Lieber's map was retained, but the size of the new map was considerably reduced to 22" x 28". Rules for combat were modernized as well. The new game
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called this a "simple, lifeless game manages to strip the Leiber stories of interest." He concluded by giving the game a very poor rating of only 3 out of 9, commenting, "The basic mistake committed in
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and a blank rear box cover. Second and third printings were released the same year with an image of the box contents and a description of the game on the rear cover. Although
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If the hero has completed the quest on a Geas card, the player draws a Reward card. Some of these are blank. Most are useful, but few are valuable.
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Move counters. Each unit counter has a movement rate, but this is reduced for each action the counter takes such as changing or picking up weapons.
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such as "Bring a basket of oats from the
Grainfield to Ningauble", then the player must immediately send their hero or a warrior on that quest.
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is a 2–4 player game in which each player takes on the role of a different hero from Fritz Leiber's "Lankhmar" short stories:
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is the design approach: the stories depend on a great degree of uncertainty (or mystery), which is absent in the game."
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530:"Danger in Every Dark Alley: 40 Years of Adventuring in Lankhmar, Frits Leiber's Great Fantasy Metropolis"
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must immediately carry it out but can assign the quest to either the hero or one of the eight warriors.
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was a bestseller for TSR, with several new editions released over the next 40 years, in contrast
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MacKnight, Frederick (November 1979). "Lankhmar: The
Original Game and What it Became".
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did not sell well, and was dropped from the TSR catalogue after the third printing.
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The first player to take all of their opponents' citadels is the winner.
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451:"Michael Curtis Visits Leiber's Legendary Lankhmar Library in Houston"
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MacKnight, Frederick (October 1979). "Lankhmar: The
Formative Years".
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demonstrated the prototype of a board game that he'd developed called
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Draw a Geas card. This may be blank. If there are instructions from
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game from Lieber's college days as the basis of a new board game.
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In 1937, while Fritz Leiber and Harry Otto
Fischer were attending
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220:. Gygax, who at the time was freelancing as a game designer for
383:. No. 1. Simulations Publications, Inc. pp. 33–34.
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On a player's turn the player has the following phases:
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was published by TSR in 1976 with front cover art by
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Hemmings, Fred (August–September 1977). "Open Box".
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defender. Once this is accomplished, fighting stops.
240:in 1974, Lieber agreed to let TSR use the old
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433:. No. 30. TSR. pp. 16–17.
377:(March 1980). "A Galaxy of Games".
360:. No. 31. TSR. pp. 32–33.
504:. Mongoose Publishing. p. 9.
56:in 1976 that is based on both the
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224:, tried to convince Guidon owner
290:is a game well worth playing."
449:Curtis, Michael (2021-09-21).
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474:Meara, Jenny (25 July 2015).
66:set in the fictional city of
528:O'Neill, John (2018-04-10).
321:Other reviews and commentary
74:while they were in college.
588:Wargames introduced in 1976
500:Shannon Appelcline (2011).
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311:John O'Neill, writing for
293:In the inaugural issue of
214:The Dungeons of Pasha Cada
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23:Lankhmar (disambiguation)
327:Panzerfaust and Campaign
198:University of Louisville
502:Designers & Dragons
262:David C. Sutherland III
101:The game box contains:
34:David C. Sutherland III
578:Fantasy board wargames
93:, Pulgh, or Movarl.
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208:In the early 1970s,
130:counter storage tray
21:For other uses, see
192:Publication history
184:Victory conditions
72:Harry Otto Fischer
59:Swords and Sorcery
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511:978-1-907702-58-7
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407:. No. 2.
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283:White Dwarf
78:Description
572:Categories
539:2022-03-12
534:Black Gate
485:1 February
460:2022-03-12
334:References
314:Black Gate
229:Megarry's
218:Gary Gygax
97:Components
16:Board game
276:Reception
226:Don Lowry
158:Ningauble
558:Lankhmar
480:Gary Con
306:Lankhmar
288:Lankhmar
270:Lankhmar
266:Dungeon!
258:Lankhmar
253:hex grid
237:Dungeon!
144:Gameplay
107:hex grid
83:Lankhmar
68:Lankhmar
42:Lankhmar
247:Gygax,
242:Lakhmar
231:Dungeon
202:Lahkmar
154:Sheelba
109:map of
47:fantasy
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430:Dragon
357:Dragon
111:Nehwon
87:Fafhrd
36:, 1976
135:Setup
45:is a
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487:2020
296:Ares
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329:#76
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