Beholder Kft. is a Hungarian book publisher and

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

company. It was established in 1992 by Miklós Tihor and Zsolt Mazán. The name was chosen after the famous

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

monster, the Beholder, to reflect their devotion to fantasy.

History

The company's first project was a Hungarian language

play-by-mail game A play-by-mail game (also known as a PBM game, PBEM game, or a turn-based game) is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. ''Diplomacy'' has been played by m ...

, ''Land of Survivors'' (Hungarian name: ''Túlélők Földje'') programmed by Miklós Tihor in

Borland C Borland C may refer to: * Borland C++, a C++ compiler which followed and replaced Borland C * Borland C, a 1990s C computer programming language compiler from Borland See also * Turbo C Turbo C is a discontinued integrated development environme ...

. ''Land of Survivors'' is a

fantasy role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ...

, players develop their heroes by adventuring in a large playing area. The game is divided into turns. Each turn, a players sends his commands for his hero on a postcard to Beholder. They input the commands, and as a result, a laser-printed description of his adventures are sent back to him in mail. As of 2010, the game is still running, although most players send and get their turns in email instead of normal mail. There are players who are playing ''Land of Survivors'' for more than 10 years. Beholder Kft. also began publishing fantasy and sci-fi books in Hungarian. Most of these were translations of English books (from

Raymond E. Feist Raymond Elias Feist (; born Raymond Elias Gonzales III; December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote ''The Riftwar Cycle'', a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and ha ...

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan,"Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the na ...

and other fantasy authors; or the ''

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspir ...

'' and ''

Battletech ''BattleTech'' is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2001, which was in turn acquired by Topps in 2003; and published since 2007 by Catalyst Game Labs. The trademark ...

'' series from

FASA Corporation Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

). Article on Beholder and the Hungarian RPG scene on rpg.net
(English) They also published some books from Hungarian authors. In 1995, Beholder Kft. published its own Hungarian language

trading card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

, ''Cards of Power'' (Hungarian name: '' Hatalom Kártyái''), based on ''Land of Survivors''. As of 2010, ''Cards of Power'' has published 9 editions of starter packs, 25 different

booster pack In collectible card games, digital collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection. A box of multiple booster packs is referred to as a b ...

s, and a large number of mini-expansions. Currently, there are approx. 6000 different cards in existence. ''Cards of Power'' and the first three expansions were also published in Czech, by the name ''Wastelands''. Article on Wastelands
(Czech) In 1996, Beholder Kft. started a monthly fantasy

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

by the name ''Alanor Chronicles'' (Hungarian name: ''Alanori Krónikák''). The last, 149. issue of the magazine was published in 2008. December. In addition to the above, Beholder published two more pbm games, ''Chaos Galactica (Káosz Galaktika)'', and ''City of Ancients (Ősök Városa)''. ''Chaos Galactica'' was a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

game, ''City of Ancients'' a dark fantasy, played in the future of ''Land of Survivors''. They also published two other trading card games, ''Chaos Galactica'' and ''Dreamcatcher (Álomfogó)''. The later was based on

Dreamcatcher In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( oj, asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as ...

, the fantasy world of the Hungarian writer, Böszörményi Gyula. Beholder also organizes a large game fair in Budapest, Hungary twice every year, once in June, and once in November. In 2002, Beholder launched its first Internet

browser-based game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on c ...

, ''Land of Adventures (Kalandok Földje)'', programmed by Zsolt Mazán.'Interview with Kalandok Földje author Zsolt Mazán', rpg.hu (2002)
(Hungarian) Their next browser-based game was ''Dragonslayer (Sárkányölő)'', a completely free fantasy game. Its main purpose was to attract players to their other games. In Sept 2008, Beholder published another browser game, ''Doomlord'' (Hungarian name: '' Végzetúr''). In ''Doomlord'', you develop a fantasy character, and fight and compete with other players. Like with all Beholder games, new features are added to the game continually since its release. The game's unique feature is a built-in

quiz game A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities ...

, with a database of approx. 200,000 quiz questions. As of March 2010, the game has approx. 50,000 registered characters from Hungary. In July 2009, the game's English language version was released, by the name ''

Doomlord ''Doomlord'' was a comic strip (and the shared title name of the central characters) published in the British comic book ''Eagle'' during the 1980s, from issue 1 on 27 March 1982 until issue 395 on 14 October 1989. Reprints of previous ''Doomlo ...

''.

Games

* ''Túlélők Földje (Land of Survivors)'', play-by-mail game (1992) * '' Hatalom Kártyái (Cards of Power)'', trading card game (1995) * ''Káosz Galaktika (Chaos Galactica)'', play-by-mail game (1997) * ''Ősök Városa (City of Ancients)'', play-by-mail game (1999) * ''Káosz Galaktika (Chaos Galactica)'', trading card game (1999) * ''Kalandok Földje (Land of Adventures)'', browser-based game (2002) * ''Sárkányölő (Dragonslayer)'', browser-based game (2004) * ''Álomfogó (Dreamcatcher)'', trading card game (2007) * '' Végzetúr (

)'', browser-based game (2008)

References

{{reflist

External links

Beholder Kft. webpage
(Hungarian)
Doomlord, the game
(English)

(English) Role-playing game publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1992 Browser-based game websites Publishing companies of Hungary Mass media in Budapest