Thursday, May 12, 2011
The Ads of Dragon: Bushido
FGU had a lot of great ads in the pages of Dragon, including this one from issue #60 (April 1982), for their feudal Japan RPG, Bushido.
This is an example of an advertisement that actually got me to seek out a game and buy it, which was difficult, since, as I've discussed before, FGU games weren't all that common at the hobby stores I used to frequent. It's really a terrific ad, telling you exactly what Bushido is about and the illustration by one of the game's designers, Bob Charrette, was one I found particularly evocative as a kid, perhaps because it's different than the stereotypical depiction of a samurai. There are many ads from my youth that I like, but this one will always hold a special place for me.
The game itself was terrific, IIRC. I didn't own it myself, but we played a campaign at the local game store back in the 80's, and I remember having a lot of fun with it.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoyed Samurai games like Bushido and 5 Rings, but enjoyed even more the Cyberpunk 2020 Japan with cyber samurai and don't remember any Talsorian ads in Dragon. Do you? I just posted my first poll about this on my blog, www.digitalorc.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWe found Bushido too complicated for its own good, but still great fun to play because of the over-the-top, chambara-style play that it encouraged. It's been a looooong time since I played it, so my memory isn't entirely clear, but weren't the rules an adaptation of Chivalry & Sorcery?
ReplyDeleteSteve
FGU definitely had some great, memorable ads.
ReplyDeleteMuch like you, James, I never saw their games in any (Seattle-area) game stores that I frequented. I knew one player - back around 85 - that had a copy of Bushido, which I imagine that he got through mail order.
Bushido was a big hit in the UK where I played it on and off. It wasn't until I moved to Australia that I embarked on seriously epic Bushido campaigns. This is a true classic that deserves to be revived.
ReplyDeleteI liked the FGU ads, Villains and Vigilantes in particular because each one presented an illustrated and statted NPC.
ReplyDelete@Steven Nope, Bushido used the Charette/Hume system shared by Daredevils and Aftermath. C&S used mechanics by Simbalist and Backhaus and was in a similar mode to the mechanics for Space Opera and Land of the Rising Sun (a Japan flavoured incarnation of C&S written by Lee Gold).
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Labels you set up for this didn't quite survive the Blogger maintenance! What an odd thing to have happen.
ReplyDeleteEvocative is a great word for the art and the ad. I too was quite taken by the ad my youth. I never did track down the rules. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete