Friday, April 20, 2012
Open Friday: Old School Revival
Leaving aside questions of money and copyrights, what old school -- by which I mean "pre-1985" -- roleplaying game would you most like to see revived for the 21st century and why? Feel free to provide additional details about what you might change in the game (if anything) to update or otherwise alter it to make it more accessible to contemporary gamers.
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Shooting from the hip here, but I wouldn't mind seeing Top Secret remade for the 21st century. Even back when I used to run it, the RPG seemed out of date or too generic when we also playing near future tech of Shadowrun. I have hazy recollections of TS, but I do remember liking the hit location diagrams and the dossier character sheets.
ReplyDeleteI loved Top Secret back in the day -- the original one, not S.I. I'd love to see an old school-style espionage game on the market again.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Boot Hill come back, only with a setting and more fantasical elements such as non-human enemies and monsters. It might infringe some on Deadlands, but I don't regard Deadlands as much of an old school game.
ReplyDeleteEither versions of Top Secret would be cool, with updated source material to run your game in any era. Also the game that never was, Divine Right. A wargame that had some very interesting articles about the races and background. This should have been made into a rpg.
ReplyDeleteGangbusters! I loved that game.
ReplyDeleteGamma World. Definitley Gamma World, because it drew from Starman's Son, Hiero's Journey, and some other classics. And because I still have my rulebook, which was pubbed in the late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteI wish there were a retroclone of it, or WOTC would once again sell the PDFs. Then again, I wish WOTC would go back to selling *all* the PDFs of out of print material. I still have no idea why they pulled them.
ReplyDeletei agree w you guys, top secret or boot hill would be cool w me. or some commemorative empire of the petal throne box.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you liked Gamma World, you might dig Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence; finished it in one day and great post apocalyptic setting.
ReplyDeleteMarvel Super Heroes for me. The only thing I'd change is replace the Hit Points with more of a Damage Save mechanic ala Mutants and Masterminds, which is really the only thing that I think M&M did right for the genre.
ReplyDeleteTalislanta - neat mechanics, original setting
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what 4C is?
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to say RuneQuest because RuneQuest 6 is in the works :)
ReplyDeleteSame with Magic World.
So maybe Superworld; but it would need a catchy licence, which Chaosium could never afford :(
What would you consider "old school-style"? I am genuinely curious.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I would like to see Top Secret be revived - perhaps with a Mission Impossible tie in?
My vote is also for Ganbusters.
All of those listed so far are good choices. I'd like to see Bunnies & Burrows reprinted (not the PDF version that FGU is currently selling).
ReplyDeleteBut what I'd really like to see retrocloned is Fantasy Wargaming, with the problems fixed. That is, define the combat system a little better, keep wizards from creating planets (or at least, make creating a planet more difficult than creating a mountain), simplify the piety system, and so on.
By "old school-style," I mean neither too complex and rules-heavy nor too story-gamey. Nowadays, it seems like the only espionage games around are stuff like Spycraft or Spione.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see a re-issue of "Dungeons & Dragons." It has an old-school feel, and it was quite popular at one time.
ReplyDeleteJust for a larf ... Alma Mater, in all its politically incorrect glory
ReplyDeleteAn updated and expanded Bunnies and Burrows
Space Quest. There was one screwed up space opera game, i'd add even more gonzo space-shark type elements
You win the comments section, I think. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteA new version of *B&B* would be awesome. Does FGU still hold the rights to that?
ReplyDeleteI gotta say. Chill. Pacesetter version.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to to out on a limb and say Powers & Perils. I started gaming with wargames, so I was able to decipher the presentation of P&P, and to me it was very evocative. I think the designer had a clear vision, but he didn't convey it well, and in places, didn't execute it well. With some retroclone rework, though, that could be an awesome system.
ReplyDeleteAftermath or The Morrow Project. Not a lot of hardcore postapocolytic non-zombie games out there.
ReplyDeleteThe original Chill was awesome. I'd love to see a revival of *that* version of the game.
ReplyDeleteI have a serious soft spot for The Morrow Project. Several years ago, I was very briefly involved in an effort to revive it, but it didn't get very far. As I understand it, the fellow who bought the rights still has them and periodically pops up claiming that a new edition is on the horizon, even though one has never actually appeared.
ReplyDeleteThank god for the Internet. Thought I was the only person who bought that book!
ReplyDeleteYes to both.
ReplyDeleteAftermath! -- but redesigned. I recently read through the rules and scenarios and found them ridiculous rules-wise but there is good possibility there for a second edition overhaul. A1 Operation Morpheus and A2 Sydney are wonderful creations.
ReplyDeleteTwilight 2000 may be the better game though, hard to go wrong with a Frank Chadwick design.
I am on a one-man crusade to introduce Flashing Blades to a wider audience.
ReplyDeleteA great game in a great genre.
On it. For the last year I've been working on an old-school espionage role playing game called Covert Ops, which is a tribute to the brilliant sand-box style play of Merle Rasmussen's outstanding Top Secret game, which was my second favourite RPG after D&D. I'm still hammering out the rules, but I'm trying to capture the feel play style of the original espionage RPG.
ReplyDeleteNo se.
ReplyDeleteBut apparently they're still selling the old version in pdf form over at drivethrurpg for $5
I still have pretty much all the games from the '70s and '80s that I'd ever want to play, so I don't feel much need for any new clones. If one was to make a comeback, I'd ask for The Fantasy Trip. That was my go-to game for years.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd love to see, though, is a resurgence in the types of fantasy and sci-fi board games that you could get back then, like those put out by TSR, Task Force, Metagaming, Chaosium, and FGU. They had simple graphics and quirky, complicated rules that really captured their subjects--the polar opposite of what you get in board games these days, which are glossy and gorgeous and about nothing but matching cards and counting tokens. Games like Lords & Wizards, Dragon Pass, Knights of Camelot, Dungeon, OGRE, Black Hole, Asteroid Zero-Four; we played the heck out of those.
I still have pretty much all the games from the '70s and '80s that I'd ever want to play, so I don't feel much need for any new clones. If one was to make a comeback, I'd ask for The Fantasy Trip. That was my go-to game for years.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd love to see, though, is a resurgence in the types of fantasy and sci-fi board games that you could get back then, like those put out by TSR, Task Force, Metagaming, Chaosium, and FGU. They had simple graphics and quirky, complicated rules that really captured their subjects--the polar opposite of what you get in board games these days, which are glossy and gorgeous and about nothing but matching cards and counting tokens. Games like Lords & Wizards, Dragon Pass, Knights of Camelot, Dungeon, OGRE, Black Hole, Asteroid Zero-Four; we played the heck out of those.
MERP
ReplyDeleteOld Stormbringer, with unbalanced random chargen, wonky math for figuring out skill bonuses from attributes, evocative art and writing. Throw in the Elric! combat spot rules, add magic, monsters, and material from Corum and Hawkmoon, and I am there...
ReplyDeleteI forgot that game came out in 1984. That would be a good one.
ReplyDeleteThe Morrow Project has always been one of my favorite games as well.
ReplyDeleteThe official Facebook page has been teasing a new, 4th edition for a few years now.
I liked Flashing Blades as well. The "Johnny Depp - Pirates" phenomenon of recent years might've provided an opportunity to reintroduce it.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Pacesetter version, and still have it in a closet. It was one of my favorite games to play back in 1985. But I never bought the Mayfair version.
ReplyDeleteOld Stormbringer is delightful, but, alas, its return is a dream that will never come to pass.
ReplyDeleteI've agreed with a lot of the suggestions posted blow already by others.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I enjoyed the original "Top Secret," my alternative suggestion would be Victory games' "James Bond 007" RPG, which I really had fun playing as a teenager in the mid-1980s.
How about Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game?
ReplyDeletehttp://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy_-_The_Introductory_Role-playing_Game
It was first published in 1984 and it's fairly rules-light. I'd update it quite heavily though, so that rather than suggesting the use of the FF range of gamebooks as a source of ideas, it would have some
general tools for using any other narrative as an adventure source, to allow any favourite book to be played through and around. A less-open ended approach could be a good route into the hobby for a more cautious generation, and
in paperback form again it could draw in players through bookstores.
Yeah, it's frustrating. I was contacted by the guy who now owns the rights to TMP a *long* time ago about helping him get a new edition ready for publication. But, after years of stalling and going nowhere, I gave up and the game still isn't out. It's a shame, because I think an updated and revised version of the game could do well.
ReplyDeleteThere was a retroclone of the James Bond game, called (I believe) Double-0. I don't know how complete or well-done it was. I think, though, that it may have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteFor me it would have to be Gamelord's Thieves Guild. The only game I know of that published a scenario that was all about sneaking into a fancy dress ball and stealing a necklace.
ReplyDeleteIt's too late in the '80s for this classification, but worthy of a reminder.
ReplyDeleteBushido, for a well-developed and interesting fantasy samurai game with a more historical background. A pretty amazing game for the time. I'd also have to agree with Aaron on Thieves Guild. The Haven city material they produced was pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I remembered seeing a low budget post-apocalyptic Sci Fi movie on TV one Saturday afternoon around 1980, that I really liked but whose name I could never recall afterward. This was a few years before I'd heard of "The Morrow Project." But as soon as I began reading "The Morrow Project" game book for the first time in, maybe, 1984, I instantly thought of this old movie again.
ReplyDeleteThen the 1975 TV movie "Strange New World" was released on DVD a couple of years ago. And there it was. The obvious inspiration, on hindsight, for a considerable portion of "The Morrow Project" back story, right down to the protagonists being unintentionally kept in suspended animation for 150 years after an apocalypse, only to then return to explore post-apocalyptic Earth in a specialized, Damnation Alley- like vehicle.
MSPE.
ReplyDeleteEspionage & Justice, Inc. Before the HERO system became so cumbersome.
DragonQuest.
I'm pretty sure MS&PE is still available through Flying Buffalo.
ReplyDeleteIf only they could simply reprint MERP and bring down the cost on all the ridiculously overpriced supplements out there. At least redo the maps since most seem to have disappeared from their modules over the years.
ReplyDeleteI already have Traveller and a half dozen flavors of D&D, so I'm mostly set. The one game I want to see return at the moment is Car Wars.
ReplyDeleteIt was Double Zero
ReplyDeleteI was going to say Bushido but that game is locked down by FGU (as with Aftermath et al). Bushido is still the best skill/class hybrid game ever.
ReplyDeleteStar Frontiers. Keep the rules simple, like Alpha Dawn. Don't go overboard in changing the whole system, like they did with Zebulon's Guide.
ReplyDeleteI just bought the PDFs a couple months ago, and am slowly getting a group together for it. It dovetails quite nicely with my current foray into 17th century wargaming.
ReplyDeleteAlready exists. Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd edition was released last year: http://www.arion-games.com/AFF.html.
ReplyDeleteOne more for Bushido. Just a new presentation of the rules in a more user-friendly format would be great, although a re-write of the Gakusho class would be nice too.
ReplyDeleteAn official Jorune book for Savage Worlds would be great too. Never happen though. Ah well.
Oh yeah. Zebulon's Guide is a textbook example of how *not* to expand and revise an existing game system.
ReplyDeleteI'd dearly love to see Jorune re-appear in *any* format, as I largely missed it during its original appearances.
ReplyDeleteI understand the new Magic World (http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=508) is Stormbringer/Elric! without the Young Kingdoms.
ReplyDeleteThis was before AFF, just the basic system, released a couple of years before The Riddling Reaver, and around five before Dungeoneer.
ReplyDeleteThe naming of what you've linked to is ambiguous - it's titled AFF but it's alongside the pre-AFF sourcebooks, and with no mention of the original AFF Dungeoneer, Blacksand! or Allansia. Those sourcebooks were reprinted when AFF was released, which adds to the confusion.
Do you know if that core book contains elements of The Riddling Reaver or of Dungeoneer, Blacksand! and Allansia? That might help pin it down.
It might be more a question of the big splash that comes from a new release, following James' lead on how we'd update the suggestions we make. A lot of us have closets and shelves packed with old publications and could in many cases presumably play the games we enjoyed or bought back then now too if we wanted to. But generating new interest or building up a large player base would seem to be more easily done with rereleases.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was four years old in 1985, and who had to teach himself roleplaying via the Red Box (and eventually, 2E), my understanding of the OSR is, in the end, limited to all of the lurking and reading I do on these here blogs. (incidentally, thanks for that, blogosphere.)
ReplyDeleteMainly, I'm posting because I'm not sure if people are aware that Metamorphosis Alpha, which I've heard discussed around these parts before, has a Kickstarter going for a new edition. Apparently, it's a new ruleset, but Jim Ward's still listed as head writer. I hadn't seen any mention of it here, and I thought people might find it worth knowing about.
ha yes i almost forgot about chill
ReplyDeleteI know absolutely nothing about it but I was curious as anything about this RPG called Mach:the First Colony which was advertised in old Dragon magazines of the early eighties.
ReplyDeleteDark City Games has a 8 page free version of what is essentially "Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip." But I would love to see that game get a proper full treatment. And this may not really count (board game from 1990) and might be way cost prohibitive, but give me back Milton Bradley's Hero Quest.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated by that game based its ads back in the '80s. I have never seen a copy of the game, though I understand it was actually produced.
ReplyDeleteDC Heroes with slightly different gadget rules and the art from the first edition (I think Blood of Heroes got its name because the art makes your eyes bleed). I just can't wrap my head around Mutants and Masterminds and it hasn't improved with the DC version of the rules.
ReplyDeleteNot quite in the the time range but I'm going to mention this one because I think it could be even better than Toon with a little tweaking:
Bullwinkle and Rocky Party Game.
Also selling it on their own site (as a pdf) for the same price.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite games that I've only had the chance to play once, and that in a short session. I'd love to play it more, and perhaps see some expansion material for it (there are more countries in which to buckle one's swash than just France, for instance!)
ReplyDeleteWith the runaway success of the Ogre Kickstarter, it's looking like that will probably happen.
ReplyDelete1st edition Palladium Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThird edition Champions. The last edition before the Big Blue Book came
ReplyDeletealong and "toolkitted" everything, back when it was still a superhero
game that shared design elements with other Hero Games products. I
actually started work on a homebrew Champions 3.5 a while back, but
couldn't keep my momentum going to see it through.
I also attempted to help with reviving the Morrow Project. I recall there was even a draft of a new edition. I wonder how one would go about buying the rights now?
ReplyDeleteI also attempted to help with reviving the Morrow Project. I recall there was even a draft of a new edition. I wonder how one would go about buying the rights now?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I attempted to make contact with the current owners a few months ago and received no response. The game's Facebook group gets updates every now and again, stating "such and such almost done" or "getting there" or whatever, but no game has ever appeared.
ReplyDeleteRolemaster 2nd Ed :) (just kidding, sorta, Classic Rolemaster is out there but not quite the same)
ReplyDelete/agree Dragonquest and MERP
I'd be interested to see what someone could/would do with the Space Opera universe (and perhaps the system).
I have an absolutely crazy dream of somehow acquiring Space Opera, rewriting its rules into something intelligible, and developing its setting into a wahoo, kitchen sink place screaming with adventure possibilities.
ReplyDeleteBut the odds of that are happening are next to nil.
Boot Hill. There is far too much 'weirdness' in Old West. Simple rules, great modules. I would like to see a revival of non-fantasy OSR module writing in general but oh, how I long for a Ballots & Bullets II.
ReplyDeleteFor fantasy - Indeed, Palladium 1E has a place in my heart. Growing up in Windsor ON, we were pretty close to Palladium Ground Zero. Wonky but more importantly, affordable games like Mechanoid Invasion and Recon added important items to the game night menu.
I loved Space Quest.
ReplyDeleteBraunstein.
ReplyDeleteI mean, if we're going to bring absolutely anything back, I think experimenting with the game that preceded the dungeon games would be fascinating.
If you don't count Braunstein as an RPG, I'd want a well-supported Empire of the Petal Throne game.
I totally forgot that even existed!
ReplyDeleteHi James - I see that you replied to my comments but I have no idea how to access it. Sorry, I'm completely new to this.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/#!/MorrowProject
ReplyDeleteYeah... tempting... and releasing the rules in the PocketMod format ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously - it would be great if this dream of yours could succeed... you would need a *lot* of work to clean and simplify SO's rules, though.
Is Lords of Creation pre-1985? Because a revamped LoC would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI'd also love seeing a new edition of The Fantasy Trip. Those rules are already near-perfect, but just a tad of polish would do a lot. Put it in a glossy digest like Savage Worlds and I'd buy three of them.
yep, the box set is out of stock, but you get get the rest from FBI:
ReplyDeleteMSPE SPECIAL: The rulebook, Raid on Rajallapor, Mugshots 1 and 2, Stormhaven, and a set of character sheets, everything available for MSPE, retail value over $45 for only $39.95
Another vote for Gamelords' Thieves' Guild. Naked Sword and Paths of Sorcery AND the last Haven book are all 28 years overdue!
ReplyDeleteMy number one choice, though, is to see Jorune get another shot. Hell, I'd settle for a POD of the first edition book.
I couldn't agree more. Flashing Blades is great.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with "Prince Valiant"? Do you have any thoughts on it?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say Villains & Vigilantes, but hapily Jeff Dee and Jack Herman have already brought it back. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll go with Star Frontiers.
Agreed. I would love to see an updated DCU game. Especially since you could do the whole Crisis to Crisis thing. Stats for some of the more obscure characters and everything. Though it will be stuck in perpetual legal hell.
ReplyDeleteBunnies and Burrows would have to be my first choice too!
ReplyDeleteStar Frontiers is also available, legally, in POD format. If you check out the author's name there, he's also produced a bunch of supplementary material, adventures, and such.
ReplyDeleteGiven the number of old-school games that have been re-released in either new versions (Traveller) or reprinted either as downloadable PDFs or POD, is there really anything good that hasn't already been mined?
ReplyDeleteOnly a few spring to mind:
the trifecta of Avalon Hill Games (James Bond 007: one of the most perfect games ever made, Powers & Perils: for it's weird mix of complexity and simplicity, and a pretty cool starting setting, and Lords of Creation: for sheer gonzo adventuring.)
Top Secret (both versions) are probably best remembered fondly. Based on memory, I suspect that neither aged well.
Superworld has already been revived in that it is a downloadable PDF. I would love for someone to edit the Companion rules into the main rulebook and publish the whole thing as a single volume.
FASA Star Trek would be an interesting to see revived. I always liked their starship combat rules. However, I remember that many of the rules were clunky and inelegant.
Yes, Lords of Creation would be awesome to see reprinted.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Toon reworked to appeal beyond the Looney Tunes/Hanna-Barbera generations to the Simpsons/Ren & Stimpy/Beavis & Butt-head/South Park/Family Guy/Futurama generations.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Because everybody needs to take themselves and their roleplaying a lot less seriously.
It's a little outside your definition of old-school (1990), but I have fond memories of TORG by West End Games.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to sound silly, but...the original Indiana Jones RPG by TSR (published in 1984, therefore slipping under the wire in this definition of old school).
ReplyDeleteDespite being the most ridiculed game of all time, I enjoyed it. Particularly with the Judges Survival Pack. And the modules were fun.
Why? It was about as rules light as you can get, and the system focused on play not rules. All it was lacking was a character gen system which was somewhat solved with the Judges Survival Pack, which also had a sweet random adventure generation system useful for any RPG.
I'll admit to being a fan of this "Indiana Jones" RPG, too, and for many of the same reasons.
ReplyDeleteBut in my experience, since only one player could be Indy, it was a game best played by two people.
As a teenager in the 1980s, I bought "Skyrealms of Jorune," James, moved by the evocative ads in "Dragon." But the setting's outre mix of fantasy and science fiction was an instant turn-off to the teenaged me. The artwork was great. (That artist later went on to be a Hollywood concept artist, working on some of the biggest movies of the last couple of decades.) But the game world was so bizarre, I didn't even bother suggesting to my friends that we try to play it.
ReplyDeleteI owned Bushido and Skyrealms of Jorune (and yeah, I got the latter because of the evocative ads). Bushido was a wonderfully detailed system designed by people who obviously had a real love of Japanese film and literature. Not much in the way of modules though.
ReplyDeleteSkyrealms of Jorune with its floating islands and lushly varied fauna and flora reminds me of Avatar (with hindsight, obviously). I never actually played it, but it was beautiful to look at.
According to http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Advanced_Fighting_Fantasy#Second_Edition, "In terms of material, most of the stuff from the three books is in there." A revised version of The Riddling Reaver will come later.
ReplyDeleteI'd love it if someone were to rebirth Jorune... but I'd prefer it be system agnostic, or do the Thieves' World thing of giving info for several systems. In general I'd like more setting books to work that way.
ReplyDeleteFor me the OSR has been more about a move away from corporate gaming towards more personlized, smaller, visions. Less overtly about rules that new ways to play with the rules I already have. Encouraging DIY and GM decisions over locked-down settings and rules bloat.
I'm newish to all this but I'm a Red Box/Basic D&D fan if were talking about pre '85, which I understand LL is a retroclone of. But does it add all the higher options like Expert and Master etc? If so how does it compare to Rules Cyclopedia? Could that book ever be cloned, to me that IS D&D.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I just won an eBay auction for this game and should have a copy in my hands at long last soon. After I've had the chance to read it, I'll definitely be posting about it.
ReplyDeleteVery slowly - because other things keep distracting me - I'm cobbling together a nuts-and-bolts D100 conversion of Jorune. Slim pickings so far: http://clawcarver.wordpress.com/category/d100-jorune/
ReplyDeleteThis is an easy one for me.
ReplyDeleteSPI's Universe, hands down. The game was hard sci-fi (if a bit bloated), the setting of a near-future Earth that was colonizing near-spaoce a lot more accessible and interesting than anything GDW did with Traveller (or TSR did with Star Frontiers). In a perfect world, where I had the kind of money to do it right, I'd buy or license the property, and do it myself.
i'd like to see Prince Valiant reprinted as well
ReplyDeleteThank Heaven SPI's Universe is out there in PDF form.
ReplyDeletei couldn't agree more. I love Powers & Perils, our next session begins on the 25th of this month :)
ReplyDeleteTop Secret, followed closely by Boot Hill. They were imperfect at best but I have seen little since that could get a game based on espionage or the wild west going as quickly and with as much old school fun!
ReplyDeleteO...M..G..!!! I remember TOON! I loved it. I even have a few things left from the game, like characters, blank sheets, etc. It would be awsome if the game was brought back. Also, you are right....... "everybody needs to take themselves and their roleplaying a lot less seriously". Not only have people become soooo serious about thier gaming, but the gaming companies have totally nuked the games. Not naming any specific company, but when the kids running that non-specific company thought a 3rd edition re-make of rules that have worked for around about 2 and a half to 3 decades, would make the game more playable, that is when the game went in the crapper. Thier supporters should have grew-up a little, took away thier bongs, and told them to fix the problem they created, and appologize for breaking something that was not broken.
ReplyDeleteYou are in luck.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lulu.com/shop/blacky-the-blackball/dark-dungeons-softcover/paperback/product-12936088.html
TFT was a great system - very well designed and written, as opposed to AD&D and its bloated ruleset. Pity the evil one, Howard Thompson, decided to abruptly close Metagaming and go hide under a rock for the last 30 years...
ReplyDeleteA streamlined Rolemaster. Kind of like a MERP done right.
ReplyDeleteRolemaster Express was a good attempt in the right direction.
Isn't the setting just a pastiche of Star Trek, Starship Troopers and other science fiction of that vintage? If you don't like the rules anyway, what do you need from them to make that game?
ReplyDeleteWhere do I start?
ReplyDeleteEmpire of the Petal Throne
Nephilim (too recent, but I found it genuinely evocative)
Talislanta (also too recent, but genuinely bizarre)
Also Heroes of Olympus, by B. Dennis Sustare. Admittedly, this one stradles the line between board game and rpg (it can be played as either), but the design was/is quite innovative, with characters being defined solely by their skills. And, IIRC, you got to roll a random table to see which god your father was.
ReplyDeleteSeconded. Finish it and Haven while you're at it.
ReplyDeleteThe Midkemia Press rules set we never got to see.
ReplyDeleteSold mine to Nobel Knight not long ago... A sci-fi AD&D variant, basically. Never played it myself. Curious what you'll think of it.
ReplyDeleteTFT for sure!
ReplyDeleteThen, also maybe Top Secret and/or Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes (which might still be available from Flying Buffalo?).
Also a streamlined, "early" edition version of Champions would be cool.
Sadly, *Universe* is locked away in the Hasbro IP Vault of Doom, along with way too many interesting games from SPI.
ReplyDeleteThe appeal of *Space Opera* is twofold. First, I don't think the rules are all bad so much as badly written. Better organized and presented, I think there's a workable game there. Second, it's true that the game's default setting is a mishmash of stuff from other SF properties, but the particular arrangement of that mishmash is uniquely interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is that I not long ago inquired into the status of *Bushido*, with half an eye toward trying to grab the property if FGU was interested in relinquishing it. Sadly, they're not interested in selling it, which is both a personal disappointment to me and a crying shame for the hobby, because it's an awesome game.
ReplyDeleteThe scenario modules and settings, like the StarSector atlases and Casino Galactica, are very inspiring, and it would be just fine for me if somebody re-released them - as a "tourists' guide to the galaxy" of sorts that you'd have to adapt to your own game system... I have fond memories of GMing Space Opera, even though I didn't succeed in mastering the complex and unintuitive rules. Too bad I've sold my copies of the SO books a long time ago...
ReplyDeleteI would go with Bureau 13, which first came out in 1983. It was essentially sort of like the X-files, only an official version, not just a crazy guy who happens to be in the FBI. Players were people who had come into contact with the supernatural, and so were recruited into Bureau 13, a government agency tasked with covering such things up.
ReplyDeleteIt was burdened by a system that was clearly inspired by D&D, but with lots of rules added onto it that was meant to be make it more realistic and suitable for a modern day game, but in reality, just made it almost unplayable. But the setting was very well done.
While it's sort of obscure as a RPG, there were a handful of novels and even a computer game made based on it.
Yes! I'd love to see Bureau 13 reworked to be more playable and updated to the 21st Century, too!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a heavily redone Lords of Creation. That system needs a LOT of work, but it'd be worth it to go full-on over-the-top gonzo.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I'd love to see a new edition of The Fantasy Trip. TFT is already nearly perfect as rules go (What could be added? What could be taken away?), and just a tiny bit of polish would go a long way. It would probably fit in a nice little glossy digest-sized book like Savage Worlds, too. I would buy three of those, if someone made them.
Another one from FGU that I'd like to see revived: Daredevils. I like it much more than CoC because it's not as much horror-centric... I'm a long time HPL fan, but there's something unlovecraftlike in CoC campaigns - the fact that the characters can win ;-) Daredevils' rules were perhaps a tad too detailed and complex, compared with the BRP system, but the world was much more colourful and the kinds of adventures much more diverse.
ReplyDeleteSpot on about TFT. All it needs are tweaks to the combat system, basically using already existing rules (for example, the penetration of armor rules for giant scorpion stings could be used in conjunction with weapons to give a more realistic approach so that weapons that can punch armor easily, but maybe do not do as much damage, can be modeled accurately) and some additional material for monsters (the TFT list was pretty tiny compared to the D&D MM) and maybe some expanded magic. I'd play around with the talents, as well. But in general, the appraoch was very good, and much better thought through and written then D&D ever was.
ReplyDelete1st,2nd, 3rd Edition Stormbringer by Ken St. Andre and Jeff Perrin. Ken St. Andre is a great game writer. I think that this version of the game does a good job of capturing the feel of Moorcock's world.
ReplyDeleteEn Garde would be one. Space Quest would be another.
ReplyDeleteThe Morrow Project is an old favorite; I've been working off and on on a Microlite 20 conversion.