Friday, February 5, 2021

Revolting Memories

In my youth, I adored the TSR minigames, especially Revolt on Antares, designed by Tom Moldvay and whose counters, depicted above, were illustrated by Jeff Dee. I can't tell you how many times I played this game with my friends while we hung around in someone's basement, waiting for the rest of our group to arrive to play D&D. 

While I enjoyed the straightforward, almost bare bones rules of the game, it was its little setting details that I found most compelling. The leaders of the warring noble houses had names like Black Dougal Mackenzie and Catherine "the Mad" Braganza, while Galactic Heroes carried monikers like Corvus Andromeda and Doctor Death. Silly? Perhaps but they struck just the right pulpy, space operatic tone with me and my young self imagined who these people were and how they related to the distant, ill-described Imperial Terran Empire [sic] that laid claim to Antares 9. 

If nothing else, it's a reminder that it's far from necessary to flesh out a setting in exhaustive detail. Sometimes, just a few evocative names and a piece of well chosen art is enough to do the job – or at least it was when I was a young man. Less can be more.

11 comments:

  1. Of course Black Dougal also has a classic death scene in the Moldvay Basic rules.

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  2. This is the level of detail I use for my own campaign setting backgrounds. Very short, evocative names and a few details here and there. It's all you need - the players imagine better than they read and remember.

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  3. I could not agree with this more. toss in a few rumors of strange things... "The prince, once caught with three slugmen dressed up as a single harem dancer in a trenchcoat, has not been seen in three days"

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  4. My favorite '80s minigames are probably SJG's Ogre, GEV and Battlesuit.
    I think they would make for a smashing near-future rpg setting too.
    I guess there must be a GURPS supplement.

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    1. There is, and it's a great read. GURPS Ogre: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-classic-ogre

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  5. I loved this game, and would be overjoyed to see a modern upgraded remaster ala the one the Dwarfstar/Heritage Dragon Rage got a while back - assuming they keep Dee and Otus (who did some interior art including that awesome mass combat scene with Andros and Dr. Death and Lyra Starfire) on the new art. Every scifi RPG I've ever run has featured at least a cameo appearance by a shady gunrunner named Tovan Palequire - the guy gets around.

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  6. Thanks for another blast from the past. I played this game over and over and OVER again--against myself. I used it almost as a simulator of a global sci-fi battle.

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  7. I loved this one and Saga. Never owned any of the others, sadly.

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  8. My wife is a huge fam of Tom Wham's Mertwig's Maze -- so much so that I splashed out an absurd amount of money a few years back getting her her own copy, as her mother had long since thrown out the one she had as a girl.

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  9. I owned this game back in the day and loved it. The awesome cover art pulled me in, but it played surprisingly well.

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  10. Just this summer I made a middle-aged friendly version of this game, tricking it out with some cards and other enhancements. It was the first war game I ever played, and it will forever be beloved by me as a result. You can read about my memories of the game and its make-over on my blog:

    https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2020/06/my-first-wargame-reviving-revolt-on.html

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