SPI's
DragonQuest underwent at least one name change prior to its release in 1980. According to this advertisement from the pages of
Different Worlds #7, this game was initially to be called
DragonSlayer.
An earlier issue of DW suggested that the game was to be called
Dragonflayer, which might simply have been a typo, though it's hard to say. In any event, I can't help but wonder if the name change had something to do with the 1981 movie of the same name, perhaps relating to trademarks.
Given Disney's involvement with the film, I'd expect there were some legal concerns involved, yeah. The house of Mouse has always been litigious.
ReplyDeleteRather like Dragonflayer, though. Reminds me of TSR's various and fairly elaborate rules for skinning dragons and turning them into armor. I'm sure that's the best idea ever, what are the odds of every dragon you ever run into in the future attacking on sight or fleeing to raise as many allies as they can to take you down?
I wonder if Dragonflayer was an attempt to suggest a long s?
ReplyDeleteIt's possible, though I suspect you're giving SPI too much credit.
DeleteSPI made a Dragonslayer wargame/boardgame that was tie in for the movie.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they changed the name of the RPG on their own to avoid market confusion.
In fact, going to BoardgameGeek to refresh my memory just now, it looks like TSR also published a second edition of Dragonslayer a few years later after they acquired SPI.
ReplyDeleteI would bet SPI had the name trademark for a game already and made a deal with Disney to just do a game.
You know, I think The Fantasy Trip was originally going to be called "Dragonslayer" but SPI beat them to the name. I'll have to dig through old Space Gamers (so far no luck) but I do recall a discussion of proposed names for TFT, and I thought that was one of them.
ReplyDeleteThe art is fantastic, but I can't steer my attention away from the address on Park Avenue South, New York (city). The lease/rent alone probably cost more than my entire life is worth, including two fairly serviceable kidneys.
ReplyDeleteI always felt that DragonQuest was a pretty great name for a fantasy RPG. A bit too reminiscent of RuneQuest? Perhaps, but not really.
ReplyDeleteToo bad the game wasn't as great as the name.
I thought Dragonquest was a great game, but the combat mechanics could make battles a tad long.
DeleteDifferent Worlds #11 (pages 28-30) has a review of DragonQuest followed by a reply from designer Eric Goldberg.
ReplyDeleteFirst mention of this design project is on page 30 of Strategy & Tactics #73 (March/April 1979) as Dragonslayer. The renaming to DragonQuest was quite last minute and no explanation was given. Still called Dragonslayer in S&T #80 (May/June 1980) and stated that it would be available for purchase at Origins 1980 (June 27-29). The next issue of S&T (#81, July/August 1980) announced that DragonQuest sold out at Origins. It was also reported that the adventure run at Origins would be released as DragonQuest Adventure 1 (presumably "The Palace of Ontoncle") and that development was beginning on DragonQuest Adventure 2.
ReplyDeleteFor those reading this in the distant future (or maybe not so distant, given the steady posting rate on this blog) it turns out the most likely cause for the name change from DragonSlayer to DragonQuest was due to Martian Metals (a fairly major miniatures manufacturing company back in the day) already having two ranges of fantasy figures (one 15mm and one 25mm scale) they sold under the name DragonSlayers.
ReplyDelete