Following yesterday's post, here are some more pages from the 1983 TSR UK catalog, courtesy of reader Martin Williams, starting with this one. There are several noteworthy details here. For example, the modules Blizzard Pass and Maze of the Riddling Minotaur are included in the list of AD&D adventure modules, possibly because of their code being "M" rather than "B" or "X." Meanwhile, The Temple of Elemental Evil is assigned the code T2A/B rather than the T1–4 it received upon its actual release in 1985. Further, Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror are listed as modules GC 1 and GC2 respectively rather than EX 1 and EX2 (see also this post for another discussion of their changing module codes).
This next page is interesting because it includes the AD&D Fighting Wheel among the play aids available for sale, despite the fact that, so far as I know, it was never sold except to RPGA members.
Good to see some of TSR's other games given a page to themselves.
One can sometimes forget that TSR also published a wide range of boardgames intended for a wider audience, as this page demonstrates. At the bottom left, there's a note of "exciting news" regarding TSR's then-recent acquisition of the wargames publisher, SPI – an acquisition that ultimately proved to be an unhappy one for almost everyone concerned. There's also a striking bit of art by Rodney Matthews, depicting either a man in a very strange spacesuit or a robot of some kind.
Finally, we get not just more Matthews art, but a page devoted to books and magazines, with a passing mention of TSR's minigames.
As someone much more familiar with the brown TSR "Gateway to Adventure" catalogs, I found the UK catalogs fascinating – especially for the original art included with it. Thanks again to Martin Williams for sharing this piece of history with me.
That odd illustration isn't of a man in a weird spacesuit or of a robot -- it's another kobold!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of kobolds, I believe Jeff Easley may have given his interpretation on the cover of the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide.
DeleteHuh. It never occurred to me that those might be kobolds on the cover of the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. For whatever reason, I always assumed they were Jermlaine.
DeleteJermlaine are only a few inches tall. Not 100% sure they're kobolds, but they look similar.
DeleteInteresting that they only mention Vampyre, Attack Force and Icebergs of the eight TSR minigames there. Theoretically all of them had come out by the end of 1982. I wonder if some of them had already sold out by 1983, or if they just weren't seen as worth devoting more catalog space to. Not much of a margin on those with their low price and all.
ReplyDeleteA couple of the unnamed minigames ("Alamo" and "They've Invaded Pleasantville") were more American in their setting, and perhaps were not seen to be as Euro-friendly. "Revolt On Antares" though is conspicuous by its absence.
DeleteViking Gods and Saga are also absent. Unless the UK audience was still afraid of Vikings in 1983 I'd have expected those to be fairly popular as well - more so than in the US, if anything.
DeleteSkipping Revolt On Antares is inexcusable, of course. :)
Thanks for the insights, James, and for shining a light on this. Martin
ReplyDeleteIt describes Dawn Patrol as a RPG.
ReplyDeleteI never owned it but assumed it was just a combat game like Car Wars played without a referee. Is this just marketing? Encouraging folks to give personalties to their pilots?
Dawn Patrol was a RPG, albeit a very limited one. Your pilot improved with time and experience, for example. The comparison to Car Wars is a good one, I think.
DeleteYep, if anything I think Dawn Patrol had more character development features than early Car Wars did. Blue Max (which also came out in 1983) still had some campaign play and pilot advancement elements but was closer to a pure wargame, which made it more popular with some folks. Also leant itself to playing with model kits/toys/minis better than DP did thanks to lower movement speeds and ranges.
DeleteI'd like to get a better look at the cover of that Player Record Sheets in the second image. Mine has a Jeff Dee illustration of Rufus and Byrne from T1, but that looks like a Roslof (?) painting of adventurers fighting a blue dragon.
ReplyDeleteThey can be seen here: https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/19aacd0/dd_player_character_record_sheets_1981_oc/
DeleteI remember using these, acquired secondhand at a garage sale, around 1993. I think we somehow combined B/X with that boxed set that had a VHS tape.
I recognize it now...just looked different in the flyer. Thanks for the link!
DeleteAnyone ever use that "Fighting Wheel"? I don't think I ever saw that in stores.
ReplyDeleteOnly sold to RPGA members, according to James. I too would be interested in hearing from anyone who had experience with them. Diceless D&D, what a concept!
DeleteFrom memory, I think there was a similar circular slide rule published in Dragon magazine
Delete