From issue #56 of Dragon (December 1981) comes this advertisement for Star Rovers, a science fiction RPG from Archive Miniatures & Game Systems. Nowadays, the game is mostly notable for the fact that Dave Hargrave of Arduin fame was one of its designers. I never saw it back in the day, so I can't comment on its contents or quality. However, the ad below suggests it was interesting ...
I like the phrase "berserk Biomorph toting a chainsaw" - but I never saw the game.
ReplyDeleteHurm... I guess most people didn't get tired of "Travelling."
ReplyDeleteWhile I have scanned and released my copy of Sword Lords over a decade ago. Neat wargame.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have yet to find a digital copy of Star Rovers and I have been interested in seeing it for a long while. Not just for the rules, but also the artwork.
Shame how the company gone under the way they did.
Wonder if they ever ran afoul of DC Comics, which had a title of the same name.
ReplyDeleteThey never had their own title. The Star Rovers were a short-lived feature in the Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures scifi anthology books in the early 60s. Rather atypically clever for those books, but you can count every story on your hands and have a digit left over. If Chaykin hadn't dredged them up for his (rather cruel) deconstruction of the 60s "space characters" in the Elseworlds Twilight book they'd be even more obscure than they are now - although the New 52 era apparently reimagined them as space smugglers in a couple of cameos.
DeleteDC's was about as likely to sue some minor RPG publisher over the name as Jack London's estate was. :)
I didn't give a second thought to my use of the word 'title' when I typed it to be honest, so dutifully corrected. Until the Elseworlds Twilight, my only exposure to them was Who's Who, who basically treated everyone equally under the DC Bullet.
DeleteI'll give them this, they were probably the best feature in the issues they did appear in, barring maybe Adam Strange. The whole "three approaches to this issue's problem and any or all might work - or maybe none will" was pretty unique. Shame they weren't more popular, really. They deserved better than they got in Twilight.
DeleteThat sounds awesome. I want to play!
ReplyDeletethat was my immediate response. I own Synnibarr for a similar reason. I do not need a sane game all the time (arguablely ever)
DeleteI'm guessing "You can take your rule book completely apart and put it back together in the order you want" means this game was distributed as loose leaf pages.
ReplyDeleteI had this and sold it about 10 years ago. It seemed to be an overcomplicated mess. Not sure that it was playable.
ReplyDeleteThis game has a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Rovers_(role-playing_game)
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, the spaceship rules were to be in Module 2. There was never a Module 2.
ReplyDeleteYou recall correctly.
DeleteCorrect. It's like Star Frontiers if Knight Hawks never came out.
DeleteIt reminds me of another vaporware sci fi rpg that was advertised, but never printed. It was called AI. It was advertised in Digest Group Publications magazine, MegaTraveller Journal. Supposedly, the author's entire work for the game was wiped out due to computer problems.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't already followed the link on this thing's wiki page, I strongly recommend reading the six-part review of the game over on this blog:
ReplyDeletehttps://mrlizard.com/characters/star-rovers/
It sounds very much like the game gives World of Synnibarr a run for its money when it comes to dubiously playable rules married to a bizarre setting, with the added bonus of being about half-unfinished with numerous rules (including space travel and combat) in the never-published Module 2.
I dunno about the game - never saw it - buty I read the ad back in the day, and that made me add both a berserk biomorph with a chainsaw and Moondog Maud's cantina to my Traveller campaign.
ReplyDelete