I've been an admirer of Chaosium boxed sets for a long time and consider many of them to be among the best RPG products ever released. That's why I was very quick to snap up the 40th anniversary reprint of Call of Cthulhu the company announced in 2021. Building on that success, Chaosium announced another re-release of a classic Basic Role-Playing-derived game, ElfQuest.
The remastered set will come in a 2" box and include not only the 2nd edition
ElfQuest rulebook and related materials, but also
The ElfQuest Companion, The Sea Elves, and
Elf War supplements. Though I don't count myself a fan of
ElfQuest, this announcement nevertheless makes me very happy. I love it when old RPGs are faithfully re-released for a new generation of fans to discover and appreciate. Chaosium has a very good track record when it comes to projects like this, so I think anyone who is an
ElfQuest fan would do well to take a serious look at this.
I will back it, likely. I have the boxed set, and the softcover, but not the sea elves
ReplyDeleteI bought it back in the day after seeing the ad. Made me go out and buy/read some of the comics. I do not remember details about either..just mental images of the art. I think I enjoyed it? Lol.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. I see now that it's a re-release of the 2nd edition. I didn't even know there was a second edition. I might have been out of TTRPGs at this point. I definitely had the first set within a few weeks of release. I recall seeing ads for it- probably in Different Worlds. And then it showed up at WYG?
Deletepretty sure the second is just the first with the companion material addee
DeleteSadly, we don't appear to be getting a re-issue of Ringworld, which is also on its 40th anniversary. Then again, Elfquest has an animated series supposedly in the works (that stuff has fallen through multiple times in the past) and a major color reprint from Dark Horse, while Ringworld is pretty much done and the RPG is so old it only covers the first two books of the extended series, so either two or seven books out of date depending on how you count Fleet of Worlds (spoilers: it counts). RW needs a whole new edition on top of the license renewal, which is much worse than EQ's situation.
ReplyDeleteSuprised they’re not republishing Superworld instead, being that it help jumpstart the Wild Card books.
ReplyDeleteElfquest has a new series coming from Dark Horse and an animated series supposedly in the works, as well as being on its 40th reunion, all of which have reinvigorated the already-solid fan base. Wild Cards hasn't had a new book since 2022 and for the majority of gamers it's associated with Mutants & Masterminds, not Superworld. Add to that the fact that SW was treated like a red-headed stepchild by Chaosium even when it was new, was so badly edited that even Steve Perrin openly criticized the shoddy job done on it, never managed to develop a meaningful player base in the face of competition from V&V and early Champions, and couldn't even turn a profit on its few adventures when it did double or triple stat them for those other systems. Plus, it really has nothing in it even vaguely connecting it to Wild Cards, and getting a license to even put the WC logo on the cover (much less develop content for it) would be an expensive and complicated affair due to the shared-world nature of WC.
DeleteChaosium will make some money on EQ without having to exert themselves. Not as much money as they did with the CoC reprint, but they'll get some nostalgia bucks off of it and earn some good will with the Pinis that might really pay off if EQ takes off big. What do they get from Superworld? A showcase of of sloppy editing and poor quality control with only a tenuous connection to Wild Cards, which has been a steady IP for years but doesn't show any signs of spiking to its old highs in today's market? Even if Martin felt nostalgic enough about SW to get involved, he's not exactly reliable any more, not since the unfinished GoT earned him enough money to live a thousand years without working again.
My wife got me into EQ. I have the original rules in my collection as well as the graphic novels.
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