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It's April Fools, let's start this off right. TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE - Introduction! There's been a lot of RPGs over the years. A loooot. Many of them were good and have held on in various editions, others were bad and fell through the cracks and rightfully forgotten. Unfortunately, some were pretty great and still went out of gamer perception, simply because they were niche at the time or because they haven't been printed in years. For example... I'm sure everyone here loves anime games! ... Right? ... Well, fine. But I don't mean any of that modern Moe crap. Think older! Way older! As in... clearly based on an anime that started circa 1981...? That's right, it's 1987's Teenagers from Outer Space, by Mike Pondsmith! That's the first printing (1987... was that really 26 years ago...?), the second printing (1989), and the second edition/revised version (1997) there. While TFOS is not the oldest anime-based RPG in America - Mekton (also from Pondsmith, admittedly...) came out in 1984, and Siembieda's Robotech came out in 1986 - it's certainly and sadly one that most people have forgotten about over the years. Despite this it's from a rather untreaded genre for RPGs, and one of those earlier RPGs that attempted to actually enforce genre conventions even down to the rule level, being a very simple and almost freeform game. It's a niche that wasn't really touched on for years (the only other example I can think of for ages was GURPS IOU, which is another one I'll need to pull off the shelf later...) and even now is still sort of in the realm of experimental indie games. The concept is... pretty much what it says on the title, but if you're also old enough to remember a contemporary 80's cartoon that was also a pretty clear inspiration you've probably got close to the right idea anyway. Short version: There are teenagers. From space. Now, before we get too far into this, I should note a few things: I've got my hands on my copy, which is the second printing version there; it's basically identical to the original run aside from the cover. Downside is, this is an actual physical copy and I lack a scanner or even something resembling a decent camera, while the only PDF I could legally find was the latest edition one, which while similar in text content has much different art. It's not necessarily worse; the old versions had some charmingly cartoonish stuff, while the 1997 version had more blatantly ripoff fauxnime stuff (since while anime hadn't quite taken off yet in the US, the DVD market had made it at least a recognizable niche by then), but you're going to have to suffer through that either way. Sorry! I'll give a comparison of the editions later on, but most of it's expanded examples and other such things rather than additional rules. It's not a very big game; the edition I'm reviewing has all of 84 pages, and several of those are taken up by character sheets and similar stuff... It's also probably important to talk a bit about Pondsmith himself, too. He's the founder and heart of R. Talsorian Games, which has been in operation since Also, Mike Pondsmith is one of the few black RPG designers in the industry, leading to depressing and hilarious anecdotes of people at conventions not believing he was actually Mike Pondsmith. I'm sure someone here can give more detailed accounts about this than me, though... In any case! With all that exciting historical information out of the way we can move on to the introduction! One important thing to note about the game is its layout; there's the main body of (theoretically) serious text, but also sidebars that give examples of the rules being presented, offer commentary about why things are designed like they are, or just provide sarcastic quips about your poor PCs. The first one we see is also the most useful for this review: Sidebar posted:The plot of Teenagers from Outer Space is pretty simple. Aliens from Out There invade our planet. They enroll their kids in our schools; shop in our shopping malls; hang out in our fast food joints. It's sort of like "Leave it to Beaver" crossed with the "Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", and "Alien" Sidebar posted:Running a Teenagers game will require skill, determination, and the combined jokebooks of Henny Youngman, Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, and Steve Martin. If you don't happen to have all of this talent in one place, relax. You have this book. Now, don't you feel better?
As you can see, this isn't exactly the most serious of rule systems. Although there's one other thing I should warn... this game is incredibly 80's. You don't see it so much just yet, but wait... *Except your parents. And the principal... Asimo fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Apr 1, 2013 |
# ¿ Apr 1, 2013 08:42 |
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# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 05:39 |
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April 1st isn't over just yet! Let's get some more done here... TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE - Creating your very own teenager! When last we left off, I had given you a brief teaser of what's to come... the base stats of the game! The rather eclectic assortment of Smarts, Bod, Relationship with Parents (RWP), Luck, Driving, Looks, Cool, and Bonk. Now, you might be wondering that these stats probably aren't all created equal, and... well, you'd be right. But it's a comedy game, not a competition, so does it really matter? ... Besides, it's 1987. Chargen is random. Okay, honestly by then there were plenty of games with point-buy style systems, following in Champion's wake. It's chosen here quite intentionally to help make sure characters have (sometimes inexplicable) strengths and weaknesses, because it's funnier that way. And don't worry, TFOS has none of that "roll 3d6, down the line" crap that people think oldschool D&D had! Here it's 1D6 down the line! Yep, it's not very complex... roll a die for each stat, get a result from 1 to 6, and that's what the stat is. Higher is better ... generally, but we'll get into that later. Fortunately the game is fairly generous here; you can move points between stats as you like, as long as none go below 1 or above 6. Convenient! (Now for folks with more modern gaming sensibilities, you could probably just give everyone 25 points to distribute around or something and skip the rolling so the entire party's on an even level, but considering it's literally impossible for a character to die in TFOS and the point of the game is humor, there's something to be said for just going with random as it is. You'll see.) Now, while TFOS is a rules-light game this is probably a bit too simple, so characters are also allowed to have (This is another case where it wouldn't be too hard to just give out a flat number if you were so inclined. But...) While rolling up stats and knacks is pretty simple, it's obvious that there can be some imbalance between characters. Someone might have an unlovable loser with near-minimum stats, and someone might roll the child of Superman and Wonder Woman who is invulnerable in battle and has the infinite adoration of their peers. But never fear! Because, as mentioned several times, this is a comedy game... so "success" is in the eye of the beholder. While we won't get into the exact resolution rules until later, it's important to note now that it isn't a binary fail/success mechanic. Indeed, you can fail, you can succeed, or you can succeed too well, at which point the GM is highly encouraged to inflict whatever hilarious comeuppance is best fitting. Succeed too well on an attack, blow up half a city block and get community service after school. Do too well trying to woo a date, and you've now acquired your own creepy stalker. In most games this would be obnoxious, but since the whole point of TFOS is watching things go horribly wrong, well... And the worst part? The players aren't allowed to know how good is too good. Okay okay, it's another simple mechanic. At the start of each session the GM secretly rolls a die, and if a player succeeds on a roll by more than that amount during the session, hilarity ensues. Of course, stats are only part of marking a character! There's who they are... or perhaps Aliens of course also get special powers! ... Well, maybe. Like everything else so far, it's random rolls; in the original version it's a roll on three charts, each of which having a chance of "nothing". For the most part, powers are relatively self explanatory and have relatively minor game effects, and some are all but narrative. Highlights include things like Zap (zorch folks for 2 points of Bonk, and convenient for charging your walkman), Monster Out (you are now godzilla), or Telephone (phone home! Or anyone else, anywhere at any time. Hey, this was made before cellphones were ubiquitous...) Humans meanwhile get jack. ... Well okay, that's not true. Humans obviously don't have a chance at fantastic alien powers what with being humans and all, but they do have a chance for an advantage of their own, as befitting their, uh, mundane natures. It's only a single table and there's a higher chance of coming up empty, but it's possible to wind up with advantages like Filthy Rich (as in "you could probably afford to buy out a large country" rich), Run like Heck (incredibly useful with all the crazy aliens around), or Lose it Completely (when your current Bonk hits one, you go berserk and get super strength, speed, and toughness for a turn). In the case of both aliens and humans, players are encouraged to make up new benefits, and And that's... almost it, in fact! There's one more bit we'll cover in a moment, but this is the core of chargen. Stats, knacks, powers, all in a small handful of rolls. I told you this was easy! Enough so that I'll show a few of the complete sample character sheets from the book here... Tommy Tanaka - Human Smarts 5, Bod 4, RWP 5, Luck 6, Looks 5, Cool 1, Driving 3, Bonk 6 Knacks: Convince Mom +1, Dodge +3, Look Baffled so they Don't Clobber You +2 Powers: Incredible Luck Traits: Bewildered, Trusting, Modest Rami - Near Human Smarts 4, Bod 5, RWP 4, Luck 2, Looks 6, Cool 6, Driving 4, Bonk 3 Knacks: Look Adorable +2, Shoot Zap Gun +3, Get a Date +1 Powers: Zap, Fly, Forcefield Traits: Curious, Stubborn, Jealous ... Yep, that's it, (almost) the entirety of a character sheet. They don't really get much simpler than that, except maybe in Risus. But there's one last "stat" to go over too, mostly avoided so far because it's something that's determined over time rather than at chargen. Specifically: your allowance! Roll 2d6, multiply by two (hey, 1987, inflation...), and that's how much you get per week. It's explicitly unrelated to how rich and powerful your character's parents might be of course, since they might just be stingy or hope that an after-school job will make you build character or something. The only upside is that before the first Every character is assumed to start with their own car, flying saucer, or equivalent thereof (hey, have to put that Driving stat to good use!) Problem is... it's also assumed to be an ugly, embarrassing, slow wreck of a used lemon unless you spend some money on it. Almost entirely fluff of course, but who doesn't want to have a cool paintjob and a car stereo? There's assorted personal goods that keep the wheels of capitalist society moving as well, including an assortment of fantastic (or not-so fantastic) alien devices like the Zap Gun (zorch someone for 2 bonk), the 4th Dimensional Purse (which can store numerous things... assuming you can find them again), the Boy/Girl Gun (to help with genre verisimilitude), the Sony Holoman (Glasses that let you play videos from cassette tapes! Watch where you're going...), or the Pangalactic Ghettoblaster (can play any form of media, also loud enough to kill small animals). This is another place where players are encouraged to go hog-wild and make up their own And of course, you'll need cash for visiting the movies, taking your dates out to dinner, and other such critically important social events. Which ultimately is why this seems to be tracked so closely for an otherwise rule-light game; being broke (or buying new stuff) can drive RP. Do you beg your parents? Do you get a job? Do you try and con your sister? Your girlfriend pay the dinner bill after driving her there in your old junker would make your social life in school complex after all... For now, this brings us to the end of character generation! Next time, how to actually play the game! But we can't just leave it at that... I've been going on about how simple it is to make a character, so let's put this to the test. I'll roll up two sheets here, but leave the narrative traits unpicked, so to see who can make the most amusing characters from them! The winners will receive the undignified prize of being used in any gameplay examples that may come up later, as well as the undying adoration of the entertained thread! Hooray! All of this is rolled randomly with my actual dice, so put your creativity and experience with horrible old anime, cartoons, and webcomics to the max here... and if you actually own the game, hey, make your own! Human Smarts 6, Bod 4, RWP 6, Luck 4, Looks 5, Cool 2, Driving 3, Bonk 3 Knacks: (2 points to distribute) Power: Connections (You know lots of people, and can get lots of favors... and probably get asked to give too) Near Human Smarts 4, Bod 3, RWP 2, Luck 2, Looks 2, Cool 2, Driving 3, Bonk 5 Knacks: (4 points to distribute) Powers: Teleport, Monster Out, Superstrength Real Weirdie Smarts 2, Bod 1, RWP 1, Luck 5, Looks 2, Cool 6, Driving 6, Bonk 2 Knacks: (6 points to distribute) Powers: Fly, Shapechange
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# ¿ Apr 2, 2013 03:58 |
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Count Chocula posted:I was in a con game yesterday with a homebrew system, and one character had a disadvantage where if he rolled doubles on 2d10 his gadgets would Work Better Than Expected. In two hours he managed to cover an entire street with earwax, get caught in a giant ball of bubblegum, and succeed so well at escaping that an entire underground bunker turned into an escape rocket. In other words, I encourage this rule.
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# ¿ Apr 2, 2013 04:52 |
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Tasoth posted:It's also an important concept in Paranoia, which is another fantastic game. And yes, I am encouraging people to pull out those old books. I can't be the only (semi-)ancient gamer here!
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# ¿ Apr 2, 2013 08:57 |
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MalcolmSheppard posted:It's all Yurusei Yatsura and Ben Dunn Ninja High School style stuff, but it has a loose setting that doesn't just emulate these things.
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# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 00:31 |
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PublicOpinion posted:I'm assuming that 'Shapechange' can be skinned as a do-anything robot.
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# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 04:58 |
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TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE - How to actually do stuff!Sidebar posted:If you've come this far, it's too late; you might as well play the game. Now, as I've implied, TFOS isn't... horribly complex here. It's definitely geared towards explaining the details of RP more than having rules for same, probably because it's exceptionally rules-light for the era so you couldn't just play it half like a board game like you could get away with in AD&D. So what's actually there for mechanics is... well:
Okay, so... it'd be something like 1d6+4 if I wanted to startle someone, right? Looks plus the "+2 scary girl" knack. Probably a contested roll against their Cool. And Driving and my "I can fix it" knack to make sure the UFO's still running! 1d6+8! Probably against a target number unless someone rigged it with a booby trap! Nothing can possibly go wrong. ... And just a straight Luck roll, 1d6+4, to make sure I'm standing over there when something explodes. And really, between the chargen rules and these bits, that's all players really need to concern themselves with. Handy, isn't it? The only issues is that this isn't all the rules, and referee obviously has a bit more to concern themselves with, but a lot of it's just finer explanations for questions that might come up in game when people don't really... get how TFOS is run. For example:
Damage (or rather, Bonk loss) is another slightly more complex bit, in that doesn't quite work as traditional hit points. As noted back in the first post where I explained the stats, there's no real downside to being bonked out besides losing some turns (and more worryingly, your dignity), but it's critically important to note that you don't only lose Bonk from being attacked physically. Verbal attacks and other means of stripping someones dignity is perfectly allowable as well. The amount of Bonk lost depends on a few things. Some powers and equipment just cause a flat "damage", like the Zap power doing 2 points. Failing that, flailing at someone with your fists, wits, or whatever else is handy does 1 point. The referee may just assign some Bonk loss (1-3) if the players do something particularly incompetent to themselves but isn't quite an attack (such as flying into a wall. Or... if you're feeling A special situation is listed for anyone who actually tries to use serious weapons. Guns, knives, all that sort of stuff. In addition to sort of missing the point of the exercise (aliens or not, it's still a came of high schoolers here), the target has to roll their Cool, and if they fail they go running screaming for cover. It doesn't really matter anyway, since "real" weapons don't actually inflict any harm besides awkwardly torn wardrobes. It's just not that kind of game, you know? The last really "complex" rule is Experience Points. The game admits that it isn't really necessary, and you'd probably have better luck training your players by tossing them M&M's or something when they did something funny. But there's still some chance for progression if they insist, at least. Stats can't be changed, but you can raise or buy new Knacks whenever you want, spending your Life Experience on a 1/+1 ratio. And how much of that do you get? Well... it's vote time again, where everyone (secretly! And including the ref) gives the each of the other players a 0-3 vote, and the average result is what experience they get. If anyone complains, well, it's not the Ref's fault, it's a democracy... Eric Wujcik would be proud. Of course if you wanted to move this away from somewhat confrontational gameplay, it wouldn't be too hard to houserule just giving a flat amount, or leaving the vote open. If you're playing TFOS right, there's probably a few moments everyone loved and would want to reward anyway! In any case, we're done with the rules for now, but that's only part of the Referee advice - and we're only halfway through the book. Next time we'll some advice on how to run this crazy game, since keeping to a crazy humor theme is probably a bit difficult if you're used to crawling through dungeons with murderhobos. ... And completely unrelated to this writeup: translations and reviews of foreign games is amazing and I highly encourage it. It's one thing to pull old american games out of the bin, but most people here have never even seen stuff like that.
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# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 06:46 |
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TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE - Getting funny! Now, for some context, back in 1987 the concept of "genre emulation" didn't actually exist, at least not in the idea of a singular specific concept that a designer would actually create rules around. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of games that were testing the waters of trying to emulate the "feel" of a genre or medium rather than simply being a game in a setting (an early example I own would be 1984's Marvel Super Heroes where XP (karma) was explicitly tied to acting heroic, and I know there's many similar examples from around and before that time), but oftentimes these rules tended to be experiment or insufficient, and often came with the assumption that players would already know the genre/setting and at least make a vague attempt of emulating it. Which presented a problem for a game like TFOS, since it not only had a playstyle that wasn't very common for the era (narrative and comedy-focused), but it was for a genre that was easy to grasp but not quite common knowledge. The answer to this problem? A big section on how to properly run an humorous anime game. It's a bit more complex a problem than it sounds, mind you. The book needed to cover both how to actually try and get the feel of play down, while also trying to explain the tropes of the genre (not in as many words of course) in order to play them right. Nowadays a lot of this might just go unstated, but honestly it's pretty nice to have, and TFOS has some pretty good advice. For the most part anyway. It winds up as one of the longer sections of a somewhat short book, but for good reason. And to start off, it goes into advice in how to do the metagame right, something that you don't see often. Listed things include:
From there, the book moves into what it calls "Routines", but what we'd probably refer to as
And from there, to assorted off-campus problems! A prominent one, right at the top of the section, is... well, sex. Fear not, this isn't some creepy horror like Cthulhutech or what have you, and TFOS is quite up front with how this is supposed to work: quote:Skip the moral questions. Sex, in a roleplaying context at least, just isn't funny enough. Now frustration... that's funny. While most of the following advice is stuff that would be readily obvious to anyone who's ever watched a sitcom, a romantic comedy, or a harem anime (you poor bastard), it's still helpful to be reminded that the most amusing part of sending teenagers on dates is watching them go horribly wrong, and there's a handy sidebar full of things that could conveniently interrupt a romantic liaison, from "a phone call" or "parents come home", all the way up to "comet hits earth" or "Godzilla escapes". Naturally this is yet another area where one's RWP score is likely to get put to the test too... From there, it goes into other examples of things that might make a teenager's life difficult. From horrors like "having to take the bus because your UFO broke down" or dealing with the media (if you're some famous figure or alien), to simple things like one's parents. The example Mom given has the single stat of Guilt +10, but like everything else in TFOS it's pretty obvious how you could spin this a variety of ways, or insert other family members to make one's life difficult. Going to be honest, my mom's in politics. She's pretty cool, lets me do whateeeever I want! The less said about mom, the better. But she's an amazing cook, really great with barbeque, roasting things on spits, that sort of stuff... "Mom" is a the ruling AI of planet M3CH-A. ... I should probably phone home though, she might be getting worried. I know she's usually too busy sending those giant robot monsters to try and conquer earth, but she means well. Most of this stuff is things a modern player could think up with ease, what with all our narrative driven games and whatnot. But it's still handy to have, and if nothing else it makes for some good reading and helps in giving advice. A TFOS character is arguably more about their interactions with family, fellow students and faculty, and the world around them than about their own stats and scores, and that's a good thing. It makes for a better game, even if it's not about crazy students from space! And next time... sample adventures and advice on how to make your own adventures and campaigns! Yeah, honestly we're almost done, but this is only a 78-page book. Asimo fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ¿ Apr 4, 2013 10:02 |
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TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE - Getting down to business! Why do games tend to not come with sample adventures any more? I guess it is a bit of a waste of space, but it does tend to be handy. Ah well! We're down to the last quarter of the book here, and honestly I'm going to skip over most of it; it's not like this is a game where there's deep metaplots or something, and I'm assuming anyone reading this on this forum could think up a dozen sort of scenes to alien teenagers in trouble in without much effort. There's a single sample adventure (TFOS even gives some sample characters for people who still aren't used to this "RPing" thing, but we already have our own. ) and more general GM advice afterwards. Our sample adventure? Enter the Drag Race, just in case you were still worried about the utility of that Driving stat. To start off, <character's> long-lost sibling gives them the gift of a sizable amount of debt and a wrecked-up old star racer. Fortunately there's the upcoming Galaxy 5000 race with its sizable prize that could certainly get our hero(ine) out of trouble, and surely her friends would be happy to help! Of course, you can't enter with a wrecked racer, and even if the teens can scavenge some parts off their own vehicles they'll still need to borrow (or steal...) a bunch more. Not that it's even that simple, since assorted rivals from the race would want to make sure the previously prize-winning UFO doesn't get back into the race. And even if the teens manage to get through all that, there's still the matter of winning... Don't worry, this is my specialty! It better be, considering your mechanical family started this mess to begin with... It's also important to note the book provides active encouragement to completely ignore this scenario if it spins off in a weird and amusing direction. And it's the only fully written-up scenario, short as it is... but fear not! For the book continues to provide plentiful advice on making your own adventures. This sort of GM advice is almost universal these days, but again it's important to remember that TFOS was in an... unusual niche back in the day (and even now, to a degree) so having all of it written out was a good idea. Sidebar posted:Each Teenagers session should be like a half-hour episode from a T.V. show. Fast, direct and mindless. Don't worry about whether the players follow the scenario you set up or not. They only came to eat your popcorn, drink your Cokes, and trash your living room for the weekend. The main thrust of the advice is to treat writing the adventure like writing a television script... or at least a sitcom scenario. You need the situation, the cast (the feature cast (PCs), supporting cast (major NPCs), and guest stars (NPCs important to the scenario)), and the major scenes that make up the plot (including the theoretical goal of the teens, even if things may well get derailed early on). It gives some examples of how to lay out rough scenes (in this case, the teens finding a stuffed animal that is actually the vanguard for a fluffy invasion force, and the ways this... escalates as they go along), but this is basic advice, even if coming at it from a scripting direction rather than the classic D&D "here's a dungeon to clear" angle is still useful to consider. There's also some guidance in how to run a longer campaign (a "movie") rather than a one-shot scene (the "episodes" above). Again the advice is obvious... even if the reminder to end sessions on a cliffhanger is probably useful for any sort of campaign, not just TFOS. Oh, and of course there's the usual photocopiables at the back. Not just the character sheet, but also some little cards to help with the "create strange gadgets" thing and some sample Space Dollars to help your players keep track of their budget, Monopoly-money style. But wait, isn't there a later version of this book too? Well... yes! In 1997, ten years after the reprinting of the original book, R. Talsorian put out a new version of TFOS. Overall the text isn't a whole lot different, and large portions are pulled straight from the original edition... not exactly a surprise, since there's not a whole lot of rule complexity to update and expand upon. But what is changed? Not to get too specific, but...
So... overall? I regret it's a short book, it was fun to re-read and review. I almost sort of want to see a campaign now. To reiterate my thoughts from the prior thread, I hadn't actually read it in over a decade, and I was sort of expecting it to clunky and archaic, but the staggeringly simple and permissive rules are if anything even more useful these days, now that concepts like "genre emulation" and "narrative control" are things that people actually think about when setting up a game. TFOS has held up surprisingly well, a lot better than most 25-year-old games, and what few problems it might have are easily fixed with one or two simple house rules. I highly encourage folks reading this to go pick it up, especially since all three versions are under $25 or so on Amazon right now. Go! Do it! Own something from gaming history that you could actually play now without feeling like the groggiest of nards!
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2013 11:47 |
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Mikan posted:I don't think Mike Pondsmith gets enough credit for things like this. Castle Falkenstein was another light game that holds up really well today and has excellent rules for the subject material, and that was back in 1994. (It's actually in my top 5 best designed games of all time.) Dude was putting out awesome games that were well ahead of his time. Mike Pondsmith owns. And yes, please write up Castle Falkenstein.
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2013 21:39 |
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Logicgate posted:You've actually overlooked my absolute favorite feature of the 1997 release.
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# ¿ Apr 7, 2013 01:48 |
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Honestly, WEG was always kind of... off and on. In the early years they had some amazingly creative thoughts (Ghostbusters basically invented both the modern dice pool mechanic and the "hero point" idea, all back in 1986), but even by the era of Star Wars they were kind of fumbling a bit with God-NPCs that PCs could never hope to match and with other mechanics and setting material that really poorly supported the genre ("Traveller with Wookies" is a bit of an overstatement, but it was definitely how most SWd6 games were run...) It's still kind of sad and it probably would have been better if the company stayed healthy, but Hercules & Xena was kind of the result of a sad devolution rather than something out of the blue.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2013 06:41 |
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Evil Mastermind posted:TORG is the epitome of 90's RPG design and I'm really tempted to review the line. I feel like I could do a loving dissertation on everything that was wrong with the way the metaplot was handled and why War's End was one of the worst supplements ever written.
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# ¿ Apr 13, 2013 03:17 |
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Evil Mastermind posted:Something like this might work nowadays since you could make an official wiki or something, but back then it was a hot, hot mess.
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# ¿ Apr 13, 2013 04:48 |
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Lemon Curdistan posted:Well, actually, Greyhawk was the assumed D&D setting for pretty much 30 years in some form or other (I mean, even 4E, which ditched Greyhawk for PoL, still uses Greyhawk deities for the most part), whereas I am pretty sure FR has never been, so... no, you couldn't actually argue that. (Also nobody except the groggiest of 'nards have cared about Greyhawk the setting, as opposed to some names and elements, since like circa 1988.)
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# ¿ Apr 20, 2013 12:43 |
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dwarf74 posted:There's a few pretty distinctive features of the setting, like actual alignment factions; the involvement of demons, devils, and daemons; the various human ethnicities; the not infrequent presence of higher tech like Barrier Peaks; quasi deities like Kelanen and Myrlund*; etc. But a lot of its flavor is basically just standard D&D now - like drow, for example.
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# ¿ Apr 20, 2013 21:43 |
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Serperoth posted:I would totally watch a series about lightsaber samurai.
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# ¿ Apr 22, 2013 10:21 |
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404GoonNotFound posted:If by "in the corners" you mean Native American Halfling Dinosaur Riders.
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# ¿ Apr 27, 2013 01:20 |
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Nessus posted:Yeah, it was definitely the Dan Smith Lazybones Art Festival. OK cool, I'll do a thing up over the next few days!
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# ¿ May 29, 2013 04:14 |
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I might fix it. I might not. Numbers are hard.
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# ¿ Jun 9, 2013 04:02 |
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Whoo, this thread needs more classic RPG reviews. Even if they're horrible games.
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# ¿ Jul 20, 2013 09:23 |
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HitTheTargets posted:So just Gamma then?
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# ¿ Aug 26, 2013 07:01 |
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Blast from the Past - TSR Catalog, 1979 Hey, it's been a while since I posted anything. I actually have a few thoughts to do reviews for old games that haven't come up yet, but today we're doing something simple and one-shot. Something very familiar... in fact, the oldest RPG item in my collection. Okay, no, not the Basic Set itself. To be perfectly honest, the copy I have isn't very exciting... it's the third printing of the box set from 1979, and by then there had been plenty of the prior editions, AD&D had been released, and basically it isn't all that rare at all. It's probably about worth the four dollars or so I paid at a second hand bookstore in the 90's, and itself of limited historical curiosity; you're better off looking at reviews for the original release. Although I don't think anyone's covered Keep on the Borderlands yet, have they? Whoever owned it before did send in the postcard for the crappy dice though. So brittle and sharp. But what is of interest is something else that came in the box - advertising! See, there's been scans and PDFs and all that of a lot of ancient games, boxes, and accessories... but I don't think I've ever seen catalogs and similar pamphlets really put up online. I want to change this - there's no reason for history of the industry to be lost just because it isn't part of the game. Catalogs like this are doubly important since back in the pre-internet era gamers were limited to whatever was available at their local hobby shop or bookstore, so something like this was important for showing the breadth of the company's product, and to help encourage sales by making people ask for their games. First off, a gallery link: http://imgur.com/a/FlSSF And a gallery of the higher-quality scans... the ones I'm linking here are still legible, but I imagine anyone who wants an actual archive would want these instead. Be sure to view full resolution: http://imgur.com/a/tHDHI And with that said... let's go to the scans themselves! All ready and waiting to be painted on to the side of the van. In case the signature isn't legible the art was done by David C. Sutherland III, one of the old classic TSR artists, famously responsible for the cover of the original AD&D DMG. Here we see a reminder that TSR didn't actually start by making tabletop RPGs. It had a history as a wargaming company, and even as late as 1979 there was still a focus on wargames and board games. You can also see the four big "classic" RPGs... Top Secret was just released and Gamma World wasn't much older, but right now the only one anyone actually really remembers or plays is D&D itself. Reminds me, someone definitely needs to review Boot Hill. Not me though, I don't own a copy. The then-new AD&D was of course a main focus here, taking the center spread of the catalog. Of particular and amusing note are the OUTDOOR & DUNGEON GEOMORPHS and the fact Greyhawk is the only official published D&D setting in existence. Also note the high focus on adventures and modules, easily outnumbering the corebooks and setting material. Here's the board games that were being published by TSR. Lots of them, and again important enough to take up multiple pages. Most of these were actually owned by their creators and just published by TSR and while a lot have been out of print for decades, a few like Snit's Revenge and The Awful Green Things from Outer Space were later picked up by SJG. Fight in the Skies, later renamed and maybe better known as Dawn Patrol, has the honor of being the only game played at every GenCon to date. The back cover, showing the decline of wargaming as a major TSR focus... although even here things like Chainmail, Valley Forge, and Cordite and Steel were still being sold and published. Books of character sheets are another thing that stopped years ago, but back in the 70's photocopiers were a bit harder to get a hand of, so it wasn't quite as silly a product as it sounded if you didn't feel like using graph paper. You can see the note at the bottom mentioning (well, begging) players to ask retailers to carry their products too. And... well, that's the whole thing! Hey, I said this would be an easy post. Still, I'm curious if anyone has knowledge of (or better yet, actual copies of) some of the games shown here, many of which predate my own experience in the hobby. More importantly, I encourage folks who have similar sorts of fliers, posters, advertising, and all that from the 70's and 80's and even the 90's to scan them and put them up. Archival is important, and every bit of art and information posted helps to flesh out the history of the hobby.
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# ¿ Aug 28, 2013 02:00 |
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Oh wow. Those hand-drawn maps and sketchy monsters, and classic old typewriter formatting, the tables...
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# ¿ Aug 28, 2013 20:49 |
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Young Freud posted:Also, you wouldn't happen to have a larger copy of that Hardsuit image, would you? Biggest one I've seen anyway, not sure what BGC2040 book it's from. Which reminds me, I should probably pull RTG's
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# ¿ Oct 8, 2013 00:13 |
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# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 05:39 |
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They have shiny reflective anti-laser armor! That's literally the only reason yeah.
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# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 22:40 |