UNLICENSED POTENTIAL
This installment wraps up the 1980s for licensed games. It's a wild era; of the 19 items listed here, only five get taken up by other publishers later. Two prolific licencees, Steve Jackson and West End Games, both begin that during this time. Plus it's a diverse time for sources, with adaptations of novels, comics, movies, TV shows, and anime.
It doesn't have any board game adaptions though. That's a new and surprising source for IPs. Magpie announced last month they're doing the official RPG for Root, an asymmetrical anthropomorphic fantasy game. Root's rich and colorful backstory has grabbed attention since the game's release earlier this year. Evil Hat published Uprising, an adaptation of the "Dystopian Universe" drawn from The Resistance and its family of games. The Sentinels of the Multiverse rpg has a starter kit, with promise of a full product. UFO Press is adapting Mysthea from Italy; FFG's finally releasing an Android rpg. And this month saw the first big RPG release for Magic: The Gathering, The Gamemasters Guide to Ravnica. WotC had put out free guidebooks for several MtG Planes, but Ravnica represents a major step up in efforts.
This installment wraps up the 1980s for licensed games. It's a wild era; of the 19 items listed here, only five get taken up by other publishers later. Two prolific licencees, Steve Jackson and West End Games, both begin that during this time. Plus it's a diverse time for sources, with adaptations of novels, comics, movies, TV shows, and anime.
It doesn't have any board game adaptions though. That's a new and surprising source for IPs. Magpie announced last month they're doing the official RPG for Root, an asymmetrical anthropomorphic fantasy game. Root's rich and colorful backstory has grabbed attention since the game's release earlier this year. Evil Hat published Uprising, an adaptation of the "Dystopian Universe" drawn from The Resistance and its family of games. The Sentinels of the Multiverse rpg has a starter kit, with promise of a full product. UFO Press is adapting Mysthea from Italy; FFG's finally releasing an Android rpg. And this month saw the first big RPG release for Magic: The Gathering, The Gamemasters Guide to Ravnica. WotC had put out free guidebooks for several MtG Planes, but Ravnica represents a major step up in efforts.
So what other board games properties could do with an RPG adaptation?
- Scythe: Dieselpunk Rus-themed play? Who wouldn't want that?
- Dead of Winter: This semi-co-op game gets to the table by virtue of interesting characters and stories. I'd love to see that material used elsewhere. How about a licensed add-on module for the forthcoming Zombie World?
- Spirit Island: Local inhabitants vs. Colonial invaders. Since in the game you play powerful spirits, perhaps you could do this as a generational game ala Legacy's Godsend.
- Robinson Crusoe/Castaways/The 7th Continent: Cecil Howe's Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter is one of the few fully survival-based rpgs I know. I'd like a rich game that leans into person vs. environment. All three of these boardgames have procedural story generation; could that be brought to the table as GM support?
- Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn: To be honest I have no idea what Ashes' actual backstory is. You have fighting wizards, but maybe they come from across time? At least one dresses like Victorian. But that doesn't matter, the art's gorgeous and evocative and I want to know more about the setting.
- Man O'War: How about an adaptation of Games Workshop's best and most out-of-print miniatures game? Fear of a Black Dragon's recent episode reminds there's untapped potential in nautical campaigns. How about a sea-faring sourcebook for whatever version of WHFRP now exists?
- Clue: Hear me out—a procedurally generated mystery-solving LARP which uses the Clue branding?
APPROVAL PROCESS
This list focuses on products which adapt novels, movies, video games, or comic books. I’ll generally restrict myself to official licenses. My comments offer a mix of context, commentary, description, and review. If you see something I’ve missed from 1986 to 1989, please tell me in the comments.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Universal RPGs
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs
This list focuses on products which adapt novels, movies, video games, or comic books. I’ll generally restrict myself to official licenses. My comments offer a mix of context, commentary, description, and review. If you see something I’ve missed from 1986 to 1989, please tell me in the comments.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Universal RPGs
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs
La compagnie des glaces (1986)
At first I assumed this was an rpg based on Snowpiercer, a French graphic novel from 1982 (Le Transperceneige) and a deeeply weird movie. But it turns out there's another French "frozen-world ruled by evil corporations with trains" apocalypse series from the 1980's, the eponymous La compagnie des glaces which translates badly to “Ice Company.” That’s based on a series of novels by Georges-Jean Arnaud. According to a rough translation from Wikipedia it presents "A vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth where a series of dust explosions from the Moon have covered the Earth's atmosphere, intercepting sunlight and plunging the planet into a new ice age. The survivors are forced to live in cities in the world only connected by trains. The major railways reign supreme over their networks, imposing a totalitarian order on the people and hiding the truth." The game itself appears to be substantial, but comments I've seen on boards indicates it is a very rough and primitive design.
DNAgents Sourcebook (1986)
Like Justice Machine from this list's last installment, The DNAgents Sourcebook covers a relatively short-run, indie comic. This is, I believe, is the only licensed product Villains and Vigilantes released. Mark Evanier and Will Meugniot started the DNAgents comic in 1983 with Eclipse. By the time of this sourcebook, the first 24 issue series had finished and a new one had begun. That would only run 17 issues and finish in mid-1987. This sourcebook sprang from an article in the May 1984 issue of Different Worlds, Chaosium's house magazine. The 48-page supplement contains what you'd expect: background, character write ups, and a secret base. It also has conversions for Champions and Superworld.
At first I assumed this was an rpg based on Snowpiercer, a French graphic novel from 1982 (Le Transperceneige) and a deeeply weird movie. But it turns out there's another French "frozen-world ruled by evil corporations with trains" apocalypse series from the 1980's, the eponymous La compagnie des glaces which translates badly to “Ice Company.” That’s based on a series of novels by Georges-Jean Arnaud. According to a rough translation from Wikipedia it presents "A vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth where a series of dust explosions from the Moon have covered the Earth's atmosphere, intercepting sunlight and plunging the planet into a new ice age. The survivors are forced to live in cities in the world only connected by trains. The major railways reign supreme over their networks, imposing a totalitarian order on the people and hiding the truth." The game itself appears to be substantial, but comments I've seen on boards indicates it is a very rough and primitive design.
DNAgents Sourcebook (1986)
Like Justice Machine from this list's last installment, The DNAgents Sourcebook covers a relatively short-run, indie comic. This is, I believe, is the only licensed product Villains and Vigilantes released. Mark Evanier and Will Meugniot started the DNAgents comic in 1983 with Eclipse. By the time of this sourcebook, the first 24 issue series had finished and a new one had begun. That would only run 17 issues and finish in mid-1987. This sourcebook sprang from an article in the May 1984 issue of Different Worlds, Chaosium's house magazine. The 48-page supplement contains what you'd expect: background, character write ups, and a secret base. It also has conversions for Champions and Superworld.
Ghostbusters (1986)
I loved the Ghostbusters movie. Within a week of seeing it I tried to cobble together a GB game. I ripped apart the closest thing I knew, Stalking the Night Fantastic. That resulted in a crunchy, dense system which, shockingly, didn't work. I couldn't figure out the problem, why I couldn't get the feel I wanted?
Then the Ghostbusters rpg came out and I went "d'uh." This was the first rules-light game which worked for me. I'd seen others, but they felt thin. This game actually emulated the feel of the movie. It changed the way I thought about games. Ghostbusters was fun and clever, with the horror taking a back-seat as it needed to. It remains among the best "funny" games out there, striking the right balance between goofiness and playability. On the other hand, it had the effect of associating short rules with a light tone and subject matter. Simple games worked for comedy, but not for "serious" gaming. The Ghostbusters system went on to power WEG's Star Wars RPG and many, many others. Interestingly, Chaosium actually designed that mechanic for GB before they handed the game off to WEG.
Ghostbusters took an interesting tact for the time, replacing movie stills with cartoony art. That likely made approvals easier. It had the side benefit of leaving room for the players. It offered a new world of Ghostbusting, rather than sticking to the film and those characters. It also had one of the first custom dice seen in an rpg, a d6 with the iconic GB symbol. The boxed set included lots of secondary materials: forms, equipment cards, IDs. WEG released three modules for GB. In 1989, with the release of the second Ghostbusters movie they rebooted and expanded the game as Ghostbusters International. This time they released a module covering the film. Again WEG only slightly supported the line, offering three modules and two sourcebooks. By 1990 the game line had wrapped.
Hawkmoon (1986)
Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" mythos had four major series and protagonists: Corum (The Swords and The Silver Hand trilogies), Erekosë (The Eternal Champion and other novels), and Elric, who you've already seen on these lists. Then there's Dorian Hawkmoon. It makes sense that Chaosium would turn to this as their second Moorcock adaptation. The Runestaff series has a distinct setting. It's pseudo-post apocalyptic fantasy. Hawkmoon's world offers a weird future with the catastrophic nuclear war as a long forgotten event. You have the evil sorceror-scientists of "Granbretan" and a variety of other pidgin renamed European elements.
Hawkmoon never did as well for Chaosium as Stormbringer or Elric!. It used the same BRP engine but felt thin. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, "While never attaining any lasting level of popularity among English-speaking gamers, the game became hugely popular in France, where it was translated into French for the first time in 1988. A third French edition is currently published since 2009." Mongoose would also return to this setting in a more substantive way in the 2000's when they picked up the Moorcock license.
I loved the Ghostbusters movie. Within a week of seeing it I tried to cobble together a GB game. I ripped apart the closest thing I knew, Stalking the Night Fantastic. That resulted in a crunchy, dense system which, shockingly, didn't work. I couldn't figure out the problem, why I couldn't get the feel I wanted?
Then the Ghostbusters rpg came out and I went "d'uh." This was the first rules-light game which worked for me. I'd seen others, but they felt thin. This game actually emulated the feel of the movie. It changed the way I thought about games. Ghostbusters was fun and clever, with the horror taking a back-seat as it needed to. It remains among the best "funny" games out there, striking the right balance between goofiness and playability. On the other hand, it had the effect of associating short rules with a light tone and subject matter. Simple games worked for comedy, but not for "serious" gaming. The Ghostbusters system went on to power WEG's Star Wars RPG and many, many others. Interestingly, Chaosium actually designed that mechanic for GB before they handed the game off to WEG.
Ghostbusters took an interesting tact for the time, replacing movie stills with cartoony art. That likely made approvals easier. It had the side benefit of leaving room for the players. It offered a new world of Ghostbusting, rather than sticking to the film and those characters. It also had one of the first custom dice seen in an rpg, a d6 with the iconic GB symbol. The boxed set included lots of secondary materials: forms, equipment cards, IDs. WEG released three modules for GB. In 1989, with the release of the second Ghostbusters movie they rebooted and expanded the game as Ghostbusters International. This time they released a module covering the film. Again WEG only slightly supported the line, offering three modules and two sourcebooks. By 1990 the game line had wrapped.
Hawkmoon (1986)
Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" mythos had four major series and protagonists: Corum (The Swords and The Silver Hand trilogies), Erekosë (The Eternal Champion and other novels), and Elric, who you've already seen on these lists. Then there's Dorian Hawkmoon. It makes sense that Chaosium would turn to this as their second Moorcock adaptation. The Runestaff series has a distinct setting. It's pseudo-post apocalyptic fantasy. Hawkmoon's world offers a weird future with the catastrophic nuclear war as a long forgotten event. You have the evil sorceror-scientists of "Granbretan" and a variety of other pidgin renamed European elements.
Hawkmoon never did as well for Chaosium as Stormbringer or Elric!. It used the same BRP engine but felt thin. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, "While never attaining any lasting level of popularity among English-speaking gamers, the game became hugely popular in France, where it was translated into French for the first time in 1988. A third French edition is currently published since 2009." Mongoose would also return to this setting in a more substantive way in the 2000's when they picked up the Moorcock license.
Robotech The Role-Playing Game (1986)
I'm not even going to try to trace the history of the Robotech licenses. That way lies madness. Feel free to Google and discover the long road of lawsuits, uncertain rights holding, bad decisions, and even a Kickstarter which failed in mid-delivery. Robotech wasn't the first mecha rpg, that would be Mekton in 1985. The same year as Robotech's release we also saw Mechwarrior from FASA and Robot Warriors from HERO.
Palladium's Robotech really cemented the company. The line sold solidly during its original run from 1986 to 2001. Interestingly, Palladium released most of the supplements in the first few years and then kept the line in print for the decade+ after. Robotech used the Palladium Megaversal engine, a beast of a kludge system. It had the beauty of being so broad and messy, anything could be bolted on without anyone noticing. Palladium sometimes gets a bad rap, but for many years they had some of the most consistently selling lines at our local store: Robotech, Rifts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
GURPS Horseclans (1987)
The first licensed game for GURPS was an odd one. In the mid-1980s, the Horseclans series nearly always came first in the bookstore’s sci-fi section. Written by Robert Adams, these slim volumes popped up immediately past Hitchhiker's Guide and Watership Down. The Horseclans "novels" had great covers by Ken Kelly and looked like John Carter, Gor, or "Men's Adventure" books. They offered fast, easy reads—sword and stirrup with just a mix of the weird in the form of animal telepathy and Undying characters. Those immortals allowed for a connection between this post-apocalyptic world and the time before. That helped underline the novel's message of soft civilization vs. noble savages.
GURPS Horseclans demonstrated this system could be a go-to for licensing properties with a niche fanbase. It also showed how a game supplement could be used to create a series encyclopedia. For GURPS players it introduced new mechanics they hungered for, including mass combat. The game material focuses on the fantasy & swordsman elements. SJG released one supplement for it, GURPS Bili The Axe: Up Harzburk!. That solo adventure had so many errors that they recalled it and never re-released it.
I'm not even going to try to trace the history of the Robotech licenses. That way lies madness. Feel free to Google and discover the long road of lawsuits, uncertain rights holding, bad decisions, and even a Kickstarter which failed in mid-delivery. Robotech wasn't the first mecha rpg, that would be Mekton in 1985. The same year as Robotech's release we also saw Mechwarrior from FASA and Robot Warriors from HERO.
Palladium's Robotech really cemented the company. The line sold solidly during its original run from 1986 to 2001. Interestingly, Palladium released most of the supplements in the first few years and then kept the line in print for the decade+ after. Robotech used the Palladium Megaversal engine, a beast of a kludge system. It had the beauty of being so broad and messy, anything could be bolted on without anyone noticing. Palladium sometimes gets a bad rap, but for many years they had some of the most consistently selling lines at our local store: Robotech, Rifts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
GURPS Horseclans (1987)
The first licensed game for GURPS was an odd one. In the mid-1980s, the Horseclans series nearly always came first in the bookstore’s sci-fi section. Written by Robert Adams, these slim volumes popped up immediately past Hitchhiker's Guide and Watership Down. The Horseclans "novels" had great covers by Ken Kelly and looked like John Carter, Gor, or "Men's Adventure" books. They offered fast, easy reads—sword and stirrup with just a mix of the weird in the form of animal telepathy and Undying characters. Those immortals allowed for a connection between this post-apocalyptic world and the time before. That helped underline the novel's message of soft civilization vs. noble savages.
GURPS Horseclans demonstrated this system could be a go-to for licensing properties with a niche fanbase. It also showed how a game supplement could be used to create a series encyclopedia. For GURPS players it introduced new mechanics they hungered for, including mass combat. The game material focuses on the fantasy & swordsman elements. SJG released one supplement for it, GURPS Bili The Axe: Up Harzburk!. That solo adventure had so many errors that they recalled it and never re-released it.
GURPS Other
Steve Jackson released enough odd, niche licensed games in this I'm lumping them together.
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (1987)
Think about this: at this point in 1987, Star Wars was done. Return of the Jedi had come out four years earlier. No new trilogy lay on the horizon. Both the Droids and Ewoks cartoon shows had been canceled. Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, which would revitalize Star Wars novels and the Extended Universe still lay four years in the future. The comics license had lapsed. The only thing you might find would be collector toys and arcade machines. Shannon Appelcline's Designers & Dragon notes that because of that weakness, Lucasfilm actively sought a Star Wars rpg partner. West End Games' success with Ghostbusters and their financial support got them the license over the larger TSR.
Star Wars is notable as the most successful licensed rpg at the time. It took Ghostbusters' d6 System and built it up. As importantly, it gave us the first "archetypes" approach to character creation. These simple templates looked like classes but could be easily tweaked for fast play. FASA would borrow this approach for several games including Shadowrun and Earthdawn. It would become a mainstay concept, an earlier version of modern playbooks. The Star Wars RPG helped renew interest in the brand throughout the late 80's and early 90's. When Timothy Zahn's novels and Dark Horse's comics line rebuilt the Extended Star Wars Universe, WEG was positioned to capitalize.
Star Wars would become a behemoth for WEG, but its success and the energy needed sustain it sapped effort from other lines. West End Games released multiple Star Wars sourcebooks, an in-house magazine, a miniatures game, unique hardcover supplements, a revised edition, and even a boxed campaign set. However in 1998 WEG declared bankruptcy, a victim of other rpg lines failing as well as major contractions in the market from the CCG implosion.
Steve Jackson released enough odd, niche licensed games in this I'm lumping them together.
- GURPS Conan (1988): When TSR dropped the license, SJG picked it up. They started with an adventure, Beyond Thunder River, in 1988. The core Conan sourcebook appeared the following year. Steve Jackson would release a couple more adventures, but otherwise didn't do much with it.
- GURPS Humanx (1987): A sourcebook for the many sci-fi worlds of Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth. They released a solo module for the setting, For the Love of Mother-Not, in '89.
- GURPS The Prisoner (1989): Notable for being a completely systemless sourcebook. This is more a fan guide to the world of this classic British show, but an excellent one.
- GURPS Riverworld (1989): Because that's what the gaming community was calling out for in 1989. One of the GURPS books I don't remember ever selling a single copy of.
- GURPS Supers Wild Cards (1989): Before Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin oversaw the Wild Cards shared world superhero anthology. The Wild Cards concept originally come from a superhero rpg campaign. Wild Cards had lots of detail, but had to contend with the terrible GURPS Supers system. SJ released one campaign sourcebook, Wild Cards: Aces Abroad.
- GURPS Witch World (1989): Andre Norton's an often forgotten luminary of sci-fi. However, by the late 80s, she wasn't the writer grabbing the attention of your average rpg player. An incredibly generic cover didn't help.
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (1987)
Think about this: at this point in 1987, Star Wars was done. Return of the Jedi had come out four years earlier. No new trilogy lay on the horizon. Both the Droids and Ewoks cartoon shows had been canceled. Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, which would revitalize Star Wars novels and the Extended Universe still lay four years in the future. The comics license had lapsed. The only thing you might find would be collector toys and arcade machines. Shannon Appelcline's Designers & Dragon notes that because of that weakness, Lucasfilm actively sought a Star Wars rpg partner. West End Games' success with Ghostbusters and their financial support got them the license over the larger TSR.
Star Wars is notable as the most successful licensed rpg at the time. It took Ghostbusters' d6 System and built it up. As importantly, it gave us the first "archetypes" approach to character creation. These simple templates looked like classes but could be easily tweaked for fast play. FASA would borrow this approach for several games including Shadowrun and Earthdawn. It would become a mainstay concept, an earlier version of modern playbooks. The Star Wars RPG helped renew interest in the brand throughout the late 80's and early 90's. When Timothy Zahn's novels and Dark Horse's comics line rebuilt the Extended Star Wars Universe, WEG was positioned to capitalize.
Star Wars would become a behemoth for WEG, but its success and the energy needed sustain it sapped effort from other lines. West End Games released multiple Star Wars sourcebooks, an in-house magazine, a miniatures game, unique hardcover supplements, a revised edition, and even a boxed campaign set. However in 1998 WEG declared bankruptcy, a victim of other rpg lines failing as well as major contractions in the market from the CCG implosion.
Albedo (1988)
In 1983 Steve Gallacci released Albedo Anthropomorphics, a furry comic book anthology. It used that imagery to tell adult stories and is considered one of the foundation of furry and sophisticated anthropomorphic fiction. The first episode of Usagi Yojimbo appeared here. The Albedo rpg is based on Erma Feline: EDF, a military science fiction series from the anthology. Albedo offered a fairly crunchy experience with a sliding dice scale for skills. The boxed set includes three rules booklets and a sample scenario. It has lots of great art drawn from the comics. I love that the cover says that it's "Recommended for Adults and More Literate Teenagers." In 1993, Chessex, a game distributor and accessory manufacturer, handled publication of a softcover revised edition. In 2003, Sanguine Productions, publisher of other anthropomorphic rpgs like Ironclaw, Furry Pirates, and Usagi Yojimbo, released Albedo: Platinum Catalyst, a new system with a focus on small unit tactical gaming.
Bullwinkle and Rocky Role Playing Party Game (1988)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends TV show ran from 1959 to 1964, but it lived on in syndication for years. They must have been cheap to show because I remember multiple channels running episodes in the 70s and 80s. In grade school we watched it avidly (along with Tennessee Tuxedo). So TSR must have thought they could tap into that zeitgeist and goodwill. Perhaps they hoped for a game which could sell on the mass-market. It's a deeply weird rpg, both ahead of its time and strangely retro. Essentially it's a loose, LARP-like party game. It focuses on group story-telling with prompts from cards. A spinner resolves challenges. It also has ten hand puppets.
It did not sell well. You can still find sealed copies for a reasonable price online.
In 1983 Steve Gallacci released Albedo Anthropomorphics, a furry comic book anthology. It used that imagery to tell adult stories and is considered one of the foundation of furry and sophisticated anthropomorphic fiction. The first episode of Usagi Yojimbo appeared here. The Albedo rpg is based on Erma Feline: EDF, a military science fiction series from the anthology. Albedo offered a fairly crunchy experience with a sliding dice scale for skills. The boxed set includes three rules booklets and a sample scenario. It has lots of great art drawn from the comics. I love that the cover says that it's "Recommended for Adults and More Literate Teenagers." In 1993, Chessex, a game distributor and accessory manufacturer, handled publication of a softcover revised edition. In 2003, Sanguine Productions, publisher of other anthropomorphic rpgs like Ironclaw, Furry Pirates, and Usagi Yojimbo, released Albedo: Platinum Catalyst, a new system with a focus on small unit tactical gaming.
Bullwinkle and Rocky Role Playing Party Game (1988)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends TV show ran from 1959 to 1964, but it lived on in syndication for years. They must have been cheap to show because I remember multiple channels running episodes in the 70s and 80s. In grade school we watched it avidly (along with Tennessee Tuxedo). So TSR must have thought they could tap into that zeitgeist and goodwill. Perhaps they hoped for a game which could sell on the mass-market. It's a deeply weird rpg, both ahead of its time and strangely retro. Essentially it's a loose, LARP-like party game. It focuses on group story-telling with prompts from cards. A spinner resolves challenges. It also has ten hand puppets.
It did not sell well. You can still find sealed copies for a reasonable price online.
The Willow Sourcebook (1988)
Not exactly a full rpg product, instead The Willow Sourcebook had information so you could adapt the concepts from the film into your own games. It promised the ability to use the people and creatures of Willow in your own world. Veteran designer Allen Varney put together this substantial sourcebook for Tor Books. It includes a map, discussion of magic, and histories of the characters. It has a blurb from Gary Gygax on the back to cement its use as an rpg supplement. The book itself treats the gaming elements pretty lightly. There's a brief discussion at the start of concepts and then D&D-esque stats and skills for the main characters.
Wizardry Main Rule Book (1988)
A Japanese adaptation of the Western computer RPG Wizardry by Sir-Tech. By the time of this rpg's release, three games in this series had come out. Wizardy itself began as a standard dungeon-crawl game for the Apple II and then grew into something larger. The line remained trad and Wizardry 8, which came out after a nine-year development cycle, killed the company. Wizardry did better in Japan. Wikipedia explains, "The popularity of Wizardry in Japan inspired several original sequels, spinoffs, and ports, with the series long outliving the American original. As of 2017, thirty-nine different spin-offs were released in Japan, with four of them also making their way to North America." The pen and paper rpg "was created by Group SNE for the Japanese market in 1989." "In the pen and paper game, players create characters of standard selection of fantasy folk (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, or Hobbit) and choose classes (Fighter, Mage, Priest, Thief, Samurai, Lord, Ninja, or Bishop) to adventure as," according to RPG Geek.
Not exactly a full rpg product, instead The Willow Sourcebook had information so you could adapt the concepts from the film into your own games. It promised the ability to use the people and creatures of Willow in your own world. Veteran designer Allen Varney put together this substantial sourcebook for Tor Books. It includes a map, discussion of magic, and histories of the characters. It has a blurb from Gary Gygax on the back to cement its use as an rpg supplement. The book itself treats the gaming elements pretty lightly. There's a brief discussion at the start of concepts and then D&D-esque stats and skills for the main characters.
Wizardry Main Rule Book (1988)
A Japanese adaptation of the Western computer RPG Wizardry by Sir-Tech. By the time of this rpg's release, three games in this series had come out. Wizardy itself began as a standard dungeon-crawl game for the Apple II and then grew into something larger. The line remained trad and Wizardry 8, which came out after a nine-year development cycle, killed the company. Wizardry did better in Japan. Wikipedia explains, "The popularity of Wizardry in Japan inspired several original sequels, spinoffs, and ports, with the series long outliving the American original. As of 2017, thirty-nine different spin-offs were released in Japan, with four of them also making their way to North America." The pen and paper rpg "was created by Group SNE for the Japanese market in 1989." "In the pen and paper game, players create characters of standard selection of fantasy folk (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, or Hobbit) and choose classes (Fighter, Mage, Priest, Thief, Samurai, Lord, Ninja, or Bishop) to adventure as," according to RPG Geek.
Hardwired: The Sourcebook (1989)
One of two licensed alternate settings R Talsorian released for Cyberpunk 2020. Hardwired’s a novel written by Walter Jon Williams, a playtester for CP 2013. You can see how Williams' approach fed into that game. His work leans to action and military sci-fi. The sourcebook itself gives players an entirely new world, with additional roles and new systems for netrunning. In particular, the hacking systems seems more grounded in real world approaches to data structures. The sourcebook also includes sample adventures. Hardwired feels like a natural addition to Cyberpunk. You can see how its concepts and presentation style affected Cyberpunk’s second edition. But this would end up a one-off supplement, not supported by later books. The following year would see Cyberpunk 2020, rendering some of the rules here incompatible.
Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game (1989)
I never saw the Prince Valiant comic strip growing up. Neither our local paper nor the Chicago Tribune (which we got on Sundays) carried it. The comic started in 1937 and apparently still runs today. So when Prince Valiant arrived in our local store, it elicited yawns from me. It was an Arthurian game (not my bag) and looked too simple, using only coin flips for resolution.
But Valiant is, apparently, one of those lost gems of roleplaying. In Pyramid Magazine, Scott Haring called it one of the most underrated games, commenting, "Prince Valiant was designed as a beginner's introduction to roleplaying... Perhaps the subject matter's perceived lack of 'cool' killed this game, but it deserved better." I've seen multiple reviewers point to elements from Valiant's design that later, more-acclaimed games remixed--RPGNet's review for example. In 2016, the late Stewart Wieck Kickstarted a new edition. If you're curious about Valiant's acclaim, the KS pages has links to several analyses.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Universal RPGs
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here.
One of two licensed alternate settings R Talsorian released for Cyberpunk 2020. Hardwired’s a novel written by Walter Jon Williams, a playtester for CP 2013. You can see how Williams' approach fed into that game. His work leans to action and military sci-fi. The sourcebook itself gives players an entirely new world, with additional roles and new systems for netrunning. In particular, the hacking systems seems more grounded in real world approaches to data structures. The sourcebook also includes sample adventures. Hardwired feels like a natural addition to Cyberpunk. You can see how its concepts and presentation style affected Cyberpunk’s second edition. But this would end up a one-off supplement, not supported by later books. The following year would see Cyberpunk 2020, rendering some of the rules here incompatible.
Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game (1989)
I never saw the Prince Valiant comic strip growing up. Neither our local paper nor the Chicago Tribune (which we got on Sundays) carried it. The comic started in 1937 and apparently still runs today. So when Prince Valiant arrived in our local store, it elicited yawns from me. It was an Arthurian game (not my bag) and looked too simple, using only coin flips for resolution.
But Valiant is, apparently, one of those lost gems of roleplaying. In Pyramid Magazine, Scott Haring called it one of the most underrated games, commenting, "Prince Valiant was designed as a beginner's introduction to roleplaying... Perhaps the subject matter's perceived lack of 'cool' killed this game, but it deserved better." I've seen multiple reviewers point to elements from Valiant's design that later, more-acclaimed games remixed--RPGNet's review for example. In 2016, the late Stewart Wieck Kickstarted a new edition. If you're curious about Valiant's acclaim, the KS pages has links to several analyses.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Universal RPGs
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here.
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