GAMING THE SYSTEM
On my previous list I examined board games' untapped potential as rpg properties. Today I consider a media which has been tapped, with mixed success, Video Games. We've seen a D&D Diablo Sourcebook, an Everquest rpg, Dragon Age, and the recent Witcher game. Fallout, as you may know, started as a GURPS adaptation before the companies parted ways. Most TTRPG adaptations of video games have been fan hacks (like the Mass Effect game that briefly had an ENnie nomination). Plenty of rpgs which echo games without naming them (MajiMonsters, Fight! The Fighting Game RPG).
On my previous list I examined board games' untapped potential as rpg properties. Today I consider a media which has been tapped, with mixed success, Video Games. We've seen a D&D Diablo Sourcebook, an Everquest rpg, Dragon Age, and the recent Witcher game. Fallout, as you may know, started as a GURPS adaptation before the companies parted ways. Most TTRPG adaptations of video games have been fan hacks (like the Mass Effect game that briefly had an ENnie nomination). Plenty of rpgs which echo games without naming them (MajiMonsters, Fight! The Fighting Game RPG).
So what video game properties could do with an official RPG adaptation?
- Overwatch: I don't know much about this game beyond what I've picked up from webcomics. But I like the character designs and it's clear there's an interesting story behind it. Years ago Rob Donohue asked Origins attendees what kind of game would emulate Overwatch and I still don't know the answer.
- Monster Hunter: I know we've seen a couple of mega-monster slaying rpgs Kickstart recently, but I'd love an official adaptation which pulls in the years of lore from this game. I fear it would have to be a crunchy resource management game. Maybe they could adapt Torchbearer?
- The Atelier Series: Magical girl alchemy labs. I've worked on a couple of hacks of this concept without great success. Like MH above there's good deal of resource management necessary to capture the feel of the game. I've been thinking it could work as a one-on-one rpg.
- Horizon Zero Dawn: One of a large category of "I can't play it but I love the world" games. It looks so cool. Imagine an official Apocalypse World hack for this. Well, maybe not that but you know what I mean.
- Valkyrie Profile: A game in which you harvest the souls of your NPCs, train them up, and then send them on to Valhalla, all while exploring the trauma, sorrows, and tragedies of their past lives. It could be fantasy Monsterhearts with a rotating cast.
- Thief: The Dark Project: Just get it over with and give John Harper the license to adapt Blades in the Dark to this.
- Mario Golf: Don't @ me. If Rich Rogers can have his dream baseball rpg (The Bat Hack), I want one that simulates my favorite sport. Alternately I would accept a Mario Kart rpg which simulates the stress and strain of the Sunshine Cup Circuit.
REREBOOTING
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 1990 to 1992, 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 Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
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 1990 to 1992, 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 Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
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
Buck Rogers XXVc (1990)
I grew up with Buck Rogers as a major, terrible influence. Even as a kid I knew it wasn't good TV, but I still watched the Space Nosferatu episode. The show combined cheap FX and inconsistent world building. The movie is slightly better, with a particularly harrowing scene of Rogers going into the wasteland ruins of Old Chicago. But the post-apocalyptic plot vanished quickly. I'd written off that sequence as a weird choice, but those elements frame the original stories. But you wouldn't know that from the Buck Rogers XXVc rpg which emphasizes space battles, high tech equipment, and a clean design that only slightly harkens back to the original. It mentions a devastated and recovering earth, but that's second fiddle to SPACE!
When this version of Buck R flopped, TSR went back to the well with High Adventure Cliffhangers: The Buck Rogers Adventure Game (1993). That leaned into the original's pulpy look and feel. Where the first rpg borrowed from AD&D, the second took a lighter approach. It returned to the original Buck Rogers premise. Instead of an interplanetary Martian enemy, we have the Han Empire. America has been destroyed and various gangs battle over it. The Han have emerged from Asia to seize control-- full-on Yellow Peril. Again the line flopped; TSR only published the core set and a single supplement. War Against the Han. I like the idea of a pulp post-apocalypse game- with unrealistic depictions of radiation and a dieselpunk aesthetic. That might be worth exploring if you flipped the colonial and racist elements.
The elephant in the room when talking about Buck Rogers is Lorraine Williams. Williams took over TSR in 1986. You can see discussion of that in "The Ambush at Sheridan Springs" and Designers & Dragons' overview of the company. The important thing to recognize is that Williams personally held the rights to Buck Rogers. That explains the hype for the setting across TSR in the early 1990's, including both board and role-playing games. She pushed the company to publish these products and TSR in turn paid her family royalties.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1990)
A game ahead of its time...not necessarily in mechanics (it had GDW's trademark crunch), but for its whimsy and subject matter. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs licensed the comic Xenozoic Tales which ran across several publishers from '87 to '96. C&D saw a heavy push across multiple media including trading cards, video games, and a cartoon show. In the future, humanity escapes a ravaged Earth by building underground. After six centuries they return to the surface to find it overrun with once-extinct life forms. Now they must survive in this fallen world with only limited and rudimentary technology. It’s post-apocalypse mixed with pulp and dinosaurs. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs remains one of the brighter and more upbeat apocalypse games published. Survival's still an issue, but there's an equally potent sense of fun.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs did badly for several reasons. First, the license built on a thin comic book basis with only a dozen or so issues. Second, GDW never seriously supported the line. Third, while the setting might be light and pulpy, the system isn't. Instead it builds on the tactical mechanics of Twilight 2000-- not the best fit. It's a single 144 page book, but it packs a ton in including a host of rules for multiple combat problems and situations. While the T2K system doesn't kill it, it doesn't help. I suspect even a fast and furious system (like say Savage Worlds) would have had an equally uphill battle grabbing market share with this concept.
I grew up with Buck Rogers as a major, terrible influence. Even as a kid I knew it wasn't good TV, but I still watched the Space Nosferatu episode. The show combined cheap FX and inconsistent world building. The movie is slightly better, with a particularly harrowing scene of Rogers going into the wasteland ruins of Old Chicago. But the post-apocalyptic plot vanished quickly. I'd written off that sequence as a weird choice, but those elements frame the original stories. But you wouldn't know that from the Buck Rogers XXVc rpg which emphasizes space battles, high tech equipment, and a clean design that only slightly harkens back to the original. It mentions a devastated and recovering earth, but that's second fiddle to SPACE!
When this version of Buck R flopped, TSR went back to the well with High Adventure Cliffhangers: The Buck Rogers Adventure Game (1993). That leaned into the original's pulpy look and feel. Where the first rpg borrowed from AD&D, the second took a lighter approach. It returned to the original Buck Rogers premise. Instead of an interplanetary Martian enemy, we have the Han Empire. America has been destroyed and various gangs battle over it. The Han have emerged from Asia to seize control-- full-on Yellow Peril. Again the line flopped; TSR only published the core set and a single supplement. War Against the Han. I like the idea of a pulp post-apocalypse game- with unrealistic depictions of radiation and a dieselpunk aesthetic. That might be worth exploring if you flipped the colonial and racist elements.
The elephant in the room when talking about Buck Rogers is Lorraine Williams. Williams took over TSR in 1986. You can see discussion of that in "The Ambush at Sheridan Springs" and Designers & Dragons' overview of the company. The important thing to recognize is that Williams personally held the rights to Buck Rogers. That explains the hype for the setting across TSR in the early 1990's, including both board and role-playing games. She pushed the company to publish these products and TSR in turn paid her family royalties.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1990)
A game ahead of its time...not necessarily in mechanics (it had GDW's trademark crunch), but for its whimsy and subject matter. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs licensed the comic Xenozoic Tales which ran across several publishers from '87 to '96. C&D saw a heavy push across multiple media including trading cards, video games, and a cartoon show. In the future, humanity escapes a ravaged Earth by building underground. After six centuries they return to the surface to find it overrun with once-extinct life forms. Now they must survive in this fallen world with only limited and rudimentary technology. It’s post-apocalypse mixed with pulp and dinosaurs. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs remains one of the brighter and more upbeat apocalypse games published. Survival's still an issue, but there's an equally potent sense of fun.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs did badly for several reasons. First, the license built on a thin comic book basis with only a dozen or so issues. Second, GDW never seriously supported the line. Third, while the setting might be light and pulpy, the system isn't. Instead it builds on the tactical mechanics of Twilight 2000-- not the best fit. It's a single 144 page book, but it packs a ton in including a host of rules for multiple combat problems and situations. While the T2K system doesn't kill it, it doesn't help. I suspect even a fast and furious system (like say Savage Worlds) would have had an equally uphill battle grabbing market share with this concept.
GURPS (1990-1992)
I sometimes give SJG guff for odd licenses choices. That continues here.
GURPS Uplift (1990): David Brin's sci-fi universe had only three books to it when this released, with one of them tangentially related. The concept of "uplift" refers to a species raising up other species to full sentience and advanced technology (Dolphins are key cast members in Startide Rising). It's fairly hard sci-fi, something GURPS loves. The book leans more to mechanics than setting. A chunk of this material would be reused in later GURPS Space supplements.
GURPS Bunnies & Burrows (1992): IMHO well in the running for the worst cover art of a GURPS supplement. SJG licensed GURPS versions of a handful of other rpgs, but G:B&B was first. While it's good to see a classic that inspired many early rpg gamers return, it's not clear a pseudo-Watership Down rpg needs the simulationist sensibilities of GURPS.
GURPS Callahan's (1992): An old school sci-fi trope had characters in bars ruminating on problems and solving them. You can find these stories in Asimov, Clarke, and Niven. Callahan's based on several short story collections by Spider Robinson about the eponymous establishment. Your enjoyment depends on how much you dig whimsy and how much you want to inflict that on players.
Stormbringer (1990)
The fourth edition of this game based on Michael Moorcock's albino anti-hero. This version makes a few changes, notably retooling the demon summoning and creation rules (one of the cooler aspects of the original game). Otherwise this edition is more about reorganization and incorporation. The previous edition had added elements from the Stormbringer Companion and this one remixes that. Just three years later, Chaosium tried again with this license, this time renaming the game Elric! to signify major changes to the system. Elric! still used Basic Roleplaying, but they retooled elements of magic, skills, combat, and character generation. It received the most sustained support of any edition of the game. Confusingly, Chaosium reprinted and expanded these rules in 2001, but changed the name back to Stormbringer.
I sometimes give SJG guff for odd licenses choices. That continues here.
GURPS Uplift (1990): David Brin's sci-fi universe had only three books to it when this released, with one of them tangentially related. The concept of "uplift" refers to a species raising up other species to full sentience and advanced technology (Dolphins are key cast members in Startide Rising). It's fairly hard sci-fi, something GURPS loves. The book leans more to mechanics than setting. A chunk of this material would be reused in later GURPS Space supplements.
GURPS Bunnies & Burrows (1992): IMHO well in the running for the worst cover art of a GURPS supplement. SJG licensed GURPS versions of a handful of other rpgs, but G:B&B was first. While it's good to see a classic that inspired many early rpg gamers return, it's not clear a pseudo-Watership Down rpg needs the simulationist sensibilities of GURPS.
GURPS Callahan's (1992): An old school sci-fi trope had characters in bars ruminating on problems and solving them. You can find these stories in Asimov, Clarke, and Niven. Callahan's based on several short story collections by Spider Robinson about the eponymous establishment. Your enjoyment depends on how much you dig whimsy and how much you want to inflict that on players.
Stormbringer (1990)
The fourth edition of this game based on Michael Moorcock's albino anti-hero. This version makes a few changes, notably retooling the demon summoning and creation rules (one of the cooler aspects of the original game). Otherwise this edition is more about reorganization and incorporation. The previous edition had added elements from the Stormbringer Companion and this one remixes that. Just three years later, Chaosium tried again with this license, this time renaming the game Elric! to signify major changes to the system. Elric! still used Basic Roleplaying, but they retooled elements of magic, skills, combat, and character generation. It received the most sustained support of any edition of the game. Confusingly, Chaosium reprinted and expanded these rules in 2001, but changed the name back to Stormbringer.
Aliens Adventure Game (1991)
Based on the second movie in the franchise from 1986, this rpg focused on tactical combat. That's not surprising as it came from the publisher of Phoenix Command and offered a slightly simplified version of that complex beast. It's difficult to describe Phoenix Command without it seeming like a parody today-- stark layout, masses of charts, lots of pictures of guns. It started as a bolt-on small arms combat system from gun-loving gamers. In the 1980s and '90s the rpg hobby had several weapon fetish and military games, many offering add-ons for existing rpgs (The Armory, Palladium's weapon supplements, Guns Guns Guns, etc.). The evolving Phoenix Command system also powered the company's sci-fi insurrection game, Living Steel.
Aliens focuses on the simulationist combat play supporting the company's other major endeavor. Leading Edge had an extensive line of miniatures for the game, including a power loader, drop ship, facehuggers, and alien queen. The miniatures got significantly more attention than the rpgs, which only had a set of core rules released. Reviews describe it as a complicated hash, but mention its usefulness as a sourcebook for the setting.
Amber Diceless Role-Playing (1991)
I run alot of games on The Gauntlet. I'm usually not afraid to post a game and then learn the rules in the week before the first session. I jumped in head first with Orun, Legacy, Forbidden Lands, City of Mist. But I own several games I won't do that with. I've skimmed them, but their weirdness or density makes me unsure I could run them cold. Before I could even run them, I'd need to play them with another GM: Nobilis, Ryutaama, Phoenix Dawn, L5R 5e, Chuubo, and Amber. And I say this as someone who has run multiple LARP-esque Throne Wars using Amber. Those scenarios are easy- a contained, chaotic mess. But to actually run an Amber campaign...I don't know if I could.
But Amber's an amazing game. It's one of the earliest diceless rpgs, has unique auction mechanics, and has one of the best marriages of mechanics and theme. Designer Erick Wujcik started with Palladium, creating the striking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rpg. As detailed in Designers & Dragons, Wujcik freelanced for West End Games where he discovered they held the license but only wanted to make board games. In the late 1980s, he started work on the game-- eliminating dice when he realized he wasn't actually rolling them when he ran. As a side note-- during this period my friends and I drove up to Detroit and Windsor for gaming cons. Wujcik ran early versions of Amber there, and several of my friends played it, but I never did. While I played in other games with Wujcik, to this day I regret not getting into his Amber sessions.
Gamers in my area loved Roger Zelazny's Amber series in the '80s and '90s. Its mix of modern, sci-fi, and fantasy drew people in. For wish-fulfillment it also features larger than life super-powered magical folks involved in political chicanery. Amber has some of Tolkien's monarchical bent, but questions it in places. The second Amber series, released during the later half of the 1980's never quite lived up to the promise of the first and left more questions than answers. Wujcik worked hard to parse that material for his Shadow Knight supplement.
Amber Diceless remains an important and influential game-- opening up new territory in systems, writing, and presentation. In 2013, Rite Publishing reworked the core system as Lords of Gossamer & Shadow, stripping out the license. It's decent. It cleans up the mechanics and draws on the experience of vibrant Amber community. However it doesn't have quite the spark of the original game. You can hear a GM Jam episode we did for Play on Target here.
Based on the second movie in the franchise from 1986, this rpg focused on tactical combat. That's not surprising as it came from the publisher of Phoenix Command and offered a slightly simplified version of that complex beast. It's difficult to describe Phoenix Command without it seeming like a parody today-- stark layout, masses of charts, lots of pictures of guns. It started as a bolt-on small arms combat system from gun-loving gamers. In the 1980s and '90s the rpg hobby had several weapon fetish and military games, many offering add-ons for existing rpgs (The Armory, Palladium's weapon supplements, Guns Guns Guns, etc.). The evolving Phoenix Command system also powered the company's sci-fi insurrection game, Living Steel.
Aliens focuses on the simulationist combat play supporting the company's other major endeavor. Leading Edge had an extensive line of miniatures for the game, including a power loader, drop ship, facehuggers, and alien queen. The miniatures got significantly more attention than the rpgs, which only had a set of core rules released. Reviews describe it as a complicated hash, but mention its usefulness as a sourcebook for the setting.
Amber Diceless Role-Playing (1991)
I run alot of games on The Gauntlet. I'm usually not afraid to post a game and then learn the rules in the week before the first session. I jumped in head first with Orun, Legacy, Forbidden Lands, City of Mist. But I own several games I won't do that with. I've skimmed them, but their weirdness or density makes me unsure I could run them cold. Before I could even run them, I'd need to play them with another GM: Nobilis, Ryutaama, Phoenix Dawn, L5R 5e, Chuubo, and Amber. And I say this as someone who has run multiple LARP-esque Throne Wars using Amber. Those scenarios are easy- a contained, chaotic mess. But to actually run an Amber campaign...I don't know if I could.
But Amber's an amazing game. It's one of the earliest diceless rpgs, has unique auction mechanics, and has one of the best marriages of mechanics and theme. Designer Erick Wujcik started with Palladium, creating the striking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rpg. As detailed in Designers & Dragons, Wujcik freelanced for West End Games where he discovered they held the license but only wanted to make board games. In the late 1980s, he started work on the game-- eliminating dice when he realized he wasn't actually rolling them when he ran. As a side note-- during this period my friends and I drove up to Detroit and Windsor for gaming cons. Wujcik ran early versions of Amber there, and several of my friends played it, but I never did. While I played in other games with Wujcik, to this day I regret not getting into his Amber sessions.
Gamers in my area loved Roger Zelazny's Amber series in the '80s and '90s. Its mix of modern, sci-fi, and fantasy drew people in. For wish-fulfillment it also features larger than life super-powered magical folks involved in political chicanery. Amber has some of Tolkien's monarchical bent, but questions it in places. The second Amber series, released during the later half of the 1980's never quite lived up to the promise of the first and left more questions than answers. Wujcik worked hard to parse that material for his Shadow Knight supplement.
Amber Diceless remains an important and influential game-- opening up new territory in systems, writing, and presentation. In 2013, Rite Publishing reworked the core system as Lords of Gossamer & Shadow, stripping out the license. It's decent. It cleans up the mechanics and draws on the experience of vibrant Amber community. However it doesn't have quite the spark of the original game. You can hear a GM Jam episode we did for Play on Target here.
Dragon Half RPG (1991)
A Japanese rpg based on a comedy-fantasy manga and anime. It's gratuitously sexy with the main character being the daughter of a dragon and a lecherous knight. The game builds on Sword World, a popular Japanese D&D clone. Though based on a not particularly lengthy series, the rules clock in at more than 500 pages (pocket sized). It seems as crunchy as you'd expect for an early Japanese ttrpg (i.e. very). An interesting touch is that all player characters are "half," born to a human parent and something else. You can read a little more in depth about it at Tomb of Tedankhamen. There's also a translated read-through at RPGnet.
Il Gioco di Ruolo di Dylan Dog (1991)
I don't know much about this Italian rpg or its comic basis. That long running series started in 1986. According to Wikipedia, "The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi in 1986, is graphically inspired by (Rupert Everett). Everett, in turn, appeared in an adaptation based on Sclavi's novel, Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man)." That movie borrows themes from the comics, but isn't a straight adaptation. Dylan Dog has an action oriented bent, though apparently with some borrowing from traditional horror. Considering that Italy gave us Dario Argento, I imagine this game and comic isn't exactly what it appears. While Dylan Dog sold hugely in Italy, an American film adaptation with Brandon Routh, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011), flopped.
Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (1991)
In the early 1990s Iron Crown hadn't started remixing Middle Earth; that would come with the CCG boom years. But with the LotR Adventure Game they attempted to draw in new gamers to their products. Rather than the percentiles and charts of Middle Earth Roleplaying, this game uses only 2d6, has no levels, and takes its cues from Middle Earth Quest CYOA books. ICE had done well with that series in mass market distribution. LotRAG's a great idea and a strong potential draw for that audience. But I can't even imagine a player moving from this game's elemental simplicity to the number-rich, highly detailed world of MERP.
A Japanese rpg based on a comedy-fantasy manga and anime. It's gratuitously sexy with the main character being the daughter of a dragon and a lecherous knight. The game builds on Sword World, a popular Japanese D&D clone. Though based on a not particularly lengthy series, the rules clock in at more than 500 pages (pocket sized). It seems as crunchy as you'd expect for an early Japanese ttrpg (i.e. very). An interesting touch is that all player characters are "half," born to a human parent and something else. You can read a little more in depth about it at Tomb of Tedankhamen. There's also a translated read-through at RPGnet.
Il Gioco di Ruolo di Dylan Dog (1991)
I don't know much about this Italian rpg or its comic basis. That long running series started in 1986. According to Wikipedia, "The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi in 1986, is graphically inspired by (Rupert Everett). Everett, in turn, appeared in an adaptation based on Sclavi's novel, Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man)." That movie borrows themes from the comics, but isn't a straight adaptation. Dylan Dog has an action oriented bent, though apparently with some borrowing from traditional horror. Considering that Italy gave us Dario Argento, I imagine this game and comic isn't exactly what it appears. While Dylan Dog sold hugely in Italy, an American film adaptation with Brandon Routh, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011), flopped.
Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (1991)
In the early 1990s Iron Crown hadn't started remixing Middle Earth; that would come with the CCG boom years. But with the LotR Adventure Game they attempted to draw in new gamers to their products. Rather than the percentiles and charts of Middle Earth Roleplaying, this game uses only 2d6, has no levels, and takes its cues from Middle Earth Quest CYOA books. ICE had done well with that series in mass market distribution. LotRAG's a great idea and a strong potential draw for that audience. But I can't even imagine a player moving from this game's elemental simplicity to the number-rich, highly detailed world of MERP.
Time Lord (1991)
Like LotRAG above, Time Lord attempted to draw new gamers with a super-simple system completely divorced from previous Dr. Who games. This paperback rpg released by Virgin Publishing echoed the look and size of contemporary Dr. Who novels. Time Lord lacks any character creation method, and Wikipedia describes it as "having different and simpler mechanics that often seemed arbitrary. For example, the companion Polly is a secretary yet according to her statistics, she can hardly read or write." RPGNet has a lengthy and adoring review which includes a link to the online text of the game, released by the author in 1996. You can tell it's an old site because it has a loud and obnoxious Flash animation.
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (1992)
This game's based on a British comic series created by Brian Talbot. That bounced around before being published in nine issues from Valkyrie Press. Talbot returned to the concept again in 1999 with a series focused on the title character's daughter. Drawing inspiration from Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series, Arkwright's the story of a hero who can move between parallel universes. He battles against agents in these worlds trying to disrupt the multiverse. The first arc takes place in a world with the unfinished English Civil War drawn out by these malign forces.
The game itself is a product of the time with cut & paste art from the comics and basic DTP design. The RPGNet review
compares it to LATEX, which if you know what that is I am truly sorry. The mechanics echo Basic Roleplaying's percentiles approach. Publisher 23rd Parallel Games released no follow up material, save for an official adventure in a rpg magazine. At one time Hogshead Publishing announced a d20 take on the license, called Zero Zero, but that never surfaced. In 2015 Design Mechanism released a Runequest/Mythras setting sourcebook (Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels) and a campaign (Parallel Lines).
Like LotRAG above, Time Lord attempted to draw new gamers with a super-simple system completely divorced from previous Dr. Who games. This paperback rpg released by Virgin Publishing echoed the look and size of contemporary Dr. Who novels. Time Lord lacks any character creation method, and Wikipedia describes it as "having different and simpler mechanics that often seemed arbitrary. For example, the companion Polly is a secretary yet according to her statistics, she can hardly read or write." RPGNet has a lengthy and adoring review which includes a link to the online text of the game, released by the author in 1996. You can tell it's an old site because it has a loud and obnoxious Flash animation.
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (1992)
This game's based on a British comic series created by Brian Talbot. That bounced around before being published in nine issues from Valkyrie Press. Talbot returned to the concept again in 1999 with a series focused on the title character's daughter. Drawing inspiration from Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series, Arkwright's the story of a hero who can move between parallel universes. He battles against agents in these worlds trying to disrupt the multiverse. The first arc takes place in a world with the unfinished English Civil War drawn out by these malign forces.
The game itself is a product of the time with cut & paste art from the comics and basic DTP design. The RPGNet review
compares it to LATEX, which if you know what that is I am truly sorry. The mechanics echo Basic Roleplaying's percentiles approach. Publisher 23rd Parallel Games released no follow up material, save for an official adventure in a rpg magazine. At one time Hogshead Publishing announced a d20 take on the license, called Zero Zero, but that never surfaced. In 2015 Design Mechanism released a Runequest/Mythras setting sourcebook (Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels) and a campaign (Parallel Lines).
Dream Park (1992)
Dream Park sat on the shelves of our store for a long time. I don't recall selling a copy until it went into the discount section. I hadn't even realized R Talsorian substantially supported the line; we never ordered anything else. Mixed expectations worked against Dream Park. Lacking other indicators, the store owner shelved it with Cyberpunk 2020 material. Perhaps if it had been better placed, it might have drawn an audience.
Dream Park's another Larry Niven license, the first being Chaosium's Ringworld. At the time of publishing, the series had three books. Dream Park's setting features a high-tech amusement park with LARP elements. Holograms, VR, carefully crafted sets, and augmented reality systems support Westworld-like play. The first Dream Park book inspired a number of Live Action Roleplaying groups. One company attempted to create and finance a working version of the concept. That went bankrupt within a few years without much to show for itself.
The Dream Park core book has lots of interesting in world material- narratives about tech, procedures discussions, and fun maps & diagrams. We get the "staff" of the park presented as GMs, Writers, and Designers. While MMOs and shared universes have advanced significantly, its striking to see how well R Talsorian's take on the material holds up.
The rules themselves, while lighter than other R Talsorian products, still have significant crunch including a grid/ruler approach to combat tracking and a results matrix. Still the designers worked hard to make these mechanics accessible by opening the rules with a "Quik Start" version. It's actually one of the first complete Quick Start products I remember. Deeper in the core book those basics give way to advanced systems, mechanical details for different genres, and cool settings. The game includes a "Beat Chart" for generating narrative beats in a story. You use these to generate a Hook, Development, Cliffhangers, Climax, and Resolution.
There's much, much more here than I expected. I'm disappointed I didn't take a look at this game when it first came out. It's an amazing product for its time. Many of the ideas our group would develop for this kind of game I could have found here. Like Amber Diceless, Dream Park feels ahead of its time.
When Gravity Fails (1992)
A Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook based on George Alec Effinger's series of novels. It’s a world where “...Casablanca collides with Blade Runner…” The Marid Audran books take place in a New Orleans analogue and have a strongly Middle Eastern flavor. They were Effinger’s only real foray into cyberpunk. Health problems restricted his output. When Gravity Fails is a little over 100 pages. It has a timeline up through 2199, a useful presentation of the world & campaign city, several additional character roles, new tech and equipment, and a sample adventure. Some of the tech has interesting social implications.
For example ‘Daddies’ are socketed chipsets which store memories, training, and sensations. These give users artificial abilities. In the WGF setting, these became ubiquitous, changing labor and expertise. The development of ‘Moddies’ built on that. These allow users to rewire a subject’s brain, an invention originally designed for neurological therapy. Eventually these evolved into artificial personality overlays. You can chip one in and become someone else. Or you can have that done to you. The fallout from this—- abuses, addiction, identity theft— forms the backdrop for the novels. It’s a concept worth exploring.
When Gravity Fails also brings to the table a treatment of Arab culture and Islam in the future. This is OK. I’m glad that we have this material. Religion and its associated culture rarely get coverage in cyberpunk of this era. I can only think of the cartoonish Cyberpapacy from TORG. When Gravity Fails isn’t anywhere near as garish. It does suffer from exotification and stereotyping (“ugh, proverbs as the culture touchstone again”). It also assumes a regressive version of Islam, with repressive treatment of women.
Finally, the art leans hard in two directions: super-sexy and weirdly stereotypical Arabian. Sometimes both. For the latter there’s some attempt at fusion of fashions, but characters more often look like they came out of Al Qadim. It’s a mixed bag, but overall I think the striking ideas outweigh the bad. YMMV. If nothing else, it’s a great example of cyberpunk world-building based on a central theme.
Dream Park sat on the shelves of our store for a long time. I don't recall selling a copy until it went into the discount section. I hadn't even realized R Talsorian substantially supported the line; we never ordered anything else. Mixed expectations worked against Dream Park. Lacking other indicators, the store owner shelved it with Cyberpunk 2020 material. Perhaps if it had been better placed, it might have drawn an audience.
Dream Park's another Larry Niven license, the first being Chaosium's Ringworld. At the time of publishing, the series had three books. Dream Park's setting features a high-tech amusement park with LARP elements. Holograms, VR, carefully crafted sets, and augmented reality systems support Westworld-like play. The first Dream Park book inspired a number of Live Action Roleplaying groups. One company attempted to create and finance a working version of the concept. That went bankrupt within a few years without much to show for itself.
The Dream Park core book has lots of interesting in world material- narratives about tech, procedures discussions, and fun maps & diagrams. We get the "staff" of the park presented as GMs, Writers, and Designers. While MMOs and shared universes have advanced significantly, its striking to see how well R Talsorian's take on the material holds up.
The rules themselves, while lighter than other R Talsorian products, still have significant crunch including a grid/ruler approach to combat tracking and a results matrix. Still the designers worked hard to make these mechanics accessible by opening the rules with a "Quik Start" version. It's actually one of the first complete Quick Start products I remember. Deeper in the core book those basics give way to advanced systems, mechanical details for different genres, and cool settings. The game includes a "Beat Chart" for generating narrative beats in a story. You use these to generate a Hook, Development, Cliffhangers, Climax, and Resolution.
There's much, much more here than I expected. I'm disappointed I didn't take a look at this game when it first came out. It's an amazing product for its time. Many of the ideas our group would develop for this kind of game I could have found here. Like Amber Diceless, Dream Park feels ahead of its time.
When Gravity Fails (1992)
A Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook based on George Alec Effinger's series of novels. It’s a world where “...Casablanca collides with Blade Runner…” The Marid Audran books take place in a New Orleans analogue and have a strongly Middle Eastern flavor. They were Effinger’s only real foray into cyberpunk. Health problems restricted his output. When Gravity Fails is a little over 100 pages. It has a timeline up through 2199, a useful presentation of the world & campaign city, several additional character roles, new tech and equipment, and a sample adventure. Some of the tech has interesting social implications.
For example ‘Daddies’ are socketed chipsets which store memories, training, and sensations. These give users artificial abilities. In the WGF setting, these became ubiquitous, changing labor and expertise. The development of ‘Moddies’ built on that. These allow users to rewire a subject’s brain, an invention originally designed for neurological therapy. Eventually these evolved into artificial personality overlays. You can chip one in and become someone else. Or you can have that done to you. The fallout from this—- abuses, addiction, identity theft— forms the backdrop for the novels. It’s a concept worth exploring.
When Gravity Fails also brings to the table a treatment of Arab culture and Islam in the future. This is OK. I’m glad that we have this material. Religion and its associated culture rarely get coverage in cyberpunk of this era. I can only think of the cartoonish Cyberpapacy from TORG. When Gravity Fails isn’t anywhere near as garish. It does suffer from exotification and stereotyping (“ugh, proverbs as the culture touchstone again”). It also assumes a regressive version of Islam, with repressive treatment of women.
Finally, the art leans hard in two directions: super-sexy and weirdly stereotypical Arabian. Sometimes both. For the latter there’s some attempt at fusion of fashions, but characters more often look like they came out of Al Qadim. It’s a mixed bag, but overall I think the striking ideas outweigh the bad. YMMV. If nothing else, it’s a great example of cyberpunk world-building based on a central theme.
Wizards (1992)
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards remains an important film for those raised in the 1970's. It contains a mad, psychedelic, and weird mix of fantasy with post-apocalyptic elements no one else has captured. It is part comedy, part sexy-times fairies, part legendary quest, part undead armored Nazis from the future. I dug the movie but I never did more than flip this rpg. Online commenters regard it as a decent, if workmanlike adaptation of the material. Digital Orc has an overview on his blog.
Whit supported this line with several publications within a year or so. Players got the obligatory character sheets and GM screen supplements, but also Montagar and Scortch. Both are detailed 80-page regional sourcebooks. I'm surprised to see Whit published that much for the line. Like other lost games, I recall the core book sitting on the shelf for years before vanishing, never to be restocked. I heard and saw almost nothing about it in the years which followed. I'd assumed it was a flash in the pan like so many others.
Wizards the film influenced a lot of early role-playing. You can see elements in early Gamma World. While the movie came out in '77, it had a cult following through VHS tapes and cable presentation. The designers clearly felt that was enough to sustain an rpg fifteen years later. I have a theory- and I may be wrong. Wizards' craziness inspired people. In the early 1980's I saw at least three homebrew campaigns lifting elements from Wizards, Heavy Metal, and other sources (in one case Gor, ugh). By the early 1990s, gamers had already begun to create multi-genre, weird apocalypse games with these elements and ideas. It isn't a reach from there to Rifts or Synnibarr. However by 1992 games had already assimilated these concepts, rendering this less interesting.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
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.
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards remains an important film for those raised in the 1970's. It contains a mad, psychedelic, and weird mix of fantasy with post-apocalyptic elements no one else has captured. It is part comedy, part sexy-times fairies, part legendary quest, part undead armored Nazis from the future. I dug the movie but I never did more than flip this rpg. Online commenters regard it as a decent, if workmanlike adaptation of the material. Digital Orc has an overview on his blog.
Whit supported this line with several publications within a year or so. Players got the obligatory character sheets and GM screen supplements, but also Montagar and Scortch. Both are detailed 80-page regional sourcebooks. I'm surprised to see Whit published that much for the line. Like other lost games, I recall the core book sitting on the shelf for years before vanishing, never to be restocked. I heard and saw almost nothing about it in the years which followed. I'd assumed it was a flash in the pan like so many others.
Wizards the film influenced a lot of early role-playing. You can see elements in early Gamma World. While the movie came out in '77, it had a cult following through VHS tapes and cable presentation. The designers clearly felt that was enough to sustain an rpg fifteen years later. I have a theory- and I may be wrong. Wizards' craziness inspired people. In the early 1980's I saw at least three homebrew campaigns lifting elements from Wizards, Heavy Metal, and other sources (in one case Gor, ugh). By the early 1990s, gamers had already begun to create multi-genre, weird apocalypse games with these elements and ideas. It isn't a reach from there to Rifts or Synnibarr. However by 1992 games had already assimilated these concepts, rendering this less interesting.
PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
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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