Rebellion Acquires Tunnels & Trolls

Flying Buffalo’s entire game line acquired along with the classic first published in 1978

Rebellion Unplugged, the new tabletop division of UK video games developer Rebellion, has acquired Tunnels & Trolls, a fantasy RPG which was first published in 1978.

T&T publisher Flying Buffalo’s CEO passed away in 2019, and the company was purchased by management and holding company Webbed Sphere in 2021. Rebellion has acquired the whole of its game line, which also includes well-known properties like Grimtooth.

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World-renowned independent creative studio Rebellion is delighted to announce the acquisition of Tunnels & Trolls, one of the trailblazing games of the fantasy genre, and the second roleplaying game ever published.  

First published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo as a more player-friendly alternative to Dungeons & Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls introduced roleplaying to new audiences through its streamlined mechanics and pioneering approach to solo roleplaying. Now, almost 50 years after its original publication, the Rebellion Unplugged team is bringing Tunnels & Trolls into a new era. 

“Tunnels & Trolls is an unrecognised trailblazer in the games industry”, said Duncan Molloy, head of Rebellion Unplugged. “The team at Flying Buffalo responded to an entirely new medium by focusing on how roleplaying could be more approachable, more accessible, and more fun. So much of the modern era of roleplaying from old school hacks, to streamlined systems, to solo play, can directly trace its roots directly back to this series. We’re very excited to channel that spirit in bringing Tunnels & Trolls into the modern era.”

“When I first discovered Tunnels & Trolls in the mid-1970s, I didn’t realize I was unlocking a life-long interest in fantasy roleplaying games, books, movies, and all things genre-based” recalled Rebellion CEO and Creative Director Jason Kingsley OBE, “The game has remained with me throughout my life, and I can’t wait to see what the team have in store for it!”

After the passing of Flying Buffalo founder Rick Loomis, the company had been taken over by Webbed Sphere Inc. “We are very excited to see Rebellion expand this rich property” added Jon Huston, president of Webbed Sphere. “As a long-time fan, I always felt that the Flying Buffalo roleplaying lines had such incredible potential.”

As part of the acquisition Rebellion have taken over Flying Buffalo’s entire line of roleplaying games, including the cult classic Citybook, Grimtooth, and Merchants Spies and Private Eyes series. The entire back-catalogue of Flying Buffalo PDFs will remain available to purchase online, with future releases coming directly from Rebellion Unplugged. 
 

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Von Ether

Legend
I always felt guilty for not giving this game a try back in the day but the spell names were silly and I was a serious rpger back in the day.

According to my T&T fan, the real gold was in Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes and thought it was shame that MSPE didn't become its own kind of CoC or RuneQuest.

It had even supported its own small KS back in 2019!

MSPE-Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes: Combined Edition RPG - Flying Buffalo | Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes | DriveThruRPG.com
 

antiwesley

Unpaid Scientific Adviser (Ret.)
I wonder if with "Monster, Monster" could create a videogame style city-building about controlling monsters and managing a dungeon.
M!M!, pardon the pun, is a whole different beast. Ken and Co shifted their focus to M!M! and have started creating product based on the line. M!M! is owned by Trollgodfather Press, and this even has little to no affect on M!M!
 

Clint_L

Hero
I always felt guilty for not giving this game a try back in the day but the spell names were silly and I was a serious rpger back in the day.
Yeah, one of my buddies had it but we didn't want to play it because it had a rep as D&D lite. Plus its creator was accused by Gygax of ripping him off, and we all listened to Gygax because Dragon magazine.
 

Lidgar

Gongfarmer
I always felt guilty for not giving this game a try back in the day but the spell names were silly and I was a serious rpger back in the day.

According to my T&T fan, the real gold was in Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes and thought it was shame that MSPE didn't become its own kind of CoC or RuneQuest.

It had even supported its own small KS back in 2019!

MSPE-Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes: Combined Edition RPG - Flying Buffalo | Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes | DriveThruRPG.com
I’ve had that on my shelf forever. I was a huge fan of Top Secret so probably bought it because of that, but don’t remember ever playing it. I’ll have to crack it open and give it a read.
 

MGibster

Legend
This is one of those old school, original gangsta, game that I heard of but never saw at a game store (that I can recall), never knew anyone who owned it, and never played. It just seemed that having AD&D meant that T&T was entirely redundant.
 

aramis erak

Legend
Rebellion seems to be trying to revive the old Judge Dredd RPG, too,
Which one?
The GW one?
The Mongoose d20?
The Mongoose Traveller?
The EN Publishing one?
Something else?

(Looking at the Rebellion site, no, they aren't resurrecting the RPG. They've resurrected the boardgame.)
 
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aramis erak

Legend
This is one of those old school, original gangsta, game that I heard of but never saw at a game store (that I can recall), never knew anyone who owned it, and never played. It just seemed that having AD&D meant that T&T was entirely redundant.
The great irony is that, ruleswise, it's just the opposite. Having T&T, you can use almost any D&D module, just assigning the MR = to the D&D HP... but the needed stats to run a T&T module in D&D means having to come up with most of the needed stats.

You've missed out if you've never tried it - the Free Mini-rules Module PDF is a playable minirules, with both solo and GM-run modules.
It's 5th light. 7th & Deluxe differs mostly in advancement.
 

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