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Talking With Steve Jackson About The Fantasy Trip
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<blockquote data-quote="Christopher Helton" data-source="post: 7750088" data-attributes="member: 6804772"><p>Recently, I was able to ask Steve Jackson, of <strong>Steve Jackson Games</strong>, a couple of questions about the upcoming relaunch of his classic role-playing/combat game <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong>. In addition, he gave us at <strong>EN World</strong> an early look at the preliminary art for the cover of <strong>The Fantasy Trip: Melee</strong>.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98389[/ATTACH]</p><p>[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p><strong>Christopher Helton:</strong> First off, let's talk about the game itself. For the uninitiated, what is <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong>?</p><p></p><p><strong>Steve Jackson:</strong> It's a fantasy role-playing game that I started writing in 1977. It had a period of great popularity, which waned when <strong>Metagaming</strong> went out of business and there was no further support. But some people have always continued to play it. And last year I recovered the rights, so I can publish a new edition now.</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> What led to the creation of <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong>?</p><p></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> <strong>TFT</strong> grew out of the combat game, <strong>Melee</strong>. I created <strong>Melee</strong> specifically because I didn't like the combat system in original <strong>D&D</strong>. I wanted something that would feel more realistic, that would take into account where the characters were in relation to each other, and that would not be so table-driven.</p><p></p><p>When <strong>Melee</strong> became popular, I did a magic version of it; that was <strong>Wizard</strong>. The next step was to write a full set of role-playing rules around the <strong>Melee</strong>/<strong>Wizard</strong> combat system, which is what we know today as <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> There is a lot of interest in older games again, from the early editions of <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong> to a Kickstarter based around the third edition of <strong>Champions</strong>. What does <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong> offer to people who are looking at older games, or want to recreate an experience from when they were younger?</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98390[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> It's an old-school role-playing experience, centered around dungeon-crawling, monster-fighting, swords-and-sorcery adventure. It does not try to be generic, and it does not try to go into overwhelming detail. It's for people who want to sit down with a few friends and explore, fight, and try to get home alive!</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> To flip that question, what about the Fantasy Trip would appeal to people who've never played it?</p><p></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> The same things, I hope. It's a lot lighter than <strong>GURPS</strong>, or, for that matter, the current edition of <strong>D&D</strong>. Character creation is easy, combats are quick without being trivial, and there are just not all that many rules to learn. It's not a game about finding exploits or weird combinations of skills. It's about creating a hero or a wizard, and going on an adventure.</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> After four editions of <strong>GURPS</strong> some may wonder why you would revisit <strong>The Fantasy Trip</strong>. What do you say to them?</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> Because it's a different game and I like it a lot!</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> Should people who've invested a lot of time and money into <strong>GURPS</strong> worry that it might be replaced by a simpler game in the Fantasy Trip?</p><p></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> Nope. The games have different strengths, and people who are into <strong>GURPS</strong> are not going to abandon it.</p><p></p><p><strong>CH:</strong> What do you hope for the future of the Fantasy Trip?</p><p></p><p><strong>SJ:</strong> Enough interest from fans that we can continue to put out new background and adventure material at a good rate. But I don't want to layer on complexity. Fans of complexity have already got games to play. This is about making a character in five minutes and going out to fight the orcs.<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&quot]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&quot]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Christopher Helton, post: 7750088, member: 6804772"] Recently, I was able to ask Steve Jackson, of [B]Steve Jackson Games[/B], a couple of questions about the upcoming relaunch of his classic role-playing/combat game [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B]. In addition, he gave us at [B]EN World[/B] an early look at the preliminary art for the cover of [B]The Fantasy Trip: Melee[/B]. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]98389[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] [B]Christopher Helton:[/B] First off, let's talk about the game itself. For the uninitiated, what is [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B]? [B]Steve Jackson:[/B] It's a fantasy role-playing game that I started writing in 1977. It had a period of great popularity, which waned when [B]Metagaming[/B] went out of business and there was no further support. But some people have always continued to play it. And last year I recovered the rights, so I can publish a new edition now. [B]CH:[/B] What led to the creation of [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B]? [B]SJ:[/B] [B]TFT[/B] grew out of the combat game, [B]Melee[/B]. I created [B]Melee[/B] specifically because I didn't like the combat system in original [B]D&D[/B]. I wanted something that would feel more realistic, that would take into account where the characters were in relation to each other, and that would not be so table-driven. When [B]Melee[/B] became popular, I did a magic version of it; that was [B]Wizard[/B]. The next step was to write a full set of role-playing rules around the [B]Melee[/B]/[B]Wizard[/B] combat system, which is what we know today as [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B]. [B]CH:[/B] There is a lot of interest in older games again, from the early editions of [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B] to a Kickstarter based around the third edition of [B]Champions[/B]. What does [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B] offer to people who are looking at older games, or want to recreate an experience from when they were younger? [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]98390[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [B]SJ:[/B] It's an old-school role-playing experience, centered around dungeon-crawling, monster-fighting, swords-and-sorcery adventure. It does not try to be generic, and it does not try to go into overwhelming detail. It's for people who want to sit down with a few friends and explore, fight, and try to get home alive! [B]CH:[/B] To flip that question, what about the Fantasy Trip would appeal to people who've never played it? [B]SJ:[/B] The same things, I hope. It's a lot lighter than [B]GURPS[/B], or, for that matter, the current edition of [B]D&D[/B]. Character creation is easy, combats are quick without being trivial, and there are just not all that many rules to learn. It's not a game about finding exploits or weird combinations of skills. It's about creating a hero or a wizard, and going on an adventure. [B]CH:[/B] After four editions of [B]GURPS[/B] some may wonder why you would revisit [B]The Fantasy Trip[/B]. What do you say to them? [B] SJ:[/B] Because it's a different game and I like it a lot! [B]CH:[/B] Should people who've invested a lot of time and money into [B]GURPS[/B] worry that it might be replaced by a simpler game in the Fantasy Trip? [B]SJ:[/B] Nope. The games have different strengths, and people who are into [B]GURPS[/B] are not going to abandon it. [B]CH:[/B] What do you hope for the future of the Fantasy Trip? [B]SJ:[/B] Enough interest from fans that we can continue to put out new background and adventure material at a good rate. But I don't want to layer on complexity. Fans of complexity have already got games to play. This is about making a character in five minutes and going out to fight the orcs.[CENTER][COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT="][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT="][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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