What games from the early 80's are still being published?

[Garmorn]

If you are saying there is very little difference between the skill list on the back cover of Character Law 1, and the skill list as is appears in RMC2 - you never played a character under both systems.

The difference in the game after the revised Character Law and Campaign Law and after RMC1 and RMC2 is HUGE.

Spell Law and Arm's Law/Claw Law did not change -- and the base underlying mechanics are the same. But everything else did. The Skill list expands by ... a factor of 20+. There is also Creatures and Treasure in RM2 which did not even exist in RM 1st Ed. The number of base classes mushrooms - all the Spell Lists in RMC1 and RMC2 are added. Background options in RMC1 are added which dramatically change character generation. It's a HUGE difference.

RMC1 and RMC2, taken together, are about 10 times the page count of the original Character Law.

Ok, I am going to have to clarify what I was. I am really thinking of the underlying mechanics. Other wise DD 1 to 3 would not count.

And yes I did play RM 1 and 2 using both sets of books with interchangeably. RMSS was a major change but not 1 to 2. 2nd Edition used the same Character Law as 1st edition and came out in 84. Are you sure you are not confusing RMSS (1995) or 1/2 with the expanded skill list from RMC 2?

 

[darjr]

There is Palladium Fantasy.

 

[Crothian]

There is Palladium Fantasy.

It's second edition did change the game a bit, not as much as D&D 3e did but still it was a significant change.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Ok, I am going to have to clarify what I was. I am really thinking of the underlying mechanics. Other wise DD 1 to 3 would not count.

And yes I did play RM 1 and 2 using both sets of books with interchangeably. RMSS was a major change but not 1 to 2. 2nd Edition used the same Character Law as 1st edition and came out in 84. Are you sure you are not confusing RMSS (1995) or 1/2 with the expanded skill list from RMC 2?

Nope. Not confusing it at all. As for RMSS - that was a disaster of character generation, sure, but the underlying game mechanics did not change -- other than in respect of how haste worked.We left 1st edition AD&D in about 1983/84 for home brewed Rolemaster. Well - it wasn't even Rolemaster then, it was just Spell Law and Arm's Law set in the original Iron Wind module with house ruled character generation based on 1st edition.

We house ruled natural weapons with arrows and daggers and swords for natural attacks for a while, too.
We played it for 18 years as our main RPG until 3rd edition was released.

Anyways - yeah - quite sure

 

[Garmorn]

So my list so far is:

Rolemaster
Champions
Call of Cthulhu
Tunnels & Trolls
Toons
Aftermath!

Do the Retro Clones actually count as still in print since they are not the actual original game? I am of two minds. First yes because the rules are suppose to be close and no because they are not the original game with just minor tweaks and how close can they get with out CC protection violations.


As for Traveler unless they went back to an earlier version it had massive changes at one point. (I have played both versions)

 

[jaerdaph]

So my list so far is:
As for Traveler unless they went back to an earlier version it had massive changes at one point. (I have played both versions)

Does "still available in PDF" count?
Game Designers' Workshop has put up for sale the mother load of Classic Traveller PDFs:

RPGNow.com - Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) - The leading source for indie RPGs

 

[Wicht]

When was Toon first published? 1984?

 

[PaulofCthulhu]

Next year marks 30 years of Call of Cthulhu.

As Peter Adkison is reputed to have said, it's like a Crocodile...

 

[Quantum]

The problem with being purely on PDF is that they are really easy to delete.

And can be infected with all kinds of nasty viruses.

 

[Nagol]

I believe Aftermath is still technically in print and hasn't changed at all.