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

[Thanael]

The german RPG Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) is still published, though i can't say how much the rules have changed from the 1st edition.

 

[rogueattorney]

Star Frontiers (1982) is available on .pdf, both in original form and a recent light revision.

It's getting some nice support from the Star Frontiersman .pdf fanzine.

See:
Star Frontiers - The Official Web Page Server!

Star Frontiers: Welcome to StarFrontiers.org !

Star Frontiersman | Magazine!

 

[billd91]

Aftermath!, Bushido, Space Opera, Villains and Vigilantes, Privateers and Gentleman, Psi World, Merc, and my personal favorite, Flashing Blades are all still in print and available directly from Fantasy Games Unlimited.

I'd hesitate to call them all still in print rather than still in stock. FGU's return from dormancy a number of years back makes the stuff available new again, but I don't think most titles are likely to see a printer again.

 

[jdrakeh]

I'd hesitate to call them all still in print rather than still in stock. FGU's return from dormancy a number of years back makes the stuff available new again, but I don't think most titles are likely to see a printer again.

Maybe not a printer, but they did re-release Swordbearer as a PDF, along with several of their other products.

 

[MortonStromgal]

ShadowRun is still "fairly" close to the original mechanics. There isn't much difference between target numbers and modifying the dice pool.

Uhh no there are way more changes than that compared to 1e which came out in 89'

 

[the Jester]

I have to say that the mechanics of Paranoia have changed a lot since 1e, but it's almost entirely invisible to the players, so you might still count it.

 

[jmucchiello]

Champions. It actually hasn't changed that much since 1981 - a massive flaw from my perspective.

Combat in Champions/HERO has remained relatively unchanged since 1981. Character generation in 6th ed is different enough from Champions I (and even 4th ed) to be incompatible. 6th ed removed figured characteristics, a major source of annoyance throughout Champions' published history.

 

[jmucchiello]

Aftermath!, Bushido, Space Opera, Villains and Vigilantes, Privateers and Gentleman, Psi World, Merc, and my personal favorite, Flashing Blades are all still in print and available directly from Fantasy Games Unlimited.

It's too bad that list doesn't include Bunnies and Burrows. That would be a 1976 game still in print.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Hmm... can we also count Star Wars (1987 by WEG, in print until a few months ago by Wotc).

Most radical mechanics change of any RPG mentioned so far, with the points of commonality essentially being the universe stuff, including the stuff that the EU took from the game. (The Control/Sense/Alter division of the Force? WEG started it, but the EU embraced it.)

Combat in Champions/HERO has remained relatively unchanged since 1981. Character generation in 6th ed is different enough from Champions I (and even 4th ed) to be incompatible. 6th ed removed figured characteristics, a major source of annoyance throughout Champions' published history.

I'd note that all the characters are generally still useable as NPCs, at least; it's the point costs that have changed (along with the Comeliness stat and how some Powers and Talents work).

HERO's relationship between its editions is, IMO, generally analagous to the OD&D/BX/BEMCI/1E/2E versions of D&D--details differ, but the underlying core is fundamentally the same.

 

[pawsplay]

Talislanta (still no elves)

Star Wars lives on, not in the Wizards version which is not only a completely different game but soon to be out of print, but in the D6 system by West End Games.