Poll: What TSR RPG Should Be Revivified by Wizards?

dragoner · Mar 12, 2020

One could use AC & HP in a game, because they are quick and sleazy mechanics that everyone groks; same as I would always keep polyhedral dice. I think though the difference is more along the lines of fantasy vs modern or sf, because the switch over is to guns, melee is minor. Modern and sf power levels can grow realistically huge, when one starts thinking about nuclear missiles or lasers that can destroy spacecraft.

Looking again at the 2e of Alternity, looks like it is dead, and istr what I found flipping through it at gencon was no spacecraft rules, and it was gun pornish, space murder hobo/dungeon crawl ... system perfect for bringing cinematic action scenes to life. Not terribly exciting. It seems a lot of sfrpg's goes for trying to be a low rent star wars, except there is already a star wars rpg out there. Star Drive and Dark Matter were pretty cool settings which I don't know that 2e is doing.

atanakar · Mar 12, 2020

dragoner said:
One could use AC & HP in a game, because they are quick and sleazy mechanics that everyone groks; same as I would always keep polyhedral dice. I think though the difference is more along the lines of fantasy vs modern or sf, because the switch over is to guns, melee is minor. Modern and sf power levels can grow realistically huge, when one starts thinking about nuclear missiles or lasers that can destroy spacecraft.

Looking again at the 2e of Alternity, looks like it is dead, and istr what I found flipping through it at gencon was no spacecraft rules, and it was gun pornish, space murder hobo/dungeon crawl ... system perfect for bringing cinematic action scenes to life. Not terribly exciting. It seems a lot of sfrpg's goes for trying to be a low rent star wars, except there is already a star wars rpg out there. Star Drive and Dark Matter were pretty cool settings which I don't know that 2e is doing.

They can't do Star Drive and Dark Matter because those are intellectual property. Sasquatch only managed to grab the Alternity name because WoTC didn't renew the ownership. They do have their own setting book for Alternity 2e but I have no idea if its any good.

dragoner · Mar 12, 2020

atanakar said:
They can't do Star Drive and Dark Matter because those are intellectual property. Sasquatch only managed to grab the Alternity name because WoTC didn't renew the ownership. They do have their own setting book for Alternity 2e but I have no idea if its any good.

No spacecraft or space combat from what I saw on dtrpg, I think they have moved on to a Dnd setting. There were solid looking things about 2e, though as a sf gamer, I can also see why it failed.

JeffB · Mar 12, 2020

I completely lost interest in the new Alternity by Sasquatch when they stated it would not use the Dice system from the original. That was the best bit! I never bothered to look at it after that.

SpellJammer16 · Mar 12, 2020

Boot Hill. Could use some more rules for stuff to use in 1897 (Dracula).

Man in the Funny Hat · Mar 12, 2020

Boot Hill because westerns are still a popular genre for TV/movies and they're missing out by not trying to be a player if not the 800# gorilla.

Gamma World because I've got a hankering for a really epic post-apoc game with miniatures and terrain and all, but the Fallout rpg may not do the trick.

MSH/FASERIP because I always enjoyed the hell out of it, though I always preferred it for our own new characters and settings (despite lacking better rules in that department) rather than assuming Marvel characters and settings.

aramis erak · Mar 12, 2020

atanakar said:
They have not mentioned d20 or Marvel. IIRC they also said in a press release about a future science-fiction video game, that any new RPG would not be with old IPs. We may dream of Gamma World, Alternity and Star Frontiers but we won't get them.

There is a new edition of Alternity. Either sold or durably licensed. Already out (2019).

dragoner · Mar 12, 2020

JeffB said:
I completely lost interest in the new Alternity by Sasquatch when they stated it would not use the Dice system from the original. That was the best bit! I never bothered to look at it after that.

I started an sfrpg group on facebook 4 years ago, it is now up to 2500 members, I usually get info on what games are getting traction, last alternity post was a while ago, like a year ago. Doing a search I see I made a post linking back to en world with news of the new edition back in 2016.