Rebellion Acquires Tunnels & Trolls

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.

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. 

 

[The Soloist]

Not sure how you missed them. They were best sellers in the 1980s and have been cited by a lot of designers over the years as being influential in the creation of popular city settings.

I'm in Quebec Canada, maybe local stores decided not to take a chance on them. We did have Roll Aids, Grim Tooths and other non-TSR stuff but no City Books comes to mind.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I'm in Quebec Canada, maybe local stores decided not to take a chance on them. We did have Roll Aids, Grim Tooths and other non-TSR stuff but no City Books comes to mind.

Their distribution was spotty in the US as well. OTOH, when I did see them, they were usually alongside Grimtooth books, which were also part of the system-agnostic Catalyst series. They were critically acclaimed and got consistently solid reviews in the gaming mags of the early-to-mid 80s, which were the closest thing to modern internet review sites we had back then.

True, but it has even less name recognition than T&T, Grimtooth's or Citybook. I only vaguely remember it, and I was an engaged player in DM during its heyday.

Oh, I don't think Lejentia would actually sell much these days. Like you said, they were obscure even back then so there's little nostalgia to call on, and while it was a pretty neat setting (I'm particularly fond of the legions of Hell calling in their spacefaring alien Bug allies for aid) it's no Ultraviolet Grasslands when it comes to originality. Just a pipe dream to expect a revival - but stranger things have happened.

 

[aramis erak]

When I saw the ads in the early 80s Dragon Magazines, because of the name Tunnels & Trolls, I always thought it was a parody game. How dare they mock D&D, the game we loved so much. We were all far too serious.

Given the setting tropes in the solos, yes, it very much did (eventually) parody D&D... but note that until they committed it to sales, they'd just called it D&D. Once they decided to sell copies, they realized they needed a new name, and Tunnels and Trolls was the best of their candidates. Keep in mind that it was named in early 1975... at least per commentaries by Ken St. Andre & Liz Danforth.

And, by the time they were advertizing it, it was already parodying the tropes in those solo modules... But it's outgrown that period... The game itself was, and until the Rebellion version releases, will always have been, capable of both serious and silly play...

I tend to use it for slightly silly play.

 

[aramis erak]

These?

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

Never heard of them in 44 years, and I've been around a lot of RPG old-school forums. Seems very niche.

Yep. them's the ones.

Note that they're actually more aimed at D&D than at T&T.

 

[aramis erak]

D&D was the second commercially published RPG. Its design was intended to be sleek and easy to understand, and to avoid redundancy. For example, why have Constitution and Hit Points? In T&T, you Constitution is your hit points.

D&D was first, EPT was second, Met. Alpha and T&T essentially tie for third, as Boot Hill wasn't an RPG until a later edition...
Ken's even mentioned that EPT beat him to the punch. Moreover, Ken also released Starfaring the same year.

T&T has no Saving Throws distinct from your attributes. You use attributes checks for that. Though, to be fair, that wasn't made explicit until edition 5.5. Before that, most Saving Rolls (as T&T attribute checks are called) were made on a character's Luck attribute.

5.0, actually, not 5.5

One feature of combat not mentioned in the above sequences is the Saving Roll. This can be called for at any time , post: 9434086, member: 6980080"]
Tunnels & Trolls is often derided as a copy of D&D (it's not, it has explicitly different design goals), or a badly designed game (it's not, but it does require a proactive GM to balance encounters).

It's the the earliest non-D&D game to go directly after the Dungeon Fantasy fanspace. DF, as a genre, was essentially absent until D&D, and other games didn't start trying to do it until around 1980...
with the exception of a few very local games that read as wargames (way more so than D&D) and which have only come to any public notice since the turn of the century.
EPT wasn't aimed at DF; RQ got used for DF type play, but that wasn't

T&T innovated a lot.

Not too much. It stuck with a lot of D&D-isms. The 6 stats, the 3d6 for each of them... 3 classes at outset (D&D's were Fighting Man, Cleric, and Magic User), mutliple uses of "level"... (Spell Level, Character Level, Dungeon Level, Saving Roll Level)...
The novelty of the doubles roll over, and the combat mechanics, yeah, very avant garde.
The move to only d6's? Frank Chadwick made it about the same time, in En Garde!, which is now from Margam-Evans...
The biggest novelties come in later... the stunting, the playable berserking rules, the use of all attributes for saves, not just Lk, the TARO for attributes... Deluxe is as innovative as any other edition of T&T - part of a constant series of "Where is Ken leading?" and then fans arguing about its value...

were disappointed to learn that it's currently out of print.

1st, 4th, 5th, and Deluxe are all available in PDF at DTRPG. 5.5 isn't.
Further, Monsters! Monsters! is the same core mechanics, and still available. In the purchases, Ken never gave up his rights to M!M!, so it's still in print. They may even have a few left in dead tree. It's also available on DTRPG in PDF.
Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes is a derivative of T&T 5e... and still up for purchase in PDF.

T&T is best known for its solo adventures, which is a shame.

Why? The solos kept the core rules relevant and thus the cores selling despite up to 15 years in print for 5.0... if they hadn't been known, the game likely would have disappeared entirely... the stream of solos kept FB Inc in the T&T business.

Spellcasting is powered by Strength, as in it's an expendable, and renewable, resource. We, in older editions. later editions added a separate stat for spells (which I personally don't like).

Many fans of T&T never liked that.
Solutions from the early internet period:

1. Some like it.
2. Some grumbled but used it as it was written
3. Some switched to Luck
4. A few switched to Constitution
5. Many created a Power/Wizardry stat specifically for powering spells.
6. Some used a split; if the kindred's ST multiplier was under ×1, they powered off of luck; if ×1 or better ST, they used ST. I've used this, it's amusing, and it makes Fairies downright DANGEROUS; Leprechauns go several shades of potent.

I'd say it's probably the most divisive issue besides ≤ 5.5 vs ≥ 7.0; that latter issue is big as that's where the advancement changed from AP (Advancement Points) get you character level, which gives more attribute points to AP buy new levels of attributes, and sufficiently high attributes add character levels.

The T&T rules have remained largely compatible across its numerous editions, and the latest official edition (Deluxe, released in 2015) can run 1st edition adventures and vice-versa, with minimal conversion. I think this speaks to the quality of T&T's design.

The stuff for earlier adventures assumes lower damage by MR, lower PC weapon damages, and no spite.
stuff for 5e (which is most of what's there) assumes the higher damage by weapon, and a different curve of MR.
Stuff for 7th assumes higher attributes by character level.
¹: these appear to be math errors, I thing they're supposed to be 76-90 and 91-110

2. 5th edition is the fan favorite (and mine), and pobaby the "purest" T&T experience you can have.

From where I sit, it looks like Deluxe has more fans than 5th, even on sites run by OSR guys, but not by a huge ratio. Ken prefers Deluxe, too. But hard numbers on total T&T sales to 4th ed are probably non-extant, due to the various licenses (GW, Corgi, Hobby Japan, some Italian company, some french company) and the liquidation of Flying Buffalo probably including old sales records.

Note that some statements made at GenCon 2024 (as quoth by folk at the Trollbridge forum) imply a radical change in combat in Rebellion's forthcoming, to a count successes model instead of a roll and total model for combat.

Ken retains the original T&T engine (with minor changes) for use in M!M!; Rebellion has left (at least for now) 1st, 4th, 5.0, and Deluxe up on DTRPG; I wish 5.5 would be uploaded, or at least the addenda. 7.0 and 7.5 are still in the files at DTRPG, but not available for purchase.

For those who've not played it, it's worthwhile to try as a change of pace, if not a good D&D replacement.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Some switched to Luck

Especially after reading the Liavek shared world stories. They aren't T&T by any means, but their rules for magic are a very strong example of luck as the "fuel" for magic, both trained and untrained.

Wish we'd gotten more of that series. Still stands out in the crowd of similar projects - Thieves' World, Wild Cards, Merovingian Nights, etc. - even today.

 

[Zaroden]

Just getting into TTRPGs.

Why should I care?

(Not meant to be rude, just want someone to give me the SitRep on the significance of what's happening here in case I am missing something beyond the game's historical value.)

 

[Some Dude]

D&D was first, EPT was second, Met. Alpha and T&T essentially tie for third, as Boot Hill wasn't an RPG until a later edition...
Ken's even mentioned that EPT beat him to the punch. Moreover, Ken also released Starfaring the same year.

You did see that I said commercially published, right? EPT was released commercially after T&T was.

5.0, actually, not 5.5

You are correct, and I was mistaken about this.

Not too much. It stuck with a lot of D&D-isms. The 6 stats, the 3d6 for each of them... 3 classes at outset (D&D's were Fighting Man, Cleric, and Magic User), mutliple uses of "level"... (Spell Level, Character Level, Dungeon Level, Saving Roll Level)...
The novelty of the doubles roll over, and the combat mechanics, yeah, very avant garde.
The move to only d6's? Frank Chadwick made it about the same time, in En Garde!, which is now from Margam-Evans...
The biggest novelties come in later... the stunting, the playable berserking rules, the use of all attributes for saves, not just Lk, the TARO for attributes... Deluxe is as innovative as any other edition of T&T - part of a constant series of "Where is Ken leading?" and then fans arguing about its value...

While T&T contains some "D&D-isms," it undeniably has several innovations, such as:

-Simultaneous Combat
-A "Spell Point" system
-Attribute checks (even if it was only Luck at first), and, similarly, Attributes that are directly referenced in play
-Attribute increase as part of leveling
-Armor as Damage reduction
-"To hit" and "Damage" combined into a single roll

I wouldn't say that's "not much," especially as most of those have become commonplace in modern RPG design.

I didn't say, or imply, that the use of D6 was an innovation. The use of polyhedrals was. D6 had been used in all dice-using games before D&D. Though the use of D20 to simulate a percentile roll in increments of 5% had been discussed - but not implemented - prior to that in wargaming circles.

1st, 4th, 5th, and Deluxe are all available in PDF at DTRPG. 5.5 isn't.
Further, Monsters! Monsters! is the same core mechanics, and still available. In the purchases, Ken never gave up his rights to M!M!, so it's still in print. They may even have a few left in dead tree. It's also available on DTRPG in PDF.
Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes is a derivative of T&T 5e... and still up for purchase in PDF.

I know, but I specifically said in print. And since 5.0 was what I played with that group, yeah, it's out of print. Sure, you can get it electronically, but, like me, these kids like physical books.

I think Webbed Sphere still has some new copies of MSPE for sale, so that one is arguably in print.

And I know about Monsters! Monsters! And LotLE, but again, I was specifically referencing 5.0.

Why? The solos kept the core rules relevant and thus the cores selling despite up to 15 years in print for 5.0... if they hadn't been known, the game likely would have disappeared entirely... the stream of solos kept FB Inc in the T&T business.

I answered this in the post you quoted:

"GM-led games of T&T do have some nuance, especially in combat, that the solos lack."

The stuff for earlier adventures assumes lower damage by MR, lower PC weapon damages, and no spite.
stuff for 5e (which is most of what's there) assumes the higher damage by weapon, and a different curve of MR.
Stuff for 7th assumes higher attributes by character level.
¹: these appear to be math errors, I thing they're supposed to be 76-90 and 91-110

I said all editions are "largely compatible," not "directly compatible." I have yet to run across an older product that couldn't be converted on the fly, and vice-versa. Heck, some of the "Deluxe" versions of the older modules are straight reprints, still reflecting the mechanics of older editions!

From where I sit, it looks like Deluxe has more fans than 5th, even on sites run by OSR guys, but not by a huge ratio. Ken prefers Deluxe, too. But hard numbers on total T&T sales to 4th ed are probably non-extant, due to the various licenses (GW, Corgi, Hobby Japan, some Italian company, some french company) and the liquidation of Flying Buffalo probably including old sales records.

Ken has also said, in the days since Deluxe was published, that 7.5 is his favorite edition, because he had complete authorship and control over it.

I personally think the best editions of T&T are those with heavy input from Elizabeth Danforth, but that's just me. That is no way intended as a slight against Ken, Steve, Bear, or anyone else. Just my $0.02.

Though the Monster Special Attacks from 7/7.5 (and used in LotLE and the current edition of M!M!) are now a staple of my games.

I hope this response doesn't seem too prickly, but I honestly can't tell if you're being helpful or pedantic. Of course, it's just as likely that I'm the @$$hole here, wouldn't be the first time.

 

[The Soloist]

Which editions would that be?

 

[Some Dude]

Which editions would that be?

5th and Deluxe.