Search results

The original 1974 version of D&D contains plenty of rules without explaining how they're supposed to be used.

The difference between Underground and other "cyberpunk" rpgs of the era isn't so much the world-setting itself as the game's assumed attitude towards that setting, and the way that attitude affects the assumed direction of play. In most CP games the dystopian setting is accepted as a given...

I had this game back when it first came out (1993?). Very high-concept, very dark, surprisingly political. IIRC it used the same core system as Mayfair's DC Heroes game, which I didn't think was a very good fit with the feel of the game (yeah, technically it was a "superhero" game, but of a much...

You're correct that there are a bunch of spells in 1E that feel more appropriate as plot devices, offstage activities, or for NPCs rather than PCs -- ritual spells with long casting times and elaborate components, "process" spells (identify, enchant an item, find familiar, etc.), and so on. I...

I like the satire and parody in Hackmaster -- the stuff that takes elements of 1E AD&D and cranks them up to 11 -- Gygax's ostentatious language and authoritarian tone, the baroque and occasionally mutually contradictory rules, the gratuitous sex and violence, the kitchen-sink deliberately...

It's also perhaps worth pointing out that Chaosium has managed to remain both in business (if sometimes just barely) and under the same management, something that can't be said about many (any?) of the other game publishers from the 70s.

Back in the 80s we used purchased modules approximately 2/3 of the time but, significantly, even our home-brewed adventures slavishly followed the TSR module format -- they'd have about the same size of maps and number of encounters, the same types of challenges, the same sorts of backstories...

Giant frogs, giant lizards, and dinosaurs are all specifically capable of swallowing characters whole, so it's not unreasonable for players to surmise they might have swallowed something interesting in the past that might still be there if they gut it (after all, if it swallows one of the...

Wow, $5 apiece? Maybe I should buy some more Hackmaster books (currently have only the PH, the B1 and B2 remakes, and Sir Robilar's City of Brass -- the PH was a very fun read (but didn't make me want to actually play the game), all of the others failed to impress)...

TSR seemed to have a good model c. 1978-82: each year they would release 1 AD&D hardback, 1-2 AD&D accessories (DM Screen, character sheet packs, Monster Cards, etc.), 4-6 AD&D adventure modules (~32pp each, usually with a couple new monsters, spells, or magic items), 1 Basic D&D introductory...

Hmm, we (meaning my old game group, not speaking of myself as a royal personage) played Mekton for a bit back in the 90s (I had a copy of Mekton II, but Mekton Zeta was the version we played) and had a great deal of fun with it. After Cyberpunk had begun to feel too dated and cheesy we got our...

This looks like it may have been drawn by J.D. Webster (who did the "Fineous Fingers" comic in early issues of The Dragon). I don't remember ever seeing this one specifically in a comic-book back then (I wasn't a big comics-reader) but I do remember seeing at least 2 of the others posted in the...

They don't necessarily fit your criteria, but pretty much the only rpgs I'd have any interest in playing nowadays are: Prince Valiant Storytelling Game Classic Traveller Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974 edition) Nothing else holds much appeal for me anymore, including longtime favorites...

It's nice that WotC posted this tribute to Tom on their site (does anyone know if they did anything similar for David Sutherland when he passed away a couple years ago?). It's a little curious, though, that there's no mention of what most here would surely agree was his most significant and...

Tim Kask (first editor of The Dragon) at Dragonsfoot (username kaskoid):

Hi Gary, There are a handful of references in your later-era AD&D writing to space travel -- in the description of Celestian in the WoG, in some notes in Dragon articles, and perhaps a reference or two in spell or item descriptions in UA -- that were never developed and I'm curious what you...

However, despite D&D dominating the field of PnP rpgs to the point of essentially rendering all other publishers irrelevant, that still isn't enough to even register as a blip on Hasbro's corporate radar. Hasbro/WotC upper management could easily have determined that there's more money to be...

If D&D the pen & paper rpg disappeared and the brand was represented in the marketplace only by the MMORPG, CRPGs, DDM, and perhaps a mass-market boardgame version of DDM (something along the lines of TSR's old Dungeon! boardgame, or a simpler version of FFG's Descent) to be sold at Target and...

The d20 System Trademark License would seem to be the biggie.

Hmm, that Pen&Paper bibliography is seriously incomplete, obviously-at-a-glance missing at least The Lost City, Castle Amber (Chateau d'Ambreville), and his co-write/re-write on Palace of the Silver Princess, not to mention the 1981 D&D Basic Set itself. Does anyone have a more complete listing?