Buck Rogers XXVc wasn't that bad a game.


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I'm one who bought, played, and enjoyed Buck Roger XXVc. However, my memory is not all that great. I think I had just gotten out of the army when I started playing it.

Like many things, the game for me now is more a feeling than a gaming experience. I played the game during a rather happy time in my life; therefore, the discussion of the game brings back pleasant memories despite the merits of the game itself.

I know I liked the game even though I can remember very little about it. Perhaps I'm just getting too darn old. :hmm:
 


Dragon Magazine vol. 99 page 76 "Psybots and Battle Mechs" by Michael Breault.

I was gonna say an old issue of Dragon when they had the Ares section, but you beat me to it. The only thing I remember is that it was eventually said instead of a stand-alone game it would be an expansion to Star Frontiers. There's no connection to anything NIPI did--I was just wondering if any of those rules showed up in Gamma World or elsewhere.

TSR had planned games that never saw the light of day. The biggest I remember was R.I.P., a game I guess in the spirit of Chill, which was going to be released in the very early 1990s (it could have been 1990-1992). I specifically remember a retailers catalog a friend gave to me, and that being solicited. It never showed up, the only evidence of any plans for that game was the short lived comic book.

I also remember that Vince Garcia wrote an adventure for a very early issue of Dungeon magazine that featured I guess spell previews for what was supposed to be an RPGA expansion that would have had a witch class, for instance. Instead, I think those rules ended up in his Quest Of the Ancients game he independently published.
 

And it didn't hurt that the two SSI goldbox computer games were both really good too. Much better than the D&D ones...
:)

Oh man, i forgot about that, you're right. That Buck Rogers game was absolutely amazing. I only played one of them, but it was fun as hell. What were the full titles?
 


I'm a big fan of the XXVc setting, and I've often toyed with the idea of rebuilding the system into d20/d20 Modern.
In fact, a few years back, I played in an online version of it that was a very simplistic d20 refit. (I believe I still have the quickie PDF that the GM made, if anyone's interested PM me. Be warned though, it's all text and not very well "molded" into the setting.)
Beyond that, let me say the setting is what REALLY shines in this RPG. I think the attachment of Buck Rogers and his cast to the RPG is what really killed it. Too many members of my gaming group had negative feelings toward the Gil Gerard TV series to want to play XXVc.
But the setting? Rocketships, Genies, terraforming, mass-driver guns, mobile cities, space elevators, energy barons, pirates, secret mining operations -- man, that was some good stuff! Lots to exploit as a GM.
 

I was gonna say an old issue of Dragon when they had the Ares section, but you beat me to it. The only thing I remember is that it was eventually said instead of a stand-alone game it would be an expansion to Star Frontiers. There's no connection to anything NIPI did--I was just wondering if any of those rules showed up in Gamma World or elsewhere.

a) The DragonDex - A complete index to Dragon Magazine
b) Dragon Magazine Archive
c) 10+ years working in various academic libraries
 

The one I played (in a Sega Genesis version) was Countdown to Doomsday

Need to google about the other...

Matrix Cubed was the other.

I remember having a lot of fun with Countdown. Played like the D&D goldbox games, except sci-fi with a skill system. I guess part of why I was so accepting of Star Wars coming out using basically the same rules as D&D was because I'd already seen (earlier) D&D rules work for sci-fi/space opera. (I also took the abandoned ship plot from Countdown and used it in one of my SW games)
 

The one I played (in a Sega Genesis version) was Countdown to Doomsday

Need to google about the other...

Yep, that's it, Countdown to Doomsday on the Sega. I'll have to google that too and remind myself why that game was so damn fun. I can't even remember now why i loved it. It must have had just wonderful tactical strategy.
 

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