Buck Rogers XXVc wasn't that bad a game.

[M.L. Martin]

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.

The comics modules were released in 1990; the core game boxed set was slated for a August 1991 release (probably as a big GenCon product) with a tie-in card game ("The Battle for Smithville") in September and a supplement in November. Design was to be done by James Ward, Scott Haring, and Paul Lidberg.

The core box blurb: "The best of modern-day horror. Nobody's safe. The undead disregard today's best high-tech security and surveillance systems. These demons attack helpless victims as they sleep--their electronic fences and computers buzz through the night. This horror and much, much more fill the R.I.P. roleplaying game. This all-new game awaits horror fans with three rules booklets, full-color cards, dice and maps that spin a tale in modern-day terror."

I have a pretty good collection of TSR catalogs from the 90s; this is one of the biggest items to go missing before the Great Purges of 1998/1999, when WotC killed the Birthright relaunch, numerous Marvel SAGA products, several Alternity items, and perhaps other items on deck for release.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Here is a rather incomplete conversion of Buck Rogers. The talented eye will see where I ripped off Alternity, Amazing Engine, Star Wars, and Pulp Heroes to put it all together. I never finished changing the flavor text for the Scientist.

 

[Biggyniner]

Here is a rather incomplete conversion of Buck Rogers. The talented eye will see where I ripped off Alternity, Amazing Engine, Star Wars, and Pulp Heroes to put it all together. I never finished changing the flavor text for the Scientist.

Interesting... I just got this game and all of its associated content off of Ebay and Amazon. I think I will learn it as intended before attempting to update/convert it.

 

[delericho]

I have to agree with this assessment. Williams made a lot of bad business decisions, as did her predecessors, but BR XXVc was not the cause of the demise of Star Frontiers, nerd rage aside.

Of course, just because nerd rage was unfounded didn't mean it wasn't a factor in sales.

 

[Janx]

XXVc's quality is NOT dependent on its success.

That is completely fallacious thinking.

I can agree with your logic and I've never seen the Buck rogers RPG.

It is entirely plausible that the rules were just fine, and the product failed because it was called "Buck Rogers"

We know from the history that the product was really a play to make money off a dead IP that Lorraine Williams' family owned.

That doesn't mean the game designer didn't do a good job.

Failure in the marketplace can easily be tied to lack of interest in "Buck Rogers"

Because I'm so totally into getting me some Buck Rogers.

 

[Sound of Azure]

My 11-year old, space-obsessed self really enjoyed the old SSI games. I've been considering converting the setting, but I haven't decided whether to go rules-heavy (either Ultramodern or using EN publishing's Santiago 4e rules), or rules light (Adventures on Dungeon Planet, a Dungeon World Hack).