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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7702731" data-attributes="member: 3285">In the previous installment we learned how <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3545-Flying-Buffalo-s-Legacy-Part-1-Play-by-Mail#.WAywMiSaAti" target="_blank">Flying Buffalo became a thriving business</a>, but the play-by-mail industry the company  helped create wasn't its only innovation. Founder Rick Loomis knew he was on to something when game developer Ken St. Andre's D&D-inspired Tunnels & Trolls role-playing game sold out at Origins in 1975. That was just the beginning. Tunnels & Trolls was the second fantasy role-playing game ever created, largely as a response to perceived flaws in in Dungeons & Dragons. [ATTACH=full]113557[/ATTACH]<h3>D&D: "Nearly Incomprehensible"</h3>on Peterson retells St. Andre's reaction to Dungeons & Dragons in <a href="http://amzn.to/2dyN04f" target="_blank">Playing at the World</a>:In response, St. Andre set out to address all these issues, and by doing so introduced several innovations into the role-playing game mainstream.   <a href="http://www.tunnelsandtrolls.com/the-origins-of-tunnels-and-trolls-by-ken-st-andre-july-1997/" target="_blank">He was in good company</a>. St. Andrew explains in his own words:Armed with his new version of D&D, St. Andre went to the Arizona State University print shop and had 100 copies made for $60.St. Andrew still had copies left over, so he gave them to Rick Loomis to sell:<h3>Trolling the Game</h3>In Tunnels & Trolls, a character's Constitution acts as hit points, with attributes increasing as the character advances in level (and thus allowing hit points to increase with Constitution). Combat involved damage inflicted rather than attacks rolled; armor absorbed hits rather than avoided taking damage like in D&D.  Peterson explains the trade-offs:Additionally, Tunnels & Trolls rejected the Vancian school of magical memorization endemic to Dungeons & Dragons.  The system used spell points derived from the Strength of the magic-user, with each spell gradually depleting the magic-user's spell points with use, reduced by the caster's level.  The spells also reflected Tunnels & Trolls' whimsy.  The game never took itself too seriously:Monsters had no statistics, embracing the old school belief that it was on Dungeon Masters to make their own content:<h3>The Original Fantasy Heartbreaker?</h3>There were other innovations that made St. Andre's marketing savvy prescient of issues that would crop up later with other D&D "<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/9/" target="_blank">fantasy heartbreakers</a>":Flying Buffalo's tactics did not go unnoticed.  TSR served them with a cease and desist, which led to Flying Buffalo removing all reference to "Dungeons & Dragons" from its Tunnels & Trolls advertising. To get around this change but still convey the game's fantasy roots, the phrase "fantasy role-playing game" came into common usage:In addition to being the second tabletop game that launched damage reduction armor, spell points, and a great deal of humor into the industry, Flying Buffalo created its own genre.The rapid of development and distribution of Tunnels & Trolls, hot on the heels of Dungeons & Dragons, meant Flying Buffalo and St. Andre could react quickly to the needs of their customers.  And one of those needs was the ability to play the game without other players.  We'll discuss the launch of the solo gamebook in the next installment.</blockquote>

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