Tell me about "Any RPG" from before 1990!

[Knightfall]

Question: Which of the best version/edition of Call of Cthulhu?

I was at a FLGS today called WARP 2. They had tons of old CoC books but I didn't know where to start. (FYI... I don't remember seeing any boxed sets or hardcovers.) This is the one book that jumped out at me...

Kingsport: The City in the Mists​

Also, which are the best CoC books regardless of edition?

Note that WARP 2 doesn't sell used books. Thus, the game books they are selling have never been used. Also, almost none of the books in the store are shrinkwrapped, even if they were originally. It makes browsing easy.

Also, they have old Traveller books not to mention the new reprints. This was the main Traveller book that stood out because it was a hardcover...

Milieu 0 (Campaign)​

It looked like it had been handled quite a bit but seemed in decent shape, regardless. And for half-price, who knows. If people like it then I might get it. I'm assuming I can use it or any of the old Traveller books with black cover reprints, correct?

 

[Knightfall]

The store also has a shelf that has old Battletech and Shadowrun books on one section. However, I don't think there were any boxed sets or any hardcovers.

The store also had a copy of CoC d20: Nocturnum. Do I need the main CoC d20 book in order to use that one?

 

[Plane Sailing]

My favourite pre-1990 game system is without any doubt Runequest 2. Brilliant and wonderful, I'd play it again in a flash. I did a sci-fi version, a dark sun version, an empire of the petal throne version back in the day, and I've recently worked up an Eberron version.

Still probably my favourite game system of all time.

My most successful and entertaining campaign ever was Space Opera. For some reason it was a complete blast (despite the rules being all over the place!) and my gaming group grew by word of mouth from 6 to 14 people(!!) during its duration. Loadsafun.

Dabbled in a range of early superhero RPGS (Superhero 2044, Villains and Vigilantes, Champions - the latter being far and away the best of the bunch at the time). Played a little bit of Tunnels and Trolls and Starships and Spacemen, but didn't really like them. Made up a number of characters for Chivalry and Sorcery, but never really ran a campaign for that either.

Empire of the Petal Throne is a great setting. My favourite published rules set for it is the first edition. Curiously MA Barker wrote increasingly complex rules systems for later editions, while admitting that his own campaigns are much more 'seat of the pants' stuff. Later versions had additional interesting setting detail, but I didn't like the mechanics. RQ2 actually fitted particularly well, substituting Chlen-hide for bronze, psychic magic for battlemagic and ritual magic for Runemagic (quite a bit of work had to be done making up battlemagic and runemagic for the more oomph spells though!)

Cheers

 

[Katemare]

I wasn't a roleplayer back in 1990 (I was 5, that is), but I have a favorite pre-1990 title: Justifiers RPG. I haven't played it yet (got to have an old-school group for that), but it captivated me with a unique cyberpunk-in-space setting.

Both the rules and the world are harsh: they combine planning, survival, exploration and combat. The PCs are a tactical mission squad beamed to other planets to prepare them for exploitation (other missions are viable, too). You don't get any support and can't return until you build a basic station. In the end, you fill a report form and receive credits, equipment and/or rank according to a goal/drawbacks checklist. With credits, you can buy out your freefom from the corporation.

There is a large selection of races (and no unmodified humans except for death-sentenced criminals). Most races are arficial human-animal hybrids, but there are also mutants, augmented humans and aliens. Role-playing opportunities are fascinating.

 

[dougmander]

Space: 1889, by Frank Chadwick, 1988 (GDW). Victorian adventurers, scientists, and soldiers explore and conquer the inner solar system. Great background info on the Victorian Age, steampunk inventions, a fun alternate history that blends real-world events and personages with fantasy. Venus is like the early earth, hot and swampy. Mars is the classic dying planet with canals and an advanced civilization. The European powers are sharpening their knives to carve up these extraplanetary riches, but not if the Martians have any say in the matter! The system itself is a bit dodgy, especially regarding combat, but we never cared much.

 

[Ariosto]

For Call of Cthulhu, I reckon the "best" edition is simply whatever is most convenient for you to acquire. This is a case in which "edition" means just what it means in the wide world of books beyond D&D. I would not mind at all if six players were using six different editions. The differences in rules are trivially negotiable, if not negligible. Without explicit call-outs in the text itself, one might not even notice them.

 

[Ariosto]

Well, D20 CoC is something else. Not bad if you prefer D20, just different.

Marc Miller's Traveller (AKA T4) was in my opinion (which seems to be widely shared) a horrible mess. The errata alone make it something from which I would especially steer a newcomer.

The Far Future Enterprises reprints of the original (AKA Classic Traveller) line are quite a bargain! The double-wide format is not so handy, I think, but Books 0-8 is plenty to get you started. Supplements 1-13 would be my recommended second purchase, but either the Adventures or the Double Adventures would also be good. FFE also offers a CD with PDFs of the whole line, I think.

Mongoose Traveller looks pretty good as well, certainly better (from similar perspectives) than the new RuneQuest. Classic is still my favorite, although I have also enjoyed MegaTraveller and The New Era -- and I think hands down the most economical option.

 

[Ariosto]

At first, I was nonplussed by the Space: 1889 background of interplanetary colonialism and "steampunk" (still a dubious coinage to me), being at the time more interested in Victorian SF in which space travel and advanced technology were the province of but a few extraordinary characters (i.e., the PCs and their nemeses).

However, I came to find it quite delightful (including the game systems). After my GDW rule book succumbed to water damage, I was pleased to find that Heliograph offered a softbound reprint. The black and white interior does not quite do the maps justice, though. There are (or were) reprints of supplements as well.

Paranoia was a blast! I fondly remember Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues. It calls for players able to get into the spirit of the thing, though. Those who take too personally getting vaporized, for instance, might not find it suitable.

I've seen a new edition (Mongoose again, I think), but don't know how it compares with others.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Space: 1889, by Frank Chadwick, 1988 (GDW). Victorian adventurers, scientists, and soldiers explore and conquer the inner solar system. Great background info on the Victorian Age, steampunk inventions, a fun alternate history that blends real-world events and personages with fantasy. Venus is like the early earth, hot and swampy. Mars is the classic dying planet with canals and an advanced civilization. The European powers are sharpening their knives to carve up these extraplanetary riches, but not if the Martians have any say in the matter! The system itself is a bit dodgy, especially regarding combat, but we never cared much.

I love Space: 1889! I have several copies of the main book, a complete set of the supplements, and the boardgame to boot!

I didn't mention it since I didn't discover it until 1990 or so...and because of circumstances, I used it as the basis for a HERO campaign.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Question: Which of the best version/edition of Call of Cthulhu?

I was at a FLGS today called WARP 2. They had tons of old CoC books but I didn't know where to start. (FYI... I don't remember seeing any boxed sets or hardcovers.) This is the one book that jumped out at me...

Also, which are the best CoC books regardless of edition?

The rules are pretty much the same regardless of the edition. What's different is the focus of the main book: several editions just focus on the 1920s, other include material for the Victorian era, modern horror and/or the Dreamlands setting.

The Kingsport-book you've seen is one of the region books, which all contain plenty of background materials plus a slew of adventures. Kingsport is a bit of an exception in that this City plays a peculiar role in Lovecraft's mythos. The other books covering Arkham Valley or Innsmouth feel more Lovecraftian to me.

Chaosium has published a whole range of scenarios and campaigns for the game. Most of it are ok, but some are a very special treat: Masks of Nyarlathotep is an absolute classic, on par with The Enemy Within from 1st edition WFRP, Beyond the Mountains of Madness is nothing short of monumentous.

Many of those campaigns have ben gone through serveral editions; my knowledge is based on the 1990s stuff. The old ones are not as polished or well-executed as modern campaigns; you should expect to improvise a lot and navigate through holes in the story.

Another point to keep in mind is that a long campaign in CoC is a contraditcion in and of itself. The characters won't survive the campaign. Tell your players to prepare and update backup-characters fitting to the specific locale the action takes place in. It's quite hilarious to have a professional golf player traipsing around the Sahara. It might be better to start with an unconnected scenraio or two before embarking on a grand journey.

Oh, and you have read your Lovecraft, dind't you?

One old-style game missing here is Pendragon, also from Chaosium. You play a knight at the time of King Arthur. While being based on the BRP-mechanics, Pendragon takes a stab at story-telling. You character has social attributes which may actually hinder him. My memory is a bit hazy - must have been some 20 years ago - but in its time Pendragon has been a refreshing change of pace.