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The RPG Origins of Star Control
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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7892163" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p><strong>Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV </strong>or just simply <strong>Star Control</strong> was a science fiction video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade in 1990. <strong>Star Control </strong>was primarily a simple space exploration and combat game, but its sequel is <a href="https://kotaku.com/the-game-that-won-our-classic-pc-games-list-if-it-ha-1349952997" target="_blank">widely viewed today as one of the greatest PC games ever made</a>. At least some of the credit for the game's goes to the designer Paul Reiche III, who also just happened to previously work at TSR. A snapshot of a character sheet in another publication gives a hint as to <strong>Star Control's </strong>origins rooted in Reiche's early access to another tabletop role-playing game.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]117428[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>A Sci-Fi Adventure RPG</strong></span></p><p></p><p>"We wanted to do more than just whip out more ships and rule variants," said Reiche in <a href="https://amzn.to/2FKd0Fk" target="_blank"><strong>High Score: The Illustrated History of Video Games</strong></a><strong>,</strong> "so we thought, 'Let's try a science fiction adventure role-playing game." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Control_II" target="_blank">Wikipedia elaborates on how the game worked</a>:</p><p></p><p>One of the main villains of Star Control was the Ur-Quan. "I'd seen an article in National Geographic about predatory caterpillars in Hawaii," said Reich. "There was a picture of it hanging and grabbing a moth from above. I was fascinated by the concept of a creature that clung to the ceilng and hung down over you." <a href="https://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Ur-Quan" target="_blank">The Ultronomicon Wiki describes them as resembling</a>:</p><p></p><p>Arne at Querolous <a href="https://diglett.blogspot.com/2011/12/star-frontiers.html" target="_blank">noted a similarity</a> between these sentient caterpillars and another species from a tabletop role-playing game, <a href="https://diglett.blogspot.com/2011/12/star-frontiers.html" target="_blank"><strong>Star Frontiers</strong></a><strong>:</strong></p><p></p><p><a href="http://%20https//starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Sathar" target="_blank">And who are the Sathar?</a></p><p></p><p>It may well be that the two invasive alien species have more in common than just appearance. And for that we turn to someone who was at TSR and later worked on <strong>Star Control.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Who Is Paul Reiche III?</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Wikipedia succinctly summarizes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reiche_III" target="_blank">Reiche's background at TSR</a>:</p><p></p><p></p><p>The <a href="https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/2019/06/paul-reiche-iii-papers-at-the-strong" target="_blank">Strong National Museum of Play</a> explains how Reiche drew on his experiences in both the tabletop and video game worlds: </p><p></p><p></p><p>On page 113 of <strong>High Score </strong>is the above graphic with the caption, "One of Paul Reiche's original stat sheets, used in developing Star Control." Looking carefully at the top, it's clear this is a rough <strong>Star Frontiers</strong> character sheet. That character sheets matches up with the later official character sheet of <strong>Star Frontiers</strong>, including the six split attributes. If this character sheet was indeed "used in developing" <strong>Star Control,</strong> it seems we have <strong>Star Frontiers</strong> to thank for one of the most popular video games of all time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 7892163, member: 3285"] [B]Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV [/B]or just simply [B]Star Control[/B] was a science fiction video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade in 1990. [B]Star Control [/B]was primarily a simple space exploration and combat game, but its sequel is [URL='https://kotaku.com/the-game-that-won-our-classic-pc-games-list-if-it-ha-1349952997']widely viewed today as one of the greatest PC games ever made[/URL]. At least some of the credit for the game's goes to the designer Paul Reiche III, who also just happened to previously work at TSR. A snapshot of a character sheet in another publication gives a hint as to [B]Star Control's [/B]origins rooted in Reiche's early access to another tabletop role-playing game. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="starcontrolfrontiers.jpg"]117428[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [SIZE=5][B]A Sci-Fi Adventure RPG[/B][/SIZE] "We wanted to do more than just whip out more ships and rule variants," said Reiche in [URL='https://amzn.to/2FKd0Fk'][B]High Score: The Illustrated History of Video Games[/B][/URL][B],[/B] "so we thought, 'Let's try a science fiction adventure role-playing game." [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Control_II']Wikipedia elaborates on how the game worked[/URL]: One of the main villains of Star Control was the Ur-Quan. "I'd seen an article in National Geographic about predatory caterpillars in Hawaii," said Reich. "There was a picture of it hanging and grabbing a moth from above. I was fascinated by the concept of a creature that clung to the ceilng and hung down over you." [URL='https://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Ur-Quan']The Ultronomicon Wiki describes them as resembling[/URL]: Arne at Querolous [URL='https://diglett.blogspot.com/2011/12/star-frontiers.html']noted a similarity[/URL] between these sentient caterpillars and another species from a tabletop role-playing game, [URL='https://diglett.blogspot.com/2011/12/star-frontiers.html'][B]Star Frontiers[/B][/URL][B]:[/B] [URL='http://%20https//starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Sathar']And who are the Sathar?[/URL] It may well be that the two invasive alien species have more in common than just appearance. And for that we turn to someone who was at TSR and later worked on [B]Star Control.[/B] [SIZE=5][B]Who Is Paul Reiche III?[/B][/SIZE] Wikipedia succinctly summarizes [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reiche_III']Reiche's background at TSR[/URL]: The [URL='https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/2019/06/paul-reiche-iii-papers-at-the-strong']Strong National Museum of Play[/URL] explains how Reiche drew on his experiences in both the tabletop and video game worlds: On page 113 of [B]High Score [/B]is the above graphic with the caption, "One of Paul Reiche's original stat sheets, used in developing Star Control." Looking carefully at the top, it's clear this is a rough [B]Star Frontiers[/B] character sheet. That character sheets matches up with the later official character sheet of [B]Star Frontiers[/B], including the six split attributes. If this character sheet was indeed "used in developing" [B]Star Control,[/B] it seems we have [B]Star Frontiers[/B] to thank for one of the most popular video games of all time. [/QUOTE]
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