What do some of the early TSR game systems look like in 2010

[Sadrik]

Boot Hill
Buck Rogers
Conan
Gama World
Gangbusters
Indiana Jones
Star Frontiers
Top Secret

Out of this list of games I owned Gama World, Indiana Jones, and Star Frontiers. I barely remember how these games work, I seem to recall long percentile matrices which compared two numbers and then gave a % chance to be successful and perhaps offered multiple levels of success.

Anyway, how do these games look now rules wise in the year 2010, when we view them through our modern games prism? Did they use a core mechanic or were they a hodge podge of loosely related mechanics? Where some really not very good? Have any stood the test of time?

 

[Wik]

Of those, I only owned Conan. Which, more or less, used 1e rules - there were a few tweaks here and there, mostly adding an action point mechanic that was actually pretty good. And it doubled healing rates, to make up for the lack of healers. But, it had the same "problems" that 1e has in comparison to modern games - too many sub-systems, imbalance between classes, yadda yadda yadda.

Was Indiana Jones owned by TSR? I only knew of the WEG edition.

 

[Sadrik]

Of those, I only owned Conan. Which, more or less, used 1e rules - there were a few tweaks here and there, mostly adding an action point mechanic that was actually pretty good. And it doubled healing rates, to make up for the lack of healers. But, it had the same "problems" that 1e has in comparison to modern games - too many sub-systems, imbalance between classes, yadda yadda yadda.

Was Indiana Jones owned by TSR? I only knew of the WEG edition.

What I remember about the Indiana Jones game was it had a ton of card board cut outs that you folded together into triangles that showed three sides of a character, and it had some tile sets as I recall too. Roundhouse was my favorite character. I wish I still had those games! I don't remember the rules though and how they worked.

 

[haakon1]

Boot Hill

Boot Hill is a fun game.

The earliest edition is like OD&D, very simple, very quick, great from no prep, shoot 'em up Western gunfights. It wasn't a beer and pretzels game, more vodkha and pretzels -- you didn't need to be sober to run it, as I remember from college experience.

2nd Edition Boot Hill had a lot more depth, and was also a lot of fun it's own way.

As for game mechanics, I couldn't care less how it stacks up against modern mechanics . . . I'm a DM, not a game designer, cap'n.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I played several of them years ago, and I would be willing to play those I played again, as they were fun, and as I remember easy to play, though I would have to relearn the broken parts that my group tacictly agreed to ignore.

As for comparing them to modern games, I really do not know what the OP is getting at.

Balance
Playability
Complexity
Fun??