What does it take for an RPG to die?

[General_Tangent]

FGU exists as a PDF-only publishing concern these days. I don't know if they do anything new, but they still publish most games that didn't return the the creators for one reason or another.

You do get games where the original creator will not sell the thing for anything. There was an interesting game called "Nexus: the Infinite City" that the author would not sell for anything. If you want it these days you can search for decades-old physical copies or pirate scans.

I managed to purchase a copy when it had been published and it looked quite interesting but never managed to get the then gaming group to play it.

The publisher is probably best known for their first edition Feng Shui which was a glorious full colour book and cost more to print than it sold for.

 

[dbolack]

Other Suns is one of the few games they made where you can't get the core rules any more, although they still sell the Anderson Shipyards (and nothing else) through their site. If you saw it on DTRPG I'd love to get a link, since it's on my list of oddities I might revisit someday.

Last I knew Niall was still noodling with it from time to time. I see he is still around, might poke him?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I used to know a Canadian on Fidonet who was ALL about Universe...

I'm not surprised. SPI games still have a certain nostalgia value for people of the right age. There's board games of theirs I'd still happily play myself.

I managed to purchase a copy when it had been published and it looked quite interesting but never managed to get the then gaming group to play it.

Nexus: The Infinite City was a solid system that showed mechanical similarities to Feng Shui and had a pretty great setting - reminded me strongly of Cynosure from Grimjack and associated comics. Only complaint I had with it was the utter lack of an advancement system. It's easy enough to add one - just hand out some character points and let players spend them - but it was such a strange omission for an otherwise quite comprehensive and flexible game.

Nexus is the game that first put Rob Heinsoo on my list of designers to keep an eye one. Pity to hear it's hard to get these days, certainly worthy of a revival.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Last I knew Niall was still noodling with it from time to time. I see he is still around, might poke him?

Interesting. Maybe when I finish up my current projects. Bit swamped at the moment.

 

[dbolack]

Nexus is the game that first put Rob Heinsoo on my list of designers to keep an eye one. Pity to hear it's hard to get these days, certainly worthy of a revival.

Rob and Robin did excellent work there. I suppose one could retroclone it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Dammit Jose.

Yeah. Irritates me to no end even now.

Weirdly, I still have floppies of early drafts.

Do you still actually have anything that can read floppies?

 

[Thomas Shey]

I used to know a Canadian on Fidonet who was ALL about Universe...

There's always somebody, but it doesn't seem to have a community the way DragonQuest does.

 

[dbolack]

Yeah. Irritates me to no end even now.

I was in that GenCon booth - I know the feels.

Do you still actually have anything that can read floppies?

That's a really good question. I'm honestly not sure.

 

[J.Quondam]

FGU exists as a PDF-only publishing concern these days. I don't know if they do anything new, but they still publish most games that didn't return the the creators for one reason or another.

FGU still sells some titles in print, and I think (?) they may even have some material in active development. They recently re-released Bushido in print, and I picked up a full set of Flashing Blades in hardcopy from them a few months ago.
Link to FGU:

FantasyGamesUnlimited

.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I was in that GenCon booth - I know the feels.


That's a really good question. I'm honestly not sure.

I pretty much moved things to other media about the point it was becoming obvious that new computers weren't going to do floppies any more. Its fairly unlikely they're still readable by this point anyway.