What Non-D&D TSR RPGs Needs to be Revived?

None. There are already replacement games:
  • Gammaworld: Mutant Year Zero
  • BootHill: Deadlands, Savage Worlds
  • Star Frontiers: Frontier Space by DwD Studios
  • Top Secret S.I.: Top Secret New World Order by Solarian Games
  • Gangbusters: Gangbusters BX on DTRPG.
I don't consider Dragonquest a TSR RPG and doubt WoTC would launch a second fantasy RPG. I skipped over Alternity, but I guesstimate Exodus would make a good replacement.

Edit: I still play the original Star Frontiers system solo, but if I wanted to use the original setting, with a group, I would use Frontier Space instead. It's simpler, uses d100 and the technology is up to date.

I'd do the same with the other games. I'm not enamoured with the original rules of these old games.
 
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None. There are already replacement games:
  • Gammaworld: Mutant Year Zero
  • BootHill: Deadlands, Savage Worlds
  • Star Frontiers: Frontier Space by DwD Studios
  • Top Secret S.I.: Top Secret New World Order by Solarian Games
  • Gangbusters: Gangbusters BX on DTRPG.
I don't consider Dragonquest a TSR RPG and doubt WoTC would launch a second fantasy RPG. I skipped over Alternity, but I guesstimate Exodus would make a good replacement.
A different game in the same genre isn't really a "replacement" though. for example from your list above, Gamma World and Mutant Year Zero are only superficially similar, and much the same can be said for Boot Hill and Deadlands. Genre is only a portion of the equation, and for many games the actual system is the real draw.
 

The game is fairly open to many different types of campaigns – I'd argue too open, as I would prefer more focus on presenting one aspect in-depth, but you can certainly do psi-spies in it.
This is an issue I encounter fairly often. While I like kitchen sinks from time to time, other times I want something focused. Sometimes I want separate biopunk and psi-spy settings before anyone starts throwing them together.

A different game in the same genre isn't really a "replacement" though. for example from your list above, Gamma World and Mutant Year Zero are only superficially similar, and much the same can be said for Boot Hill and Deadlands. Genre is only a portion of the equation, and for many games the actual system is the real draw.
Yeah, settings and systems aren’t interchangeable. Just because Star Trek and Star Wars are both scifi doesn’t mean they’re interchangeable. Any fan of these games is gonna notice that the substitutions are shallow and irrelevant.

Exodus is nothing like Alternity. Namely, it doesn’t have FTL. Only someone completely ignorant of both would think they’re interchangeable.

EDIT: GURPS has an official conversion tho: Pyramid: New Frontiers: The Star*Drive Universe for GURPS
 


I am not sure I would call that a conversion, and it definitely isn't "official." it is just a brief article in pyramid.

/you got my hopes up you sunuva
Sorry. I think it’s a decent enough broad overview of the technical capabilities of the setting, particularly for someone wholly unfamiliar. But obviously you’d need to do the detail work yourself.

I wish Hasbro would put the damn pdfs back up. But if they haven’t done that already after putting up the Star Frontiers and Amazing Engine pdfs, then they probably never will. Not unless there’s a change in management that hires diehard fans of the IPs to manage things, as opposed to random ex-Micro$oft employees who never played RPGs before
 

Sorry. I think it’s a decent enough broad overview of the technical capabilities of the setting, particularly for someone wholly unfamiliar. But obviously you’d need to do the detail work yourself.

I wish Hasbro would put the damn pdfs back up. But if they haven’t done that already after putting up the Star Frontiers and Amazing Engine pdfs, then they probably never will. Not unless there’s a change in management that hires diehard fans of the IPs to manage things, as opposed to random ex-Micro$oft employees who never played RPGs before
Did they sell the Trademark? Or maybe Slavicsek negotiated ownership originally? In either case, the existence of Sasquatch Games' Alternity suggests WotC can't put the old books out.
 

Did they sell the Trademark? Or maybe Slavicsek negotiated ownership originally? In either case, the existence of Sasquatch Games' Alternity suggests WotC can't put the old books out.
Sasquatch grabbed the trademark when WoTC let it lapse, similar to TSR. The new game system and setting are different from the original. Otherwise, WoTC could have sued over IP misappropriation.
 

Did they sell the Trademark? Or maybe Slavicsek negotiated ownership originally? In either case, the existence of Sasquatch Games' Alternity suggests WotC can't put the old books out.
Sasquatch snatched the expired Trademark. They didn’t own the IP and couldn’t raise enough funds, so they bombed spectacularly.

The company is defunct now, so Hasbro could totally put the books back on drivethrurpg. They could easily contest the trademark using the “prior work” defense and their lawyers too. The pdfs were originally on rpgnow before WotC took them down during their 2008 hissy fit. Drivethru may still have the files on their servers if there wasn’t any hiccups.

Altho I wouldn’t be surprised if WotC actually lost the files and physical backups too. Considering that they put up the Amazing Engine and Star Frontiers pdfs back up, I suspect they did.
 

A different game in the same genre isn't really a "replacement" though. for example from your list above, Gamma World and Mutant Year Zero are only superficially similar, and much the same can be said for Boot Hill and Deadlands. Genre is only a portion of the equation, and for many games the actual system is the real draw.

I still play the original Star Frontiers system solo, but if I wanted to use the original setting, with a group, I would use Frontier Space instead. It's simpler, uses d100 and the technology is up to date.

I'd do the same with the other games. I'm not enamoured with the original rules. So replacement systems are fine by me.
 
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I still play the original Star Frontiers system solo, but if I wanted to use the original setting, with a group, I would use Frontier Space instead. It's simpler, uses d100 and the technology is up to date.

I'd do the same with the other games. I'm not enamoured with the original rules. So replacement systems are fine by me.
That's great, but the thread is actually kind of about being enamored with the original rules, hence my response.
 

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