Which out-of-print RPGs do you still play?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Technically speaking, all of these are still in print or are being reprinted in the near future in some way:

Paranoia (new version coming out soon)

Space 1889 (currently in print from Heliograph Games)

Traveller (Original recently reprinted, GURPS and D20 versions still in print)

MechWarrior (currently in print from Fanpro/Fast Forward Games)

Abberant/Trinity (White Wolf Games-D20 versions due out soon)

These are TRULY out of print as far as I know:

Melee/Wizard/In the Labyrinth (Metagames/Steve Jackson Games)

Prime Directive (Task Force Games)

Brave New World (Pinnacle)

Underground (Mayfair)

 

[Fimmtiu]

My gaming group includes a few old hard-core Traveller geeks... it's technically not out of print any longer, thank goodness, but every week they still show up with their battered cardboard boxes of A5-sized paperback booklets. Most of those books are actually older than some of the players, which is sort of a reassuring thought.

 

[Sledge]

Mechwarrior.

Mechwarrior is still in print, however the next run will have the name changed to Classic BattleTech RPG due to Wizkids wanting to keep all references to the title Mechwarrior for their lil clicky game.

 

[T. Foster]

Heroquest is a completely different animal altogether. Heroquest was a joint effort between MB and GW at making a fantasy miniatures roleplaying game. It fell apart (the relationship) and Games Workshop went on to make Advanced Heroquest and then WarhammerQuest.

Now there was another Glorantha game called Herosomething - but I am not hooked on Glorantha enough to know. We just kind of like the Runequest system. We play it all of once a year or so - not exactly devotees...

HeroQuest was first announced and advertised by Chaosium c. 1980 as an upcoming 'Advanced RQ' rpg. This game was never released (it was always due 'next year') and in the mid 80s Chaosium lost the trademark when MB released the above-described game (which had absolutely nothing to do with Chaosium, RQ, or Glorantha).

Chaosium sold RQ to Avalon Hill in 1984 but retained Glorantha, and the process of separating RQ from Glorantha (and vice versa) occured gradually over the next decade (Chaosium would write Gloranthan RQ supplements that AH would release, but neither party was ever happy with the arrangement). Around 1996 the two were officially divorced, Avalon Hill planned to release a 'new edition' of RQ using an entirely different rules system and no Glorantha (this game was never actually published, but was released for free on the web a few years later, called RuneQuest: Slayers, and true to rumors it was RQ in name only), and Issaries, Inc. (a spin-off of Chaosium) planned to release a new non-RQ Gloranthan rpg, which was published in 1999 as Hero Wars. This game, except for its Gloranthan setting, has nothing in common with RQ, with entirely different mechanics and focus of play. As Issaries was planning a 2nd edition of Hero Wars they managed to reacquire the lapsed HeroQuest trademark from MB and GW and thus when the new edition of HW was published in 2003 its title was changed to HeroQuest, finally fulfilling the promise made more than 2 decades previous.

So, short story long: no, HeroQuest is not a new edition of RQ, despite the Gloranthan setting. RQ has been officially out-of-print since c. 1996.

 

[Sanackranib]

Imortal

 

[Capellan]

I'll play pretty much anything anyone is willing to run, at least once, whether it is in print or not.

In the past 12 months, other than OGL games, I've played or run:

Adventure!
AFMBE
Blue Planet
Call of Cthulhu (BRP version)
Deadlands
Dragonquest
Feng Shui
Forge: Out of Chaos
Gear Krieg
Hero
HKAT
Mage
Noir
Over the Edge
Promised Sands
Puppetland
Savage Worlds
Spaceship Zero
WFRP

As well as more systemless games than you can shake a stick at. And it's quite possible I've forgotten something. Not all of those are OOP, of course, but I don't keep track of which are and which aren't.

 

[Ourph]

My shop is still selling these two, but I have no idea if they've officially been dumped. It would be a pity, Pendragon's a great game!

I don't know about the current printings. The books I'm using (1st edition of both rulesets) are OOP, so I included them. I figured since people were including other editions of D&D as OOP, we were talking about specific rulesets, not just brand names.

:edit: Google says Pendragon 4th ed is still in print.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I saw Blue Planet, but never tried it. How is it?

I have Spaceship Zero, but never got my pals to try it out. Sorry to see it go.

 

[dead]

HeroQuest was first announced and advertised by Chaosium c. 1980 as an upcoming 'Advanced RQ' rpg. This game was never released (it was always due 'next year') and in the mid 80s Chaosium lost the trademark when MB released the above-described game (which had absolutely nothing to do with Chaosium, RQ, or Glorantha).

Chaosium sold RQ to Avalon Hill in 1984 but retained Glorantha, and the process of separating RQ from Glorantha (and vice versa) occured gradually over the next decade (Chaosium would write Gloranthan RQ supplements that AH would release, but neither party was ever happy with the arrangement). Around 1996 the two were officially divorced, Avalon Hill planned to release a 'new edition' of RQ using an entirely different rules system and no Glorantha (this game was never actually published, but was released for free on the web a few years later, called RuneQuest: Slayers, and true to rumors it was RQ in name only), and Issaries, Inc. (a spin-off of Chaosium) planned to release a new non-RQ Gloranthan rpg, which was published in 1999 as Hero Wars. This game, except for its Gloranthan setting, has nothing in common with RQ, with entirely different mechanics and focus of play. As Issaries was planning a 2nd edition of Hero Wars they managed to reacquire the lapsed HeroQuest trademark from MB and GW and thus when the new edition of HW was published in 2003 its title was changed to HeroQuest, finally fulfilling the promise made more than 2 decades previous.

So, short story long: no, HeroQuest is not a new edition of RQ, despite the Gloranthan setting. RQ has been officially out-of-print since c. 1996.

Thanks for the info.

 

[dead]

I don't know about the current printings. The books I'm using (1st edition of both rulesets) are OOP, so I included them. I figured since people were including other editions of D&D as OOP, we were talking about specific rulesets, not just brand names.

:edit: Google says Pendragon 4th ed is still in print.

Wow, 1st Editions! Them's gotto be worth a fortune!