RPGs of yesteryear, Ever look again at the RPGs you used to play ?? Options

[Wesley Street]

Mages could even wear armour as it just affected their casting success and there were no limits on what weapons one could or could not use as long as you had the strength and agility to wield them.

I can see, in terms of game balance, why most high-fantasy games prohibit mages from wearing armor. But from a "real world" standpoint it strikes me as being really silly. Though I do think that clerics should only be allowed to use blunt, non-edged weapons. Because real men of God can crack skulls but not draw blood. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's too bad Beasts, Men and Gods never took off. It sounds like it had some real thought put into it.

[Jeremiah Legacy]

I have that sitting on my bookshelf, actually.

A buddy of mine and I had a huge blast with that back in middle school. There was a book they out for it called Ultimate Book of of Powers (something like that) that took the whole random roll character thing to a new level of silliness. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I remember that book. It took me almost 6 months to track it down back in my younger days. Found it in a small second hand bookstore.

They kept making things for Marvel's system up to the late '90s, if I'm not mistaken.

[Kyoto Kid]

I can see, in terms of game balance, why most high-fantasy games prohibit mages from wearing armor. But from a "real world" standpoint it strikes me as being really silly. Though I do think that clerics should only be allowed to use blunt, non-edged weapons. Because real men of God can crack skulls but not draw blood. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's too bad Beasts, Men and Gods never took off. It sounds like it had some real thought put into it.

..well the balancing factor was the more armour a mage wore, the higher the percentage for spell failure. And this didn't jsut mean the spell didn't work. There was a table of different (and some quite unpleasant) effects that could befall the casting mage. The game also had a critical hit/miss table and that was determined on how far from the base hit value needed (+ or -).

Another nice feature was that any spellcaster could create a temporary, charged, or permanent magic item. The mechanic was well thought out in that for each type you needed to know the specific spell for so many levels (and had to successfully cast it into the item). There was none of that nutty memorising spells each day. Spells had to be targeted, so a mage generally had a decent "missile bonus" but a pretty mediocre "attack bonus" (melee) If one so chose to, he could increase his melee attack percentage, of course at the expense of experience used for improving magical abilities.

All success tests were d100 rolls and damage was based on d6s (for example a greatsword did 3D6 damage + STR damage bonus).

Enchantments to weapons added 5% per level and +1 to damage. Any kind of spell could be imbued into a weapon as a secondary effect provided it made sense. For example I had a preistess who could charge her blade with a sunbolt spell that came in very handy against undead.

One cool class of magic the game had was a hybrid theif-illusionist called the Shadowmage the spells were very subtle but when used correctly could lead to some very interesting outcomes.

This was the only game in which actually enjoyed playing spellcasters as the system was simple yet incredibly colourful and they were not so hamstrung at lower levels.

[shadowfire]

sounds a bit like palladium fantasy. In that game a mage could wear armour, but the more metal armor the mage wore the harder it was to channel magical energies. kind of like wearing tin foil to bloke EMP or ECM.
As i understand it, it works that way with rolemaster classic as well. except here it is more about the mage being in contact with the world around you and it is hard to do that if your wrapped up in a full suit of metal. You can still do it, but you have a high chance of spell failure.

[hobgoblin]

heh, rolemaster. the game that penalized a magican for carrying around anything more then a blanket and some food.

still, those critical hit tables are a colorful read. welded to the inside of a metal armor if hit by a max crit lightning attack, anyone? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[shadowfire]

I think the way my friend runs the game and what rules he changed or leaves out fixed all of the things that people joke about when it comes to rolemaster. For instance, i think he allows from magicians to wear leather jerkens since they are basically thick leather vests. I just wish the difficulty in learning a spell list was easier.

[hobgoblin]

i pulled out the basics box i have here, and it seems my recall is as bad as its old.

clothing and armor is not counted when it comes to calculating carried items, altho they present their own mods on a different part of the table.

also, the safe limits where a bit higher then i recalled. one should be able to carry around a kid or small animal with little impact.

[shadowfire]

They recently put out a set of new books that my friend was weiry to get, but was happy about when he did get them and looked through them. It seemed they fix some of the problems with the classic system and the layout is more clear. The rules, for example, of how much weight a person can carry and how far you can move are a lot more concrete and understandable from what they were once upon a time.
But like i said he did change a few rules here and there and does not use every rule every time we do something. Like how much we are carrying only comes into play when it counts; like climbing a cliff side or something.

[InfinityzeN]

I have a *VERY* extensive collection of RPGs, both modern and classic. One of my fav old gems is Runequest 3rd edition. I have every book for it (and 2nd edition which is compatable with only minor work) and have run several extensive campagns. The game was massively ahead of its time, with its core system (called Basic Role-Playing) still heavily in use today in such games as Stormbringer, World of Wonder, Call of Cthulhu, Superworld, Ringworld, Elfquest, Hawkmoon, Elric!, Delta Green and Nephilim. Pendragon uses a modified version of BRP.

Another is Ars Magica, which I have several 2nd edition, the 3rd edition core book (the one made by White Wolf, which everyone hated), plus every book for 4th and 5th edition. This game has to have the *BEST* magic system of any RPG I have ever seen. Plus it uses a Troupe style running system that lets all the players run games, have several characters (1 Magus, 1 Companion, and lots of Grogs), and give input. It even makes the characters Covenant (their home) into a sort of jointly controlled character that grows and develops with time. Actually designing the groups Covenant in the pre-play session greatly effects how the game will feel.

Also have Traveller (you can die in character generation!), several editions of Call of Cthulhu, Hero system, Paranoia, etc. Got lots of really only games from 20+ years ago that only had the main book come out for.

[MiloSimpkin]

Unfortunately when I was at Uni I had to sell a lot of my old RPGs for survival purposes. Still I have managed to pick up a few of them since on ebay and have been loving re-reading them. The ones that particularly still grab my attention are:

Judge Dredd - A lovely Games Workshop boxed set that really encompasses the feel of the world and with a system that still holds up pretty well today. I'm thinking of converting it over to WFRP 2 or Dark Heresy to play with in the modern age. Wish I still had a copy of the companion with the Judge Exorcists or the Shuggy Hall Brawl adventure from White Dwarf.

Price of Freedom - Very dated in the setting and the rules are more wargamey than I would like, but still I love it. The cloest thing I have ever seen to Red Dawn the RPG. Go Wolverines!

Top Secret SI - Love it to pieces. One of the RPGs I cut my teeth on. Managed to get the original set along with FREElancers and FREEamerica. While I wouldn't ude the system I have approached my RPG group about playing in the FREE(x) world using Wild Talents.

Honourable mentions go to Chill (I so want the next edition to come out), Masterbook (My go to generic system and with sourcebooks for Necroscope, Indiana Jones and Species), Golden Heroes (Fun pulpy supers) and Dragon Warriors (Still waiting for my NSFLGS to get in the rereleased stuff for that).

[Adarael]

Dude. Chill. WOW. That's a blast from the past indeed.

I haven't thought of that game since like, 1989 or 1990...

[InfinityzeN]

Chill... damn, what was the last version of that? I'll have to go dig through my boxes of really old games when I get home.

[Lindt]

I loved Alternity. I still claim it had quite possibly the best mechanics system ever. A d20 +/- any other die (depending on difficulty).
I miss 'In Nomine' a lot too. Mind you these both pale in comparison to how much I miss the ADnD version of Planescape. I keep saying it was just so far removed from normal that it had to be its own game...

[MYST1C]

I loved Alternity.

I read some Alternity material once - quite good, indeed. I'd love to see the Star*Drive campaign setting resurrected somehow (Dark Matter has been re-published as a d20 Modern setting).

I miss 'In Nomine' a lot too.

I've got every book of that game ever published in German - though we got the translation from the French original, so our In Nomine Satanis is still a gory satirical over-the-top "Superheroes from Hell" (or Heaven) fun-RPG, not that serious dark fantasy stuff SJG made from the license...

[Synner667]

I loved Alternity. I still claim it had quite possibly the best mechanics system ever. A d20 +/- any other die (depending on difficulty).
I miss 'In Nomine' a lot too. Mind you these both pale in comparison to how much I miss the ADnD version of Planescape. I keep saying it was just so far removed from normal that it had to be its own game...

Alternity was the latest scifi from TSR [at the time], and suffered as part of the general change that SR went through - when they trimmed all the various campaigns to get to what we have today.

I loved Planescape, though I converted the material for use with other RPGs...
...It was like medieval cyberpunk, and I think Eberron has some of its spirit and 'feel'.

Maybe someone will do Planescape v2.0 and run it as a fan-based product [even though it's still owned by WotC], as they did with Dark Sun [which is another great AD&D conversion/campaign].

[Synner667]

Unfortunately when I was at Uni I had to sell a lot of my old RPGs for survival purposes. Still I have managed to pick up a few of them since on ebay and have been loving re-reading them. The ones that particularly still grab my attention are:

Judge Dredd - A lovely Games Workshop boxed set that really encompasses the feel of the world and with a system that still holds up pretty well today. I'm thinking of converting it over to WFRP 2 or Dark Heresy to play with in the modern age. Wish I still had a copy of the companion with the Judge Exorcists or the Shuggy Hall Brawl adventure from White Dwarf.

Honourable mentions go to Chill (I so want the next edition to come out), Masterbook (My go to generic system and with sourcebooks for Necroscope, Indiana Jones and Species), Golden Heroes (Fun pulpy supers) and Dragon Warriors (Still waiting for my NSFLGS to get in the rereleased stuff for that).

If I remem correctly, the original creators of Judge Dredd RPG redid it and tried to get it published, but couldn't.

Golden Heroes has been redone and republished as Squadron UK.

[hobgoblin]

I read some Alternity material once - quite good, indeed. I'd love to see the Star*Drive campaign setting resurrected somehow (Dark Matter has been re-published as a d20 Modern setting).

i think star*drive showed up in d20 future, but was really lacking in detail...

[lordnth]

I have been told of a game that was called B Movie? at least that is what the person who told about it said the name of the game was.

In the game you are actors in a movie and you play out the sceens if at anytime you need time to change, fix, or think things out you call for a film break.

Anyone know of this game be by the name B Movie or another name?

I know of another game like that.
The Late Late Late Night Horror Show by Stellar Games out of Toledo, OH Game even featured a "Hostess" that looked like Bride of Frankenstien but talked like Elvira.
Book and Company are long OOP.

BTW that Justifiers game meantioned a few pages back? They were sued by Stellar Games. Seams thier game "Expendables" had the same planet exploration setting. Good luck finding any old booklets. Good luck finding either.

Lucky for me my gaming group consists of quite a few old time gamers. One was a manager of a hobby shop so he has lots of old RPGs. And my father and I were collectors from way back. So every few months/years we vote on what next game we play. Each player that wants to submits a written summary of the game he/she wants to run and we vote. Funny there are no games submitted that are newer than 8 years old... Fun but makes finding that old sourcebook you had lost or never gotten a pain now.

Other games I have that I reread every once in a while;
Legend of the Five Rings
7th Sea (shame the GM ended that game after a short two year run...but that lead to me running SR3)
BubbleGumCrisis (Fuzion system -too bad I can't find that website that converts BBC into SR-)

Old games I always wanted to RP
GURPS
Ironclaw (Sanquine Productions)
Big Eyes Little Mouth RPG

[hobgoblin]

im not sure gurps or BESM classify as old (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

and ironclaw can still be ordered directly from sanquine...

[lordnth]

Came out shortly after highschool for me. While I'd like to think that it's not old, BESM -like me- is getting old.

[Synner667]

Just finished reading a Traveller: The New Era novel ["To Dream of Chaos"] and it's really got me wanting to have a look at my old copy of the rulebook, and how GDW handled a civilisation destroying Virus...
...And then see what I can do with that information.

[pbangarth]

Also have Traveller (you can die in character generation!)

I vaguely recall a t-shirt at a Gencon, years ago:

"I survived Traveller chargen!"

[Bob Lord of Evil]

Bond...James Bond.

Or more precisely, James Bond 007 RPG by Victory Hill Games. Great system, holds up very well even today. One of the coolest gaming moments was when everyone in our group showed up in Tux's and the ladies showed up in formal gowns and we played all night to the wee hours of dawn.

D&D of course, Rolemaster, Marvel, Fasa Star Trek, Pendragon, Twilight 2000, MechWarrior.