Favorite Dead RPG company

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Likewise, because of fan publications of that era, I call the Miranda class the "Avenger" class.
I still think of the Miranda-class as the Reliant-class due to years of playing FASA Trek. (The FASA Reliant-class starship made a good alternative if you didn't want to give the players the same type of vessel as Kirk & Co.: it's just about equal and easy even for casual Star Trek fans to recognize.)
 
You know what? I just want the industry to go back to where it was circa the 90s.

TSR doing D&D, Hogshead doing Warhammer and SLA Industries, classic White Wolf, FASA at it's peak...FASAness, WEG still chugging along with Star Wars, Dream Pod 9 and it's games, Chaosium doing Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon and Prince Valiant, Tri-Stat before it screwed everyone over, GURPs 3rd edition chugging out a steady line of fantastic sourcebooks, etc
...No, not really a good idea in my book:thumbsup:! No Design Mechanism and Mythras, no A Dirty World, no Spellbound Kingdoms, no OGL (and thus no OSR), no Mongoose Traveller/Cepheus, no Traveller 5 and no Fates Worse Than Death?
No deal:shade:!
 
...No, not really a good idea in my book:thumbsup:! No Design Mechanism and Mythras, no A Dirty World, no Spellbound Kingdoms, no OGL (and thus no OSR), no Mongoose Traveller/Cepheus, no Traveller 5 and no Fates Worse Than Death?
No deal:shade:!


I know only 2 of those, but see no reason they couldn't exist in tandem...well, maybe not the OSR, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make :grin:
 
I know only 2 of those, but see no reason they couldn't exist in tandem...well, maybe not the OSR, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make :grin:
You should totally Google the rest, and no, a lot of them wouldn't probably exist in tandem:thumbsup:!

Also, my estimate of the value of the proposed sacrifice differs sharply. Especially after we add in Vampire 5e and nWoD:shade:.
 
You should totally Google the rest, and no, a lot of them wouldn't probably exist in tandem:thumbsup:!

I don't see much in the way of conflict. How would any of the companies I mentioned still existing prevent the games you mention from also existing?

Also, my estimate of the value of the proposed sacrifice differs sharply. Especially after we add in Vampire 5e and nWoD:shade:.

nWoD is exactly why I miss oWoD, Sure, I've heard good things about Vampire 5th...but see no reason that couldn't have been an edition published by the original White Wolf - wasn't that like 99% of the point of it?
 
I don't see much in the way of conflict. How would any of the companies I mentioned still existing prevent the games you mention from also existing?
Cepheus wouldn't exist without the OGL. Spellbound Kingdoms is written by a guy who worked for WotC after he left the company, so odds are good it wouldn't exist, either...

A Dirty World wouldn't exist because Greg Stolze, in the spirit of the 90ies, would be chugging off splatbooks for CWoD:shade:.


nWoD is exactly why I miss oWoD,
Yeah, I'm one of those that like the nWoD better, and not only mechanically speaking:thumbsup:.

Sure, I've heard good things about Vampire 5th...but see no reason that couldn't have been an edition published by the original White Wolf - wasn't that like 99% of the point of it?
At least mechanically, the answer is pretty much "hell no":devil:! I think you're mistaking it for Vampire 20th Aniversary Edition.
 
(shrug) well those are constraints you're putting on your own imagination.
 
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I'm going to say BLADE, who were a "division of Flying Buffalo" (IIRC Liz Danforth was involved and maybe Mike Stackpole). They took over the publishing of Sorcerer's Apprentice magazine and produced the Citybook line of supplements. SA remains my favourite gaming magazine and I miss it.
 
Not sure why, given it's available as a PoD on Drivethru

(assuming this is about Hero 6)

Unless something has changed, the POD version is softcover and b&w. While the original release was hardcover and full color.

Recently I saw a listing on ebay for both HCs in a bundle for $120, which was about the best deal I've seen on them, but I was overextended on other stuff so I couldn't bite.
 
(assuming this is about Hero 6)

Unless something has changed, the POD version is softcover and b&w. While the original release was hardcover and full color.

Recently I saw a listing on ebay for both HCs in a bundle for $120, which was about the best deal I've seen on them, but I was overextended on other stuff so I couldn't bite.

All Bunch stated was that book 1 is hard to find. Not a specific version of it.
 
All Bunch stated was that book 1 is hard to find. Not a specific version of it.
Yes you can get a POD softcover easily. The hardcover is hard to find. I'm not sure how much I trust POD to large books.

In general I suspect most of us talking about hard to find or rare are talking about the non POD versions. I have PDFs of all of it due to a bundle of holding a while back but in print I've only ever found book 2. Somehow that exists in larger numbers and is easier to get.
 
The binding on the full colour 6e Hero books is garbage. I had to get my volume 1 repaired professionally. It's basically just the end papers holding the cover on, my copy mostly just sat on a shelf and it ripped out.
 
Yes you can get a POD softcover easily. The hardcover is hard to find. I'm not sure how much I trust POD to large books.

In general I suspect most of us talking about hard to find or rare are talking about the non POD versions. I have PDFs of all of it due to a bundle of holding a while back but in print I've only ever found book 2. Somehow that exists in larger numbers and is easier to get.

Given how nice my Hardcover of Stars without Number is (and it was printed via DT), I don't think it would be that bad. Especially now that premium color is available

It's got a bit more page count, but I just think they went with the cheaper option on Hero System book 1 for simplicity's sake.
 
Regarding the excessive size of HERO, I think the HERO Sidekick version probably should be what they use as the main book and then do expansions from there. The Sidekick version is the same size as the AD&D 1st Edition PHB.
 
Last Unicorn Games

I gave my brother the corebook of their Star Trek game for christmas, when it came out. He is a huge Trekkie.

He didn't game anymore. But he liked it and ran an awesome game for some of his friends and me.
 
I like the green text

It really isn't about not liking it (though there is a slight emotional response based on what follows). It actually causes a sort of eye strain that for me is actually painful. I wasn't trying to be hyperbolic or figurative when I asked about that. I find the only way for me to read those green posts is to select them with the cursor so that it becomes black text on a colored background. I think it has to do with the contrast and actually think a (possibly even slightly) darker shade of green wouldn't cause that particular reaction.
 
Maybe it's me missing something obvious, but what are those green-text posts that you're talking about?
 
Not companies per se but reading old issues of White Dwarf and Imagine makes me wish for writing on rpgs that literate, imaginative and witty.

Dragon had some good stuff but doesn't come close to their breadth of games, quality of gameable content or intelligent criticism. Imagine had writers like Don Turnbull, Neil Gaiman, Colin Greenland and more. It also published the most consistently quality fiction of any of the rpg magazines. Sadly Imagine which to my mind is as good as WD in many respects doesn't seem as well remembered as it should be, even as it was the foundation for the much beloved TSR UK.

It is a shame that GW and Gygax didn't appreciate what they had.

Would be great if we could somehow get a new reissue of the WD adventures and Imagine's Pelinore setting.

42-cover.png

imagine4.jpg
 
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Kinda ironic when you consider the average length of a monthly superhero comic was, what, 16 pages?
Generally 22 pages of story, plus ads.
Depends on the era. For a while in the '70s Marvel and DC slashed story pages down to about 17 to temporarily stave off increasing their cover prices. I remember reading those comics and having four story pages, two ad pages, two story pages, two ad pages, and so on.
 
The three ones that had the most impact on my early gaming were TSR, FASA, and GDW. Some of my fondest memories from gaming in the 80s are of the Star Trek RPG so I'll go with FASA if I must choose only one.
 
Elaborating on my earlier post now that I finished what I was doing--some memorable products:

Mayfair: DC Heroes, Role Aids
TSR: Boot Hill, Star Frontiers, Indiana Jones, Marvel Super Heroes, Conan, Gangbusters, Gamma World
GDW: Traveller, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, Twilight: 2000, Space: 1889, Dark Conspiracy
West End Games: Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Paranoia
FASA: Star Trek, third-party Traveller stuff, Behind Enemy Lines, Crimson Skies (RPG-ish board game that should have become a full RPG), Battle Tech / Mech Warrior
Task Force Games: Heroes of Olympus, Crime Fighter, Delta Force
I.C.E.: MERP, Rolemaster
SPI: Dragon Quest, Universe
Victory: James Bond 007


Not sure if you were just listing personal favorites or not, but I added a few more notable games in blue
 
Not sure if you were just listing personal favorites or not, but I added a few more notable games in blue
Just the ones that were memorable to me. I only got Gamma World last year and still haven't played it. I have Delta Force but it's not one I've done much with. I think I played Battletech once or twice with a friend who had it when it was still called Battledroids. The others that you added, I have no perssonal experience with.
 
TSR and White Wolf weren’t perfect but churned our so much material I loved as a starry-eyed teen that I can’t pretend I don’t miss them.

I can’t say I was much of a FASA, GDW, Mayfair or West End Games fan — well, WEG did have Star Wars, and Mayfair did have DC Heroes — but those companies did put out classics and though some may endure, the hobby’s poorer for their demise.

And if we’re talking “undead” companies, I suppose much of the board is already familiar with my immense, abysmal contempt for Chaosium’s current management.
 
And if we’re talking “undead” companies, I suppose much of the board is already familiar with my immense, abysmal contempt for Chaosium’s current management.


I may have missed those rants. Feel free to provide links or wax on poetically (albeit if we can avoid the more political side of it we all know)
 
Really? I thought this had been reported out the wazoo.
I guess I'm ignorant of Chaosiums latest machinations. I though one of the old guard was running things again? Am I wrong is it still, ans/or worst messed up?
 
I though one of the old guard was running things again?
Greg Stafford sadly died recently, though I'm not sure he really had much input after the takeover. The old guard may be peripherally involved (Perrin and Peterson), again I haven't seen much evidence. NuChaosium is running as a commercial operation, but it's basically a new company as far as I can see.
 
We were into Star Fleet Battles instead.
star-fleet-3.jpeg
 
Greg Stafford sadly died recently, though I'm not sure he really had much input after the takeover. The old guard may be peripherally involved (Perrin and Peterson), again I haven't seen much evidence. NuChaosium is running as a commercial operation, but it's basically a new company as far as I can see.

Stafford was back with Chaosium and they re-released Pendragon and Prince Valiant. They’ve also released a collection of Peterson’s CoC one-shots that is quite good. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the recent Chaosium releases I’ve picked up and honestly that’s all I really care about.
 
Depending on what you call dead, but Iron Crown (Rolemaster, Spacemaster, HARP, MERPs) does still exist. I'd suspect they are down to a skeleton crew (at best), but they've been working (steadily, if not glacially) on a new version of Rolemaster and continuing to support HARP. RMu (Rolemaster Unified, Rolemaster United, something like that) is a full cleanup of the system, including a complete recalculation pass against all cultures and creatures, including professions, skills, talents, abilities, etc...).

Supposedly Creature Law (the last piece of the RMu refactor) was in good enough shape that it could be placed it in the editorial queue. That said, I'm skeptical it'll be done this year though, as the thing has only been in beta since 2012.:shock:

Terry K. Amthor (old ICE member, and brain behind Shadow World) does still put out new material though. Haalkitaine: The-Court-of-Rhakhaan (260'ish pages of goodness) was just released as PDF in November, and Print On Demand available at beginning of Jan. Good stuff.
 
I'm pretty sure ICE is all part time freelance and they're only producing digital copy.
 
The only RPGs I've played more than a one-or-two-shot of are Savage Worlds, D&D 5e, and D&D 3e. Since their respective publishers are still going strong, I guess I don't have a favorite dead RPG company.

When I moved to Chicago in June of 2007, there was a Virgin Megastore here having a going-out-of-business sale. I didn't notice any gaming stuff there, but I also wasn't in the market for gaming stuff at the time, so who knows?

The first time (actually only time) I got really lost in Chicago was trying to find that store. At the time I didn't know that Grand Ave crosses underneath Michigan Ave, rather than intersecting with it.
 
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