Best Out-of-Print Games?

[Baulderstone]

Also regarding Ghostbusters...

It used to be that one of the most difficult things to get hold of was a Ghost Die. I recall a time when single Ghost dice regularly sold on ebay for over $100.

The original Ghost Die just had the logo printed on rather than engraved, so it just gradually chipped away between use in play and rattling against other dice in the bag. Mine was mostly blank by the mid-90s.

Since there was only one Ghost Die anyway, players typically just had one d6 of another color and noted when it came up 6. It was easier than passing the Ghost Die around every time someone needed to make a roll.

Yeah, there were conversions, and some books were entirely D6 based. I never looked into why, I wonder if Masterbook wasn't doing as well as WEG hoped, so they switched to D6, or vice versa, or some other reason.

I was working in a game store then, and it was definitely due to Masterbook not taking off.

I have a copy of TSR's Marvel Superheroes which I think is mostly complete. A couple of official modules are also in the box. If anyone who lives in the Toronto area wants it, I will give it to you.

I don't live in Toronto, but I'd gladly cover your shipping costs plus some extra for your trouble. My nephews would love that. But I understand if packing it up is more trouble than you want to bother with too.

 

[saskganesh]

I don't live in Toronto, but I'd gladly cover your shipping costs plus some extra for your trouble. My nephews would love that. But I understand if packing it up is more trouble than you want to bother with too.

alright. where do you iive? PM me

 

[Baulderstone]

alright. where do you iive? PM me

Thanks! PM sent.

 

[Toric]

I was thrilled to snag a copy of the Chill 1st Edition boxed set today at a local store. Prices for this online seem a bit crazy but I got it for a much less crazy price. Cardboard counters are unpunched, includes dice, and all books. Box has a little crushing and scuffing but interior contents are all there and in really nice condition. Very happy with this purchase as I have wanted this game for awhile. I had the 2nd edition of the game years ago but this one is more my preference. I might have to fire up a PbP game of this at some point here in the near future.

 

[Spinachcat]

WASTE WORLD

Review of Waste World - RPGnet RPG Game Index

Best 40k RPG ever!

 

[Spinachcat]

Rick's been in business for 49 years now and FBI is almost certainly the oldest hobby gaming company still operating.

And Rick Loomis is a good dude. Always nice to interact with him at conventions, and he's played in several of my T&T events over the years as long as I book them after the dealer's room closes. That's always fun.

 

[Jetstream]

Also regarding Ghostbusters...

It used to be that one of the most difficult things to get hold of was a Ghost Die. I recall a time when single Ghost dice regularly sold on ebay for over $100.

Trippy has provided an option above, but another option if you'd like some miniatures would be to get the Ghostbusters board games by Cryptozoic. Each set comes with several ghost dice as well as a lot of miniatures of ghosts.

The original Ghost Die just had the logo printed on rather than engraved, so it just gradually chipped away between use in play and rattling against other dice in the bag. Mine was mostly blank by the mid-90s.

Since there was only one Ghost Die anyway, players typically just had one d6 of another color and noted when it came up 6. It was easier than passing the Ghost Die around every time someone needed to make a roll.

I was working in a game store then, and it was definitely due to Masterbook not taking off.


I don't live in Toronto, but I'd gladly cover your shipping costs plus some extra for your trouble. My nephews would love that. But I understand if packing it up is more trouble than you want to bother with too.

Also, interestingly, thirty seconds on google found this

GBRPG :: Ghost Die

If you’ve already picked up the Starter Kit or the Franchise Kit, then you’ve got everything you need to game – you only need one Ghost Die for the entire table. But if you’ve lost your die or want to make sure you’ve got a spare – this is where you wanna be! 16mm of random chance. SPOOKY! As...

nerdy-show.myshopify.com

Someone’s selling ghost dice on their myshopify. Laser etched ghost dice no less. No idea how reputable or what quality, but there it is.

 

[Silverlion]

WASTEWORLD. I want the Ikuras Book. I want the miniature game that was promised.

I am in agreement with you, completely.

 

[Séadna]

I was thrilled to snag a copy of the Chill 1st Edition boxed set today at a local store

Is the retro-clone Cryptworld good does anybody know? Mutant Future was excellent, not a true "reto-clone" of Gamma World but sort of its own cool game. Is Cryptworld similar?

 

[BigJackBrass]

Is the retro-clone Cryptworld good does anybody know? Mutant Future was excellent, not a true "reto-clone" of Gamma World but sort of its own cool game. Is Cryptworld similar?

CRYPTWORLD is a mechanically and, uh, spiritually faithful version of Pacesetter's CHILL. It doesn't have the IP, so instead of SAVE there are alternative agencies, but it's all entirely compatible with the original material. As a fan of the old Pacesetter game I recommend it.

 

[dokel]

 

[3rik]

CRYPTWORLD is a mechanically and, uh, spiritually faithful version of Pacesetter's CHILL. It doesn't have the IP, so instead of SAVE there are alternative agencies, but it's all entirely compatible with the original material. As a fan of the old Pacesetter game I recommend it.

They also did Rotworld, a nifty zombie game using the Pacesetter rules. It combines very nicely with Cryptworld. You want some urban fantasy magic, throw in Majus as well.

 

[Toric]

Is the retro-clone Cryptworld good does anybody know? Mutant Future was excellent, not a true "reto-clone" of Gamma World but sort of its own cool game. Is Cryptworld similar?

Cryptworld is largely compatible with Chill. Much of the game is nearly identical. Ability scores are identical and are determined the same way. Skills are mostly the same but instead of the three levels being called Student, Teacher and Master as they are in Chill, in Cryptworld, they are Specialist, Expert and Master. Each level provides the exact same bonus as the corresponding level in Chill. Experience points in Cryptworld are called experience points but in Chill are Insight points. These points in CW are earned the same way as in Chill, and are spent the same way with the same costs for new skills, increasing existing skills, etc. except for buying new new paranormal powers which cost 750 xp in CW, but 1,000 Insight Points in Chill. This brings up another difference between the two. CW has paranormal powers. Chill has "the Art".

I haven't done a 100% comparison but skills in the two games seem to be the same names pretty much across the board. There are a few differences in formulas to calculate the base score for each skill but this appears to be the case for only a small handful of skills. CW does add a few skills that didn't appear in the original Chill boxed set, namely Computers, Electronics, Stunt Driving, Pilot, Stealth and a few others I believe. These skills DID appear in a later Chill supplement called Creature Feature. Starting skills in CW are slightly higher than in Chill. In Chill, a player can start out with 2-5 skill points. In CW, that is increased to 3-6.

Fear checks are basically the same, although in CW are listed as optional. The check result names are a little different. Lily-livered in Chill becomes Loathing in CW, and Mildly Frightened becomes Misgivings, etc. Loss of Willpower points is the same for each level.

Combat procedure is the same right down to the order of actions and how surprise and initiative are determined. Without doing a line by line comparison, at a glance, all the missile and melee attack modifiers appear to be the same.

The weapon list and some modifiers are different. CW has added Laser Pistols and Laser Rifles, along with the Photon Rifle for all your science fiction horror games. Also ranges are handled differently than in Chill. Chill seems easier in this respect at least to me.

Movement rates in the two games are identical. Damage is also identical. In fact, the whole action table is identical between the two games except that in CW wounds aren't listed as scratch, light, medium, heavy, and critical. Instead you are just told to mark off one wound box (scratch equivalent in Chill), two wound boxes (light wound), three wound boxes (medium wound), etc.

One fairly big difference seems to be The Art (Paranormal talents in CW). The power names are different between the two games although without a more detailed analysis, I'm not sure if they are just renamed but function the same or not. A quick glance seems as if they have different descriptions and don't function the same. How these are acquired is slightly different in the two games as well.

Creatures (Things in CW) are pretty similar, although at a glance there are some differences in Insight Points (experience points in CW) awarded for defeating them, and in number of attacks and other small details.

Gamemaster advice is a bit sparse in the Chill boxed set, spending a lot of time talking about the role of a gamemaster, and some very basic advice on creating an adventure, game balance, elements of horror and campaign play. This takes up about three or four pages in the rulebook and is very basic and broad strokes. CW is a bit better in this regard as it covers tone in a horror game, elements and themes, research and investigation in a more focused manner. There is no SAVE, as mentioned upthread. Instead, CW gives you several different agencies and societies to use in a game, which in turn can be a catalyst to create your own.

Chill has a short list of media inspirations, (a list of novels and their authors). CW has a longer list of authors, and a very large list of movies and TV shows. CW has an example of play that Chill lacks.

As stated by a couple other folks here, Cryptworld is essentially a clone of 1st edition Chill. There are a few differences, mostly cosmetic, but a couple that go a bit deeper than that. A GM running Chill could fairly easily allow a player to make a character using the CW book and the character would be almost 100% compatible, with the exception of paranormal talents which seem to be different enough from the Art in Chill that some conversion work would be necessary. A few other minor things would need to be addressed as well, such as weapon ranges.

 

[KrakaJak]

Star Wars D6 deserves all the love it gets. Star Wars Saga Edition is interesting for it's place in D20 RPG history.

I think it's a very solid Star Wars game in the core. It's much improved over the previous two D20 editions, and really fun in it's own right. It is definitely not for Original Trilogy purists, but it does a great job for the high action/combat of the Clone Wars/Rebels cartoons or the wushu-god Luke Skywalker expanded universe of the time.

It was stated by either Mike Mearls or Rob Heinsoo (I forget which) that Star Wars Saga Edition was a testbed for some of the then upcoming D&D 4e ruleset. But D&D 4e went MUCH further into the tabletop skirmish game direction than Saga did. D&D 5e, IMO, is much closer to Star Wars Saga Edition than D&D 4e is, so I'm often left wondering what lessons Wizards learned from this game that caused them to miss the mark* as much as they did with 4e.

*(A note to hopefully avoid 4e/5e edition wars: By "miss the mark," I mean popularity and appeal wise. D&D 4e is a very well liked game by a good number of people, but it does not have the popularity or appeal that 5e currently enjoys.)

 

[Gringnr]

I really love Erick Wujcik's Amber Dicless RPG. I know that you can buy it on drivethru and other sources, but it's a different company making the money and Erick's ideas were never written up beyond the core rulebook and Shadow Knight supplement. Such a shame that ADRP is fading away, as it used to be highly discussed on many boards and now is a ghost of itself.

Eh, I guess I'll throw my two cents in for Over The Edge. From what I understand, the new edition uses a different mechanic than the previous version. I'm not normally a fan of rules-lite, but OtE I dug.

 

[Trippy]

Eh, I guess I'll throw my two cents in for Over The Edge. From what I understand, the new edition uses a different mechanic than the previous version. I'm not normally a fan of rules-lite, but OtE I dug.

It does, but because the character stats are presented more or less the same, it remains compatible with the old system.

 

[Gringnr]

It does, but because the character stats are presented more or less the same, it remains compatible with the old system.

What? That's legit. Is the new system better?

 

[Voros]

Eh, I guess I'll throw my two cents in for Over The Edge. From what I understand, the new edition uses a different mechanic than the previous version. I'm not normally a fan of rules-lite, but OtE I dug.

Is the orginal edition of OtE out of print? I think Atlas still has it available on their website last time I looked.

 

[Raleel]

I have most of my favorites. TMNT probably is the high point there, though some of the Rifts stuff I am not sure is in print. I have In Nomine as well. I happen to have a copy of the Star Trek RPG. Hardly touched it and never played it that I remember.

Maybe spelljammer, but I bet that is in pdf now.

 

[Trippy]

What? That's legit. Is the new system better?

Weeell - it's not a disaster. It's bit like the freeform son of Apocalypse World meets Fate, and has a some tropes/gimmics that you might pick up from some more modern games, but basically it's a simple 2D6 roll high (7+ or 8+ depending on whether they initiate or resist an action). You can reroll an individual die or two if you have an advantage or disadvantage, which is usually worked out by comparing trait scores/difficulty levels, taking the best or worst roll respectively. Also, if one of the dice rolls a 3 something bad happens, if one of them rolls a 4 something good happens. These are built in to the custom dice, although you can roll normal dice if necessary.

But, yes, there is no reason why you can't just ignore all this and simply roll dicepools with the traits as in the previous edition. It mentions this in the book too.

On top of this, the setting material is original to this edition but as entertaining to read as the original.

 

[Giganotosaurus]

Maybe spelljammer, but I bet that is in pdf now.

I second this, and to my knowledge there are no "official" pdfs. A few fan made updates for the newer editions and some nautical highwaymen, but nothing offical. However while I was reading several new 5th edition supplement books I noticed that there are a lot of ideas borrowed from Spelljammer, Githyanki Astral Skiffs, Mindflayer Nautiloids, our good friends the Giff. It seems like they're intergrating old Spelljammer stuff into the base game.

 

[Raleel]

I second this, and to my knowledge there are no "official" pdfs. A few fan made updates for the newer editions and some nautical highwaymen, but nothing offical. However while I was reading several new 5th edition supplement books I noticed that there are a lot of ideas borrowed from Spelljammer, Githyanki Astral Skiffs, Mindflayer Nautiloids, our good friends the Giff. It seems like they're intergrating old Spelljammer stuff into the base game.

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (2e) - Wizards of the Coast | SpellJammer | AD&D 2nd Ed. | AD&D 2nd Ed. | DriveThruRPG.com

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (2e) - Multitudes of worlds wheel through Wildspace. The crystal shells that encase them bob and drift in a turbulent, rainbow

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Giganotosaurus]

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (2e) - Wizards of the Coast | SpellJammer | AD&D 2nd Ed. | AD&D 2nd Ed. | DriveThruRPG.com

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (2e) - Multitudes of worlds wheel through Wildspace. The crystal shells that encase them bob and drift in a turbulent, rainbow

www.drivethrurpg.com

Welp, I'm blind!

 

[Raleel]

Welp, I'm blind!

I hadn’t even looked to be honest but wizards has been very good about releasing old stuff in pdf.

 

[Voros]

Welp, I'm blind!

Yeah pretty much all the TSR back catalgoue is available as legit pdf now.

 

[Séadna]

As kitsch and corny as it was I love "Kindred of the East". Just put up for POD there recently, but prices were nutty on ebay last year.

 

[Imaginos]

I’m a fan of Villains & Vigilantes 2nd revised edition. Didn’t care for the Might Protectors changes for 3rd edition. I would rather use Champions if I’m going to point cost it out.

 

[opaopajr]

I am eyeing a copy of Ghostbusters RPG yet to be priced at one of the FLGS shops I frequent... Mmm, the sweet ambrosia of nostalgia!

 

[Baulderstone]

I am eyeing a copy of Ghostbusters RPG yet to be priced at one of the FLGS shops I frequent... Mmm, the sweet ambrosia of nostalgia!

Just make sure it is the first edition and not GBI, although GBI might be worth getting if it is cheap.

 

[opaopajr]

Just make sure it is the first edition and not GBI, although GBI might be worth getting if it is cheap.

It's the West End Games one? Them's the right magic beans, yeah?

 

[Dumarest]

I’m a fan of Villains & Vigilantes 2nd revised edition. Didn’t care for the Might Protectors changes for 3rd edition.

Did FGU recently stop selling 2nd edition on their web site? Last I looked it was still in print. There are tons of adventure modules they've published for it in the past decade and I understand they're still producing new ones.

Mighty Protectors...seemed like a wasted opportunity to clean up some ambiguities in V&V.

 

[Baulderstone]

It's the West End Games one? Them's the right magic beans, yeah?

They are both from WEG. The second edition is called Ghostbusters, International, and it is pulls things back to be a much more conservative design.

 

[Dumarest]

Just make sure it is the first edition and not GBI, although GBI might be worth getting if it is cheap.

I am eyeing a copy of Ghostbusters RPG yet to be priced at one of the FLGS shops I frequent... Mmm, the sweet ambrosia of nostalgia!

Ghostbusters International does its damnedest to turn a great game into an ordinary one. Go for the original if you're going to pursue it at all, otherwise you may come away wondering why people found Ghostbusters to be anything special.

(Not that anyone should download it, but the original is also quite easy to find in PDF form online.)

 

[finarvyn]

Eh, I guess I'll throw my two cents in for Over The Edge. From what I understand, the new edition uses a different mechanic than the previous version. I'm not normally a fan of rules-lite, but OtE I dug.

I get the impression that there are three editions. Is the "previous version" 2E and the "new edition" 3E? Or do you mean 1E and 2E? I'd like to know which one you recommend before I track down the wrong one.

 

[Gringnr]

I get the impression that there are three editions. Is the "previous version" 2E and the "new edition" 3E? Or do you mean 1E and 2E? I'd like to know which one you recommend before I track down the wrong one.

The 2nd Edition was a word for word reprint of the first with new art, IIRC. Loved it. It really created a compelling, versatile setting with just enough rules to make it work.

 

[Baulderstone]

I get the impression that there are three editions. Is the "previous version" 2E and the "new edition" 3E? Or do you mean 1E and 2E? I'd like to know which one you recommend before I track down the wrong one.

There are three editions, but the second edition is mostly just the same game as first edition but with higher production values. Maybe there is some additional setting content from supplements in there, but I can't recall exactly.

The third edition has a new system, and gives a new version of the setting, but it still largely backwards compatible. I haven't played it yet, but it looks like fun.

I don't think there is wrong edition to get, but getting both 1st and 2nd is going to be redundant.

1st Edition

2nd Edition

3rd Edition

 

[Gringnr]

To be clear, my remarks refer to the core rulebook.

 

[Edgewise]

There are three editions, but the second edition is mostly just the same game as first edition but with higher production values. Maybe there is some additional setting content from supplements in there, but I can't recall exactly.

I think one of the things that drew me to OTE at first was the 1st edition cover. That second edition cover is so damn ugly, like most of the adventure supplement covers for the line. The new 3rd edition cover is OK.

 

[Baulderstone]

I think one of the things that drew me to OTE at first was the 1st edition cover. That second edition cover is so damn ugly, like most of the adventure supplement covers for the line. The new 3rd edition cover is OK.

I was drawn by Jonathan Tweet's name on the cover, as I was already an Ars Magica fan. When I flipped through it and saw it had a setting influenced by Burroughs and a system influenced by Ghostbusters, it was a done deal.

 

[Edgewise]

When I flipped through it and saw it had a setting influenced by Burroughs...

Yeah, I was big into Naked Lunch at the time - very 90's, what can I say?