Favorite Dead RPG company

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Brian Ansell, in two words. He decided that the company should refocus it's efforts to making pre-adolescent upperclass boys the target audience for a dumbed-down miniatures gameline, and killed every project line that didn't fit that model, causing the majority of the original creators to leave the company
Though not before leaving him a message on the contents page of White Dwarf (first letter of each entry's description)

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I do find it ironic that we're complaining about a long lived company chosing to follow the money on a thread about dead companies.
 
I think everyone has hit everything on my list. Except one thing GDW Space: 1889. I know theres a Savage Worlds version and an Ubiquity (sp?) version. But it not the GDW I desperately desire.
 
I think everyone has hit everything on my list. Except one thing GDW Space: 1889. I know theres a Savage Worlds version and an Ubiquity (sp?) version. But it not the GDW I desperately desire.
Are they hard to come by now? There was an exact replica published by Heliograph, but I don't know if that's any easier to find. The PDF is not expensive if you like those:
I just wish I had more than the basic game. Some of the supplements and adventures look pretty nifty.
 
Are they hard to come by now? There was an exact replica published by Heliograph, but I don't know if that's any easier to find. The PDF is not expensive if you like those:
I just wish I had more than the basic game. Some of the supplements and adventures look pretty nifty.
Honestly I havent put any effort into finding them. But I would prefer physical copies. I had PDF's of several books at one point. But I think I would get more mileage out of books.
 
Honestly I havent put any effort into finding them. But I would prefer physical copies. I had PDF's of several books at one point. But I think I would get more mileage out of books.
I can only use PDFs if I print them out and put them in a binder. I recently saw GDW Space: 1889 on eBay for about $25.00. I harbor a fantasy of finding someone's recently sold collection of Space: 1889 books on the used shelf at the game shop...you never know...I got a bunch of WEG Star Wars books that way a few years back.
 
I can only use PDFs if I print them out and put them in a binder. I recently saw GDW Space: 1889 on eBay for about $25.00. I harbor a fantasy of finding someone's recently sold collection of Space: 1889 books on the used shelf at the game shop...you never know...I got a bunch of WEG Star Wars books that way a few years back.
If I see them what's the price point you're looking at for a Max? I hit used stores a lot. Recently the HPB in Redmond has been clearing out a clearly large collection.
 
I can only use PDFs if I print them out and put them in a binder. I recently saw GDW Space: 1889 on eBay for about $25.00. I harbor a fantasy of finding someone's recently sold collection of Space: 1889 books on the used shelf at the game shop...you never know...I got a bunch of WEG Star Wars books that way a few years back.
Also I have these if you want anymore info on any of them
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If I see them what's the price point you're looking at for a Max? I hit used stores a lot. Recently the HPB in Redmond has been clearing out a clearly large collection.
Still paying off that $5,000+ heater and installation + permit fees, so I would only buy 'em cheap, like if I saw them for $5 or so. Otherwise I'd wait since it's not like I have any plans to run it anytime soon.
Also I have these if you want anymore info on any of them
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Mainly looking for interesting adventure scenarios and locations, and any useful additional gear--adventure ideas more than full-fledged modules, plus the sort of stuff you'd find in the old West End Games Star Wars Sourcebook. Anything especially good in those?
 
Anyone ever tell you that the green font you use causes actual, physical pain to their eyes?

More on topic, this is an area I'm quite ignorant in. How is old Chaosium different than the current incarnation?

It's been brought up once before...

I know Chaosium has had some serious ups and downs over the years, mostly depending on who was holding the reins. However, I simply dislike 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu, preferring 3rd through 6th Edition. 3rd Edition was not the first I played, but I find I prefer it, and having the old Games Workshop logo on the spine is a nice reminder of when they were about more than just Space Marines.
 
It's been brought up once before...

I know Chaosium has had some serious ups and downs over the years, mostly depending on who was holding the reins. However, I simply dislike 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu, preferring 3rd through 6th Edition. 3rd Edition was not the first I played, but I find I prefer it, and having the old Games Workshop logo on the spine is a nice reminder of when they were about more than just Space Marines.

3rd is the only CoC rulebook I've kept (I owned 3rd - 6th revised at one point). Love the painted cover, love the colour plates inside, and love the setting guide included as part of the rules.
 
3rd is the only CoC rulebook I've kept (I owned 3rd - 6th revised at one point). Love the painted cover, love the colour plates inside, and love the setting guide included as part of the rules.

I can't argue with any of those points.

I also prefer the smaller choice of occupations and less overblown lists of skills and spells. The small illustrations for the mythos creatures are just delightful too.
 
Hero Games is technically not dead, but it's definitely in the retirement home.

jg
 
Hero Games is technically not dead, but it's definitely in the retirement home.

jg
I consider their decisions re: 6th edition to be tantamount to attempted suicide.

(I recently received used copies of the two main books...I can't imagine finding the time to read them.)
 
Are those the green books that are about three inches thick?
 
It's been brought up once before...

I know Chaosium has had some serious ups and downs over the years, mostly depending on who was holding the reins. However, I simply dislike 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu, preferring 3rd through 6th Edition. 3rd Edition was not the first I played, but I find I prefer it, and having the old Games Workshop logo on the spine is a nice reminder of when they were about more than just Space Marines.
I like the green text
 
Vis-à-vis Call of Cthulhu, I have nothing against other editions; it's just that 3rd--the only one I've ever owned--does everything I need and is a very handsome all-in-one volume, so I feel no need and see no reason to buy another version. I've actually used it more with Ghostbusters than on its own for Lovecraftian investigation. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate, at least for my sensibilities.
 
I consider their decisions re: 6th edition to be tantamount to attempted suicide.

(I recently received used copies of the two main books...I can't imagine finding the time to read them.)
You have a copy of 6th edition book 1?
 
Blue and yellow and closer to two inches each, I think. I'd have to get them from a high closet shelf to measure.
Book 1 is hard to find cheap or was last I checked.
 
Vis-à-vis Call of Cthulhu, I have nothing against other editions; it's just that 3rd--the only one I've ever owned--does everything I need and is a very handsome all-in-one volume, so I feel no need and see no reason to buy another version. I've actually used it more with Ghostbusters than on its own for Lovecraftian investigation. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate, at least for my sensibilities.

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I don’t think we need Doc Brown’s mind reader to find out what your favorite candy bar is.
 
I have never owned HERO and don’t know much about it but that’s ridiculous.
 
Honestly don't have much use for HERO anymore. I feel like Mutants and Masterminds managed to do the same thing it was trying to do power wise without being nearly as dummy thicc. It just feels easier to run and make stuff in.
 
I can't argue with any of those points.

I also prefer the smaller choice of occupations and less overblown lists of skills and spells. The small illustrations for the mythos creatures are just delightful too.
I've got a copy of CoC 3e on the shelf and am also fond of its presentation. It's been a long time since I've looked it over, though, and have only used 5e and 6e in play. (Well, I ran a single session of 2E about 34 years ago, but that's it).

I don't remember much about the difference in rules between 3e and 5e, besides the reduced starting skill points. (EDUx15 Occupational Skill Points instead of x20?). I'll have to pull it off the shelf and give it a re-read soon.
 
While getting those Hero books down for measuring, I found what remains of the U.S.S. Catawba up there...it was originally going to be a FASA Trek Nelson-class scout cobbled together from spare model parts, but my skills and tools were too lacking for that so I ended up making it approximate a Hermes-class scout from the old Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual, which I believe is the book Star Fleet Battles licensed.
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I have never owned HERO and don’t know much about it but that’s ridiculous.
My understanding is it's that thick because it has tons of examples and edge case clarifications. Steve Long is a lawyer and it shows.
 
While getting those Hero books down for measuring, I found what remains of the U.S.S. Catawba up there...it was originally going to be a FASA Trek Nelson-class scout cobbled together from spare model parts, but my skills and tools were too lacking for that so I ended up making it approximate a Hermes-class scout from the old Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual, which I believe is the book Star Fleet Battles licensed.

For a long time I had an AMT Star Trek III Enterprise model. Eventually the pylons snapped at the base as they are prone to do. So I repurposed it into a Siva class (movie style lolipop ship). I kept my custom Siva around for years until eventually I decommissioned it and it went to the great scrapyard.
 
My understanding is it's that thick because it has tons of examples and edge case clarifications. Steve Long is a lawyer and it shows.
This is true. The rules themselves are actually pretty simple. Steve Long attempts to address every possible interpretation and loophole, and uses more words than necessary at that, plus his writing style is so dry you risk starting a brushfire if you read it in the sun. My personal opinion is that his off-putting writing style and the resulting off-putting length of the rules has done more to kill Hero System than anything else except the emergence of Mutants and Masterminds, which saw that void and stepped in to fill it.

Don't get me wrong: I'd still play Champions or Justice Inc. I'd just go back to 3rd edition or earlier for it.
 
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For a long time I had an AMT Star Trek III Enterprise model. Eventually the pylons snapped at the base as they are prone to do. So I repurposed it into a Siva class (movie style lolipop ship). I kept my custom Siva around for years until eventually I decommissioned it and it went to the great scrapyard.
Had to look that one up--do you mean Shiva, a subclass of the Saladin, which seems to be pretty popular on the Star Trek modeling scene?
Federation_USS_Siva.gif

Was that for use with your Star Trek gaming, or just for display?
 
Had to look that one up--do you mean Shiva, a subclass of the Saladin, which seems to be pretty popular on the Star Trek modeling scene?

Was that for use with your Star Trek gaming, or just for display?

The fan publication Starfleet Prototype heavily influenced my view of TOS movie era Trek. That book called a ship of that sort of configuration a "Siva"


Here's the full book:


Likewise, because of fan publications of that era, I call the Miranda class the "Avenger" class.

I have several favorites from that book. The Starstalker class tops the list for me. The Adamant actually appeared in a Star Trek game for the PSP and DS.

As for my Siva model, it was just for display.
 
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