[Fringeworthy] - Anyone played? Any thoughts?

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Ronnie Sanford

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One of my buddies pointed me at an old game from Tri-Tac Games called Fringeworthy. He was clear to make sure and leverage the setting but not the rules. A quick look and it looks a lot like SG1. Might be interesting to play using BRP / Magic World rules. Can anyone tell me anything?
 
Looking at Tri Tac’s site they have interesting IP. Not just Fringeworthy, Bureau 13 looks good to.
 
I know nothing about it, but you made me curious so I spent a little bit of time reading up on it. It makes me think Delta Green would be a natural fit, but that's just based on the subject matter and not anything more than a cursory understanding of the setting.

Sounds fun.
 
Fringeworthy really seems a lot like SG1. I am surprised law suits didn't happen. And Bureau 13 seems like X Files. I wonder if the settings were fun. You don't hear much about them anymore (part of that I am told is because the Tri Tac system is horrible).
 
I love their IP's, but the systems are really complicated for the settings. (Note, a lawsuit was started at some point against Stargate, but I imagine Tri-Tac is really to small to pursue it too far.) I love B13, and I'm sorrowful for the lost of its creator and the novel writer even if they'd come to issues with one another.
 
The writer died? Was this Richard? I am thinking of buying copies of both.
 
Sad. I found out that there was a Savage World's version of Fringeworthy in playtest in about 2014. Maybe Richard's death is the reason it hasn't come out.
 
Fringeworthy really seems a lot like SG1. I am surprised law suits didn't happen.
The first edition of Fringeworthy preceded the Stargate franchise by more than 10 years. The first 3 editions all were released prior to the Stargate movie.

I've heard of it but never checked it out, and wasn't aware that it had had 4 editions.
 
Sad. I found out that there was a Savage World's version of Fringeworthy in playtest in about 2014. Maybe Richard's death is the reason it hasn't come out.
There's supposed to be a Kickstarter for it some time in 2019 and it's supposed to be fully released in 2020, at least according to their forums.
 
There's supposed to be a Kickstarter for it some time in 2019 and it's supposed to be fully released in 2020, at least according to their forums.
Very cool! Was it a TriTac forum or Savage World forum?
 
Oh buy the way, i picked up a mint autographed copy of B13 from Ebay yesterday. I am pretty stoked!
 
I don't know about Fringeworthy. But a friend of mine has the Bureau 13 book. Way, way over complicated. We played Bureau 13 back in highschool using Heros Unlimited. Its was a blast. I will never forget the wizard blowing up some vampires with an M203 grenade launcher.
 
I don't know about Fringeworthy. But a friend of mine has the Bureau 13 book. Way, way over complicated. We played Bureau 13 back in highschool using Heros Unlimited. Its was a blast. I will never forget the wizard blowing up some vampires with an M203 grenade launcher.
Yeah! Every person I have talked to about Fringeworthy said it's system is uber complicated. I am going to pick it up but I will run it using BRP / Magic World.
 
My bad. Somehow I read that the thread on the Tri Tac forums was regarding a new edition of B13 and blanked on that fact when cross-posting it here.
 
It’s all good. I have already ordered B13 and I will get Fringeworthy soon.
 
My bad. Somehow I read that the thread on the Tri Tac forums was regarding a new edition of B13 and blanked on that fact when cross-posting it here.
A new edition you say? Interesting. Do you know anything about it? Is it stripped down and simplified by chance? WHole new system?
 
I have been told Savage Worlds Bureau 13 has been cancelled. I can’t find the link though
 
One of my buddies pointed me at an old game from Tri-Tac Games called Fringeworthy. He was clear to make sure and leverage the setting but not the rules. A quick look and it looks a lot like SG1. Might be interesting to play using BRP / Magic World rules. Can anyone tell me anything?

I ran a Fringeworthy adventure using Supers! Revised back in 2017 during Free RPG Day as a nod to the passing of Richard Tucholka. I ran it again this year using BRP (BRP --> OpenQuest --> River of Heaven to be more precise) rules as I wanted more gritty, normal human level rules. BRP is an excellent fit with the Tri Tac settings, IHMO.

Both times I had players who had no experience with Fringeworthy (or any Tri Tac game for that matter) but the setting description was enough to get them interested in playing.

I created around 16 pregen characters using an edited character sheet from River of Heaven, with art added from heromachin dot com and the Fringeworthy rulebook.

Let me add a bit about why the setting is so much fun. You have the thrill of exploring strange new worlds, helping out at times to make things better when you can, and as GM you can pull just about any written adventure from another game/setting and run it as an alternate world portal. You have the mystery of the portal system creators and the lurking danger of the infected Mellor who can show up at nearly any time or place. If you watched and liked the TV show Sliders (mostly the first season), or enjoy reading alternate history stories, or are a fan of Stargate, you'll probably enjoy the Fringeworthy setting.

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I ran a Fringeworthy adventure using Supers! Revised back in 2017 during Free RPG Day as a nod to the passing of Richard Tucholka. I ran it again this year using BRP (BRP --> OpenQuest --> River of Heaven to be more precise) rules as I wanted more gritty, normal human level rules. BRP is an excellent fit with the Tri Tac settings, IHMO.

Both times I had players who had no experience with Fringeworthy (or any Tri Tac game for that matter) but the setting description was enough to get them interested in playing.

I created around 16 pregen characters using an edited character sheet from River of Heaven, with art added from heromachin dot com and the Fringeworthy rulebook.

Let me add a bit about why the setting is so much fun. You have the thrill of exploring strange new worlds, helping out at times to make things better when you can, and as GM you can pull just about any written adventure from another game/setting and run it as an alternate world portal. You have the mystery of the portal system creators and the lurking danger of the infected Mellor who can show up at nearly any time or place. If you watched and liked the TV show Sliders (mostly the first season), or enjoy reading alternate history stories, or are a fan of Stargate, you'll probably enjoy the Fringeworthy setting.

WqwJu5p.png


7K9Z6Zs.png
Aww man! I would love to have played in that game. I have been thinking of running Bureau 13 under BRP myself. One of these days!
 
Fringeworthy really seems a lot like SG1. I am surprised law suits didn't happen. And Bureau 13 seems like X Files. I wonder if the settings were fun. You don't hear much about them anymore (part of that I am told is because the Tri Tac system is horrible).

I missed this thread last year, but since it has been revived...

I love the Tri-Tac games, they were very creative and pre-date a lot of the IPs I see people comparing them to, Stargate, Delta Green, even X-files. Played a lot of Stalking the Night Fantastic (Bureau 13) in high school. The Tri-Tac system actually isn't that bad, it is just poorly written, typical small press 1980s RPG style. It is a % based game similar in many ways to BRP, and in fact since we were familiar with Call of Cthulhu, where it wasn't clear we pretty much just assumed it worked like CoC and that worked pretty well.

The combat system is more complex and very detailed (it actually resembles a simplified Phoenix Command which it again pre-dates) but could easily be used with BRP rules or ignored and just use normal BRP rules. It would be quite easy to convert entirely to BRP or Mythras.

I played Stalking the Night Fantastic a lot in high school and even made a mug with the original versions cover art in my ceramics class. Unfortunately the mug has gone missing over the years.

There is a certain amount of tongue in cheek humor in the many adventures, but most are pretty solid. Tri-Tac is one of those companies that really should have been bigger, but for whatever reason they remain rather obscure. I know financially the company was hurt pretty badly by a Secret Service raid in the late 1980s and never seemed to recover from that.

Richard Tucholka was also involved with the development of The Morrow Project.
 
I don't own a copy of Hardwired Hinterlands yet, but it strikes me as a variation on Fringeworthy with each alternate on their own island.
 
Tri Tac is now providing some support for their various RPGs with the release of the Tri Tac Spotlight. Each issue is focused on one of the RPGs/settings. For example, issue #1 covers Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic with an adventure, equipment notes, history of the various editions and supplements, and more. Everything is presented in generic RPG terms, so it can be used with your rule system of choice.


The second issue just released and covers the Fringeworthy RPG setting and some related games (Hardwired Hinterlands and Weirdzone). I must confess I had a hand in writing some of this issue. It's a good way to get up to speed on some of the secrets of the setting and the updated terminology that up till now was scattered among several supplements.

 
Tri Tac is now providing some support for their various RPGs with the release of the Tri Tac Spotlight. Each issue is focused on one of the RPGs/settings. For example, issue #1 covers Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic with an adventure, equipment notes, history of the various editions and supplements, and more. Everything is presented in generic RPG terms, so it can be used with your rule system of choice.


The second issue just released and covers the Fringeworthy RPG setting and some related games (Hardwired Hinterlands and Weirdzone). I must confess I had a hand in writing some of this issue. It's a good way to get up to speed on some of the secrets of the setting and the updated terminology that up till now was scattered among several supplements.

Thank you. I will pick up both!
 
I should add that they are looking for contributors (they won't even charge you for writing stuff!) for these Tri Tac Spotlights. The next issue is focused on post-apocalyptic settings.

Submissions for Issue 3 Post apocalypse games are now open. In Issue three we are spotlighting Rogue 417, Cloisters and Huradicator. But we will accept any content based on a Post Apoc theme in any of Tri Tac Games settings.

Please contact us at rpg@tritacgames.com with your questions or submissions.
 
The only thing I know about Fringeworthy is that some guys ahead of me in high school mentioned that it was a secret amazing game that was way better than D&D. Despite playing role-playing games in high school in the late 80's, these were actual Cool Kids © and I had never heard of it before, so in my head in had the cachet of a super-obscure punk band that would kill the entire audience at the end of every show.

A few years ago, I spotted it on DriveThruRPG. It looked...OK. Kind of amateurish, probably a little ahead of its time in 1988 but nothing mind-blowing. One of those guys is now a high school teacher who does cool things to impress his students like showing up for class in period costume and asking the students to figure out who he is. I think they just knew how to run a good game.
 
The Tri Tac RPGs of the 80's and early 90's had a rather crunchy rule system (with some options for faster and simpler play). The hit location rules were insanely detailed, and just like real estate, wounds were all about location, location, location. It was the settings that made the games so much fun, not so much the rules (though we got a kick out of them back in the day).

If the idea of playing an average Joe character who is tasked with exploring alternate Earths appeals to you, then Fringeworthy may be worth a look.
 
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