IP's that ought to have their own RPGs

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Actually I wouldn't describe Logan's Run as a B-Movie either. It had a healthy budget and was intended as a major motion picture, at least if you consider Gene Siskel to know anything about the movie business of the 70s (as he called it: "unquestionably the worst major motion picture I've seen this year." in his review).
 
Actually I wouldn't describe Logan's Run as a B-Movie either. It had a healthy budget and was intended as a major motion picture, at least if you consider Gene Siskel to know anything about the movie business of the 70s (as he called it: "unquestionably the worst major motion picture I've seen this year." in his review).

Depends if you define B-film by budget or prestige. In the 70s pre-SW sf films were definitely considered B-films in terms of prestige. Actually it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind that was the real game-changer for sf in Hollywood.
 
I was watching a documentary about Ralph Bakshi a couple weeks ago and they included some little known connections between Wizards and Star Wars. Both were being made by 20th Century Fox in 1977. Mark Hamill is in both films (Sean the Son of the Mountain Fairy King and duh, Luke). He got the part in Wizards first, but since both were 20th Century Fox films he was able to do both parts.

In a brilliant move when Ralph Bakshi asked for an additional $50,000 to finish the movie (on a $2 million budget), the studio said if he used his own movie he could have the rights to the film. In an even more brilliant move, they made the same deal with George Lucas when he asked for more money (whoops).

With that as an opener, someone needs to do The Rotoscoped World of Ralph Bakshi RPG



Oops, well an easy mistake since Ralph certainly seems to come from the Sir Mix A Lot school.








Some games come with free dice, but only The Rotoscoped World of Ralph Bakshi comes with a free bong. :hehe:

Holy Mother of Peral I need to watch Wizards again.
 
Most of the great films of the 40s-60s in Hollywood were the B-films. It is true that what led to the death of the exploitation market in the 80s was the major studios moving into the exploitation sphere inspired by Spielberg, Lucas and Cameron's tremendous success.

I don't quite see it that way. I think B-Films of the 80's, I think of Cannon group, Italian Imported Sword & Sorcery, Roger Corman, and the direct-to-VHS market. Hollywood may have made some bad films, but they were noticeably different in budget and cinematography. I do think, however, B-Movies went mainstream in the 80's, starting with the Horror genre.
 
I was watching a documentary about Ralph Bakshi a couple weeks ago and they included some little known connections between Wizards and Star Wars. Both were being made by 20th Century Fox in 1977. Mark Hamill is in both films (Sean the Son of the Mountain Fairy King and duh, Luke). He got the part in Wizards first, but since both were 20th Century Fox films he was able to do both parts.

In a brilliant move when Ralph Bakshi asked for an additional $50,000 to finish the movie (on a $2 million budget), the studio said if he used his own movie he could have the rights to the film. In an even more brilliant move, they made the same deal with George Lucas when he asked for more money (whoops).

With that as an opener, someone needs to do The Rotoscoped World of Ralph Bakshi RPG



Oops, well an easy mistake since Ralph certainly seems to come from the Sir Mix A Lot school.








Some games come with free dice, but only The Rotoscoped World of Ralph Bakshi comes with a free bong. :hehe:

You mean this?IMG_20190518_224429-01.png
 
That one's real!

Never actually owned a copy, though, so don't know anything about the system.
 
I don't quite see it that way. I think B-Films of the 80's, I think of Cannon group, Italian Imported Sword & Sorcery, Roger Corman, and the direct-to-VHS market. Hollywood may have made some bad films, but they were noticeably different in budget and cinematography. I do think, however, B-Movies went mainstream in the 80's, starting with the Horror genre.

Those were the dying days of exploitation in the US as it moved from the theatres to VHS. As Corman said exploitation was all about providing the things the major studios were unwilling to provide: action, gore, sex, sf and horror. In the 80s the major studios moved into all those spheres except for sex. Corman said nudity was the cheapest special effect, these days Hollywood remains as puritan in that regard as ever, whereas extreme gore is on TV weekly via The Walking Dead, etc.
 
Those were the dying days of exploitation in the US as it moved from the theatres to VHS. As Corman said exploitation was all about providing the things the major studios were unwilling to provide: action, gore, sex, sf and horror. In the 80s the major studios moved into all those spheres except for sex. Corman said nudity was the cheapest special effect, these days Hollywood remains as puritan in that regard as ever, whereas extreme gore is on TV weekly via The Walking Dead, etc.
Bear in mind, this is the U.S, up here in Canada, we are more open with boobage, but shy away from a lot of the violence you Americans are perfectly comfortable with. Just as an FYI.
 
Bear in mind, this is the U.S, up here in Canada, we are more open with boobage, but shy away from a lot of the violence you Americans are perfectly comfortable with. Just as an FYI.


That was really apparent when I was a kid, seeing Cheech & Chong movies north and south of the border.
 
Man, I LOVED Fire and Ice. I've been trying to get a game to do that sort of setting (with the serial numbers filed off, of course.)
 
Man, I LOVED Fire and Ice. I've been trying to get a game to do that sort of setting (with the serial numbers filed off, of course.)
This was a great animated movie, I really loved it.
I think I could easily homebrew the Fire & Ice setting, it's sparsely populated, so it's pretty simple.
There's barbarian kings in the volcanic lands, and evil sorcerers in the ice lands. The lands inbetween have heaps of wilderness regions for wild beasts and dinosaurs to roam, and to insert local dark cults etc etc.
No Orcs, but some kind of subhuman race for the evil sorcerers to use as war parties.
The whole setting is a GM tinkerer's playground, lots of things to insert in where needed.
I could run a great gritty combat game using the BRP system, I'd probably go with Mythras. Another option would be to look at one of the D&D OSR games, such as Crypts & Things or Savage Swordsmen of Hyborea. They all capture the flavour for a setting like this.
 
Last edited:
Bear in mind, this is the U.S, up here in Canada, we are more open with boobage, but shy away from a lot of the violence you Americans are perfectly comfortable with. Just as an FYI.

I'm Canadian too. I well remember Baby Blue movies on CityTV. But it's not relevant to the topic which is the US film industry.
 
If those are real and in your possession, you have me green with envy.
They are. I'm still missing Montegar, the GM screen and the character sheets to complete the collection.
 
They are. I'm still missing Montegar, the GM screen and the character sheets to complete the collection.

BZZZZZT, Sorry but the proper response is




I had no idea these existed, what little I can find say that they came out in the early 1990s from a publisher I've never heard of. If you were so inclined, I'd be interested in a brief overview if you wanted to start a thread on them.
 
BZZZZZT, Sorry but the proper response is




I had no idea these existed, what little I can find say that they came out in the early 1990s from a publisher I've never heard of. If you were so inclined, I'd be interested in a brief overview if you wanted to start a thread on them.

I will when I get a chance. It's somewhat notorious I think for being a Ken Whitman product.
 
I will when I get a chance. It's somewhat notorious I think for being a Ken Whitman product.
I remember seeing the books on the shelf at a local shop for years. Seeing the covers in this thread brings back recollections of all the times I walked past them looking for something else. The general consensus was that they were rather slapdash and I never took the time to really look at them as there were so many other games vying for my attention. The shop has been gone for twenty years now but I wonder if they were still open would they still have those books sitting on that same back corner shelf.
 
BZZZZZT, Sorry but the proper response is




I had no idea these existed, what little I can find say that they came out in the early 1990s from a publisher I've never heard of. If you were so inclined, I'd be interested in a brief overview if you wanted to start a thread on them.

Took another quick look at the core rulebook. System wise it looks like someone took Chaosium house system as a base and married it to Hero or GURPS. You buy stats, race, skill and have Backgrounds, Advantages and Disadvantages. My first look was pretty dismissive but I might have been wrong there. The problem with something like this is since it is point buy you really need to make sure you've priced things correctly or things can go horribly off the rails.
 
Is there not a game made to reflect 70s b-movie sci-fi weirdness?

“This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone. Mayday, Mayday...has nobody heard of us, dammit?”

(Yes, I subscribe to the notion that the original Traveller was an attempt to emulate SF weirdness).
 
The problem with something like this is since it is point buy you really need to make sure you've priced things correctly or things can go horribly off the rails.

Agree, I'm a big fan of HERO and GURPS so I like point buy in concept, but I don't usually like the point buy options in games that are not designed around point buy from the start. Well done, point buy is a great thing, but it is very easy to screw it up. Even if there are not serious game issues, I find many tend to lead to kind of dull, average characters, or freakishly unbalanced ones.
 
I'd play that. It's d6-based, right?
Not sure...I was thinking about writing up some very fast and loose rules so it might be. It will probably use only six-sided dice since that's my general preference. I need to work up the information for Laser-Ray Girls, Four-Armed Stranglers, Menacing Mutants, Deadly Doll-Men, Flesh-Fusion Experiments, and the Armada of Spaceships. I may have to expand upon what's in the movie.
 
Not sure...I was thinking about writing up some very fast and loose rules so it might be. It will probably use only six-sided dice since that's my general preference. I need to work up the information for Laser-Ray Girls, Four-Armed Stranglers, Menacing Mutants, Deadly Doll-Men, Flesh-Fusion Experiments, and the Armada of Spaceships. I may have to expand upon what's in the movie.
Actually, I was referring to your 13 moons game:smile:. All of the above would feel right at place there!
 
Actually, I was referring to your 13 moons game:smile:. All of the above would feel right at place there!
That game's gone so far away from what I originally intended, might as well toss in some Laser-Ray Girls, Four-Armed Stranglers, Menacing Mutants, Deadly Doll-Men, and Flesh-Fusion Experiments!
 
I don't understand how he's still working in the industry. We're a month away now from Far West's 8th Anniversary
When you utterly fail at running your own business, the natural thing to do is to work for other people. I understand people being upset about the Kickstarter, but it seems a little disproportionate to insist that he never be allowed to work again.
 
When you utterly fail at running your own business, the natural thing to do is to work for other people. I understand people being upset about the Kickstarter, but it seems a little disproportionate to insist that he never be allowed to work again.

Well, I'm not leading the charge in any sort of boycott, but I do think there's a difference between "he should be making right on this book he's already been paid for before writing other books", and not being allowed to work. I assume most people in the industry have other, more stable jobs.
 
This should have been a thing, I never understood how the blatant starwars rip off Buck Rodgers film and series took off while the AWESOME!!!! Flash Gordon film which maintained some loyalty to the source meandered off into cult classic status.

flashgordon rpg.jpg
 
This should have been a thing, I never understood how the blatant starwars rip off Buck Rodgers film and series took off while the AWESOME!!!! Flash Gordon film which maintained some loyalty to the source meandered off into cult classic status.

View attachment 9397



The guy who played Flash even wrote the forward.

Of course, I like your cover better
 
Well, I'm not leading the charge in any sort of boycott, but I do think there's a difference between "he should be making right on this book he's already been paid for before writing other books", and not being allowed to work. I assume most people in the industry have other, more stable jobs.
I don't know what happened there. I will say that creating and publishing an entire RPG is on a whole other scale of work than doing some freelance writing on someone else's project.
 
This should have been a thing, I never understood how the blatant starwars rip off Buck Rodgers film and series took off while the AWESOME!!!! Flash Gordon film which maintained some loyalty to the source meandered off into cult classic status.

View attachment 9397
I would buy this so fast even of the system sucked eggs. It should have a foreword by Sam Jones or maybe Melody Anderson.

Possessing a copy of the VHS cassette of this film is one of the first things that impressed me about my wife. This was at a time when the movie was not available on DVD and not held in high regard due to its coy sophisticated sense of humor going over many heads.
 
This should have been a thing, I never understood how the blatant starwars rip off Buck Rodgers film and series took off while the AWESOME!!!! Flash Gordon film which maintained some loyalty to the source meandered off into cult classic status.
To be fair to Buck Rogers: Buck Rogers begat Flash Gordon, then Flash Gordon begat Star Wars, so it's only fair Buck cashed in when he got the chance.
 

The guy who played Flash even wrote the forward.

Of course, I like your cover better

Stuff like this makes me so want to like Savage Worlds. I would have been all over that kickstarter, never even heard about it. At least it looks like everything is available from PEG.

Very classy that they recognized the film and got someone from the cast involved.


Well I have my Father's day gift suggestion. :hehe:
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top