The new edition of The Fantasy Trip (TFT) was recently released in pdf form to Kickstarter backers and will be rolled out to the general in various pieces and formats over the coming months. If you are new to the party, this is an official revival of the line of combat-focused board games (Melee, Wizard, Death Test) and the related roleplaying game (In The Labyrinth) published by Metagaming in the late 70's and early 80's. Steve Jackson Games has acquired the rights to the parts of that line that SJ himself wrote (pretty much all of the core), and just sent a truly amazing boxed set off to be printed. Some relevant links:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjgames/the-fantasy-trip-old-school-roleplaying?ref=user_menu
http://forums.sjgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100
This has been my main table top rpg system for close to 40 years and I played it frequently throughout that period, so I suspect I'm one of the more devoted fans out there. The new edition is really wonderful: completely true to the original, with careful Banzai-tree-level pruning, editing and subtle additions of new material. I would say the end result is most like comparing 2nd edition Runequest to 1st, or 5th edition Tunnels and Trolls to the previous editions: clearly the same game, clearly a product of 70's era game design concepts, but tightened up and modestly pumped up.
If you don't know about TFT, it is a very distinctive fantasy roleplaying system. On paper you could convince yourself it is GURPS-lite, but this is not really right. It is clearly the direct ancestor of GURPS, but has quite a different feel in play. It is highly tactical and very 'game-y' in its approach to combat. Its magic system in particular is the most integrated A very clean, streamlined system as a fully rpg. Very, very deadly to PCs (basically, just assume you will turn over characters at a fairly regular clip). Very bouncy and fun with lots of creative details.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjgames/the-fantasy-trip-old-school-roleplaying?ref=user_menu
http://forums.sjgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100
This has been my main table top rpg system for close to 40 years and I played it frequently throughout that period, so I suspect I'm one of the more devoted fans out there. The new edition is really wonderful: completely true to the original, with careful Banzai-tree-level pruning, editing and subtle additions of new material. I would say the end result is most like comparing 2nd edition Runequest to 1st, or 5th edition Tunnels and Trolls to the previous editions: clearly the same game, clearly a product of 70's era game design concepts, but tightened up and modestly pumped up.
If you don't know about TFT, it is a very distinctive fantasy roleplaying system. On paper you could convince yourself it is GURPS-lite, but this is not really right. It is clearly the direct ancestor of GURPS, but has quite a different feel in play. It is highly tactical and very 'game-y' in its approach to combat. Its magic system in particular is the most integrated A very clean, streamlined system as a fully rpg. Very, very deadly to PCs (basically, just assume you will turn over characters at a fairly regular clip). Very bouncy and fun with lots of creative details.