This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Author Topic: Forgotten RPGs  (Read 30118 times)

Lurkndog

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 823
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #90 on: October 26, 2020, 09:30:11 AM »
Wow, there was a Dallas roleplaying game. I wonder if they were trying to recapture the RPG-as-a-mainstream-party-game market? That was definitely a thing in the early 80's.

Later on it kind of came back with the "How to Host a Murder" games, which were essentially parlour mystery LARPs.

Omega

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • O
  • Posts: 17093
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #91 on: October 26, 2020, 10:45:57 AM »
Ones on the list I have heard of or have.

Quest of the Ancients: Heard of and pretty sure have met the designer. Never seen the game though.
Shades of the Ancients: Saw at a con but never got to actually look at.
Lost Souls: I recall a review on this one way back and at least one discussion. Never saw at a con though.

Expendables: This one oddly got discussed in a few gaming magazines but never seen.
Stalking the Night Fantastic: For a while this was talked about fairly often. Probably because Richard Tucholka and Tri Tac were involved.
Mutazoids: Another one that got discussed for a while. Its fairly well known on the Gamma World mailing list.

Dallas: This one is not forgotten at all. It usually makes the list of oddball RPG ideas or about any list of IP related RPGs.

High Colonies: This I had. But was stolen with a bunch of other gaming material over a decade ago and have not been able to replace yet.
Nightlife: This and the expansion I have as a gift from one of my players. Id say this one is not forgotten as it comes up in about any discussion of WOD alternatives.
Attack of the Humans: I know the artist for this one.
World Tree: Playtested this one with the designers and know the artist.

Omega

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • O
  • Posts: 17093
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #92 on: October 26, 2020, 11:07:57 AM »
Oddly forgotten one.

The Nights Edge setting and adventures for CP2020. By IANUS games before they became Dream Pod 9. This is a rather well done attempt to present a supernatural and techno-horror setting for Cyberpunk2020. Grimms Cybertales is a great one for playing with various problems and maladies in the CP2020 and NE settings.

Comes up semi-often in discussions for alternatives to Shadowrun and I've mentioned it fairly often here.

Oh and of course the oft forgotten, which is totally fitting for this game, is. Creeks & Crawdads. Where you play the most intelligent life form left on earth after a nuclear war. Crawdads! Intelligent being a rather generous term here as your characters have a hard time remebering what they were supposed to be doing.
This one used to be fairly well known way bac as a joke RPG. But aside from the GW mailing list seems to have been forgotten.

Superhero 2044: An oddly obscure one from Gamescience wayyy the hell back in 77. I had it but its another one that was stolen. Odd system and odder setting which, oddly, reminded me a bit of Captain Canuk.

Starships & Spacemen: A pretty obscure one from 77 and published by FGU. Pretty much Star Trek with the serial numbers allmost filed off. The focus is more ship oriented and the game actually plugs in well with its board game counterpart Star Explorer. Good rules and some rather nice GM tips from the dawn-o-RPG-time. I have both from when Goblinoid Games acquired it and released it in PDF format. GG also has a new edition of it and a friend of mine and former player wrote at least one of the expansions.



Simon W

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 541
    • Beyond Belief Games
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #93 on: October 26, 2020, 07:08:43 PM »
The follow up to Ysgarth was a science fiction rpg called To Challenge Tomorrow by Ragnarok Enterprises. I had both - they were fanzine-style in zip-lock bags. We played Ysgarth once (I liked it but I'm not sure my players did! Maybe it's how I ran it...) but never got to play TCT. I also remember a time travel rpg called Time and Time Again by the Morrow Project people (Timeline). I think they had two editions - I had the first edition. I'm guessing that one is pretty much forgotten. I think we played that maybe twice.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2020, 07:10:58 PM by Simon W »

spon

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 344
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #94 on: October 27, 2020, 06:25:30 AM »
I played an online game of Nightlife only a month ago! System was typical D100 with some nice ideas and some messy ones. NPC stats seemed to follow no logical rules (you could drain more HPs from a model than an off-duty cop. Really?) and he had some really odd ideas about drugs (Just say "no" guys & gals). But I enjoyed the game. Not sure I'd recommend it for today's audience, however.

spon

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 344
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #95 on: October 27, 2020, 06:28:33 AM »
Oh, and I owned Mutazoids, 2nd edition which I picked up for 50p at some bring & buy. Never played it though.

brettmb

  • It's just me.
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3011
    • Precis Intermedia
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #96 on: November 05, 2020, 03:52:46 PM »
Part 6 in my new Forgotten Games series on my blog, with a bonus.
https://www.pigames.net/store/blog.php?entry=2840

Brad

  • Semper Qvantvm Potes
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3630
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #97 on: November 05, 2020, 04:31:19 PM »
Part 6 in my new Forgotten Games series on my blog, with a bonus.
https://www.pigames.net/store/blog.php?entry=2840

The Legend of Yore...I picked that up a while back. It's a decent D&D knock-off. Same with Pelicar, bought that brand new. Got Darkurthe Legends new when the local gaming store was clearing stock, it is actually a badass game, would highly recommend to everyone. The system is alright, magic is sort of fiat, but the setting in fantastic.
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

thedungeondelver

  • Advanced D&D
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6039
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #98 on: November 05, 2020, 06:09:13 PM »
Realm of Yolmi.  Someday, I shall have it.  Someday...
THE DELVERS DUNGEON


Mcbobbo sums it up nicely.

Quote
Astrophysicists are reassessing Einsteinian relativity because the 28 billion l

brettmb

  • It's just me.
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3011
    • Precis Intermedia
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #99 on: November 05, 2020, 07:48:16 PM »
Realm of Yolmi.  Someday, I shall have it.  Someday...
There's a bunch of games I'd like to get, but HAAAARRRRDDDD to find, especially at a reasonable price.

myleftnut

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • m
  • Posts: 206
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #100 on: November 05, 2020, 10:15:32 PM »
Vampire the Dark Ages.  I love that shit.  I would like to see more alt-history games.  There is a game called Lex Arcana coming out soon that looks really good.

Omega

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • O
  • Posts: 17093
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #101 on: November 05, 2020, 11:06:26 PM »
Realm of the Gateway seen ads for but never seen in a store.

Was going to mention Pelicar as I still have an old ad for it handed out at a con. But never knew if it saw publication.


brettmb

  • It's just me.
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3011
    • Precis Intermedia
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #102 on: November 13, 2020, 03:30:02 PM »
Part 7 in my new Forgotten Games series on my blog.
https://www.pigames.net/store/blog.php?entry=2842

VisionStorm

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2184
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #103 on: November 13, 2020, 04:19:11 PM »
Part 7 in my new Forgotten Games series on my blog.
https://www.pigames.net/store/blog.php?entry=2842

I actually saw Heroes & Heroines at my local hobby store back in the day (the (90s), but I never got around getting it. That's the only one that seems familiar to me, though.

Spike

  • Stroppy Pika of DOOM!!!!!
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8105
  • Tricoteuse
Re: Forgotten RPGs
« Reply #104 on: November 14, 2020, 07:44:22 PM »
I'll start with a review of the games I've seen mentioned...

I never owned but I recall seeing Dawnfire in game stores.
Quest of the Ancients is on my shelf, but I've never even finished reading it.  I am reminded of a game I used to own that was a D&D-ish game with a black cover with a pentagram on it... got me in trouble with family one vacation as a lad. I swear I replaced my old lost copy years ago, but no idea where it is, or what it was called.
Legionaire: have. Recall having had it in the past as well.  Something about aliens that are 'not-human' but still mostly human and mechanically superior to humans... also the  dual purpose sci-fi guns. Good times.
Ravenstar: I'm drawing a blank, but it is a maddening blank full of vague notions that I had this once upon a time.
Nightlife: Was going to do a thread on this one actually, having recently found an online supplement from the original author of the game that details some behind the scenes shennanigans he seems to think cost him his chance to make it big... white wolf style...  I think he's wrong, sadly.  Normie gamers don't want to learn actual rules with statistically modeled numbers, they want pretty tokens. ..

Now for my own contributions, with apologies to our host but I'm not going to his blog to read seven pages of lists in addition to reading this thread...

Maurader 2107, my favorite obscure cyberpunk offering. I used to have every book (all three of them), but I long ago lost my Akuma book and sadly finding a replacement is unlikely.

Does SLA Industries count as obscure? Probably not. Forget I mentioned it.

Valiant Universe RPG? I've seen books on the shelf of the friendly local game store, but honestly I feel like one of the only people that even remember Valiant Comics existed...

StarChilde Publications games: A twofer:  Guardians (superheros) and Justifiers (Pre-Furry, antro sci-fi planetary exploration).

Is Millenium's End obscure?

Rather than mention every other mildly uncommon and frequently quite new-ish game I have, I'll close off with the HDL books: Basic Rules, Demongate High, and Perfect Horizon.

If I start digging through boxes, and have a decently objective view of what counts and what doesnt (who has that, anyways?), I could probably be at this all day....
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

For the curious: Apparently, in person, I sound exactly like the Youtube Character The Nostalgia Critic.   I have no words.

[URL=https: