Quote from: grodog;404050Can you please post a list of your favorites among the French CoC supplements, with a quick note about why, and whether they're still in print or not?

Les Années Folles is really *the* supplement coming to mind. This is the one to get. I checked a list of supplements over the years, but none of them really hits a homerun like this one did.

Quote from: grodog;404050PS:  I had an old comb binding version of Nephilm from way back in the day (I used it as part of my review of the game in TUO, IIRC), but traded it away for something or other.  I think it may have been the MultiSim version, but don't remember....

Hmm. Do you remember the cover? Was it mostly blue, with a sort of astrolabe of gold on it, or was it mostly white, very light grey?

Ah. Here. This is the first edition of Nephilim in French:



And this is the second edition:



The First edition is great in a "less is more" kind of way which will appeal to the old schooler in all of us. The Second edition is IMO better, since it has better mechanics (still Basic RPS), benefits from the years of development of the first edition, with better spells, invocations and alchemical formulas, a clearer background, full-on descriptions of possible periods of incarnations for your Nephilim, with a neat way to determine what your character did during this or that period of incarnation, and how it affects your final skills, Ka, types of occult knowledge you developed and why, when you reincarnate in the present days. Very, very cool. Highly recommended.

The Third edition, this:



Uses a new game system losely based on WW's world of darkness with dots and stuff, but is VASTLY more complex, and ends up not making sense at all. It basically sucks. NOT recommended at all.

Quote from: Drohem;402117Bunnies & Burrows (1st edition) and Dinky Dungeons come to mind.

A 1976 FGU edition of Bunnies & Burrows is my most prized gaming possession. My only prized gaming possession, come to think of it.

I keep forgetting - I've never been able to get my hands on a copy of TWERPS.

Quote from: Melan;402129One thing I missed wasn't so much a system, but the Rolemaster Shadow World supplement. Judging by a review that ran in a Hungarian gaming magazine back then, it would have been perfect for me when I was 15, except no stores were selling it. Today, it doesn't seem out of my price range, but... do I really want it anymore? Hm.

If you are still curious about Shadow World, this new introductory book might be worth checking out.

I own a fair amount of SW material (I was really into RM in the mid-late 1980s, and retain a certain fondness for it to this day).  The quality of SW books varies wildly.  Some are complete rubbish.  However, the material written by Terry Amthor (the creator of the setting) is consistently interesting and of high quality (although Amthor has a deep love of very detailed timelines: one for the master atlas was over 50 pages long, describing in some detail what happened in SW over thousands of years).

The setting is an interesting mix of fantasy and science fiction (I believe that 'magic' is attributed to the planet's existence on some inter-dimensional nexus, or something like that).  

One nice thing about the world is that the continents constitute (largely) autonomous settings.  So most of what I own is for the continent 'Jaiman' (which is a decent 'quasi-medieval' setting), and I never really had any interest in anything that concerned any of the other continents.

The big downside of the setting (IMO) is that it includes a few uber-NPCs and world-spanning organizations.  All of the real movers-and-shakers of the world seem to be ageless/immortal members of various 'superhero'/'supervillain' orders/cabals.  Some of the 'supervillains' are actually very cool, but I could not imagine running a game with PCs capable of actually taking them on.  Fortunately, this aspect of SW can be downplayed/ignored/excised.  

I still enjoy mining Amthor's SW modules for ideas to this day.  However, I doubt that I will ever run a Shadow World campaign.

Quote from: skofflox;402001dude, I can get you Space Opera ( a heavily used ed.) from my local shop for less than $10.00. Books (2) only, no box etc., and I mean heavily used though not taped together or anything...am willing to help out a fellow gamer and ship it to you if you re-imberse!
I will go there today and check on the condition/price to be sure.

Thank you for the offer.  It is appreciated.

But I think I'm going to let Space Opera remain the one that got away.  I think I'm better served by letting it retain it's mystique to me rather than finally own it and see what it's really like.

Quote from: Doom;404058MB made these huge boxed games with plastic bits long before it became in vogue, and had a whole series. Axis and Allies, I played and loved. Shogun, I played and liked alot (tended to deadlock once players figured out the game, though). Fortress America was awesome if unbalanced (I still have mine, with Hussein on the box, back when he was just another CIA employee).

But the fourth game in the series was B&B. I heard it sucked, but I still would have liked to play the game...never have seen a copy in decent condition at a decent price.

That's one of the ones I missed out on too.  I wanted it pretty damn bad back in the 80s.

As I understand it, B&B was the first of the Game Master series.  I've never seen a copy of it in real life.  As you say, it's supposed to be pretty bad, but all the minis and the model ships gave it a level of coolness.

The second game of the Game Master series was Conquest of the Empire.  I've seen and played this one.  It was kinda neat, but it definitely didn't measure up to the later three Game Master games, and that was probably why it was discontinued in short order.  I believe a company has recently released a new edition of this one.

Then came Axis & Allies, Shogun, and Fortress America.  I wish I still had Fortress America.  The interesting thing is that everyone said it was unbalanced, but the opinion was split 50%/50% as to whether it was unbalanced on the side of the U.S. or the invaders.

I remember playing the Hell out of Fortress America. A friend still owns a copy of it. I never noticed it being unbalanced; the US lost about as often as it won.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;404156I remember playing the Hell out of Fortress America. A friend still owns a copy of it. I never noticed it being unbalanced; the US lost about as often as it won.

I love that game... still have it somewhere.

I don't think the game was unbalanced, but the strategy was all about time. The early game favors the invaders. The late game favors the US. So if you were the invaders, you had to blitz and try to win fast, because the invaders' resources diminish while America's slowly increase.

I also love the card that repurposes "farm machinery" into attack helicopters.

Quote from: Benoist;404061Les Années Folles is really *the* supplement coming to mind. This is the one to get. I checked a list of supplements over the years, but none of them really hits a homerun like this one did.

Thanks.  I checked out your first link via Google Translate @ http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.legrog.org%2Fjeux%2Fappel-de-cthulhu%2F1920-s-1930-s%2Fannees-folles-fr and I'm definitely impressed:  it sounds like a wonderful boxed set!  Hmmm.....

Quote from: Benoist;404061Hmm. Do you remember the cover? Was it mostly blue, with a sort of astrolabe of gold on it, or was it mostly white, very light grey?

My recollection is that it was red and comb-bound, but I'll have to go back to my old notes (if I still have them) to confirm that.  I might be thinking of an early edition of Taiga, perhaps, too....

Oh yeah, Conquest of the Empire, another fun game, mostly cool because of the plastic pieces that are nigh mandatory nowadays. I had that one too. Good, but combat was goofily flawed (catapults ftw!).

And, back when we all played such games, Fortress America was sure considered very heavily favored for America. Any trip up by any of the invader players in the first few turns meant an easy win for America, while America could screw up the first few turns and actually be better off for it.

Quote from: Insufficient Metal;404161I also love the card that repurposes "farm machinery" into attack helicopters.

:heh: I'd forgotten that.

Yeah, you're right about timing in the game. If the American player could hang on in the early rounds, he had the game won.

Quote from: Gabriel2;404150Thank you for the offer.  It is appreciated.

But I think I'm going to let Space Opera remain the one that got away.  I think I'm better served by letting it retain it's mystique to me rather than finally own it and see what it's really like.

roger that...

Had Ringworld and sold it years ago for £30.00 . Also own Dune and will never give it up lol. You can prise it from my cold dead handsand only after you have disarmed the booby traps lol.

The game I would love to get is Chivalry and Sorcery 2nd Edition.

Quote from: Clanger;404243Had Ringworld and sold it years ago for £30.00 . Also own Dune and will never give it up lol. You can prise it from my cold dead handsand only after you have disarmed the booby traps lol.

The game I would love to get is Chivalry and Sorcery 2nd Edition.

Hello Clangor...welcome to the fun factory!
Dune RPG?...I wants soooo bad...

Hey. Welcome, Clanger-dude!