I just stumbled into a cache of really old games being sold online.
I want to get a couple of them, and I even want to run a couple of them, possibly online. (Yes, this is related to my recent Universe obsession).
Ok.
I just need some help making decisions. Some of these are presenting to me multiple edition decisions and I don't really need multiple editions. I just want to get the one edition people can actually use.
Here are my choices.
Microgame 3: The Fantasy Trip: Melee
Microgame 3: The Fantasy Trip Melee 5th Edition (whats the diff?)
Microgame 3: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard
Microgame 3: The Fantasy Trip Wizard 5th Edition (whats the diff?)
The Fantasy Trip: Advanced Melee
The Fantasy Trip: Advanced Wizard
The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth
Assume each one of those is 5$ and I only want to spend around 15$ at the most. (do I need Wizard AND Melee?) Should I just get the advanced game?
Also they have nearly all the Microgame adventures for Wizard and Melee: Master of the Amulets, etc. I don't know if I want those. I like doing my own adventures.
ok, choice #2.
Tunnels and Trolls: 5th Edition. Is that a good edition? I heard some of the editions are kinda whack. I have never owned any edition of this game but I'm curious about it.
SPI's Dragonquest: 2nd Edition. I have owned several editions of this game, and I have a really badly beaten up copy of it. I can get a pdf for 5$. Worth it? Only if I run it somewhere, really.
If I run any of these games online I will give out free copies of the pdf I buy to the participants just so you can make your character and stuff.
T&T5 is a perfectly good version of the game. But I don't think any of the versions are especially . . . um, whack.
Quote from: stu2000T&T5 is a perfectly good version of the game. But I don't think any of the versions are especially . . . um, whack.
Do you (or anyone else?) know easy it is to come up with custom races and classes (assuming it uses them..) in T&T?
I briefly owned Melee about a hundred years ago and I can recall making an assortment of nonhuman weirdos in that game.
Does anyone know if I need to get say.. Melee
and Advanced Melee? Or does Advanced pretty much cover everything in Melee plus a little more?
If it's this site you're talking about: http://members.iinet.net.au/~avalon11/IMPRINT/MasterDownloads.htm
He's charging for pirated goods. He clearly doesn't have the rights to the games he's distributing, and they're all homemade scans. His excuse seems to be that it's a server surcharge, but then he turns around and sells whole CDs worth of scanned Universe books. Regardless, it doesn't wash.
If you're gonna pirate, do yourself a favor and find a good IRC server and jsut download the scans for free. You'll save some money, and you won't be supporting some guy making money off someone else's work.
Well, I figured out I probably want T&T 7th Edition in any case. I came across a character generator that was pretty extensive for it.
http://eposic.org/rpg/tnt/seventh/index.php
http://www.freedungeons.com/rules/
For out of print stuff, I feel pretty clear of conscience. I just want the game.
Hey, I got no problem with casual piracy, especially with OOP material. I could even give you some addresses of where to find this stuff for free.
I do have a problem with jackasses trying to charge for pirated goods. That ain't cool.
Master of the Amulets is worth a look, as it's not only an adventure module for TFT but a self-contained setting (it's a wilderness adventure that takes place in a magically concealed valley that has been removed from the rest of creation). As for books required to play TFT. . .
You'll need Advanced Melee or Melee, Advanced Wizard or Wizard, and The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth. Everything else is optional, really (though if you can find the TFT Codex, it's worth a look).
Happy gaming!
Actually, I've heard it said that T&T 5th edition was superior to 7th. Not that I have firsthand knowledge.
T&T 5th ed is the classic T&T. 7th ed has some good ideas but complicates things a bit unnecessarily. You can still easily find 5.5 around, it's the old 5th ed with an appendix containing some new rules, which are better than the 7th ed ones IMO.
There is no 6th ed (7th was a joke on being "twice as good as the other game's 3.5") and 5th came out in way back in 1979, so T&T's history isn't that complicated - 5th ed is basically what everyone thinks of as Tunnels and Trolls.
TheShadow
So my fiery dragon annyversary extravaganza doesn´t have the right geek credentials?
Quote from: J ArcaneHey, I got no problem with casual piracy, especially with OOP material. I could even give you some addresses of where to find this stuff for free.
I do have a problem with jackasses trying to charge for pirated goods. That ain't cool.
You too, huh? There's this douche on eBay who periodically sells burned CDs which he's taken to calling his "personal sketches of the covers" of roughly 30 3.5 D&D books...except the first one, which has the identical list of books, was just sold as scans of the book. I've reported this fucker to eBay four times now, and every time the auction closes without a problem.
I'm thinking next time I'll just email the auction listing to the highest-up-the-chain email address I can find of WotC's legal department.
Quote from: Christmas ApeI'm thinking next time I'll just email the auction listing to the highest-up-the-chain email address I can find of WotC's legal department.
Why do you care?
Quote from: The_ShadowWhy do you care?
If I ruin someone's day, I get a Skor bar, and I love toffee. And if I cause enough justified human misery I get a free t-shirt and a $40 Red Lobster gift certificate, and I'm itchin' for some tequila-lime grilled jumbo shrimp.
More seriously, it just rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not answerable to anybody for my bizarre prejudices. :keke:
Fair enough :D
Quote from: The_ShadowWhy do you care?
I think there is a difference between downloading someone's work without paying for it, and actively profiting from someone else's work.
I personally accept the former as simply part and parcel with the nature of the Internet, as unavoidable as the tide. "Information wants to be free" and all that. I've even taken advantage of it a few times, though very rarely with RPGs, because I understand that these are smaller companies than, say, EA or Rockstar in the video game world. Plus PDFs suck.
However, when you take it beyond that, and start actually trying to profit off the backs of someone else's work, that's just plain wrong. And deserves whatever the hell can be thrown at it in due course of the law. Plus, once you start dealing with the folks who actually profit off piracy, often you're dealing with some seriously unsavory characters. I'm talkin' real organized crime. I doubt that influence is much prevalent in RPGs, but it is almost everywhere else it pops up.
It's just not something I can support at all, not for anyone else's work, and not for my own.
Melee, Wizard and ITL is all you need.
Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard offers additional rules that I didn't like but I like simplicity and speed in games.
Another option for your Melee/Wizard fix is Dark City Games (http://www.darkcitygames.com). They have produced a free downloadable set of rules (Legends of the Ancient World) that are 99% compatible with Melee/Wizard. This ruleset powers their series of Programmed Adventures (solo games). Quick and easy to play. Plus they were a great bunch to meet at GenCon last year.
Thanks!
Eric
AM, Advanced Melee & Advanced Wizard are a bit hard to "get" IMO without the basic versions. You can use the basic versions plus ITL and have a complete RP game.
Most of the adventures are good to great.
I didn't know this guy was selling without having the rights. But he clearly doesn't have the rights to the Metagaming stuff, nobody could possibly (except Howard Thompson) without it being fairly big news.
There's a web site out there with nearly all of the TFT stuff on PDF for free. It's not hard to find.
PS. with Metagaming, later editions are always better. They never horribilized their stuff, they just fixed typos and tweaked broken rules into perfection. (E.g. in original Ogre, heavy tanks had a speed of 2 and GEVs moved 4*4 IIRC, and those quickly led to game-breaking strategies. Next printing/edition upped heavy tanks to speed 3 and GEVs to 4*3, and it's stayed that way forever.)
I feel guilty, for IIRC it was I who spread that link to begin with. The site did look legit, if slightly odd.
Quote from: Pierce InverarityI feel guilty, for IIRC it was I who spread that link to begin with. The site did look legit, if slightly odd.
I totally thought it was too!
Well, if I can find The Fantasy Trip somewheres else, maybe that will do. I also found a really great Dragonquest community.
Edit: found it:
http://www.jgimmigration.com/tft/TFTdownloads.htm
Quote from: Abyssal MawI totally thought it was too!
Well, if I can find The Fantasy Trip somewheres else, maybe that will do. I also found a really great Dragonquest community.
Edit: found it:
http://www.jgimmigration.com/tft/TFTdownloads.htm
You might have an easier time getting
TFT from Crazy Egor's used Games booth at Gen*con. (thats the actual name of the guy's booth)
I think Egor has a website - but I KINOW they are much more hones and will search for things if you ask them to .
Since Melee and Wizard are almost the unacknowledged grandparents of GURPS - I'd love to get a copy of them myself someday. Almost did when I was 13 - now I wish I had.
- Ed C.
Quote from: SettembriniSo my fiery dragon annyversary extravaganza doesn´t have the right geek credentials?
As far as I can tell, no. But that wouldn't stop T&T7 from being awesome, would it?
Quote from: SettembriniSo my fiery dragon annyversary extravaganza doesn´t have the right geek credentials?
Well, it's written by Ken St Andre, so the geek cred doesn't get much better...and it's a good game. But 5/5.5 is the Grognard's Choice if you have to choose one version of T&T.
TheShadow