RE: Retroclones: with the exception of my beloved S&W WB I have to admit that I have grown to vastly prefer the TSR originals in almost every case. It's something about the art and presentation I think.

Not that I have anything against the clones, because I do not.

Why do you hate retroclones? Why Aos why?

I'm on the fence about recommending buying MF new vs. GW off eBay to a noob. For me, Mutant Future the third best thing to come out of the OSR (Mazes & Minotaurs is tops, then S&W: WB in second place).

Its interesting that GW 1e has better art than the AD&D core books.

The revised art in MF is pretty good, but I do agree that there is a special flair in the writing of the original whereas the clones tend to be more functional than inspirational.

I am hoping that the DCC RPG bucks this trend.

Hmm...I wonder if Joseph Goodman is a GW fan....

Quote from: J Arcane;509861I've had a bit of an epiphany.  Scrolling through the "why is D&D famous", and the recent genuine retrospective stuff that's been cropping up, and thinking about the cultural zeitgeist of that time, I started thinking about the stuff that got me fired up as a kid that I never found the game for.

When I was younger, I grew up with a dad who probably would've been a roadie for Led Zeppelin or something if he'd never met my mother and made bastard me.  I was always a bit behind the curve musically and culturally.  

But one thing that sticks out in my mind, is the art from those days.  My best friend growing up had this great book of art from one of the artists who did a lot of the Elric book covers.  And it was chock full of album art from 70s and 80s rock and metal bands, totally unrestricted, probably drug-induced visions of sci-fi and fantasy mashed together into vividly colored vistas of just pure fucking weird.

I wanted to play that.  I wanted to explore the worlds that these covers depicted.  I didn't want another shirtless Frazetta barbarian, or another fucking unicorn, I wanted mushroom forests and triple suns and lanky guys with laser guns flying robotic salamanders and all that shit.  

And the thing is, for years, I never found that game.  I saw hints of it in Jorune, but never managed to track down a copy, and it always seemed to take itself just a bit too seriously.

Then, by chance, and the stern advice of our own RPGPundit, I found Gamma World 4e (the TSR one, not Wizards' version which is technically 7e).  And this, this was fucking it.  This shit was fucking crazy.  Power armored warriors on robotic cat monsters, dog people shooting at flying eyeballs while a crumbling futuristic city rises in the background.  Pure fucking awesome, right out of those album covers I loved so much.

The fact that it was loaded with crazy random tables that could spin up such wonders as a one-eyed telepathic shark with laserbeam eye, or a six-armed sniper with webbed feet riding a motorcycle, just completes it all.

Gamma World was the game I always wanted when I was a kid and never managed to find.  It's a shame it took me so long to find it, and a shame on TSR that it never seemed to get the treatment it richly deserved. Maybe if they'd grabbed onto that metal madness with both hands they could've kept riding the wave a while longer instead of descending into SCA-inspired boredom with 2e.  Dark Sun was the closest D&D ever got to that level of Heavy Metal Magazine awesome, and I think that's a low down dirty shame.

not being rude but if you wamted to play 6 armed robot laserbean\m games why didn't you just write your own system?
I mean that would take like a day tops....

Quote from: jibbajibba;510315not being rude but if you wamted to play 6 armed robot laserbean\m games why didn't you just write your own system?
I mean that would take like a day tops....

Having designed my own game before, and several other partial projects, that shit's harder than it looks, dude.

Quote from: jibbajibba;510315not being rude but if you wamted to play 6 armed robot laserbean\m games why didn't you just write your own system?
I mean that would take like a day tops....

Why waste that time when it's already done for you? Not to mention, if you put a system together to do this in a day, it's going to be crap.

This game sounds amazing... far better than the depressing WotC 4e version (7e) that I've watched. If only I could find a copy... /checking ebay

I love my fantasy in all sorts of flavors: Heavy Metal Weird Fantasy, Frazetta Lush Space Opera, Vamped-out, feathered hair Easley epics. As in the immortal words of Freddy Mercury, "I want it all."

You're welcome.

RPGPundit

I wonder if there is a market for a not-quite Post-Apocalyptic alien fantasy setting.

Talislanta is fantastic, but even it isn't quite that alien. It is some...

Quote from: Silverlion;510605I wonder if there is a market for a not-quite Post-Apocalyptic alien fantasy setting.

Talislanta is fantastic, but even it isn't quite that alien. It is some...

I doubt there would be. It'd be "Too Weird to Live".

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;510808I doubt there would be. It'd be "Too Weird to Live".

RPGPundit

Probably--sadly none of the weird ones I know of have much life to them.

so, thanks to a helpful #rpgnet chatter, I've been directed to Roger Dean:  http://www.rogerdean.com/paintings/

OMG, this is soooo what I was on about in the OP.

Quote from: J Arcane;522834so, thanks to a helpful #rpgnet chatter, I've been directed to Roger Dean:  http://www.rogerdean.com/paintings/

Roger Dean... along with Patrick Woodrofe and Rodney Mathews... were big favorites of mine as a kid.
When I was playing World of Warcraft and finally got to the Outlands I was stunned to find myself strolling through a Roger Dean painting.
http://ktcmmo.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/one-of-the-saving-graces-of-outland.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87502441@N00/3316886737/lightbox/
The spectacular visuals and all the weird scifi content of the place kept me playing long past where I'd outleveled the area... but I always wondered how many folks were making the connection. A 2000s era game making callbacks to 70s era art.
I don't know of any pen & paper RPGs that really took on that style even when it was current.
Which RPG would be the closest to an unofficial Heavy Metal game?
That strange blend of Richard Corben and Mobius and Druillet and Enki Bilal and Sergio Macedo was certainly the inspirational fondue pot I dipped in when I ran Gamma World back when.

QuoteRodney Mathews

THAT'S HIM.  

That's the guy.  The guy whose book I was talking about in the OP.  I have been looking for him for like 20 years, ever since I first paged through In Search of Forever, but I could never remember his name.

His stuff was just amazing to me, and a huge influence on me as a kid, on the merits of a boundless imagination.  

Thank you so, so much for mentioning him.  

And yeah, Outland was totally prog rock album cover, right out of the old masters like Rodney Matthews.  Shame the gameplay itself was kind of a let down, but damned if it didn't have some cool vistas.  Nagrand is still probably the most beautiful place in the game.

i agree with simlasa--when i'm in a HM mood (and my subscription is active) i head to outland.

as to the OP, i only got to play a little of GW 2e back in high school.  years later i picked up a copy of 1e (dunno what happened to that ).

now i'm thinking about combining two great gonzos--GW and rifts. . . add the roger dean/HM scenery for flavor

QuoteWhich RPG would be the closest to an unofficial Heavy Metal game?
That strange blend of Richard Corben and Mobius and Druillet and Enki Bilal and Sergio Macedo was certainly the inspirational fondue pot I dipped in when I ran Gamma World back when.

Captain Sternn has definitely been a thought in the back of my mind while writing my current project.

EDIT: Holy shit, Rodney Matthews made a cartoon show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw3137pI11Y