The Games Time Forgot

[stevekenson]

So the other day I got a call out of the blue from Lou Prosperi. I used to work with Lou back when he was a developer at FASA Corporation and I was freelancing. He now lives in Massachusetts and, as it happens, was looking to clear out some of his (truly extensive) game collection. So he invited a bunch of people over to see if they wanted anything. Now, my own game collection is pretty extensive, but it was a good opportunity to drop by and see Lou, plus I was going to be in the area anyway visiting Rosalie at Lahey.

I still managed to find a few things Lou was unloading I didn’t already have, namely:

Fringeworthy: An RPG about exploring parallel Earths and other dimensions from TriTac. Some have claimed this game was inspiration for Stargate (the film and the series). I don’t know if that’s true, although there certainly are similarities (a gate system build by a long-vanished, highly advanced race).

Ringworld: The boxed set by Chaosium in near perfect condition (dice included!). Always wanted to read this one.

Sandman: Map of Halaal: The last product put out by the late, lamented Pacesetter. I was a big fan of Pacesetter’s other games, especially TimeMaster (Chill was a close second). I bought just about everything they put out back in the day, but didn’t get Sandman at the time, another one I always wanted to read.

Superworld: One of the very first superhero RPGs and one of the only ones I didn’t already own, although I did already have quite a few of the supplements for it.

Of course, chances are I’ll soon have to see about thinning out my own RPG collection.... it’s that or buying a new house.

Comments

[vestribear.livejournal.com]

I loved Fringeworthy and still have the rules, lol. I also recently found my Villians and Vigilantes rules and modules, hehe. I miss the old games, simple rules..for the most part.

[xomec.livejournal.com]

Ah, V&V, my first superhero RPG. Still have all the old modules for it, too. I was a big fan of Jeff Dee's art back in the day.

[vestribear.livejournal.com]

oh yeah loved his art too! You could imagine my surprise when a friend of mine was dating Jeff Dee, which led to gaming with him, woo hoo. They moved away not too long after that...le sigh...

[dadiceguy.livejournal.com]

I lost my copy of Superworld in a move some time back, like to find another. That and a copy Superherp 2044.

I remember seeing ads for Sandman but never a copy in a store. Was always curious about it. Played the heck out of Chill, though.

[kosmic.livejournal.com]

Ringworld would be a blast to go through, one day I hope to find it as well. Though its not the creation of his I have envisioned gaming in. Rather I have thought out on occassion what an "Integral Trees" game would run like. Mind you I would play a Ringworld game in an instant.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Stargate's "inspiration" seems to have been the director's film school classmate's original idea. The "portal system of the ancients" meme goes way back before either Stargate or Fringeworthy to Land of the Lost and Witch World, and arguably into previous centuries.

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

I had a copy of Sandman back in the day and, even now, I'm not sure what I think of it. On the one hand, the basic premise -- the characters are people with no clue who they are trapped in a surrealistic fantasy world -- is very cool. Unfortunately, the way this played out was not so cool, with a very heavily-plotted, railroad-y bunch of adventures that gave little to no insight to the GM about what was going on and that would have taken (I recall) several boxed sets to complete.

I think a game based around a similar idea but with loots of GM advice on how to construct one's own "deep secret" of what's going on and how to play that out would be nifty. Unfortunately, I suspect there'd be zero market for it, because, in the end, it'd appeal primarily to GMs and not players.