If HPL invented RPGs...
Arthur Boff
Supposing HPL survived the illness that in reality killed him in 1937.
After recuperating, August Derleth asked him permission to found Arkham
House to publish both Lovecraft's fiction and other Mythos items
(Derleth was shaken by Lovecraft's near-fatal illness). Lovecraft
agreed, but was sceptical about its success.
But it was successful, and so by the 1940s HPL had a steady trickle of
income. By the end of the war Arkham House had published HPL's first
full-length novel, and Lovecraft decided to take a holiday from writing
(the Holocaust had caused him to do a major rethink of his racist
beliefs).
On this holiday HPL started to think about his childhood. As one of his
letters (real-life - look in Masks of Nyarlathotep if you have it) as a
kid he preferred plot in his games. He wondered if he could come up
with an adult game which included storytelling elements.
In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
Inspired, Robert E. Howard used some wargaming rules to come up with
hack 'n' slash fantasy game "Dungeons & Dragons", whilst Bloch designed
the first Live Action "Murder Mystery".
Here's the experiment: How would gaming have developed if it had
started off like this?
Arthur Boff
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Michael Cule
have written. Not to mention Zelazny: LORD OF LIGHT: The RPG...
--
Michael Cule
Actor And Genius
AKA Theophilus Prince Archbishop Of The Far Isles Medieval Society
Arms Purpure An Open Book Proper: On the Dexter Page an Alpha Or
On the Sinister an Omega Or. Motto Nulla Spes Sit in Resistendo
(Resistance is Useless). Ask me about the Far Isles:
Better Living through Pan-Medieval Anachronisms.
Matthew Bond
Arthur Boff wrote in message <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>Here's a fun thought experiment some of you might enjoy.
>
>Supposing HPL survived the illness that in reality killed him in 1937.
<snip>
>In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
>L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I take it we're also assuming that REH survived his suicide attempt in 1936
that killed him in RL [or perhaps that his mother didn't die in '36, the
event that lead to his suicide?]. How many people have to NOT die in this
thought experiment? ;-P
Klyfix
Cule) writes:
>
>I dunno but I wanna see what sort of games Heinlein or Theodore Sturgeon
>would
>have written. Not to mention Zelazny: LORD OF LIGHT: The RPG...
>
Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
SF Magazine. Wonder if ever considered game mastering or writing up
a scenario from his stories.
V.S. Greene : kly...@aol.com : Boston, near Arkham...
Eckzylon: http://members.aol.com/klyfix/eckzylon.html
RPG and SF, predictions, philosophy, and other things.
Renovations underway, Aug. 22, 1999
guy_ro...@my-deja.com
Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Here's a fun thought experiment some of you might enjoy.
>
[...]
>
> On this holiday HPL started to think about his childhood. As one of
> his letters (real-life - look in Masks of Nyarlathotep if you have
> it) as a kid he preferred plot in his games. He wondered if he could
> come up with an adult game which included storytelling elements.
>
> In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that
> included L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert
> Bloch, HPL ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
>
> Inspired, Robert E. Howard used some wargaming rules to come up with
> hack 'n' slash fantasy game "Dungeons & Dragons", whilst Bloch
> designed the first Live Action "Murder Mystery".
>
> Here's the experiment: How would gaming have developed if it had
> started off like this?
Looking at your alternate time-line I believe that the Professor
Barker, creator of Empire of the Petal Throne, would have found that
his pre-adolesent games strongly resembled this emerging games by HPL
and have become played RPGs during his study of lingistics.
The alignment system for Howard's D&D would probably start off with a
Barbaric and Civilised axis to which would be added Noble and Ignoble
when later editions came out.
L. Ron Hubbard would write Traveller and then claim that what he wrote
about was true, founding a religion called Psiontology.
Micheal Moorcock would have written the Fantasy Trip (given the name of
his RL band I think this is apt) and later rewrites it as GURPS to
capture the multiple genre feel of his Eternal Champion series.
Inspired Micheal Butterworth would write GURPS: Time of the Hawklords
as tribute to both Moorcock and Hawkwind.
With the better SF/Fantasy writers doing RPGs the SF fandom would be
inseperable from role-playing. RPGs form an early kind of merchanding
and it becomes customary to publish RPGs for new books & films.
However George Lucas perfects merchandising with the release of Star
Wars and shows that action-figure, and games that promote sales of
those figures, are more profitable than books.
Old gamers start to lament the global spread of GL shops, aimed at kids.
The Golden Age ends.
--
Guy Robinson
www.legendary.freeserve.co.uk
[all standard disclaimers apply]
David G. Bell
mi...@room3b.demon.co.uk "Michael Cule" writes:
> I dunno but I wanna see what sort of games Heinlein or Theodore Sturgeon would
> have written. Not to mention Zelazny: LORD OF LIGHT: The RPG...
He autographed my copy of the Amber RPG.
<smug grin>
Whatever he might have done in that alternate world, I think it would
have been interesting.
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Incanus
> Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
> SF Magazine. Wonder if ever considered game mastering or writing up
> a scenario from his stories.
Two words: Amber Diceless.
Incánus
--
Incanus email: inc...@bigfoot.com
Incanus homepage: http://incanus.mcs.hr
Incanus games: http://incanus.mcs.hr/games/
Random Chance
How about the world Created by Heinlien in Number of the Beast. That was
a good one for alternative universes.
--
William Lessard
FORD
"go sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here"
Jack Nicholson, As Good as it Gets
"If a man hasn't found something he will die for, he isnt fit to live."
Martin Luther King JR.
"The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do
than in what we are free not to do."
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)
Jesus said to them, "Who do you say that I am?"
They replied, "You are the eschatological
manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma
of which we find the ultimate meaning in our
interpersonal relationships." And Jesus said, "What"
Unknown
bra...@mediaone.net
Arthur Boff
"Matthew Bond" <m...@akira.swinternet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Arthur Boff wrote in message <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
> >
1937.
>
> <snip>
>
included
> >L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch,
HPL
>
> I take it we're also assuming that REH survived his suicide attempt
in 1936
> that killed him in RL [or perhaps that his mother didn't die in '36,
the
> event that lead to his suicide?]. How many people have to NOT die in
this
> thought experiment? ;-P
DOH!
We can keep Howard, or we can exchange him for some other author. It
doesn't really matter, since it's only a thought experiment, and
besides - you have to admit that original D&D would be his sort of
thing.
Tim Isakson
> Klyfix <kly...@aol.com.bogus> wrote:
>> Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
>> SF Magazine. Wonder if ever considered game mastering or writing up
>> a scenario from his stories.
> Two words: Amber Diceless.
Two more words: Wild Cards
This series was supposedly started from an RPG campaign . . . or so
legend has it.
========================================================================
Tim Isakson loi...@io.com | "...we are clearly an intolerant
Dallas, TX, USA | society largely devoted to pretending
http://www.io.com/~loiosh/index | otherwise" - Tom Tomorrow
Arthur Boff
guy_ro...@my-deja.com wrote:
> In article <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > On this holiday HPL started to think about his childhood. As one of
> > his letters (real-life - look in Masks of Nyarlathotep if you have
> > it) as a kid he preferred plot in his games. He wondered if he could
> > come up with an adult game which included storytelling elements.
> >
> > included L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert
> >
> > Inspired, Robert E. Howard used some wargaming rules to come up with
> > hack 'n' slash fantasy game "Dungeons & Dragons", whilst Bloch
> > designed the first Live Action "Murder Mystery".
> >
> > Here's the experiment: How would gaming have developed if it had
> > started off like this?
>
> Looking at your alternate time-line I believe that the Professor
> Barker, creator of Empire of the Petal Throne, would have found that
> his pre-adolesent games strongly resembled this emerging games by HPL
> and have become played RPGs during his study of lingistics.
>
> The alignment system for Howard's D&D would probably start off with a
> Barbaric and Civilised axis to which would be added Noble and Ignoble
> when later editions came out.
>
> L. Ron Hubbard would write Traveller and then claim that what he wrote
> about was true, founding a religion called Psiontology.
>
> Micheal Moorcock would have written the Fantasy Trip (given the name
of
> his RL band I think this is apt) and later rewrites it as GURPS to
> capture the multiple genre feel of his Eternal Champion series.
Harry Harrison writes Paranoia, loosely based on a section of "Bill,
the Galactic Hero" (in which Bill is confined to a bureaucracy-infested
planet and is recruited as a government spy in a secret society in
which all but one person is a government spy).
John McMullen
>
> Incanus <inc...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> > Klyfix <kly...@aol.com.bogus> wrote:
>
> >> Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
> >> SF Magazine. Wonder if ever considered game mastering or writing up
> >> a scenario from his stories.
>
> > Two words: Amber Diceless.
>
> Two more words: Wild Cards
>
> This series was supposedly started from an RPG campaign . . . or so
> legend has it.
This is dim memory so rely on it as an indicator rather than proof,
but I believe the campaign was run by George R. R. Martin. It may
not have been the basis for the campaign, however.
I (and a group of others at a con) had dinner with Martin and he
said he'd had to give up roleplaying because it sucked too much
creative energy from writing. This was way before Wild Cards.
Somewhere Zelazny mentioned that he hadn't played in Martin's
campaign, but I can't remember if that was in conversation (at
another con) or in an article.
John
David Chart
> Here's the experiment: How would gaming have developed if it had
> started off like this?
You know, I had a similar thought a few months back, but decided not to
post it. I did save the file... Here it is:
The Good Old Days
[Transcript of a speech]
Thank you, Mr Chairman, for that most kind introduction. I must say that
it is a great honour to be asked to give the keynote address at ConCan
50, and it is gratifying to get by far the largest audience I have ever
had in my life. I know that we all want to get on with the games and so
I shall, as is customary, be brief. At a 50th event, it seems right to
look at where we have come from, and where we are going.
I take it that most of us know that role-playing began in 1944, at a
meeting of the Inklings in Oxford. Tolkien was reading some chapters of
:The Lord of the Rings:, which he still intended to be a novel, and his
friends, somewhat the worse for drink, were heckling the decisions of
his characters. Frodo and Sam were climbing down towards the Dead
Marshes, so he pointed at two of them, saying,
"Right, nay-sayers. You're Frodo, you're Sam. What do you do?"
The ensuing argument over whether Sam really would have slipped and
fallen to his death is entertainingly recalled in C S Lewis's letters,
as is the upshot. The following week Tolkien, seized by enthusiasm as
was his wont, arrived with a set of rules for deciding such things, and
role-playing as we know it was born. There were only two available
characters, and by the end of that evening, the other Inklings were
demanding roles, as were a couple of spectators. Tolkien resolved to go
back to the beginning and write them in.
As the war drew to a close, Tolkien finished writing, and running, 'The
Lord of the Rings'. His letter to Stanley Unwin is worth quoting again
-- I suppose some of you may not have heard it.
"As the dreadful bomb was obliterating Hiroshima in a flash of light,
Legolas was dropping the One Ring into Mount Doom, and the sequel to
:The Hobbit: was at last complete. I am afraid that it has changed into
something quite unlike a novel: my son calls it 'role-playing'. It is
closer to the ancient art of storytelling, wherein the tale was matched
to the audience, than to the modern art of the novel. I enclose the
manuscript, and I hope it is still of interest."
Stanley Unwin passed the manuscript on to his son, Rayner, who had been
entrusted with reviewing :The Hobbit: ten years earlier. He was
enthusiastic, both about the particular manuscript, and about the form
in general. :The Lord of the Rings: was published in England in late
1946, and took the country by storm.
Remember that the war might have been over, but rationing was not. Even
paper was rationed. Films were expensive. Entertainment was hard to come
by. :The Lord of the Rings: could entertain a family or a group of
friends for more than a year, for an initial outlay equivalent to taking
everyone to the cinema once.
Variant RPGs were produced in short order, many of them dealing,
unsurprisingly, with the war. Some of these are now collectors' items,
especially the infamous "Auschwitz: The SS Supplement". However, few of
them were of much lasting importance. The two exceptions are obvious.
The first is Isaac Asimov's :Foundation:, published in 1950, and
launched at ConCan 1. This is the game that science fiction role-playing
has built on over the years, either emulating it, or deliberately
branching away. Asimov's 1953 supplement, :The Positronic Mind:, is
still the classic 'How to play an alien' book.
The second is C. S. Lewis's :Narnia:, published in 1952. The subtle
handling of religious themes convinced the establishment that
role-playing could be a serious endeavour, and Lewis's use of mechanics
that were not derived from Tolkien's started a second wave of
creativity.
The Fifties and early Sixties are often regarded as the Golden Age of
role-playing. Personally, I think that much of this is nostalgia on the
part of old codgers like myself. The games we played when we were
teenagers are tinted with the happy glow of memory, and probably
couldn't support that assessment now. :Pax Romana:, for example, was a
great way to learn Latin, but as an RPG it has not weathered translation
well.
Nevertheless, there were a lot of games produced, and many of them were
very important. Christopher Tolkien's indefatigable work on his father's
world slowly moved the hobby away from plotted adventures, and towards
settings. His :Moria: was the first dungeon adventure, and is still as
good now as it was then. :Valinor:, published in 1965, is generally
regarded as the last, and possibly the greatest, flowering of the Golden
Age. For the first time there was a setting giving as much freedom as
the dungeon, and as much purpose as the story.
:Valinor:'s main competitor for the top spot is, of course, :Dune:,
which appeared in the same year. A setting of similar scope to
:Valinor:, it drew on science fiction for its background. :Dune: is also
notable for being the first really successful RPG published in the
United States. Melange Games remains a major player in the industry,
although Unwin Roleplaying is fairly firmly fixed in the top spot.
Ian Fleming's :On Her Majesty's Secret Service:, although rightly
excoriated for its dreadful mechanics and tendency to let the NPCs
overshadow player characters, did introduce the spy genre, and it is, I
believe, unfortunate that copyright wrangles have prevented anything
being done with the films. However, the level of venom normally
expressed when Fleming is mentioned is uncalled for, especially from
people who weren't even born when the game came out.
The late Sixties and Seventies are generally thought of as a dry patch.
:2001: started the trend of games tied into films, which reached its
nadir in the Seventies with :Confessions of a Window Cleaner:. However,
I think that it is better seen as a period of experimentation. Systems
of mechanics proliferated with gay abandon, and every possible type of
setting was tried, resulting in some truly appalling games. The worst
has to be :Earthworm:, which required at least one slide-rule to play,
and had detailed tables for determining the composition of soil. Any
game in which the best joke is 'The Water Table' has little going for
it. (By the way, I know that there are persistent rumours that
:Earthworm: was supposed to be a joke. It wasn't, although it was
supposed to be *very* experimental. It failed, clearly.)
This is also the period of televised role-playing. The tapes will, of
course, be shown during the evenings this week, as is traditional, and
everyone can laugh at my hairstyle and so-called dress sense. I think it
is universally accepted that this was an idea that could only have been
made worse by televising games of :Earthworm:. I extend my usual offer
to sign any tape that is wiped in my presence.
However, it is also the period in which role-playing really spread
beyond the English-speaking world. :Macondo: was first written in
Spanish, and :Fall of the Heike: in Japanese. Of course, :Revolution:
was first written in Russian, so a foreign language didn't guarantee
quality.
The Eighties saw something of a renaissance. The experimental period had
told people what didn't work, and so more and more published RPGs were
successful. While I know that it is unfashionable, I have always had a
soft spot for Eddings's :Belgariad:. Partly it is because it resurrects
the narrative form of :The Lord of the Rings:, but mainly it is because,
for all its faults, it is very, very playable. Pratchett's :Discworld:,
and its supplements, are possibly the only really successful comedy RPG
ever released. And Gaiman's :Sandman: brought the period to a triumphant
conclusion, succeeding, finally, in producing a game wherein you played
beings with powers beyond those even of the gods.
The Eighties also saw the growth of computers, and of attempts to
transfer role-playing games to the new medium. Thus far, such attempts
have been unsuccessful, and video games remain a niche market. I still
believe that there is the possibility for a major break-out, however.
The last decade has been one of consolidation. The main genres all have
their games, and sales are healthy, particularly in the developing
world. Some see it as stagnation, but I would rather see it as a
necessary pause for breath.
What, then, is the future of role-playing? I know that there are, as
usual, several panels on this subject, but I would just like to draw
attention to a couple of trends.
First, re-enactment, or live-action, role-playing is becoming
increasingly popular. I'm sure that all of us have stalked round the
table, gesticulating wildly, at times. The logical extension of this
into a game where you act out all of your characters' actions has, of
course, been with us since the Sixties. I know that the use of such
games as excuses for orgies has tarnished their reputation, but I hope
that the new :Narnia Live: game is a sign that it has finally shed those
associations.
Second, simulation-gaming, particularly war-gaming, is growing in
popularity. War-gaming has, in some ways, been around longer than
role-playing, but it has been almost completely in its shadow for the
last fifty years. This is one thing that computers are very good at --
:Civilisation: is a superb simulation game on computer, a completely
different beast as a board game. With the ever-increasing speed of
computers, I imagine that we will see a full simulationist version of
:Dune: or :Valinor: within a decade.
Still, I cannot see either of these taking over from the traditional
table-top game. It is well established that the social nature of games
is a strong draw, but the elaborate preparations required for
live-action mean that it will never be convenient. Computers, on the
other hand, are irredeemably geeky, and seem to have very little appeal
for women. Those of us who met our partners while gaming would, on the
whole, not welcome a single-sex version of the hobby.
Finally, of course, there is tradition. There are gamers present today
who were taught by their grandparents, in some cases from first editions
of :The Lord of the Rings:. The association between role-gaming and
psychological stability is well established, as is its value in
promoting literacy. (Even if :Hamlet: was a notorious failure. I find it
ironic that :Titus Andronicus: is a far superior RPG.) Perhaps the
greatest danger here is that role-playing will cease to be 'cool'.
However, I think that its intrinsic appeal to all ages is well
established, and even if the youngsters abandon it, I know that many of
us are looking forward to retirement, when we will finally be able to
run that saga we've always been planning.
Role-playing won't falter as long as people still have imagination, and
thus will no doubt continue for much of the next millenium. For now,
enjoy the convention.
[End of speech, wild applause, screaming fans are kept back from the
stage by burly minders.]
Note: Anyone sufficiently ignorant to believe that the above is factual,
rather than counterfactual, should be taken out and beaten about the
head with a flannel. Equally, I hope that no real people are bothered by
the weird activities indulged in by their merely possible counterparts.
BTW, I know it's poorly researched. Just how much effort do you expect
me to put into pure fluff?
Oh yeah:
Copyright David Chart 1999. All Rights Reserved.
--
David Chart
gra...@deletethisaffordable-leather.co.uk
On Tue, 02 Nov 99 23:28:15 GMT, mi...@room3b.demon.co.uk (Michael
Cule) wrote:
>I dunno but I wanna see what sort of games Heinlein would have written.
There is one "super character" in every campaign who always manages to
do everything right and sees through all the plots and subterfuges and
then has sex with his mother!
Cheers,
Graham.
Rob Harper
> Old gamers start to lament the global spread of GL shops, aimed at kids.
>
> The Golden Age ends.
...Until Anne Rice revives and redefines the roleplaying oeuvre
by ublishing her game, Vampire: The Interview (closely followed
by Werewolf: The Working Lunch and Pixie: The Informal Chat).
V:TI is so successful it even inspires a series of novels by Mark
Rein*Hagen.
Unfortunately, this new wave of roleplaying games is opposed by a
"moral majority" lead by radical Christian fundamentalists Greg
Stafford and Sandy Petersen, a pair of driven men who have an
unearthly aspect about them, as if something, deep down inside
them, feels that there is something very wrong with the universe...
--
Luv&hugs, Rob.
State of Mind Games (Play-By-Mail & other Pointless Exercises)
http://www.homestead.com/stateofmind
Tim Isakson
I never had nearly as direct information as you, that it was a
campaign run by George R. R. Martin (and explains his editing ;).
I didn't know whether Zelazny had participated in the roleplaying or
not, but had heard that he might have, so thought it was worth
repeating . . .
PM
<jhmcm...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >> Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
>> > Two words: Amber Diceless.
>> Two more words: Wild Cards
<snip>
>Somewhere Zelazny mentioned that he hadn't played in Martin's
>campaign, but I can't remember if that was in conversation (at
>another con) or in an article.
RZ played RPG first with Erick Wujcik, some time after Amber DRPG was
released. I don't remember who was around the table, according to the
report about that, but it must be something like 1992-1994.
Wild Cards being much older.....
Wild Cards was supposedly loosely basedon a Superworld campaign GMed
by G.R.Martin with other writers in the players (like Melinda
Snodgrass, AFAIR)
Arbane the Terrible
>In article <941585...@room3b.demon.co.uk>, mi...@room3b.demon.co.uk (Michael
>Cule) writes:
>
>>
>>I dunno but I wanna see what sort of games Heinlein or Theodore Sturgeon
>>would
>>have written. Not to mention Zelazny: LORD OF LIGHT: The RPG...
>>
>
>Hmm, Zelzany did play RPGs actually. Noted in a tribute in Asimov's
>SF Magazine. Wonder if ever considered game mastering or writing up
>a scenario from his stories.
Well, in the later Amber books (Merlin's story), he comes up with the
_best_ rationalization for D&D-style 'fire and forget' magic I've ever
seen...
--
"It's satire or guns, and satire comes out of the carpet a LOT
more easily than bits o' medulla." -- HellPope Huey
Olly Stanford
You might be interested to know that there's a big "alternate-history" site
somewhere (can't recall the URL off the top of my head)...with a few
alternate-Earth HPLs running round. The most off-the-wall one is derived
from a comparison with Adolf Hitler (!)... the argument goes that both were
struggling & unappreciated artists (HPL & his writings, AH & his paintings)
who expressed distinct xenophobic tendencies (to an obviously different
degree...): What if HPL had done as Hitler and had given up on his artistic
ambitions, developed his mythic & racialist ideas, and gone into politics?
By the 1940s he could have become President of a ultra-right-wing USA,
possibly forging links with Nazi Germany (if of course it existed in this
particular alternate-Earth...)
There's got to be a weird role-playing scenario in there somewhere!
xx Olly
-**** Posted from RemarQ, http://www.remarq.com/?b ****-
Real Discussions for Real People
Benjamin Acosta
: <guy_ro...@my-deja.com> wrote ...
:> Old gamers start to lament the global spread of GL shops, aimed at kids.
:>
:> The Golden Age ends.
: ...Until Anne Rice revives and redefines the roleplaying oeuvre
: by ublishing her game, Vampire: The Interview (closely followed
: by Werewolf: The Working Lunch and Pixie: The Informal Chat).
: V:TI is so successful it even inspires a series of novels by Mark
: Rein*Hagen.
: Unfortunately, this new wave of roleplaying games is opposed by a
: "moral majority" lead by radical Christian fundamentalists Greg
: Stafford and Sandy Petersen, a pair of driven men who have an
: unearthly aspect about them, as if something, deep down inside
: them, feels that there is something very wrong with the universe...
And are further incensed by Ineffable, written by Terry Pratchett and Neil
Gaiman in which one can play an angel or demon.
Meanwhile, gamewriter Chris Carter taps into the fringe world of
conspiracy theorists and paranormal buffs with the release of The
Conspiracy X Files.
And Kurt Busiek finally brings the comic book super hero genre into the
field with the release of the new Astro City game.
M.S. Caldwell
Character creation in the 1960+ edition of his game bases the number of
points to buy skills on hair colour with Red heads getting oodles and
oodles more than any other colour (see the Puppet Masters, Friday, most
of the LL books and his later Juveniles but not the original "Past Through
Tommorrow Stories")
> Cheers,
> Graham.
Cheers
Mark
guy_ro...@my-deja.com
Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com> wrote:
[ Foreword: What we have here is a rarity - a crosspost that has not
broken down into large scrap and that has kept relevent to the
relevent charters of the groups involved. ]
> Harry Harrison writes Paranoia, loosely based on a section of "Bill,
> the Galactic Hero" (in which Bill is confined to a bureaucracy-
> infested planet and is recruited as a government spy in a secret
> society in which all but one person is a government spy).
The UK suffers it's fair share of dissapointments, of course.
Frank Hampson's excellent role-playing workshop is dispanded when the
Eagle is sold to another publisher much to the disgruntlement of fans
of his Pilot of Tommorow game. It is said that artwork and conceptual
elegance of that quality will never be found again in an RPG.
Anthony Burgess's Clockwork Orange-Punk sells a treat until his
publisher exercises his copyright perogative to ban the game in the UK.
Gamers regularily travel to Paris to buy the game and new material.
From France also comes the idea of the Frothy Coffee RPG Bars where
people can gather to talk, role-play and drink expresso coffee. These
gather in strength, with some claiming they played a part in
suppressing rivalry between Mods and Rockers. However these hall are
replaced by GL shops when GL manages to control UK coffee distribution.
Spike Milligan writes Goon, the surreal comic RPG, of which Prince
Charles is openly a fan. Famously Charles is known to be able to
say "Aha, you deaded me with that 3d6 weapon" in a funny voice.
--
Guy Robinson
www.legendary.freeserve.co.uk
[all standard disclaimers apply]
Arthur Boff
"Rob Harper" <state...@breathemail.net> wrote:
> <guy_ro...@my-deja.com> wrote ...
> > Old gamers start to lament the global spread of GL shops, aimed at
kids.
> >
> > The Golden Age ends.
>
> ...Until Anne Rice revives and redefines the roleplaying oeuvre
> by ublishing her game, Vampire: The Interview (closely followed
> by Werewolf: The Working Lunch and Pixie: The Informal Chat).
> V:TI is so successful it even inspires a series of novels by Mark
> Rein*Hagen.
>
> Unfortunately, this new wave of roleplaying games is opposed by a
> "moral majority" lead by radical Christian fundamentalists Greg
> Stafford and Sandy Petersen, a pair of driven men who have an
> unearthly aspect about them, as if something, deep down inside
> them, feels that there is something very wrong with the universe...
Gaming old timers (and in this alternate universe some of them are
REALLY old timers) are reminded of the time in the 50s where Joe
McCarthy thought that every gaming group was a KGB cell, and every
gaming store a KGB local HQ where the "GMs" met to receive documents to
plan the Commies' next move. Though this was disproven from the 50s
onward RPGs had a somewhat leftie image, thus attracting many hippies
during the 60s. The media prints horror stories of what happens when
you roleplay on LSD...
Marcus L. Rowland
<Ollya...@england.com> writes
>You might be interested to know that there's a big "alternate-history" site
>somewhere (can't recall the URL off the top of my head)...with a few
>alternate-Earth HPLs running round. The most off-the-wall one is derived
>from a comparison with Adolf Hitler (!)... the argument goes that both were
>struggling & unappreciated artists (HPL & his writings, AH & his paintings)
>who expressed distinct xenophobic tendencies (to an obviously different
>degree...): What if HPL had done as Hitler and had given up on his artistic
>ambitions, developed his mythic & racialist ideas, and gone into politics?
>By the 1940s he could have become President of a ultra-right-wing USA,
>possibly forging links with Nazi Germany (if of course it existed in this
>particular alternate-Earth...)
One of the scenario ideas I've been toying with for the next Forgotten
Futures release (which is set in a world where Imperial Russia really
was the Evil Empire, destroyed by the heroic Terrorists in their flying
ships) involves an evil propaganda plot, in which various authors
including HPL are hoodwinked into supporting the exiled Romanoffs; the
title is "The Tsars Are Right."
(And if anyone here thinks I'm kidding, they don't know me very well...)
--
Marcus L. Rowland
http://www.ffutures.demon.co.uk/ http://www.forgottenfutures.com/
"We are all victims of this slime. They... ...fill our mailboxes with gibberish
that would get them indicted if people had time to press charges"
[Hunter S. Thompson predicts junk e-mail, 1985 (from Generation of Swine)]
Sidhain
> One of the scenario ideas I've been toying with for the next Forgotten
> Futures release (which is set in a world where Imperial Russia really
> was the Evil Empire, destroyed by the heroic Terrorists in their flying
> ships) involves an evil propaganda plot, in which various authors
> including HPL are hoodwinked into supporting the exiled Romanoffs; the
> title is "The Tsars Are Right."
>
> (And if anyone here thinks I'm kidding, they don't know me very well...)
>
I like that idea.
It's frightening.
In Dread R'Lyeh Cthulhu lies Dreaming is a coded message!
It really means
*ggrlrlgle*
Frank T. Sronce
And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
Kiz
-it's sort of the beanie baby that would suck the brains out of all the
other beanie babies...
Darrell Impey
<fsr...@myriad.net> writes
> And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
>Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
>my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>
>Kiz
>
>-it's sort of the beanie baby that would suck the brains out of all the
>other beanie babies...
Are they child safe? I can just imagine one in Luke's cot. :)
Mind you, explaining it to his grandparents would be interesting, not to
mention Social Services!
--
Darrell Impey
Mr. M.J. Lush
Darrell Impey <dar...@shadowdale.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <3822042C...@myriad.net>, Frank T. Sronce
><fsr...@myriad.net> writes
>> And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
>>Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
>>my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>
I'd like to know that too!
ObRPG: Hmm which causes greater SAN loss, having children or
meeting Big C?
>Mind you, explaining it to his grandparents would be interesting, not to
>mention Social Services!
Just clame its ethnic and will help him live in a multiCULTural
society.
--
Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPC rights activist | Nameless Abominations are people too.
Mr. M.J. Lush
Marcus L. Rowland <mrow...@ffutures.demon.co.uk> wrote:
<snip>
>..... involves an evil propaganda plot, in which various authors
>including HPL are hoodwinked into supporting the exiled Romanoffs; the
>title is "The Tsars Are Right."
>
>(And if anyone here thinks I'm kidding, they don't know me very well...)
Anyone who knows me would know I'd write an entire campaign
just to be able to use a pun thad bad!!!
Samael
<7vuafj$du1$1...@niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk>:
>In article <c$QIKAARC...@shadowdale.demon.co.uk>,
>Darrell Impey <dar...@shadowdale.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>In article <3822042C...@myriad.net>, Frank T. Sronce
>><fsr...@myriad.net> writes
>>> And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the
>>> "Cuddly
>>>Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I
>>>got my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>>
>>Are they child safe? I can just imagine one in Luke's cot. :)
>
> I'd like to know that too!
>
> ObRPG: Hmm which causes greater SAN loss, having children or
>meeting Big C?
Having the Big C's children.
Samael
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
>In article <3822042C...@myriad.net>, Frank T. Sronce
><fsr...@myriad.net> writes
>> And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
>>Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
>>my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>>
>>
>>-it's sort of the beanie baby that would suck the brains out of all the
>>other beanie babies...
>
>
>mention Social Services!
My partner also has one (thanks to my boss bringing one back from Gen-
Con last year), but in mulberry and very, very happy she is with it to.
It has even attempted to escape by flying out the window - or was that
the wind?
Now I want one for my daughter - give her an early start on her cult
initiation... [G] Thankfully, some of her grandparents would understand,
or at the very least would not be surprised...
I want to get all of the new Cthulhu beanies - then my girlfriend can
have a set of Starspawn of Cthulhu to sit at Great Cthulhu's feet...
Now if only they would do Nyarlethotep (or is that the Michael Portillo
doll?), a Dark Young of Shub-Niggaurath and a Byakhee!
--
Pookie (mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk)
"Don't take your pineal gland for granted. Pamper it!
Essential Oils! Rubdowns! It could save your ass someday."
- Tlg'manh, Unspeakable Oath 14/15
See http://www.chorazin.org.uk/pookie/
for GURPS: Jorune, Luther Arkwright, 2300AD, Rally Cry!,
Strikeforce Morituri, Xenozoic Tales & Black Kiss
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
writes
>In article <7vq111$8ko$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>[ Foreword: What we have here is a rarity - a crosspost that has not
> broken down into large scrap and that has kept relevent to the
> relevent charters of the groups involved. ]
>
>> Harry Harrison writes Paranoia, loosely based on a section of "Bill,
>> the Galactic Hero" (in which Bill is confined to a bureaucracy-
>> infested planet and is recruited as a government spy in a secret
>> society in which all but one person is a government spy).
>
>The UK suffers it's fair share of dissapointments, of course.
>
>Frank Hampson's excellent role-playing workshop is dispanded when the
>Eagle is sold to another publisher much to the disgruntlement of fans
>of his Pilot of Tommorow game. It is said that artwork and conceptual
>elegance of that quality will never be found again in an RPG.
>
write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG. Both
came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning Octobriana
comic.
--
Matthew Pook (mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk)
Operations Manager, Hogshead Publishing Ltd
http://www.hogshead.demon.co.uk
18-20 Bromell's Road, London SW4 0BG, UK. T-0207 207 5490 F-0207 207 5491
Publisher of WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY under licence from Games Workshop
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
Robin Low
Operations Manager <mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk> writes
>I want to get all of the new Cthulhu beanies - then my girlfriend can
>have a set of Starspawn of Cthulhu to sit at Great Cthulhu's feet...
>
>Now if only they would do Nyarlethotep (or is that the Michael Portillo
>doll?), a Dark Young of Shub-Niggaurath and a Byakhee!
The Dreamland's Buopoth is crying out to be made into a loveable soft
toy. Cuddly Moonbeasts. Men of Leng with detachable turbans. Hordes of
beanie Zoogs! Truly, HPL was a man born in the wrong time - he was a toy
manufacturer's dream!
Imagine the diorama toy sets. At the cheaper end of the range: 'The
Statement of Randolph Carter' play set: figures of Carter and Warren, a
crypt, a couple of gravestones, two spades and portable telephone.
Mid-price set: 'The Colour out of Space': a small New England farm house
and barn, farmer and family figures, investigator figure, mysterious
meteorite and well with mysterious coloured light-bulb at the bottom.
Top-of-the-range set: 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' playset: Esoteric
Order of Dagon building, the Marsh Mansion, the Gilman House Hotel, the
docks and the Marsh Refining Company building , Joe Sargent taxi and
figure, investigator figure, Zadok Allen figure, inbred Innsmouth locals
and hordes of Deep One figures. Also available: Devil's Reef expansion
for The Shadow Over Innsmouth, including swimming Deep Ones, a submarine
and the city of Y'ha-nthlei.
Regards
Robin
--
Robin Low
Luke
anything!
--
luke "Arawn was an elf" - the guy who thinks he can patronize me about
Celtic mythology.
I always know when someone's going to disagree with me if they say
"green-peace".
Simon Hopper
The equivalent for PKD would be dark-haired women, along with the Reality Flip
and Identity Flip mechanics and the PKD RPG ("Time as a Castle" or "Feed My
Android Psychic Flowers") as an in-game feature.
si...@westmythREMOVE.freeserve.co.uk
gra...@deletethisaffordable-leather.co.uk
On Fri, 5 Nov 1999 12:06:48 +0000, "Matthew Pook, Operations Manager"
<mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>>-it's sort of the beanie baby that would suck the brains out of all the
>>>other beanie babies...
>Now if only they would do a Dark Young of Shub-Niggaurath
Oh, *spot* that sales and marketing opportunity!
"Shub-Niggaurath, the Black Goat of the Night with 1000 Young:
"Collect the whole set...!!"
Cheers,
Graham.
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
<ro...@celephais.demon.co.uk> writes
>In article <TCQ9k$AZdsI...@hogshead.demon.co.uk>, Matthew Pook,
>Operations Manager <mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk> writes
>>I want to get all of the new Cthulhu beanies - then my girlfriend can
>>have a set of Starspawn of Cthulhu to sit at Great Cthulhu's feet...
>>
>>Now if only they would do Nyarlethotep (or is that the Michael Portillo
>>doll?), a Dark Young of Shub-Niggaurath and a Byakhee!
>
>The Dreamland's Buopoth is crying out to be made into a loveable soft
>toy. Cuddly Moonbeasts. Men of Leng with detachable turbans. Hordes of
>beanie Zoogs! Truly, HPL was a man born in the wrong time - he was a toy
>manufacturer's dream!
>
>Imagine the diorama toy sets. At the cheaper end of the range: 'The
>Statement of Randolph Carter' play set: figures of Carter and Warren, a
>crypt, a couple of gravestones, two spades and portable telephone.
>
Now this one just cries out for costumes and the rest: plastic masks
held on with elastic for the right expressions, cardboard or plastic
full size slot together crypt and two free-standing grave stones in
durable plastic covered cardboard. Now there's an exciting playset for
the back garden.
>Mid-price set: 'The Colour out of Space': a small New England farm house
>and barn, farmer and family figures, investigator figure, mysterious
>meteorite and well with mysterious coloured light-bulb at the bottom.
>
Free pitchfork thrown in?
>Top-of-the-range set: 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' playset: Esoteric
>Order of Dagon building, the Marsh Mansion, the Gilman House Hotel, the
>docks and the Marsh Refining Company building , Joe Sargent taxi and
>figure, investigator figure, Zadok Allen figure, inbred Innsmouth locals
>and hordes of Deep One figures. Also available: Devil's Reef expansion
>for The Shadow Over Innsmouth, including swimming Deep Ones, a submarine
>and the city of Y'ha-nthlei.
>
I hope the Devil's Reef Expansion can be played with in the bath!
Excellent!!
Robin Low
Operations Manager <mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk> writes
>>
>>The Dreamland's Buopoth is crying out to be made into a loveable soft
>>toy. Cuddly Moonbeasts. Men of Leng with detachable turbans. Hordes of
>>beanie Zoogs! Truly, HPL was a man born in the wrong time - he was a toy
>>manufacturer's dream!
>>
>Yes! And if they made Gugs, you really could, "Hug a Gug!"
*laughing* Don't know how I could have forgotten gugs given that they're
one of my favourite beasties!
>I hope the Devil's Reef Expansion can be played with in the bath!
>Excellent!!
Of course! And the submarine even fires little torpedoes. You'll have to
buy the special Foaming Shoggoth Bubblebath for that authentic slimy
feel.
Mr. Tines
<lu...@goaman.demonspam.co.uk> writes
>Robert Howard creating D&D would be disastrous. No elves or dwarves or
>anything!
Sounds a wonderful idea to me!
-- PGPfingerprint: BC01 5527 B493 7C9B 3C54 D1B7 248C 08BC --
_______ {pegwit v8 public key =581cbf05be9899262ab4bb6a08470}
/_ __(_)__ ___ ___ {69c10bcfbca894a5bf8d208d001b829d4d0}
/ / / / _ \/ -_|_-< http://www.ravnaandtines.com/
/_/ /_/_//_/\__/___/@ravnaandtines.com PGP key on page
David Crowe
: Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine actually wanted me to
: write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG. Both
: came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning Octobriana
: comic.
A Tintin RPG? I can't see anything so distinctive about his world that
couldn't be handled by the existing pulp-era RPGs.
--
David "No Nickname" Crowe http://www.primenet.com/~jetman
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find out who this Cubone guy is. Any
cute cartoon animal who wears the skull of one of his defeated enemies as
headwear is my kinda cute cartoon animal.
-Kurt Busiek on Pokemon
Arthur Boff
Luke <lu...@goaman.demonspam.co.uk> wrote:
> Robert Howard creating D&D would be disastrous. No elves or dwarves or
> anything!
And that's disastrous because...?
Arthur
PS: You've got to admit though, it WOULD be cool to play in a CoC game
GMed by HPL himself!
Andy Staples
>The equivalent for PKD would be dark-haired women, along with the Reality Flip
>and Identity Flip mechanics and the PKD RPG ("Time as a Castle" or "Feed My
>Android Psychic Flowers") as an in-game feature.
The in-game game would probably turn out to be reality - although it may
turn out in the epilogue that it isn't, after all.
--
Andy Staples
The Penultimate HarnPage:
http://www.minarsas.demon.co.uk/harn/
The Medieval Farming Year:
http://www.minarsas.demon.co.uk/harn/farming/calendar.htm
Neel Krishnaswami
>
>The equivalent for PKD would be dark-haired women, along with the Reality Flip
>and Identity Flip mechanics and the PKD RPG ("Time as a Castle" or "Feed My
>Android Psychic Flowers") as an in-game feature.
Off-topic, but this reminds me of an anecdote. A friend tells stories
about a Mage game where one of the PCs horrifically botched some piece
of Mind magic. The GM stared at the players for a few seconds, and
then said something along the lines of, "Right, everyone pass your
character sheets to the player on the right."
Neel
Sidhain
This happened in a superhero game that I was the GM of--in which a player blew a spell (he was
a powerful mage whose control was less then perfect) and it caused a wild surge and the result
was everyone had a new body for a while.
Paul T.
Frank T. Sronce <fsr...@myriad.net> wrote in message
news:3822042C...@myriad.net...
> Sidhain wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > One of the scenario ideas I've been toying with for the next Forgotten
> > > Futures release (which is set in a world where Imperial Russia really
> > > was the Evil Empire, destroyed by the heroic Terrorists in their
flying
> > > including HPL are hoodwinked into supporting the exiled Romanoffs; the
> > > title is "The Tsars Are Right."
> > >
> > > (And if anyone here thinks I'm kidding, they don't know me very
well...)
> > >
> >
> > It's frightening.
> >
> > In Dread R'Lyeh Cthulhu lies Dreaming is a coded message!
> > It really means
> >
> > *ggrlrlgle*
>
>
> Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
> my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
Eh-he-he!
This is really funny. I can't imagine the Masters letting such
blasphemy going unpunished, though... Tomorrow, and mark my words,
Wizards of the Coast will have bought Chaosium's carcass.
P.
Timothy Dedeaux
Paul T. wrote:
>Frank T. Sronce <fsr...@myriad.net> wrote in message
>news:3822042C...@myriad.net...
>> Sidhain wrote:
>> And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
>> Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
>> my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>This is really funny. I can't imagine the Masters letting such
>blasphemy going unpunished, though... Tomorrow, and mark my words,
>Wizards of the Coast will have bought Chaosium's carcass.
Now *THAT* is scary . . .
Ooooohh . . . non-euclidean even :)
Tim D.
Marcus L. Rowland
>Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
>my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
Saw one of these at an SF con this weekend - wonderful!
Brandi Weed
mrow...@ffutures.demon.co.uk says...
> In article <3822042C...@myriad.net>, Frank T. Sronce
> <fsr...@myriad.net> writes
> > And on an almost complete sidestep, I'd like to recommend the "Cuddly
> >Cthulhu" as a present for your female significant other. The one I got
> >my wife went over real well. :-) Check out Chaosium's website.
>
> Saw one of these at an SF con this weekend - wonderful!
Even better, you can get them in custom colors. I had one made up in
purple (with a green belly) when my 3-year-old niece was developing an
unhealthy fondness for B*rney.
We got a thank-you note from her parents explaining how she loved 'Mr.
Squidman' and he now shared the bed with her other stuffed friends.
Aww...
Brandi
Frank T. Sronce
Just practice your 'innocent look' for when her other stuffed toys
start disappearing and the surviving toys begin worshipping 'Mr.
Squidman' and offering up Barbie dolls as sacrifices in its honor. :-)
Kiz
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
<jet...@primenet.com> writes
>Matthew Pook, Operations Manager <mat...@hogshead.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>: Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine actually wanted me to
>: write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG. Both
>: came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning Octobriana
>: comic.
>
>A Tintin RPG? I can't see anything so distinctive about his world that
>couldn't be handled by the existing pulp-era RPGs.
>
RPGs about at the time. West End's Indiana Jones RPG was available and I
do have a copy, but the rules are far from suitable for Tin-Tin.
Anyway, what the writer wanted to do was a combined source book and RPG,
with the latter firmly aimed at the Tin-Tin fan who knew nothing about
RPGs.
Doctor TOC
>
> Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine actually wanted me to
> write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG. Both
> came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning Octobriana
> comic.
Damn, I'd have paid good money for a Dan Dare RPG. Just the chance to
utter lines like "Take that you Treen!" or "By 'eck! That Mekon's got an
'eart as cold as Aunt Anastasia's bread and butter pudding!" <sigh> That
would have been cool.
Doctor TOC
"Come on Spacefleet!"
--
The Reverend Doctor "The Other Chris"
UIN # 4814586
URL: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/wilhelm/148/
Matthew Pook, Operations Manager
<other...@erols.com> writes
>"Matthew Pook, Operations Manager" wrote:
>>
>> Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine actually wanted me to
>> write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG. Both
>> came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning Octobriana
>> comic.
>
>Damn, I'd have paid good money for a Dan Dare RPG. Just the chance to
>utter lines like "Take that you Treen!" or "By 'eck! That Mekon's got an
>'eart as cold as Aunt Anastasia's bread and butter pudding!" <sigh> That
>would have been cool.
>
but I no longer have access to the Dan Dare books and I hate to think
what the cost of the license might be.
Now an RPG based on The Trigan Empire book, that I could tackle as I
have the book! [Found a copy whilst at University in a second hand
bookshop. Snatched it up and childhood memories came flooding back...]
Doctor TOC
>
> >Damn, I'd have paid good money for a Dan Dare RPG. Just the chance to
> >utter lines like "Take that you Treen!" or "By 'eck! That Mekon's got an
> >'eart as cold as Aunt Anastasia's bread and butter pudding!" <sigh> That
> >would have been cool.
> >
> To be honest, whilst I would love to go back and take a stab at this,
> but I no longer have access to the Dan Dare books and I hate to think
> what the cost of the license might be.
True (but it'd still be immensely cool)...
> Now an RPG based on The Trigan Empire book, that I could tackle as I
> have the book! [Found a copy whilst at University in a second hand
> bookshop. Snatched it up and childhood memories came flooding back...]
No shortage of source material there! Of course, now you've mentioned it
I'm going to have to go and dig out my own copy. The opening strip where
the ship crashes on Earth and they find the pilot dead at the helm still
creeps me out (as does that one with the giant robot monsters for some
reason).
Doctor TOC
Andrew Ducker
<TrStOLAY...@hogshead.demon.co.uk>:
>In article <3827538C...@erols.com>, Doctor TOC
><other...@erols.com> writes
>>"Matthew Pook, Operations Manager" wrote:
>>>
>>> Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine actually wanted me
>>> to write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a Tin-Tin RPG.
>>> Both came to naught as he moved onto writing the prize-winning
>>> Octobriana comic.
>>
>>Damn, I'd have paid good money for a Dan Dare RPG. Just the chance to
>>utter lines like "Take that you Treen!" or "By 'eck! That Mekon's got
>>an 'eart as cold as Aunt Anastasia's bread and butter pudding!" <sigh>
>>That would have been cool.
>>
>To be honest, whilst I would love to go back and take a stab at this,
>but I no longer have access to the Dan Dare books and I hate to think
>what the cost of the license might be.
hmm, White Wolf might come out with a version based on the Grant Morrison
revamp........
Andy D
Moglwi
>In article <3827538C...@erols.com>, Doctor TOC
><other...@erols.com> writes
>>"Matthew Pook, Operations Manager" wrote:
>>>
>>> Several years ago, a comic writer friend of mine
actually wanted me to
>>> write a Dan Dare RPG with him. His other aim was a
Tin-Tin RPG. Both
>>> came to naught as he moved onto writing the
prize-winning Octobriana
>>> comic.
>
tackle as I
>have the book! [Found a copy whilst at University in a
second hand
>bookshop. Snatched it up and childhood memories came
flooding back...]
I have some of the Facsimle reprints of the Dan Dare Books
and also My piblic Library Wood Green Central Library
(London) has some of them. I also bought the Trigon Empire
book back when I was much yopunger than now posibly single
digt age? and that could make a fun RPG. The question is
who has the Dan DFare licence Egale Comics The frank
thompson estate or 2000Ad? Where was the trigon empire 1st
published i think I have vague memories about a Sunday paper
I could be wrong of course.
--
"No Mr Bond I expect you to Die"
Goldfinger
mog...@tinyonline.co.uk
Klaus Ę. Mogensen
>
>hmm, White Wolf might come out with a version based on the Grant
Morrison
>revamp........
Yecck. I loved Morrison's Doom Patrol, but his Dan Dare . . . yecck.
Klaus Æ. Mogensen
klau...@get2net.dk
http://hjem.get2net.dk/Klaudius
The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, Moves on
Andrew Ducker
@news.get2net.dk>:
>Andrew Ducker wrote:
>>
>>hmm, White Wolf might come out with a version based on the Grant
>Morrison
>>revamp........
>
>
>Yecck. I loved Morrison's Doom Patrol, but his Dan Dare . . . yecck.
Wasn't that kinda the point?
Andy d
Justin Bacon
writes:
>In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
>L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
>ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
>
I assume you have H.P. Lovecraft somehow manage to keep REH non-suicidal
following the death of his mother?
Justin Bacon
tr...@prairie.lakes.com
Arthur Boff
I've dealt with this before, but I'll say it again:
1: It don't matter, it's a thought experiment.
2: You have to admit, D&D WOULD be the sort of thing REH would be into.
Frank T. Sronce
>
> In article <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com>
> writes:
>
> >In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
> >L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
> >ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
> >
>
> I assume you have H.P. Lovecraft somehow manage to keep REH non-suicidal
> following the death of his mother?
>
> tr...@prairie.lakes.com
She didn't die due to the little known healing properties of RPG
playing. :-)
Kiz
Ross W. Maker
>
> 2: You have to admit, D&D WOULD be the sort of thing REH would be into.
I think that Deadlands would be more his thing, since many of the Conan
stories arerecycled Westerns.
RWM
Mr. M.J. Lush
Frank T. Sronce <fsr...@myriad.net> wrote:
>Justin Bacon wrote:
>> In article <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com>
>> writes:
>> >In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
>> >L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
>> >ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
>> I assume you have H.P. Lovecraft somehow manage to keep REH non-suicidal
>> following the death of his mother?
>
>playing. :-)
Well it is well known that using BADD statistics on suicide
caused by gaming, its possible to 'prove' Roleplayers are much less likely
to kill them self s than the general population :-) :-) :-)
--
Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPC rights activist | Nameless Abominations are people too.
Frank T. Sronce
>
> In article <382C3FAA...@myriad.net>,
> Frank T. Sronce <fsr...@myriad.net> wrote:
> >Justin Bacon wrote:
> >> In article <7vnass$aed$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, Arthur Boff <AJB...@yahoo.com>
> >> writes:
> >> >In 1946 at a science fiction convention, in a small group that included
> >> >L. Ron Hubbard, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch, HPL
> >> >ran the first game of... CALL OF CTHULHU.
> >> I assume you have H.P. Lovecraft somehow manage to keep REH non-suicidal
> >> following the death of his mother?
> >
> > She didn't die due to the little known healing properties of RPG
> >playing. :-)
>
> Well it is well known that using BADD statistics on suicide
> caused by gaming, its possible to 'prove' Roleplayers are much less likely
> to kill them self s than the general population :-) :-) :-)
>
Which explains why R.E. Howard _didn't_ kill himself! He played
role-playing games!
Kiz
Justin Bacon
<rma...@4dintsys.com> writes:
That's one of the more bizarre literary interpretations of his work (right up
there with the Oedipal interpretations of Hamlet). Sure, Conan is a lone hero,
and the heroes of many westerns are lone heroes, and REH liked lone heroes in
general... but the similarity pretty much ends there (unless you're going for
big stretches).
Justin Bacon
tr...@prairie.lakes.com
Ross W. Maker
This has nothing to do with literary interpretation. The manuscripts
are extant. They were submitted as westerns, rejected, rewritten as
Conan pieces, resubmitted, and accepted. IIRC, "Beyond the Black River"
is one of them. This was common practice in the pulp industry of the
time.
Also, a few of the Conan stories started out as pirate tales (I'm sure
you can guess which ones). Read the standard biographies of REH.
They'll confirm it.
RWM
Justin Bacon
<rma...@4dintsys.com> writes:
>This has nothing to do with literary interpretation. The manuscripts
>are extant. They were submitted as westerns, rejected, rewritten as
>Conan pieces, resubmitted, and accepted. IIRC, "Beyond the Black River"
>is one of them. This was common practice in the pulp industry of the
>time.
Actually, this isn't the case. There are strong western influences in the story
you mention, but no western manuscript was ever found from which REH was
rewriting.
And this is the *only* Conan story with these western influences.
>Also, a few of the Conan stories started out as pirate tales (I'm sure
>you can guess which ones). Read the standard biographies of REH.
>They'll confirm it.
Similarly, this isn't the case, either. Conan does become a pirate, but all of
those stories were written for Conan originally.
It *is* true that the first Conan story was a rewritten Kull story; and that
another Conan story was later rewritten for the character "Amra". It is also
true that L. Sprague de Camp took four REH stories set in other time periods
and rewrote them into Conan stories. But the stuff you're talking about simply
isn't the case.
Justin Bacon
tr...@prairie.lakes.com