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Old 12-27-2017, 10:20 AM   #61
serleran
 
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Interesting. I hope more doors open and we can get a revisited Monsters! Monsters! because I am selfish.
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Old 12-27-2017, 10:21 AM   #62
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Yay! I'm insanely excited about this. I have made inquiries about acquiring the rights myself twice in the last decade, as I'm a long time fan with quite a bit of experience playing, running and working up material for the system, and I consider a full revival of it to be one of the coolest things I'd like to see in the hobby.

Over the last 40 years I've played more TFT than any other system, and I've prepared, play tested, used at the table, and distributed to interested folks literally hundreds of pages of new material (mostly spells from other games with good magic systems, new talents, monsters, gear and items, and some relatively subtle house rules). So, I have some strong opinions about what would be the best outcome of this. Some priorities I would set if I were in charge:

1) A clean edit of the core material in AM, AW and ITL, puling related rules into a rational order, removing redundant material like the alternative combat system in the back of AM, and condensing material like the dual experience point progression charts. This is the sort of thing that was kind of hard and expensive in the 70's but is trivial now - basically a couple of days work on a word processor.

2) Preserve all artwork, which was exceptional

3) Create a cool, beautiful and extensive set of maps and markers prepared in the original style

4) Add to the maps a set of terrain overlays that make the maps more flexible and interesting

(3+4 would reasonably make up the meat of new material in an Ogre-style boxed set)

5) Keep basic structure of the rules essentially unchanged, but expand spells by a factor of 2-3+, talents by a factor of 1.5-2 (enough to fill in some gaps and add some interesting flavor, but don't blow the system up), and monsters by a factor of ~2 (e.g., do more with the idea of demons than just having big and little ones)

6) Gently reshape a couple of talents to improve flavor and play balance. This can only be done by someone who really understands the game at the table, and who has some taste. But there are things to be done here. E.g., the unarmed combat talents are a kind of missed opportunity

7) Consider adding appendices with optional new rules that a) expand on the personality traits option in ITL, b) do something more substantial about priests and religion

8) present appendices containing the better material from the zines

9) Don't mess with any of the core rules in a significant way, but consider working in elements of the parry, passive defense and shield rules from GURPS, and maybe elements of the damage/injury/armor system; these were genuine improvements on the way combat works and naturally fit as subtle extensions of TFT that would not fundamentally change the original. This is another place where you need to use some judgement so you don't go bananas and just re-make GURPS.

10) Don't re-make it into another edition of GURPS

If anyone is interested, I have a lot of materials I'd be happy to share!
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Old 12-27-2017, 10:56 AM   #63
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

[looks at photo]

Is that Steve's happy face?
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Old 12-27-2017, 11:10 AM   #64
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by Žorkell View Post
[looks at photo]

Is that Steve's happy face?
It's Steve's "I can't believe it either, is this really happening?" face.
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Old 12-27-2017, 11:12 AM   #65
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Congrats to Steve and the SJG team! I'm going to copy/paste some comments I made elsewhere, so apologies to anyone who had to read some of this twice:

This is the most gratifying piece of news I've gotten in an otherwise miserable year. TFT remains my favorite all-time game of any format, and Steve has always been one of my heroes. I'm thrilled to read that he sees the value of TFT despite the road-taken with GURPS. This is more than just nostalgia for me. We played the games quite heavily from '78-'82, but I continue to return to it because of its balance, simplicity, and portability. I've always loved how the game supports what you bring to it, whether you just want to play a gladiatorial skirmish, a solo quest, or run a full blown roleplay heavy campaign. That, IMO, is the unique space that TFT has occupied and kept it relevant through four (!) decades.

I backed/bought GURPS Dungeon Fantasy because I felt it was the closest thing I would ever get to my long dreamed-of TFT Boxed-Set promised in The Space Gamer so long ago. The end result of DF was fantastic, a beautiful game in a beautiful package that thrilled me the same way the first GURPS Basic boxed-set did back in '86. But I have to admit that one of the first things I did with DF was use the components to play through some solo TFT scenarios.

Regarding miniatures, I'd love to see you stick with a smaller scale like 15mm-20mm. IMO it was an ideal scale for that pocket gaming experience that Melee/Wizard did so well. Over the years, I've built a decent collection of pre-painted miniatures from the D&D lines and others that fit the scale well (lots of halflings!) and work with the old M/W hexmaps. There's certainly space in the market for it when compared to the vast amount of choices from 28mm-32mm that's so prevalent these days. But I also accept that it is possibly not what the majority would want.

Another personal preference: I would love to see NuTFT distinguish itself from GURPS DF and other current fantasy games by embracing its original late 70s semi-disco aesthetic established by Danforth, Hidy, Stine etc. Back then and even now, I loved that look that was so different from the more traditional Tolkienesque and medieval approach that was prevalent in other games. It was just another aspect of TFT that made it feel so different than the alternatives. Again, probably just me.

After the exceptional results of the reboots of Car Wars, Ogre and DF, I really doubt you guys could disappoint me in any way. You know the game and the market better than I do, so I'll resist the urge to paint a detailed picture of what I would want to see in any new TFT products.

Again, congratulations. I am truly so happy to see that TFT has finally made its way home.
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Old 12-27-2017, 11:15 AM   #66
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColBosch View Post
It's Steve's "I can't believe it either, is this really happening?" face.
Or is it the "What a long strange trip it's been" face?
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Old 12-27-2017, 12:05 PM   #67
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by serleran View Post
Interesting. I hope more doors open and we can get a revisited Monsters! Monsters! because I am selfish.
You know that Flying Buffalo has returned the original edition to print, right? http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/mm.htm
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Old 12-27-2017, 12:24 PM   #68
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
A fair question, because the Dark City situation doesn't really have a precedent in the hobby AFAIK. It would not have been right to talk ABOUT Dark City until I had talked TO them, but I just finished a very pleasant call with George Dew. So the executive summary is, we are talking :) In my perfect Year 2019 or 2020, there would be no "clone rules" on the market, but there would be a wide variety of "new" fan-written adventures available under the TFT banner. I should not say "fan," because if these guys sell me a dozen adventures, they are pros.
And that's a fair answer. To be sure, I can't think of anything like the Dark City situation in the hobby either; honestly, IMO, Dark City was a reaction to the previous empty waste that was TFT material after 1984 or so, so if nothing else it helped indicate the crying need that people felt to "fill in the blank." Which is a definite positive sign for TFT! I'm glad you and George are in discussions. He's one of my favorite designers these days; right behind this guy down in Austin called Steve Jackson! ;-)
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Old 12-27-2017, 12:25 PM   #69
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Fantastic news. Love to see a GURPS Cidri world book.
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Old 12-27-2017, 12:37 PM   #70
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

If there was some way to "upvote" AOTA, I certainly would!

Even skipping the "GURPS" part, I'd love to see a splat book on Cidri!
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