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Old 12-27-2017, 12:14 AM   #51
JLV
 
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Location: Arizona
Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by guymc View Post
Steve, that is certainly wonderful news! TFT started my professional career as a game designer in earnest, and I was very lucky to have your work to build on when I took over as Line Editor upon your departure from Metagaming. I’ll be very happy to see that wonderful, pioneering work back in the hands of its creator.

Do you think you will again be doing solitaire quests? Your acquisition does not, as I understand it, include the original Microquests. If you are at all interested, is there anything that I could do to get Grailquest back to the new TFT?

Guy McLimore
Now how cool would THAT be? Grailquest was far and away the best of the old microquests in my humble opinion -- it actually taught me more about roleplaying than I'd learned from D&D since 1976! Not to knock the other microquests -- they were all pretty much fun (except for the ones where you had to figure out what the poor editing from Metagaming had left out of them), but to my mind, Grailquest was always a cut above; and I just loved the concept of "the crossroads inn" (I still use it in all my FRPGs to this day) they way it was used in Grailquest. While you probably have to recover your own Copyrights for it (assuming you signed them over to Metagaming back in the day), to my mind it would be a wonderful thing if you did!
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Old 12-27-2017, 05:39 AM   #52
Chris Rice
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Wow, that's tremendous news and something I thought I would never see happen!!!

I still remember getting "In The Labyrinth" and being blown away by how elegantly simple the talent system was. Having played the other games available then, AD&D, RQ, T&T, etc, TFT was a breath of fresh air. Combined with Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard, we had enough to run an extended campaign for several years.

I made many changes over that time, sometimes to elaborate (splitting attributes into Strength/Constitution, Agility/Dexterity etc) and sometimes to simplify (taking away per-round spell costs to reduce book-keeping) but the core rules remained.

Obviously, I don't expect wholesale changes to the original games, but I would urge you to think about the character advancement method, which to me was the big problem in extended campaign play. I'm sure you're well aware of the issue so I won't belabour it here, but as characters Advanced, their attributes began to inflate out of control.

I eventually solved this by awarding "Hero Points" instead. These could be used to increase attributes, albeit at high cost, but their main use was as a useable resource during the play of the game. For the cost of one "HP" a character could alter the result of a die roll they have just made by one point, or they could choose to roll one more or less dice before a roll is made. The Hero Points regenerate between encounters. Just something to think about.

Anyway, I wish I'd thanked you all those years ago for Melee, Wizard, ITL and all the many hours of enjoyment they gave us. I didn't get around to doing it then so I'll do it now.
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Old 12-27-2017, 05:41 AM   #53
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Thanks a bunch Steve!!!!!
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Old 12-27-2017, 05:45 AM   #54
Jurld
 
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Congratulations!

ITL is one of my favorite RPG systems ever and I've used the Melee combat rules as a substitute system for several other games over the years. I still have my original books I bought in 1978. Melee was actually the first game I EVER bought. I had to wait weeks to save enough allowance to buy Wizard. The fold out map is now so fragile I don't handle it much. All those cardboard chits were lost long ago, sadly... I bought some backups from some guy on AOL in the mid 90s. Opened, but uncut. I still haven't touched them, though. I know as soon as I do they will start disappearing into the carpet and sofa cushions like the others.

I actually just started running a pal though a PBEM Grail Quest last week.

Congratulations again!

ps: I vote for change as little as possible.
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Old 12-27-2017, 06:40 AM   #55
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

I would re-buy Melee and Wizard. Not sure about the full role-playing system.

Observation: TFT is a clade of Tunnels & Trolls. Went for different die roll mechanics, but the tying of saving rolls to attributes, and using an attribute for hit points / spell casting, is a T&T thing.
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Old 12-27-2017, 07:23 AM   #56
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

Wow, it seems like only yesterday that I last logged in here, but I can see it was actually a year and a half ago.

Anyway... wow, what amazing news! TFT was one of my very favorite games as a kid, and I've always dreamed of seeing it make a comeback someday. Hopefully that day will be soon!

Congrats, SJ, and I can't wait to see where this goes!
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:00 AM   #57
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

It's like a letter sent in childhood has finally gotten a reply! Great news.

A single, harmonized, cross-referenced set of Advanced Melee/Advanced Wizard/ITL rules seems like a great possibility, as does a single Melee/Wizard box, like the old OGRE/GEV box I happened across in the early 90s.

And a book containing all the adventures --- can't remember if some were written for the basic and some for the advanced game, or if that would really matter for playability. I do remember being confused by the multi-level hex map in Tollenkar's Lair, and that there was no equivalent in the mini-quests boxes.

And maybe the Melee/Wizard box could have a big map with big counters like the most recent OGRE version.

Just thinking out loud, but mostly: WOW and THANK YOU!
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:05 AM   #58
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by pyratejohn View Post
Wow, it seems like only yesterday that I last logged in here, but I can see it was actually a year and a half ago.

Anyway... wow, what amazing news! TFT was one of my very favorite games as a kid, and I've always dreamed of seeing it make a comeback someday. Hopefully that day will be soon!

Congrats, SJ, and I can't wait to see where this goes!
So bizarre to join this forum to read and reply to this announcement thread and have the post above mine be from a guy from Columbia. I grew up there, buying all my gaming stuff at Patowmack Toys in the Mall, including and especially Metagaming/SJG stuff.
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:57 AM   #59
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

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Originally Posted by JLV View Post
Okay, someone's gotta ask, so I'll be the lightning rod here...

Steve, any idea how, if at all, any of this will affect Dark City Games?
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.
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Old 12-27-2017, 10:05 AM   #60
Desertmonkey
 
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Default Re: December 26, 2017: The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

This is awesome news! Any chance you can get Pat Hidy to do new artwork?
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