Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

Yes -- but one had to crack the spine of the book in order to get the sheet into the copier.

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

Not all of them... the WFRP softcover had a pre-creased cover and the sheet started outward enough to copy well.

Plus, many games in the first half of the 80's were saddlebound... which, again, meant not needing to crease the spine. RuneQuest 1E, Pendragon 1E, BRP, Worlds of Wonder, TFT-OE, Car Wars through Deluxe Rulebook, the multi-book versions of DragonQuest, Traveller, Champions until 3rd. Hell, GURPS 1E was saddlebound with no covers! (Same with RuneQuest 3rd AH version) I could go on, but I shan't.

Also, the big names sold sheet packs, including Avalon Hill, TSR, and several others. Mayfair produced nice sheets for D&D, too. Dozens of 3PP's too.
Many boxed sets included a saddle bound cheat sheets folio with various sheets, well into the 1990s.

Now, most assume a printer at home, and thus sheets available in a sheet-only PDF are on most company websites, or as free downloads on DTRPG. And if one bought the PDF...

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

You might not have, but I did... from 1981 on... PerfectCalc. On CP/M

I lacked the skill for automated lookups, but it did save me a lot of recalculations.

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

CP/M

Oh that brings back memories. 16 users with flat file storage - oooh the organisational possibilities :)

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

And no security for individual users...
Every one of those users able to access every one of those accounts. 254 files per drive letter per user, one drive letter per partition.

Bill Beaux of Nome ran a BBS off of a Kaypro IV (Old 4)...

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

What are some good pickups for the RPG side of things?

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

Blue-cover _Car Wars Compendium_. Has most of the non-combat skills, as well as the combat skills.

There was never a "proper" RPG system; what's in _CWC_ is workable, but not exactly brilliant.

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

Or as it is a 2d6 based system you can use one of the free Traveller clones and get a "proper" rpg that is compatible. Just ignore the skills in CW as they all use different mechanics and often make no sense at all.

I use CW for the vehicle movement and something like Cepheus for all the skill stuff. Very little modification is required and you have a bonus that you can then use all the scenarios and equipment written for dirtside Cepheus games in CW. The only major exception would be the HP of pedestrians and weapon damage. For simplicity 1 hit damage in CW = 1d6 damage in Cepheus.

Unnecessary but also possible...
You could even spring it on players as the "end of season" surprise ending that the world "gone to hell in a handbasket" isn't the only world in the universe. It also provides a good explanation of the juxtaposition of dirt-poor people who can barely manage the resources to feed themselves but still have access to consumer laser weaponry and cloning.

Imagine...
Cape Canaveral is actually a Class E starport. "Earth" (because we just assumed that) is a Red Zone, off-world contact is prohibited (but smugglers...) and knowing the truth is a death sentence for dirtsiders. Uncle Al sources from off-world (you always knew he was dodgy didn't you?). Covert "government" agents are actually agents of the empire making sure the secret stays that way, trying to close down the imports, the plundering of a naïve society and preventing the psychotic locals from finding out there is an alternative out there and infecting the galaxy. To get off planet onto something better (whatever that is) the players will need to convert those $ to Cr at an eyewatering exchange rate and deal with very shady off-worlders... Or maybe they can do favours for the Empire to make sure men in black don't come and shut them up permanently with the eventual promise they can work their way up to citizenship and be permitted to leave.

Even if the players never leave the CW world something like that under the bonnet (as it were) can keep the referees creative juices flowing. The players may never realise (because, players...) but it can provide a harness for some logical but seemingly random occurrences that are a staple of CW existence.

There is a Cepheus scenario called Death Race that would work well with CW. It goes both ways :)

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

The roleplaying rules in Car Wars Classic are awesome! And since it's 2d6+adds it means it's compatible with Fate (aspects&invokes slot just in with no change in math), Apocalypse World, Other Dust, the aforementioned Traveller and many others. Feng Shui even.

Re: Worth it for nostalgia...?
 

So I'm def not starved for rules, it was more that I was curious about setting stuff. I have GURPS Autoduel (both versions) and Car Warriors already.