"The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games": a book by Rick Swan

I found this tome in a local used bookshop, and figured I'd snag it just for some fun easy reading of some quick reviews of various RPGs thru the years. This book is dated 1990, so it covers tons of games up until that point.

The book is by Rick Swan, who has also written some 2nd edition AD&D supplements ("The Complete Barbarian's Handbook", among others) and various modules for Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, Planescape, Forgotten Realms, and even some Marvel Super Heroes.

I have yet to get much into this book...just browsing a few entries covering games for which I have a particular fondness. At any rate, the format looks pretty nice, including for each game entry: a game title, a # of stars rating, complexity rating, publisher info, a game review/synopsis, buyers notes, and suggested supplements. The game order is A-Z, and there is a nice subject index grouping the games by genre.

Here's just a brief summary of a few reviews Swan has given for some of my faves:

AD&D
****
1st and 2nd editions
This is one of the more lengthy reviews in the book, from what I've seen. A good portion of the entry deals with 2nd edition, possibly due to the fact that Swan contributed to many of the settings in that edition. Regarding AD&D in general, he writes "A role-player who's never experienced AD&D is like a board-gamer who's never tried Monopoly or a kid who's never played baseball." - Now that's some solid marketing...I like it.

Boot Hill
***
1979 edition
Rick writes "fire order is crucial; slowpokes don't last long in Boot Hill." - Nice! He also recommends Lost Conquistador Mine as "not only the best of the Boot Hill supplements, it's also the best Western adventure ever published." - Now, I only have the original box set, so I can't comment, but he sure makes me want to track that one down.

D&D
***1/2
1974, 1977, 1983 editions
This one is kinda tough to cover fully, as the different revs (OD&D, Holmes, Moldvay/Cook/Marsh, Mentzer BECMI, RC) all have their unique coolness, and could warrant an entire book to that discussion alone. One biggie though: Swan skips right over my all-time fave 1981 Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X edition. Major points lost from me on that one, Rick...ha! However he makes up for it with this gem (discussing folks who claim that D&D is too simpleminded, illogical, meaningless, abstract, juvenile, etc): "These grouches completely miss the point. Complaining that Dungeons and Dragons is an unrealistic RPG is like saying that chess is an inaccurate wargame. We're not talking about delving into the social structure of medieval Europe here, we're talking about tossing fireballs at lizard men and swiping gold pieces from ogres." - Agreed...simple (and sometimes silly) counts too.

Gamma World
***
1st and 3rd ed
He says "the third edition is the one to buy." - I personally totally disagree. 1st, 2nd and even 4th are much better, IMO...leaning on 2nd as my fave, although 1st ed was my 1st copy back in school. I do like this line by Swan though: "It's a bang-up job by designers James Ward, David James Ritchie, and Gary Jaquet; that is, if you don't take your nuclear holocausts too seriously."

Top Secret
***
1980
Swan advises "Top Secret is good, but Top Secret/S.I. is better." - I personally have only played the original. However, I have heard this same opinion of the 1987 sequel from other gamers, so maybe I should give it a go someday. There is quite a bit of the S.I. source material, mods, and such floating around my local area game shops and used book stores, so it wouldn't be tough to snag some. Actually, I might even have a little bit of the S.I. stuff in piles of geekgoodies, but I know for sure I only have play experience in the original. And even that is pretty marginal XP.

Tunnels and Trolls
***
1975
In his Suggested Supplements section, Swan comments that "With its simple rules, Tunnels and Trolls is a natural for solo play, and the solitaire T&T supplements are among the best of their kind." - I personally love the fact that T&T has such a huge amount of Solo/Solitaire mods published. I have a pile of them, and they are very nice for a gamer who has limited resources as far as grouping goes. I just recently have been able to play some real PnP D&D (4e) with real people at a real table so I am literally (and figuratively) "geeked" about that. But, prior to my recent gaming, solo mods...true "solitaire" mods were all I really had with which to get my game on. So I applaud Flying Buffalo (notably Rick Loomis) for this portion of the fantasy RPG genre. I only wish more game systems and other genres would follow suit. Sure there are a few solo/solitaire TSR D&D/AD&D modules in the mix, but IMO not enough.


Well that's really all I've checked out so far. There are over 150 games reviewed by Swan in this book, some more lengthy than others. I don't have a real grasp on how I regard the author's reviews yet, and how much faith I'll put into his advice, so I will withhold that judgment until I give the book a fair shake.

Thus, I will be reading some more entries, to see his take on some more games that I have played, but more interestingly some that I have yet to try, or even yet to hear of. First in that list: Macho Women with Guns. Sounds hot!

"Great stars! They're unaffected by my Sword of Astral Light!"

I'd have to say that my fave magazine from back in '81 (-ish) was probably "Famous Monsters of Filmland." I still recall several exact times when, and places where, I flipped through the pages of some amazing issues of that mag. Of course the label "back in '81" needs to be relaxed a tad here and there, but it's the general idea that counts.

Anyway, along the same lines of "Famous Monsters" are the very cool spinoff graphic mags "Eerie", "Creepy", and even "Vampirella" (a tad racy for a 7th grader, but we won't tell anyone, right?).

I would include others here too, like "Savage Sword of Conan" and "Tales of the Zombie" as I have a bunch of those still too, and they were very, very cool. Heck, I even have some old "Doc Savage" and "Planet of the Apes" graphic (comic) mags. Speaking of those last two, check out this DocSavage/PotApes combo story from a copy of the French mag...very cool! Jeesh, I'm getting a bit off topic here...better save some of that for another entry, another day. In fact I will, someday soon.

So, to the matter at hand: "...my Sword of Astral Light!"


That sweet frame is from Eerie #121, from none other than (officially) "back in '81!"


The story is "Hunter and Darklon" and is full of Mutant coolness and "lords of light"-ness, ala Thundarr. Here's a couple other frames (excuse the sucky photography...I REALLY need to work on that):

First the "funny how?!?!?" scene from "Goodfellas":


And then a little fun with a (supposedly) "+5 Hockey Stick of Greater Mutant Bane":


Fun! Well, I guess I just like diggin' through these old issues and finding these gems. I've been on a bit of a Gamma World/Mutant Future kick as of late, so these really jump off of the pages at me, when I thumb through them.

Now, off to design that +5 Hockey Stick for my Mutated Alligator character that I'm rollin' with these days. I wonder if I can make it a "Hockey Stick of Astral Light"...hhmnnn.

so I went to U-Con the other day...

U-Con is a gamers convention in Ann Arbor (MI), focusing on RPGs, board games, etc. I got a chance to stop by for a quickie there (whoah!). I didn't get to play anything. I was really hoping to get back there to try to get in the OD&D game DM'd by Ignatius Umlaut of "Fight On!", the very cool oldschool RPG fanzine. I was, and still am, severely bummed that I missed that session. However, I did have time to snag a few goodies while I was there.

Top find for the day (IMO): Module GW2: "Famine In Far-Go", a Gamma World module from TSR.


Now, I did play *some* Gamma World in High School, just not nearly as much as we played D&D/AD&D, but I still have the 2nd Edition Box Set books/maps (form "Back in..." well, not '81, but close...'83) and the 1st Edition B/W book (this was '78, but that was 1st ed:1st printing, my 1st ed:2nd printing is actually is from '81), and I would love to play a pickup game of this very cool setting, sometime soon.

Anyway...here's the best part of this particular find (the mod): Upon pulling it out of the sleeve to take a peek inside, I find on the title page this nice little diddy:





Very, very cool! Signed by the legend himself. Now who the hell would get rid of such a thing? Jeesh. Ah well, their loss, my gain.

Now, if this would have been on GW1 "Legion of Gold" (by Gary himself) and signed at GenCon XIV, it would have been perfect for "Back in '81." For now, this will have to do.

Anyway, I got tons more cool stuff, but that's enough geekability for one post, eh?

a lesson in when *not* to be Lawful Good (Gamma World - Endless Quest)

From page 1 of "Light on Quests Mountain", a Gamma World Endless Quest Adventure Book:

1) If you think that it is too late to do anything to help Chark and you choose to run for your life, turn to page 93.

2) If you choose to charge the ferocious dog-men in hope that, by some miracle you can save your monkey friend, turn to page 140.



*** SPOILER ALERT!!! ***

Well. if you do the right thing and help your friend...let's just say that you should *not* be LG in this situation.

And to think this is on the first page of the freakin' book! Nice lesson there for our youth....ha!

Now, let me state that the book really starts a few pages later, and that first page is a teaser of sorts, to make you want to buy the book, I guess. At any rate, I recall flipping this one open, reading that passage and immediately turning to page 140, to save my "monkey friend." Hey, my favorite AD&D character *was* a Paladin, for Pete's sake.

And so my first adventure thru this cool little book lasted exactly 2 pages....reroll!

Anyway, I still love all of these Endless Quest books, especially a few of the D&D ones and this Gamma World romp. I have tons of them, including a couple Top Secret themed ones and a Star Frontiers adventure too. They are mostly fun, even now 25 years later.

I prefer the choose your own adventure books that actually involve rolling some dice and generating some sort of character. The "Lone Wolf" series is great, and the "Fighting Fantasy" books and the "Sword Quest" ones are cool too. I have a one-shot of the "A Crossroads Adventure" series(?) that has the D&D stats and hp outlined pretty much exact.

I know a lot of folks in the RPG community have talked about these types of books in their blogs, etc, especially Reis O'brien over at http://geek-orthodox.blogspot.com/ ...very cool and fun blog.

So, back to my latest jump to Back in '81...err..'83 in this case. My Gamma World itch is needing a major scratch. I've been dorking around with my "pile of nerdliness" and have some fun stuff to go thru yet.

I've got a freakin sweet find from U-Con (Ann Arbor) that feeds the Gamma World geek in me a five course meal....or at least the dessert first. I'll have to babble about that pretty soon here.