Different Worlds Magazine

[tgcb]

Was cleaning the basement today and found a Different Worlds Magazine (#23) from 1982. I remember purchasing it because of the super-hero theme of the issue.

Being a Chaosium publication, there is a Chaosium ad on the back cover. A hardcover copy of RQ2 could be had for $15.

....was going to say "ah, the good old days", except I like my life much better now than then ...not to mention that RQ6 is better than RQ2.

PS - also found several old Dragon Magazines...sadly, did not find any $$$.

[Matt]

I've got a couple of issues of DW lying around... the ones with the X-Men and the Teen Titans on the covers. Good stuff.

[tgcb]

What's interesting is the inflation calculator I found says that a $15 book in 1982 should cost $36.31 today.

[soltakss]

But, everyone knows that RPG books should not be subject to inflation and should cost the same now as when we started playing.

In fact, they should be cheaper because of the savings that modern technology brings.

[jp42]

But, everyone knows that RPG books should not be subject to inflation and should cost the same now as when we started playing.

In fact, they should be cheaper because of the savings that modern technology brings.

Especially PDFs, because you cut out the printing service entirely! No paper, no ink! Ought to be cheap as old chips.

[seneschal]

The problem is that often the equivalent of a book that cost $15 in '82 doesn't cost only $36 today ... it costs $45 to $60.

Exceptions:

Classic Traveller, The Traveller Book (containing the original 3 Little Black Books) is still around $10-$12 and you can get Books 0-8, the whole original rules, for about $40, about what it costs for the Mongoose starter book.

Call of Cthulhu 3rd edition hardback (from 1986) costs about $27 used on Amazon.com (don't even think about the original boxed set unless you've got an allowance worthy of Bill Gates).

Champions 4th edition (1992) costs $4-$8 used, while Champions Complete (the 6th edition equivalent) is $25 on Amazon.com, not too bad. (I think I paid about $20 for the 3rd edition boxed set back in the day). 1st edition (1983) can be had for $5-$9, if you avoid the sellers demanding almost $200 for the same thing.

I didn't price D&D editions, but you can download the art-free version of Labyrinth Lord for NADA DINERO from Goblinoid Games!

RuneQuest 3rd edition (1984) is $40-$45 on Amazon but 2nd edition (1980) will set you back anywhere from $42 to $200, depending on who's selling.

TOON (1991) is $30 used on Amazon, but that's the compilation version with all the supplements included. Steve Jackson Games is sold out of the hard copy version (they asked only $25). Noble Knight still has 1st edition (1984) for about $15, $38 for the deluxe edition above.

Edited September 4, 2013 by seneschal

[Matt]

I seldom try anything new simply due to the prices. It's a shame. But I have found lots of old games on the cheap. And FGU still sells many of its games and supplements at circa-'82 prices on their web site. Anyone up for a rousing session of Flashing Blades?

Most annoying are the games that want you to buy at least two books at $50 each just to have the basic starter set. Surely they're joking?

[seneschal]

I seldom try anything new simply due to the prices. It's a shame. But I have found lots of old games on the cheap. And FGU still sells many of its games and supplements at circa-'82 prices on their web site. Anyone up for a rousing session of Flashing Blades?

Most annoying are the games that want you to buy at least two books at $50 each just to have the basic starter set. Surely they're joking?

Psi World. For under $20 you can get the core game and two of the three supplements that were published for it. And the Daredevils! modules, at $6 apiece, are valuable for any pulp adventure campaign, regardless of system. I'd buy the core boxed set only for the included adventures, since Daredevils! game system is (like many FGU titles) a convoluted mess.

[Matt]

Psi World. For under $20 you can get the core game and two of the three supplements that were published for it. And the Daredevils! modules, at $6 apiece, are valuable for any pulp adventure campaign, regardless of system. I'd buy the core boxed set only for the included adventures, since Daredevils! game system is (like many FGU titles) a convoluted mess.

I hear that often, but mostly from folks who haven't played the games. I think it's mostly the presentation in wargame format (see section 1.3.14). I never found V&V or Flashing Blades to be difficult to follow, and I don't think Daredevils or Bushido are any harder than the AD&D of its era. I'll admit I haven't made it thru Privateers & Gentlemen yet, and I don't have Merc, Space Opera, or some of the others. I quite enjoy FGU's output, especially when I can buy it so cheap and since I live next state over it ships pretty fast, too.

I have all the Daredevils adventures and even if you don't like the system, there are a mess of ideas for use in the pulp/Indiana Jones/Tales of the Gold Monkey system of your choice.

P.S. Is that a Green Hornet symbol you're using?

Edited September 4, 2013 by Matt

[seneschal]

P.S. Is that a Green Hornet symbol you're using?

Yes, Kato. Fire up the Black Beauty!

I own Daredevils and several of the modules. I adapted them for Justice, Inc., back in the day. My group and I had a great time. Each module does an excellent job of catching the essence of a particular pulp sub-genre.

[Matt]

Yes, Kato. Fire up the Black Beauty!

I own Daredevils and several of the modules. I adapted them for Justice, Inc., back in the day. My group and I had a great time. Each module does an excellent job of catching the essence of a particular pulp sub-genre.

I have two copies of Justice Inc. with different cover art. Still waiting for someone to play it with. Everyone I know wants to play elves/hobbits stuff.

Were you aware they published a new Daredevils module a few months back?

[nclarke]

I have two copies of Justice Inc. with different cover art. Still waiting for someone to play it with.

Why don't you try gaming with an on-line group that is interested in Superheroes then?

[Matt]

Why don't you try gaming with an on-line group that is interested in Superheroes then?

Been there, done that...several times. Doesn't work unless players are dependable, which RPGers tend not to be. Every online game I've tried burns out when someone just disappears and it always seems to be a PC who is heavily involved in the story at hand. Too much work on my part. Plus it's just not the same. I think I'm done with online games. I ended up wasting too much time and effort and getting little return, so I'm jaded about it now.

'Course, the other problem is finding players who want to use these older games rather than flavors of the month.

[seneschal]

I have two copies of Justice Inc. with different cover art. Still waiting for someone to play it with. Everyone I know wants to play elves/hobbits stuff.

A difficult challenge, but not insurmountable. Naturally, you'd like to play Daredevils or Justice, Inc., but any pulp-friendly RPG system could work. As GM, you have the opportunity to mold your elves and hobbits campaign into something more pulp-ish. Now, before anyone cries, "Bait and switch; bad! Bad!" let me explain. After all, it's been done successfully before, and I'm not talking about Shadowrun or Rifts. In fact, sword and sorcery is already a pulp fantasy sub-genre, sort of fantasy noir with its antiheroes, sordid back room social and political schemes, its presentation of magic as rare and corrupting, its focus on humans and humanoid monsters instead of an encyclopedic array of demi-humans and creatures. Give your players a gritty, low-magic setting and you're halfway there.

When you say "Gunsmoke," most people think "Western." Yet audiences were surprised by it when it debuted on radio in 1952, as it was unlike the Westerns that had proceeded it. In fact, the writers had pulled a fast one, presenting the tropes of hard-boiled detective fiction in Western drag. Matt Dillion was a lonely, isolated man whose nobility was compromised by his ongoing relationship with a local prostitute, Miss Kitty. His adventures were grim. Sometimes he failed. The bad guys got away unpunished. The good guys died instead of being rescued at the last minute. The producers claimed it was Western adventure for adults; but really it presented Western adventure through the world-weary eyes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

You can do the same in your "mandatory" elves and hobbits game. Fantasy, like science fiction and superheroics, is amenable to all sorts of genre-bending. You've just got to keep it subtle. If your player-characters are up against foreign spies and saboteurs -- and why wouldn't they be? -- it's just as easy for the villains to be representatives of a Roman-ish or Spartan-ish evil empire as Imperial Japanese or fascist Germans. Mad science, super weapons, mutant creatures? Sure, why not? You've already got evil sorcerers and "science for science's sake" alchemists running around. Urban adventure has become a fantasy standard; who says Los Angeles and San Francisco have a monopoly on corrupt officials, hired goons, and insidious crime lords? Fantasy heroes often travel to strange new lands; lost worlds adventures are a no-brainer. Ditto, trading in strange ports and battling pirates. Keep the focus on solving problems and solving mysteries rather than on dungeon crawling; on the other hand, Allan Quartermain and Indiana Jones weren't averse to treasure hunting. Ditch the dragons and wandering monsters, keep the crazy deathtraps, give the PCs human opponents to deal with. Westerns? Fantasy folk settle the frontier, herd cattle, have to get them to market, must fight off rustlers and savage tribesmen just like anyone else. Sheesh, since some fantasy settings include winged mounts and flying ships, you could even sneak in some pulp air combat adventures. Much of it is a matter of attitude and presentation. It may be a while, if ever, before your players realize they've been in a pulp adventure campaign instead of a vanilla fantasy one.

Steve Devaney's "The Skull of the Sleeper" in A Nation Ransomed is an excellent example of this. It presents itself as a fantasy adventure. In reality, it's an old-fashioned South Pacific pulp yarn worthy of Louis L'Amour and L. Ron Hubbard. Leave the scary natives intact, replace the wizard with a mad scientist, give your PCs fedoras and pistols instead of swords and breastplates, and you're there. Only, you'll be doing this in reverse.

[Matt]

Thanks for the advice, but I should rephrase, perhaps, to be clearer: I have zero interest in "fantasy" settings, elves, magic items, dragons, and the rest. It could be the greatest plot ever conceived, but I wouldn't want to run it as I find those trappings incredibly boring. I have such little free time, I'd rather read a book than play a fantasy game just to get some RPG larks in. I'm odd man out in the RPG world as I have never been interested in the most popular setting for RPGs. Tough row to hoe, but so be it.

[seneschal]

I'm sorry. And I understand. I've played pulp, superhero, science fiction, and cartoon games exclusively myself. Fantasy role-playing was considered evil in the late '70s and early '80s when I got involved, so alternate genres were a way to get my "weirdness" past my parents. Even though I played Traveller instead of D&D, they still worried that I'd turn out to be the family warlock. Call of Cthulhu would have been a non-starter. One look at the cover and ...

(Sigh. They always knew where I was and what I was doing. I didn't roam the streets, didn't get involved in crime, wasn't drinking or doing drugs, wasn't getting the high school cheerleaders pregnant, etc., etc. Grumble. Grumble.)

I've been (re)watching Disney's Gargoyles with my daughter. It's essentially superheroes with bat wings instead of capes.

Edited September 7, 2013 by seneschal
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[seneschal]

http://www.lski.org/pictures/tabletopgaming/gw/wd%20magazine/White%20Dwarf%2011.pdf

FYI, Issue 11 had a review of RuneQuest. Which edition I'm not sure.

[Omro Gamer]

http://www.lski.org/pictures/tabletopgaming/gw/wd%20magazine/White%20Dwarf%2011.pdf

FYI, Issue 11 had a review of RuneQuest. Which edition I'm not sure.

First edition

[ORtrail]

My first experience with Pulp gaming was from the March 1981 issue of Dragon magazine. A twenty-odd page mini-RPG by David Cook, called Crimefighters. It was quite amazing how much he packed in to those pages, and I've used parts of the game (Contact Career Table, Experience Types, Vehicle Damage chart) over the years. The basic stats were based on 1D100 rolls. Ran a couple adventures with Crimefighters, but at the time lacked the experience and resources to really to run it properly. It was fun though.

I would go on to pick up Justice Inc. which is an excellent resource, but I never cared for the Hero game system all that much. Years later, I ran a tweaked version of Superworld, which I called Pulpworld. Set in the early 1930's it lasted about five adventures. It was very much a minor super hero type of roleplaying, not the detective stuff. I also grabbed a copy of Daredevils and all the modules, that I know of, for it. Actually, I even have a copy of the old FGU Gangsters RPG.

There are online resources now, and running a pulp period game would not be all that difficult. It is a harder sell to players if they feel they have to know about the history and historic events versus a modern day setting or fantasy where everything is wide open. I have felt for decades now that I want to run games other than the fantasy stuff, as everyone is doing that. Mildly surprised I am not alone in feeling that way.

Of course, I would default to some version of BRP to run most any game, as I can't be bothered to read and learn a new game system. The only recent exception to that being Supers! which is a simple game system. All this reminds me that I need to pick up a copy of Astounding Adventures too.

Edited September 11, 2013 by ORtrail