If nothing else
The Fantasy Trip has the coolest name of any FRPG ever. It also happened to be a good game which is what you would expect of designer
Steve Jackson. It was similar to T&T in certain respects, such as a d6 based mechanic, point-based spell system, using Strength to powers spells, etc., but it was a much more tactical game. This is largely due to the fact that it grew out two of Metagaming's "microgames",
Melee (1977) and
Wizard (1978). These were small, digest sized wargames of man-to-man (or wizard-to-wizard) arena combat played out on a hexsheet.
Take that, you fiend!
And it's these first versions of the game that has my inner old-schooler totally jazzed. I found them on David O. Miller's
Melee & Wizard page, which links to
copies of the rules. While the
Dark City take on TFT is OK, seeing these games in their original incarnations has me jonesing to play them. Having warriors, wizards and monsters going at it in a coliseum will be a blast. It'll be like a multi-player
Arena of Khazan. I know what I'm doing with my weekend.
2 comments:
Even after 30 years, still my all time favorite system, whether it be for full-blown FRPG or just a quick half-hour arena combat.
I can see the appeal. It's a sign of a good game if the combat system can be run as a stand alone game (like you can do with CP2020's Friday Night Fire Fight).
And I'm surprised how much similarity there is between these games and parts of that 4th edition reboot of T&T that Mike Hill put online. I'm already imagining an unholy amalgamation.
Post a Comment