Role-playing contest open door to romance, adventure

Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 1985-11-29
Author: David Prescott
Page: sec. 7, p. 18
Language: English

It has been more than a decade since two Chicagoans invented the first role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons, and created a fire-breathing new gaming industry in the process. E. Gary Gygax and David L. Arneson introduced their game in 1974, and this year role-playing games are expected to do record business in game shops worldwide.

Manufacturers are introducing a variety of new products. The most significant development in the industry is the more refined, less complicated game-playing systems being introduced by a number of companies. And several companies have designed role-playing games with characters that will appeal to a wider audience. The Barbara Cartland Romance Game, a new release by Mayfair Games, is intended to attract women players, who constitute a small percentage of the role-playing market.

Role-playing games have assumed new dimensions in character development, ranging from the cartoon characters in TOON, by Steve Jackson Games, to the characters in the "Dr. Who" television show.

Among this year's new fantasy and role-playing games, including new supplements and modules for earlier games, are:

Barbara Cartland Romance Game, Mayfair Games, $17. Easy, 1-8 players, 13 hours. Travel through 19th-Century Europe making the decisions as the heroine of a Barbara Cartland romance novel.

BattleTech, FASA, $15. Easy to moderately easy, 2-10 players, 2-5 hours. Do battle in the wars of the far future commanding 30-foot-tall, 50-ton robots. Supplements: Tales of the Black Widow, $7; the Fox's Teeth, $7.

Champions, Hero Games, $12.95. Moderately difficult, 2-6 players, unlimited playing time. Superheroes combat evil villains in a comic book world.

Chill, Pacesetter Ltd., $12. Easy, 2-8 players, 2-4 hours. A previously released game with several new supplements and modules, Chill is a horror role-playing game where the players fight ghosts and vampires. Supplements: Vampires, $10. Modules: Evenings of Terror with Elvira, $10; Death Watch on the Bayou, $6; Blood Moon Rising, $6. New modules and supplements also available for the Pacesetter Time Master and Star Ace games. Supplements: Time Tricks [Time Master], $10; Aliens [Star Ace], $10.

Danger International, Hero Games, $14.95. Moderately difficult, 2-8 players, unlimited playing time. Fast-paced adventure in a modem world.

D.C. Heroes Role Playing Game, Mayfair Games, $17. Moderately easy, 2-12 players, unlimited playing time. Allows players to assume roles of superheroes and face challenges and villains from comic books. Supplements: Blood Feud [features Teen Titans], $6; Siege [Justice League of America], $6; Wheel of Destruction, $6; Batman Sourcebook, $10; Prometheus Project, $6.

The Dr. Who Role Playing Game, FASA, $15. Moderately difficult, 2-20 players, 4-6 hours. Explore all space and time as a Time Lord of Gallifrey on a heroic mission to stop the Master and other evildoers. Modules: Iytean Menace, $7; Lords of Destiny, $7; Countdown, $7; Hartlewick Horror, $7. Supplements: The Daleks, $10.

Fantasy Hero, Hero Games, $14.95. Moderately difficult, 2-6 players, unlimited playing time. An epic game of sword and sorcery role playing.

James Bond 007, Victory Games Inc., $12.95. Moderately difficult, multiplayer, unlimited playing time. Role playing in Her Majesty's Secret Service. Winner of the H.G. Wells' Best Role Playing Game Award. Modules: Goldfinger II: The Man With the Midas Touch, $7.95; A View to a Kill, $7.95. Supplements: Thrilling Locations, $9.95.

Judge Dredd the Role Playing Game, Games Workshop U.S., $16. Moderately difficult, 2 or more players, unlimited playing time. A fast-paced game of crime fighting in the futuristic Mega-City One.

Justice, Hero Games, $14.95- Moderately difficult, 2-8 players, unlimited playing time. Role-playing action and adventure in the 1920s and '30s.

Killer, Steve Jackson Games, $5.95. Easy, 2 or more players, unlimited playing time. A rule book for the assassin-type games popular on college campuses. A completely nonviolent game that transforms water balloons into bombs and cap guns into revolvers.

Lords of Creation, Avalon Hill Game Co., $12. Difficult, multiplayer, unlimited playing time. A science fantasy role-playing game that covers a number of time zones-past, present and future. Modules: Horn of Roland, $8 Yeti Sanction, $8; Omegakron, $8.

Man to Man, Steve Jackson Games, $9.95. Moderately difficult, 1-6 players, 1090 minutes. A tactical fantasy combat board game from the forthcoming generic universal role-playing system [Gurps]. Supplements: Orcslayer, $5.95.

Masters of the Universe, FASA, $15. Easy, 1-6 players, 30-90 minutes. Play the characters of He-Man and the other heroes of Etemia as you invade Snake Mountain to reclaim the King's treasure

Pendragon, Chaosium Inc., $19.95. Easy, multiplayer, 2-4 hours. Take on the chivalrous roles of knights of King Arthur's round table.

Powers & Perils, Avalon Hill Game Co., $24. Difficult, multiplayer, unlimited playing time. Players become fictional characters of the Middle Ages. Modules and supplements: Book of Tables, $10; Perilous Lands, $20; Tower of the Dead, $10.

RuneQuest, Avalon Hill Game Co., $38. Difficult, multiplayer, unlimited playing time. A role-playing game of the Dark Ages of Fantasy Europe. Recipient of Omni magazine's Top 10 Games of the Year Award. Modules: Monster Coliseum, $16; RO [Gamemaster's Box], $15; RuneQuest [Players Box], $20.

Sandman, Pacesetter Ltd., $12. Fasy, 2-4 players, 3-4 hours. Players wake up on a train and find that they are on a surreal journey during which they must determine who they are. Pacesetter is offering a $10,000 prize to the first player who can correctly identify who and what his or her character is.

Star Trek, FASA, $12. Moderate, 2-20 players, 4-6 hours. Explore the universe by assuming the characters of the popular "Star Trek" television series. Supplements: The Romulans, $10; the Triangle, $10; the Ship Construction Manual, $10; the Ship Recognition Manual: Klingons, $7; the Ship Recognition Manual: Federation, $7; the Ship Recognition Manual: Romulans, $7. Modules: The Outcasts, $7; A Matter of Priorities, $7; Where Has All the Glory . Gone? $7; Triangle Campaign, $8.

TOON, Steve Jackson Games, $8.95. Easy, 2-4 players plus game master, 20 minutes per player. A cartoon role-playing game that allows the player to become any character in silly Short Subject and Feature Films. Supplements: TOON Strikes Again, $4.95; TOON Silly Stuff, $4.95.

Traveller, Game Designers' Workshop Inc., $12. Moderately difficult, 3 or more players, 2-3 hours. Science fiction adventure in the far future. Supplements: Zhodani, $7; Droyne, $7; Spinward Campaign, $7.

Twilight 2000, Game Designers' Workshop Inc., $18. Moderately difficult, 3 or more players, 2-3 hours. Survival in a war-torn, postholocaust world. Supplements: The Ruins of Warsaw, $7; the Black Madonna, $7; U.S. Army Vehicle Guide, $7; Going Home, $7.

World Action and Adventure: Official Guide, M.S. Kinney Corp., $24.99. Moderately easy, ages 10 to adult, 2 or more players, unlimited playing time. A realistic, educationally oriented game that allows the player to assume a myriad of characters "in any time period, in any occupation, in any adventure." Reference Guides: Animals and Geography, $14.99; Book of Characters, $14.99. Supplement: Action Guide's Screen, $14.99.

Role-playing contest open door to romance, adventure

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