Bard Games
Bard Games was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. Products Bard Games was formed in 1982 by Steven Cordovano, Vernie Taylor and Stephan Michael Sechi, who each put up $600. Their intention was to market generic fantasy role-playing supplements that could be adapted for any game system. Their first product was '' The Compleat Alchemist''. In 1984, Bard Games published the fantasy role-playing game (RPG) '' Atlantis''. Over the next three years, two more ''Atlantis'' volumes were published, creating ''The Atlantis Trilogy''. Due to personal and financial disagreements that arose in the wake of the trilogy, Sechi sold his shares in Bard Games to Cordovano and left. Over the next three months Sechi began work on another trilogy of supplements that would form the basis of a new RPG. At the same time, Cordovano decided that he did not want to run Bard Games and sold it back to Sechi, who now had a publishing house to produce a new game. In 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Role-playing Game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal role-playing game system, system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of role-playing games. The original form, sometimes called the tabletop role-playing game (TRPG), is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing game, live action role-playing (LARP), players physically perform their characters' actions.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique features: (a) The players physically embody their characters, and (b) the game takes place in a physica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steven Cordovano
Steven Cordovano is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career In 1982, Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Venie Taylor each put in $600 and formed the company Bard Games Bard Games was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. Products Bard Games was formed in 1982 by Steven Cordovano, Vernie Taylor and Stephan Michael Sechi, who each put up $600. Their intention was to marke ... to produce their own '' Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements. Sechi and Cordovano's '' The Compleat Alchemist'' (1983) was the company's first product and presented a new character class: a magic-item maker. Due to personal and financial disagreements that arose in the wake of his completion of '' The Atlantis Trilogy'', Sechi sold his shares in Bard Games to Cordovano and left. Cordovano decided that he did not want to run Bard Games and solid it back to Sechi a few months later. References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT: ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stephan Michael Sechi
Stephan Michael Sechi is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career In 1982, Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor each put in $600 and formed the company Bard Games to produce their own ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements. Sechi and Cordovano's '' The Compleat Alchemist'' (1983) was the company's first product and presented a new character class: a magic-item maker. Sechi's '' The Compleat Adventurer'' (1983) offered a number of variant classes for thieves and fighters, while Sechi and Taylor's '' The Compleat Spell Caster'' (1983) presented many variant magic-user classes. Sechi oversaw Bard's next project, '' The Atlantis Trilogy'' for Bard Games, which took three years to complete but eventually the three books were published as '' The Arcanum'' (1984), '' The Lexicon'' (1985), and '' The Bestiary'' (1986). Due to personal and financial disagreements that arose in the wake of his completion of ''The Atlantis Trilogy'', Sechi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Compleat Alchemist
''The Compleat Alchemist'' is a generic role-playing game supplement first published by Bard Games in 1982. Publication history Bard Games was formed in 1982 by Steven Cordovano and Stephan Michael Sechi to market generic fantasy role-playing supplements that could be adapted for any game system. Their first product was a 46-page softcover book called ''The Compleat Alchemist''. A preliminary edition with a white cover and brown cover art was published in 1982; the first edition with pink cover art was released the following year. In both cases, the contents were typewritten, and artwork was provided by Joe Bouza. Bard Games ceased operation in 1990. In 1994, Wizards of the Coast released an updated edition of ''The Compleat Alchemist'', a 71-page professionally typeset softcover book written by Cathleen Adkinson, Anthony Pryor, and Beverly Marshall Saling. Description The book provides details on the alchemist character class. Its contents are designed to be modified for u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient mythology, myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic (paranormal), magic or other supernatural elements as a ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atlantis (role-playing Game)
''Atlantis'' is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) originally published by Bard Games, set in the ancient world before Atlantis sank. It first consisted of three books: ''The Arcanum (Atlantis), The Arcanum'', ''The Lexicon (Atlantis), The Lexicon'', and ''The Bestiary (Atlantis), The Bestiary'', and for this reason was originally called ''The Atlantean Trilogy'' or ''The Atlantis Trilogy''. ''Atlantis'' was one of the many fantasy RPGs that followed the rise of the popular ''Dungeons & Dragons'' RPG in the late 1970s. However, instead of featuring a fictional fantasy world such as ''D&D''s World of Greyhawk, Greyhawk or ''Runequest''s Glorantha, ''Atlantis'' is based on a pseudo-historical version of the Earth and features historical mythology and creatures from myth. Setting The world setting is Earth, but in a fictionalized Antediluvian Age (a quasi-historical/mythical interpretation of the ancient past). Geography The geographic regions and real-world influences are: * Medite ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Talislanta
''Talislanta'' is a fantasy role-playing game written by Stephen Michael Sechi and published by Bard Games in 1987. There have been six different English-language editions and several foreign language editions published. All English-language products of ''Talislanta'' are now freely available via a Creative Commons licence. Publishing history 1st edition (Bard Games) In 1982 Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor formed the company Bard Games to produce their own ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements. In 1986, due to personal and financial disagreements that arose after the publication of '' The Atlantis Trilogy'', Sechi sold his shares in Bard Games to Cordovano and left to begin work on a new role-playing game system and its supplements. Cordovano decided that he did not want to run Bard Games and sold it back to Sechi, giving Sechi the opportunity to publish his new game, ''Talislanta''. After publication of the rules in '' The Talislantan Handbook'' in 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984, and he was a Guest of Honor at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 15th SFWA Grand Master, Grand Master in 1997, and the EMP Museum#Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001, its sixth class of two deceased and two living writers. His most notable awards included Hugo Awards in 1963 for ''The Dragon Masters'', in 1967 for ''The Last Castle (novella), The Last Castle'', and in 2010 for his memoir ''This Is Me, Jack Vance!''; the Nebula Award in 1966, also for ''The Last Castle''; the Jupiter Award (science fiction award), Jupiter Award in 1975 and the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dying Earth
''Dying Earth'' is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collections to a fix-up (novel created from older short stories), perhaps all the way to novel. Retrieved 2012-05-09. The first book in the series, ''The Dying Earth'', was ranked number 16 of 33 "All Time Best Fantasy Novels" by ''Locus (magazine), Locus'' in 1987, based on a poll of subscribers, although it was marketed as a collection and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) calls it a "loosely connected series of stories". Setting The stories of the ''Dying Earth'' series are set in the distant future, at a point when the Dying Earth subgenre, sun is almost exhausted and magic has asserted itself as a dominant force. The Moon has disappeared and the Sun is in danger of burning out at any time, often flickering as if about to go out, before shining again. The various c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Chronicles Of Talislanta
''The Chronicles of Talislanta'' is a supplement published by Bard Games in 1987 for the fantasy role-playing game ''Talislanta''. Publication history In 1982 Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor formed the company Bard Games to produce their own ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements. In 1986, due to personal and financial disagreements that arose after the publication of ''The Atlantis Trilogy'', Sechi sold his shares in Bard Games to Cordovano and left, to begin work on another role-playing game system and its supplements. When Cordovano decided that he did not want to run Bard Games and sold it back to Sechi, Sechi had the opportunity to publish his new game, ''Talislanta''. Contents ''The Chronicles of Talislanta'' is an 88-page perfect-bound softcover book with illustrations by P.D. Breeding-Black that is an introduction to the continent of Talislanta, the countries and kingdoms and their people. The content is presented as the recollections of the wizard T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy. History On March 4, 1933, Lawrence Hoyt (1902–1982), a former sales manager for Simon & Schuster, and Melvin T. Kafka (1905–1992) opened a rental library within leased space inside a Bridgeport, Connecticut, department store under the name Walden Book Company.Link via . The pair believed that their business would help people cope with the effects of The Great Depression. Bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wizards Of The Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidiary of Hasbro, which acquired the company in 1999. During a February 2021 reorganization at Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast became the lead part of the new "Wizards & Digital" division. Originally a role-playing game publisher, the company originated and popularized the collectible card game genre with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in the mid-1990s. It also acquired the popular ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game by buying TSR (company), TSR and increased its success by publishing the licensed ''Pokémon Trading Card Game''. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington, Renton, Washington (state), Washington, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. Wizards of the Coast publishes role-pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |