|
Generic Universal RolePlaying System
The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems were story- or genre-specific. Players control their in-game characters verbally and the success of their actions are determined by the skill of their character, the difficulty of the action, and the rolling of dice. Characters earn points during play which are used to gain greater abilities. Gaming sessions are story-told and run by " Game Masters" (often referred to as simply "GMs"). ''GURPS'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1988'', and in 2000 it was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame. Many of its expansions have also won awards. History Prior RPG history Prior to ''GURPS'', most roleplaying games (RPGs) of the 1970s and early 1980s were developed especially for certain gaming environments, and they were lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GURPS 4th Logo
The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems were story- or genre-specific. Players control their in-game characters verbally and the success of their actions are determined by the skill of their character, the difficulty of the action, and the rolling of dice. Characters earn points during play which are used to gain greater abilities. Gaming sessions are story-told and run by " Game Masters" (often referred to as simply "GMs"). ''GURPS'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1988'', and in 2000 it was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame. Many of its expansions have also won awards. History Prior RPG history Prior to ''GURPS'', most roleplaying games (RPGs) of the 1970s and early 1980s were developed especially for certain gaming environments, and they were lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Secret (game)
''Top Secret'' is an espionage-themed tabletop role-playing game written by Merle M. Rasmussen and first published in 1980 by TSR, Inc. ''Top Secret'' (original edition) The original version of ''Top Secret'' was designed by Merle M. Rasmussen,Rasmussen, M. W. (1981). ''Top Secret Espionage Role Playing Game'', second ed. Lake Geneva: TSR, Inc. and allows players and gamemasters to build their own espionage story settings. The original boxed set of the game included a 64-page rule book and a sample adventure, "Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle". The TSR Product Code for the original boxed set is TSR-7006. The game was developed over a period of two years by Rasmussen and TSR, Inc., TSR editor Allen Hammack. As part of the playtesting for the game, a note about an imaginary assassination plot written on TSR, Inc., TSR stationery caused the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI to come to investigate the offices of TSR Hobbies. The ''Top Secret'' game is based exclusively on 10-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wizard (board Game)
''Wizard'' is a game system of medieval fantasy combat designed by Steve Jackson, later of Steve Jackson Games, and published by Metagaming in 1978. In 2019, ''Wizard'' was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games. Development and publication history ''Wizard'' was published by Metagaming in 1978 as MicroGame #6, a magic-based pocket board game of individual combat. ''Wizard'' added magical combat rules to the combat system introduced in Jackson's previous game, ''Melee (game), Melee'', also published by Metagaming. ''Melee'', ''Wizard'' and gamemaster supplement ''In The Labyrinth (supplement), In the Labyrinth'' eventually formed Metagaming's ''The Fantasy Trip'' fantasy role-playing system. Both ''Melee'' and ''Wizard'' were expanded and re-released as ''Advanced Wizard'' and ''Advanced Melee'', with many role-playing elements added to the basic fantasy combat system. When Steve Jackson released GURPS in 1986, some of the concepts used in ''Wizard'' were used in the GU ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melee (game)
''Melee'' is a man-to-man combat boardgame designed by Steve Jackson, and released in 1977 by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, ''Melee'' was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games. History ''Melee'' was designed by Steve Jackson, and was originally released in 1977 as MicroGame #3 by Metagaming Concepts. At the time Jackson was getting involved with ''Dungeons & Dragons'', but he found the various-sized dice irritating, and he found the combat rules confusing and unsatisfying, particularly the lack of tactics, so he designed ''Melee'' as something different. Jackson had originally joined the Society for Creative Anachronism to gain a more visceral understanding of actual combat, and based ''Melee'' on his studies of the SCA. When designing ''Melee'', Jackson saw the possibility to expand it into a full fantasy roleplaying game that could compete with ''D&D'', and thus, even before ''Melee'' was released, Metagaming started advertising that full RPG system, ''The Fanta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generic Role-playing Game System
A ''generic'' or ''universal'' role-playing game system is a role-playing game system designed to be independent of setting and genre. Its rules should, in theory, work the same way for any setting, world, environment or genre in which one would want to play. History The term "generic" has been used since the earliest days of gaming to describe a system that can be used for any type or style of game. There is some dispute among role-playing enthusiasts on when the concept of a generic system originated and which was the first one published. According to Shannon Appelcline, Chaosium's ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'', 1980), was the first generic role-playing system. ''BRP'' was a "cut-down" version of Chaosium's ''RuneQuest'' role-playing game and formed the foundation for the ''Stormbringer'' RPG, and was also adopted for '' Call of Cthulhu'', the first horror role-playing game. The publication of ''GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System'', 1986) as a completely setting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hero Games
Hero Games (''DOJ, Inc dba Hero Games'') is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the ''Fuzion'' system. History In 1981, George MacDonald and Steve Peterson, from San Mateo, California, printed 1,000 copies of a 64-page rulebook for Champions, their super-hero role-playing game, to take to a Bay Area gaming convention. It sold very strongly, enough to form a company, Hero Games. Later, the pair recruited Ray Greer as their sales and marketing partner. In the following years, the company published two more editions of Champions, two dozen adventures, and several self-contained role-playing games using the Champions core rules as a universal role-playing system: Danger International, Justice, Inc., Robot Warriors, Fantasy Hero and Star Hero. The games were very compatible, but each differed slightly, using new rules or costs. Hero Games used the term Hero System to de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hero System
The ''Hero System'' is a generic role-playing game system that was developed from the superhero RPG ''Champions''. After ''Champions'' fourth edition was released in 1989, a stripped-down version of its ruleset with no superhero or other genre elements was released as The ''Hero System Rulesbook'' in 1990. As a spinoff of ''Champions'', the ''Hero System'' is considered to have started with 4th edition (as it is mechanically identical to ''Champions'' 4th edition), rather than on its own with a 1st edition. However, the first three editions of the game are typically referred to as ''Champions'', rather than the Hero System, as the game for its first three editions was not sold as a universal toolkit, instead largely focusing on superheroes. The ''Hero System'' is used as the underlying mechanics of other Hero Games role-playing games such as ''Fantasy Hero'', ''Star Hero'', and ''Pulp Hero''. It is characterized by point-based character creation and the rigor with which it me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'', based on Thomas Mallory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', and '' 7th Sea'', "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th century Europe. Many of Chaosium’s product lines are based upon literary sources. While Stafford himself has been described as "one of the most decorated game designers of all time" and "the grand shaman of gaming", multiple other notable game designers have written for Chaosium. These include David Conyers, Matthew Costello, Larry DiTillio, Paul Fricker, David A. Hargrave, Rob Heinsoo, Keith Herber, Jennell Jaquays, Katharine Kerr, Reiner Knizia, Charlie Krank, Robin Laws, Penelope Love, Mark Morrison, Steve Perrin, Sandy Petersen, Ken Rolston, Ken St. Andre, Jonathan Tweet, John Wick, and Lynn Willis, among others. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basic Role-Playing
''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQuest''. Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis are credited as the authors. Chaosium used the percentile skill-based system as the basis for most of their games, including ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', ''Stormbringer (role-playing game), Stormbringer'', and ''Elfquest (role-playing game), Elfquest''. History The core rules were originally written by Steve Perrin as part of his game ''RuneQuest''. It was Greg Stafford's idea to simplify the rules (eliminating such things as Strike Ranks and Hit Locations) and issue them in a 16-page booklet called ''Basic Role-Playing''. Over the years several others, including Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, contributed to the system. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Role-playing Game System
A role-playing game system is a set of game mechanics used in a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions. History By the late 1970s, the Chaosium staff realized that Steve Perrin's ''RuneQuest'' system had the potential to become a "house system", where one set of game mechanics could be used for multiple games; Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis proved that theory by boiling down the RuneQuest rules into the thin 16-page ''Basic Role-Playing'' (1980). Hero Games used their ''Champions'' rules as the basis for their Hero System. The Pacesetter house system centered on a universal "action table" that used one chart to resolve all game actions. Steve Jackson became interested in publishing a new roleplaying system, designed by himself, with three goals: that it be detailed and realistic; logical and well-organized; and adaptable to any setting and any level of play; this system was eventually released as ''GURPS'' (1986). The ''D&D'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few western territories as states in 1912 (except Alaska, which was not admitted into the Union until 1959). This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as " Manifest Destiny" and the historians' " Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining periods of American national identity. The archetypical Old West period is generally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boot Hill (role-playing Game)
''Boot Hill'' is a western-themed role-playing game designed by Brian Blume, Gary Gygax, and Don Kaye (although Kaye unexpectedly died before the game was published), and first published in 1975. ''Boot Hill'' was TSR's third role-playing game, appearing not long after ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and ''Empire of the Petal Throne'', and taking its name from "Boot Hill", the popular Wild West term for "cemetery". ''Boot Hill'' was marketed to take advantage of America's love of the western genre. The game did feature some new game mechanics, such as the use of percentile dice, but its focus on gunfighting rather than role-playing, as well as the lethal nature of its combat system, limited its appeal. ''Boot Hill'' was issued in three editions over 15 years, but it never reached the same level of popularity as ''D&D'' and other fantasy-themed role-playing games. Creative origins Soon after TSR was formed by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye in late 1973, they and new business partner Brian Blume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
