Robert Charrette
Robert N. Charrette (born 1953) is an American graphic artist, game designer, sculptor and author. Charrette has authored more than a dozen novels. His gaming materials have received many Origins Awards. Charrette was inducted in the Origins Hall of Fame in 2003. His work is known for a clean, realistic style that invokes themes from Feudal Japan and Chanbara films and in particular, historical and fantastic representations of Samurai culture. His early work in game design and miniature sculpting set the tone for depictions of Japanese mythology in American fantasy and science fiction. His 1979 role-playing game ''Bushido'' was one of the first role-playing games with a non-Western theme and remained in print for more than three decades. Charrette produced gaming products for Fantasy Games Unlimited, Grenadier Models Inc. and Ral Partha Enterprises, FASA and currently operates Parroom Enterprises, LLC, a boutique miniatures game company. Early life Charrette grew up in Rhode Islan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Feudal Japan
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventions were introduced from Asia. During this period, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese ''Book of Han'' in the first century AD. Around the 3rd century BC, the Yayoi people from the continent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron technology and agricultural civilization. Because they had an agricultural civilization, the population of the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ultimately overwhelmed the Jōmon period, Jōmon people, natives of the Japanese archipelago who were hunter-gatherers. Between the fourth to ninth century, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by the Emperor of Japan. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gangster!
''Gangster!'' is a role-playing game published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1979. Gameplay ''Gangster!'' is a cops-and-mobsters role-playing game system set in the period 1900 to the present. Players can choose to be on the side of the law as police (city or federal), or they can roleplay a criminal, either as loner or as part of a syndicate. The combat covers many sorts of firearms. The game rules include sections on crimes and corruption, gang wars, police methods, forensic medicine, FBI labs, and SWAT teams, with guidelines on the laws of the land, criminal law, conviction, and penalties. As with most role-playing games, one player is the game master, while the other players roleplay characters that can either be lawmakers or lawbreakers. To start a game, the players roll up their character's abilities using three six-sided dice. They also use the dice to determine the number of crime-busting or criminal skills the character has. Low dice rolls may leave a character with no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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West End Games
West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included ''Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Star Wars'', ''Paranoia (game), Paranoia'', ''Torg'', ''DC Universe Roleplaying Game, DC Universe'', and ''Junta (game), Junta''. History Scott Palter received a Juris Doctor, JD from Stanford University, Stanford in 1972 and joined the New York State Bar Association, New York State Bar before he began work at the family firm, Bucci Imports. Drawing on this financial connection, Palter was able to found West End Games, named after the bar in which the meeting that finalized its founding occurred: the West End Bar near Columbia University. Initially a producer of board wargames, In 1983, Palter hired Ken Rolston, Eric Goldberg (game designer), Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan as game design ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Roleplaying Game
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pron ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shadowrun
''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy, horror and detective fiction. From its inception in 1989, ''Shadowrun'' has remained among the most popular role-playing games. It has spawned a vast franchise that includes a series of novels, a collectible card game, two miniature-based tabletop wargames, and multiple video games. The title is taken from the game's main premise – a near-future world damaged by a massive magical event, where industrial espionage and corporate warfare runs rampant. A ''shadowrun'' – a successful data theft or physical break-in at a rival corporation or organization – is one of the main tools employed by both corporate rivals and underworld figures. Deckers (futuristic hackers) who can tap into an immersive, three-dimensional cyberspace are o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules, Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargaming, miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail (game), ''Chainmail'' serving as the initial rule system. ''D&D'' publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, and also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre. ''D&D'' departs from traditional wargame, wargaming by allowing each player to create their own Player character, character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Mas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warhammer Fantasy Battle
''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was published by the Games Workshop company. As in other miniature wargames, players use miniature models (''minis'') to represent warriors. The playing field is a model battlefield comprising models of buildings, trees, hills, and other terrain features. Players take turns moving their model warriors across the playing field and simulate a battle. The outcomes of fights between the models are determined by a combination of dice rolls and simple arithmetic. Though the gameplay is mostly based on medieval warfare, it incorporates fantasy elements such as wizards, dragons, and magical spells. ''Warhammer'' was the first commercial miniature wargame designed to use proprietary models. Prior to this, miniature wargames rulesets were designed to use gener ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (game designer), John Peake, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (UK), Steve Jackson, Games Workshop was originally a manufacturer of wooden boards for games including backgammon, mancala, nine men's morris and Go (board game), Go. It later became an importer of the U.S. role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and then a publisher of wargames and role-playing games in its own right, expanding from a bedroom mail-order company in the process. It expanded into Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia in the early 1990s. All UK-based operations were relocated to the current headquarters in Lenton, Nottingham in 1997. It started promoting games associated with The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy in 2001. It al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oriental Adventures
''Oriental Adventures'' (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of ''Oriental Adventures'' provides rules for adapting its respective version of ''D&D'' for use in campaign settings based on the Far East, rather than the medieval Europe-setting assumed by most ''D&D'' books. Both versions of ''Oriental Adventures'' include example campaign settings. ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' The original ''Oriental Adventures'' () was written by Gary Gygax, David "Zeb" Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval, and published in 1985 by TSR, Inc. as a 144-page hardcover for use with the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'') 1st edition rules. The book was edited by Steve Winter, Mike Breault, Anne Gray, and Thad Russell. The book's cover art was by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Roger Raupp, James Holloway, Easley, and Dave Sutherland. Camp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TSR, Inc
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for ''D&D'', a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular ''D&D'' as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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FASA Corporation
Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city dates back to the Achaemenid period. Fasa's economy is based on agriculture and Pastoralism. Jahrom, Darab, Sarvestan, Kherameh and Estahban are neighbours of Fasa. This city is located on the road from Shiraz to Kerman, This has made Fasa a strategic and important city. Name The name Fasa is derived from the older form Pasā. Various etymologies for this name have been proposed. Local tradition holds that Fasa is named after a legendary prince named Pasa, son of Fars and grandson of Tahmuras. In Ibn al-Balkhi's retelling the legend, Fars granted the town of Fasa to Pasa; in Hamdallah Mustawfi's version, Pasa founds the city himself (in this version, he is directly the son of Tahmuras). Harold Bailey proposed on linguistic grounds tha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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BattleTech
''BattleTech'' is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2001, which was in turn acquired by Topps in 2003; and published since 2007 by Catalyst Game Labs. The trademark is currently owned by Topps and, for videogames, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios; Catalyst Game Studios licenses the franchise from Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game ''Classic BattleTech, BattleTech'' (originally named ''Battledroids'') by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock III and has since grown to include List of BattleTech games, numerous expansions to the original game, several board games, role playing games, video games, a collectible card game, a series of List of BattleTech novels, more than 100 novels, and an animated BattleTech: The Animated Series, television series. Gameplay At its most basic, the boardgames of ''BattleTech'' are played on a map sheet composed of hexagonal terrain tiles. The comba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |