Bard Games was an American game company that produced

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 ...

s and game supplements.

Products

Bard Games was formed in 1982 by Steven Cordovano, Vernie Taylor and

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 ''Dunge ...

, 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 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 ...

(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 1987, Bard Games published the first edition of Sechi's new game, ''

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 pr ...

'', which had been inspired by the works of Jack Vance such as the

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 ...

series; the first release, ''

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 Game ...

'' was dedicated to Vance. A revised second edition was published in 1989, and a series of supplements followed, culminating in the Cyclopedia series. The success of ''Talislanta'' allowed Sechi to collect his ''Atlantis'' setting material into a new sourcebook, ''Atlantis: The Lost World'' (1988) and shortly afterward he published a second edition of the ''Talislanta'' game in the ''Talislanta Handbook & Campaign Guide'' (1989). When a buyer from Waldenbooks placed a huge order on ''Atlantis: The Lost World'', Sechi was reluctant to fill it but eventually did; about a year later many of the books were returned, forcing Bard Games to refund about $20,000. After Sechi repaid the company's debts to the book trade, he paid off his partner, and then shut Bard Games down. Sechi retained control of Bard Games' properties, and licensed various rights to Wizards of the Coast, Death's Edge Games,

Daedalus Entertainment Daedalus Entertainment was a Canadian game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. History Daedalus Games began when Robin Laws approached Jose Garcia in 1993 with an idea for a Hong Kong Action Cinema RPG; Garcia liked the ...

, and Pharos Press.

References

{{reflist Role-playing game publishing companies