''Merc'' is a modern combat role-playing game published by
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent.
History
Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York b ...
(FGU) in 1981.
Description
''Merc'' is a military role-playing system in which the players assume the roles of modern mercenaries engaged in counter-insurgency.
The rules cover character creation, specialties (e.g. map expert, medic, escape artist, etc.), action success tests, movement, combat, and vehicles.
The
boxed set
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
contains:
*a 36-page book
*four cardstock reference sheets
*a plastic transparency
*dice
A short sample adventure set in
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
is included.
Publication history
''Merc'' was published by FGU in 1981 as a boxed set designed by
Paul D. Baader,
Lawrence Sangee, and
Walter Mark, with interior art by Baader, and cover design by Robert Charrette.
Two years later, in 1983, FGU published ''
Merc Supplement 1: In Country'', which provided more rules for things like vehicles and airborne operations. In 1984, FGU published a second supplement, ''Campaign Book 1: Rhodesia''. No standalone adventures or further supplements were published.
Reception
In the January 1983 edition of ''
The Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...
'' (No. 59), Brian R. Train thought that the game suffered from a lot of ambiguous rules, saying, "This is quite a good game for an (assumed) first effort – I feel its flaws are due basically to not enough development time and design limits. If a later, revised edition of ''Merc'' were put out, I would heartily recommend it. As it is, though, I would warn the buyer to 'approach with caution' unless he is already quite familiar with the subject matter, in order to fill in the numerous holes."
In ''
Imagine
Imagine may refer to:
* Imagination
Music Albums
* ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008
* ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002
* ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012
* ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971
** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
'',
Paul Cockburn
Paul Cockburn is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Career
Paul Cockburn worked for TSR, Inc., TSR's ''Imagine (AD&D magazine), Imagine'' magazine. Cockburn later led the new editorial team of ''White Dwarf (magazin ...
thought the audience for ''Merc'' was limited, saying, "''Merc'' is clearly designed for the gun nut, the sort of role-player who likes to know just how much of a mess his assault rifle will make of a 'soft' target
..The book is dedicated to
'Mad' Mike Hoare, (Mercenary Extraordinaire) - and I'm sure he'll be delighted."
In the January–February 1984 edition of ''
Different Worlds
''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987.
Scope
''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...
'' (Issue 32), William A. Barton found several problems with the rules that he felt should have been caught in the editing and playtesting stages. He also thought the price was "just a bit steep for those not thoroughly committed to modern merc role-playing."
Reviews
*''
The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games
Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR.
His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995.
Swan also wrote '' The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pr ...
''
[https://archive.org/details/completeguidetor0000swan/page/134/mode/2up]
References
{{reflist
Fantasy Games Unlimited games
Military role-playing games
Role-playing games introduced in 1981