In 1978, Hamlyn Publishing released a book called Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD by Stewart Cowley. It was a large, hardback art book filled to the brim with science fiction artwork of spaceships, planetscapes, and future cities/bases that were rendered by some of the greatest SF artists of the time: Angus McKie, Gerard Thomas, Chris Foss, Peter Elson, and others represented by J.S. Artists.
More than an art book, however, it was also a detailed future history with little vignettes of space battles, a future history, etc. all paired with pictures showing the subject. It was a brilliant concept that was well executed, leading to more books in the series authored by Cowley—Great Space Battles (1979, with Charles Herridge), SpaceWreck: Ghostships and Derelicts of Space (1979), Starliners: Commercial Travel in 2200 AD (1980).
All of these books were tied together in a future history involving the name of the Terran Trade Authority (TTA) hence the name of the RPG.
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Today's review is going to come from the weird side of game publishing. The game is Story Engine and it has a fairly convoluted history that led to its demise and current fate.
History
Our story begins in 1996 with a small indie press outfit called Hubris Games. Hubris published a little game called Maelstrom Storytelling, that had some decent indie success spawning four follow-in products in the process. They also published a free game called Story Bones with the essence of the ideas behind Maelstrom's game system but the setting excised. Then in 1999 they published this game, Story Engine (sub-titled "Universal Rules") and followed that up with a revised edition in 2001.
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We're reaching deep into the wayback machine for this review. Today's fringe gem is another game from the (in)famous game publisher Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). As I said in an earlier review of Psi World, FGU was a game company willing to champion and publish any game concept imaginable (with predictable mixed results in quality and sanity). One of the games I mentioned in my capsule history of them is a very rare beast called Starships & Spacemen (S&S).
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Today's review is gong to be from the person I consider the James Brown of game design. Which is to say the hardest-working man in game design. His name is Greg Porter and he is the owner (and sole member) of the game producer BTRC (Blacksburg Tactical Research Center). Neither he, nor his company, are likely names you know … but you should. In his own, quiet way, Greg Porter has created some of the most interesting, most innovative, and most playable RPGs out there.
(Of course he's also created some of the most unplayable games as well…)
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No history of RPGs would ever be complete without discussion of Iron Crown Enterprises' Rolemaster line of game products. Despite its many epithets (most notably Chartmaster)—whether justly or unjustly applied (and I feel largely unjustly!)—it is hard to deny the influence this game had on role-playing games in general and D&D in specific. First published in 1980 with the first component, Arms Law (a naming convention that set the table for all of the line), it began its existence as a replacement weapon/melee combat system for AD&D. (They couldn't state it that flatly, of course, for reasons of copyright, so it was "for RPGs".) It was rapidly followed with Claw Law (later packaged together) which added creature and unarmed combat to the mix. This was followed by Spell Law for magic and finally, in 1982, Character Law, turning Rolemaster from a set of supplements into its own independent role-playing game. 1984's Campaign Law was the final component (and one of the earliest guidebooks for world-building for GMs).
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But this one is different.
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AH was no exception to this. They wanted to publish RPGs and in the end they wound up publishing three. They published the third edition of Runequest (and I am one of, perhaps, five people in the entire world who liked their version of Runequest better than the previous two editions by far) to mixed reviews. They published an intriguing-in-principle but deeply-flawed-in-execution game called Lords of Creation, and they published today's little gem: Powers & Perils. (Technically the James Bond 007 RPG was also an AH property, but it was published by a wholly-owned subsidiary and I don't consider it part of AH canon proper.)
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FGU
The absolute monarchs of the '80s vibe were Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) There was not a crazy concept they weren't willing to champion and publish. The first "realistic" medieval game (Chivalry & Sorcery) was theirs. The first game to feature non-humanoids as the central characters (Bunnies & Burrows) was theirs. The first popular superhero RPG (Villains & Vigilantes) was theirs. The first medieval Japanese RPG (Land of the Rising Sun) was theirs as was the most popular one (Bushido) for ages. And while not the first SF games ever, two of the earliest SF games (Starships & Spacemen, Space Opera) were theirs too, the latter of which still causes warm fuzzy feelings when I think back to its convoluted insanity but immense fun.
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So why am I reviewing a game so ordinary? Because, naturally, it is in no way ordinary!
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