March Madness Obscure Game Blogging Challenge Part Two

Here is installment two of the Obscure Game Blogging Challenge with the next four questions.  I think if I do anymore of these challenges in the future then I will definitely do the combined posts.  It makes for better and more convenient reading; it also does not tie up the blog for an entire month.

March Madness Obscure Game Blogging Challenge Part Two

5. What other old school game should have become as big as D&D but didn’t? Why do you think so?

I believe that Palladium Fantasy should have become as big as D&D but did not for several reasons.  First, there was the familiarity between the games.  If you had played one of them then the other was much quicker to pick up because they were similar in many areas.  They were both class and level based fantasy role-playing games after all.  Second, Palladium Fantasy seemed to offer more of everything that A/D&D offered.  Palladium Fantasy had more than the traditional six ability scores, many more classes to choose from, and many more races to use for player characters.  Third, Palladium Fantasy only required this one book to get a game started while AD&D required a bare minimum of two books and D&D required the purchase of a new boxed set of rules to keep going up in levels.  Those are the biggest three reasons why I think Palladium Fantasy should have become just as big as D&D.  I do not have the second edition of the game but the first sure did capture our imaginations for quite some time.  .

6. What non-D&D monster do you think is as iconic as D&D ones like hook horrors or flumphs, and why do you think so?

I am going to go with the big guy, Cthulhu, on this one.  Yes, he was in the original version of Deities & Demi-Gods before the legal issue but he is much bigger than that one appearance.  Cthulhu was used in the most famous of H.P. Lovecraft’s work as well as the Call of Cthulhu RPG.  There have been countless novels inspired by the Cthulhu mythos and he was used in an episode of the Justice League animated series; sure, he was called “Ikthulu” but that was him.  There have also been several heavy metal bands with songs such as “Call of Kutulu”, “Necronomicon”, and others.

7. What fantasy RPG other than D&D have you enjoyed most? Why?

My group of friends had been playing A/D&D for some time and had tried a few other fantasy games but nothing grabbed our attention like the TSR games until Jamie showed up one day with his latest purchase – the original edition of the Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game.  We gathered around and started flipping through the pages and were immediately excited about giving this game a shot.  After reading enough of the rules to play we got started with character creation and started playing soon after.  Flame me if you want, but we felt like Palladium Fantasy was a “deluxe edition of A/D&D” because of all the variety – there were more abilities, more races, more classes, etc. – and this book was all you needed to play.  We actually put aside our A/D&D games for a long stretch and played no other fantasy games except for Palladium Fantasy.  Plus, it was the first campaign where the majority of my participation was done as a player instead of a Game Master so that was a big bonus in my book.

8. What spy RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

I have never actually played a spy RPG.  I guess you could technically consider Paranoia as having some strong spy possibilities if you wanted to; I did play that a few times.  I owned original boxed set of Espionage from Hero Games.  I found it in the used section of a hobby shop for $1 and I picked it up.  I did do a little bit of reading from it but I was not interested in “mundane” games such as this at the time; I wanted fantasy, science fiction, or something else.