What's on Your Quest List?

In my continuing efforts to break up the monotony of the D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge series of posts, I am taking a look at some products that I wish I had gotten over the years.  I was originally going to post about a free OSR support magazine but that will come later in the week.

It has been my experience that if you have been involved in this hobby - or any hobby for that matter - for a time then there are products you did not get when they were available for some reason and now you wished that you had added them to your collection.  Maybe one of your friends had the game and you were not worried about your own copy?  Your friend now lives three states away and it will not be so easy to borrow now.  Maybe you had a copy and sold it?  The game is now out of print and you can not find a copy. Whatever the reason may be, we all have an item, or even a list of items, that we would like to have if the opportunity presented itself.  I have a list of items presented below with a few notes added.

Chivalry & Sorcery 1st or 2nd edition

I knew about C&S being "like D&D but more like real medieval society" and was interested but I did not buy any products until the third edition.  I was intrigued by the ideas presented in the rules but I was not very fond of way they were presented.  The weird fonts used in some areas made headings hard to read and there were LOTS of errors in the text.  I sold it in irritation.  I am still interested in either original or second edition C&S for no other reasons than to see how well it captures a more realistic medieval flavor and to do some comparing and contrasting with Adventures in Fantasy.

Everway

I was intrigued by the notion of not only going with a game system built around cards instead of dice but the fact that the cards were similar to tarot cards instead of traditional playing cards.  I only every saw it in the store twice and I already had other products in hand to buy.  I have not yet found it at a reasonable price.

Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game original edition

This was the first game that came along that made us put away our AD&D game for a while and play it instead.  I know Palladium has its fair share of detractors but this is a different game than the beast that RIFTS has become with all of the changes to the rules.  It uses an earlier form of the Megaversal system that is much easier to handle and we had a blast with this game.  There were many more character classes than AD&D, there were insanity rules, nice little touches like the pictures of coins from various nations, and a score of other cool stuff.  I do not know the difference between this edition and the revised edition pdf offered on drivethrurpg but I just might take a chance.

Powers & Perils

I remember seeing this in the old hobby shop for a long time but I never got around to buying it.  I probably picked it up 20 times or more.  I have seen the website and looked at the rules; I would just like them in the original printed and boxed form.  Since realizing all these years later that Powers & Perils was designed by the co-author of Adventures in Fantasy makes me even more interested in owning this game.

That is probably the "big four" on my list.  I have excluded some games - Fantasy Earth and Pelicar - that I want but have since discovered they are cheaply available from online retailers. What is on your list?  Can you tell me anything about the games on my list?  Got something you want to sell? ;-) 

  

    

Card Based RPG Systems

Note: I am making one quick addendum to the once a week post comment I made.  I have tried waiting and I just do not think that is going to work.  I think it will be once a week minimum plus whenever the mood strikes.  I really enjoy the act of blogging and I do not think I want to impose a strict once a week only mandate.  

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

 

 

Shortly after it was released, I received the Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game as a gift.  I was really interested in the idea of a role-playing game that used cards instead of dice during game play.  I thought the cards were pretty slick and I enjoyed messing around with them.  I really enjoy the bits of information on the history and timeline of Krynn included in the game.  I did pick up 2 or 3 of the boxed supplements for the game but that was about it.  I only played it once while I was stationed in Korea and it just did not click with that particular group of people.  I kept the game for several years but I eventually unloaded it in one of my game purges over the years.  I never did pick up the related Marvel Super Heroes game but I hear that it was pretty neat.

 

 

Everway was another game that ditched the dice to use cards for game play and it was published a year earlier than the Dragonlance game.  I never did buy this game or even get a chance to look through the contents of the box; the only thing I saw was some of the card images.  I remember being intrigued by the ads and the look of some of the cards included in the game.  I only saw Everway a few times at the game stores I go to and never did get around to buying the game.  I have noticed that some of the online used game retailers have it available.  I may have to purchase this game to check it out some time for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity. 

 

 

I am far from an expert on card-based role-playing games.  I know there has got to be more games - whether professional or amateur press - using cards instead of dice during game play than the two I mentioned above.  I have heard that Deadlands and Castle Falkenstein both use cards but I have not played either one.  Does anybody reading this know?  Do you have any thoughts on the games?  I guess I am just a little surprised that there are not more card-based role-playing games out there.  It seems like you could do some neat stuff with the cards - even a traditional deck - like pairs, trump, off suit penalties, and the list could go on.  I have been thinking along these lines lately and I may have to post up some ideas at some point...