There were horror games ( Chill, Beyond the Supernatural), post-apocalyptic survival games ( Twilight 2000, Gamma World ), games based on prime time soap operas (SPI’s infamous Dallas), and bestsellers like Richard Adams’ Watership Down ( Bunnies & Burrows). There were gangster games ( Gangbusters), Arthurian games ( Pendragon), games based on popular action films ( Indiana Jones, James Bond), and westerns ( Boot Hill). Yet if D&D had managed to come so far with source material of such limited public familiarity, what might a game with much broader appeal accomplish?Īnd so the early 80s was a time when we had an astounding array of new role playing games promoted by a host of hopeful publishers, in a wide range of genres - science fiction, action, spy thrillers, mystery, superhero, and many others. It occurred to more than one designer that sword & sorcery - the tiny genre Gygax and Arneson had chosen to build their fabulously successful Dungeons & Dragons upon - was a niche market at best, with very limited widespread appeal. Back in the early 80s, publishers were still exploring the boundless possibilities of role playing.
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