Era III: 1995; Tweaking Some of Last Years Stuff

This year seems to be a continuation of the previous years efforts. Some new games, some new publishers, some new-ish ideas getting a new version by different publishers. Weirdly new, yet still the same old same old, yet there are some interesting mixes in mechanics and concepts…

Cheapass Games opens its doors, with the understanding that gamers have plenty of dice, counters, play money, etc. Thus; their marketing strategy is this: put good games in simple, white envelopes, small boxes, or plastic bags and let the consumer provide the other materials from their home ‘stock’. James Earnest left WotC this year to make the concept a reality.

Fantasy Flight Games is founded by Christian T. Petersen.

The Nightspawn, Nightbane lawsuit. I’m proud to say that I purchased a copy of the ‘illegal’ book before it was pulled from the shelves. It turns out that Todd McFarlane has trademarked the word “spawn”. Thus, when Palladium Books released the Nightspawn game, McFarlane sued for copywriter issues. Palladium pulled the line, renamed it to Nightbane and released the otherwise unchanged game.

GMT Games downsizes and introduces the “Project 500” system. This allowed customers to vote via pre-order for the games they wanted to see produced. The pre-orders enabled discounts that would allow folks to commit, yet not make payment on, the game in question until its required order number is reached (and thus production is enabled).

On to the RPGs!

Rokugan replaces the land of Kara-Tur as the official oriental setting in D&D.

Spell Law by ICE. This is the fifth release featuring Rolemaster 3 rule system.

Rolemaster Standard System, Rolemaster’s third edition is released from I.C.E..

Everway by WotC is designed by Jonathan Tweet. It is a diceless multiverse game and is heavily image-based with simple / flexible rules. There is a ‘Fortune Deck’ that works as the randomizer mechanic, the results are sill arbitrary and subjective.

FUDGE, by Grey Ghost Press. This is the upgraded version of the game released in the year previous.

TWERPS 2e by Reindeer Games. The worlds easiest game system is retooled and set loose!

CORPS 2e (Complete Omniversal Role Playing System) was created in 1990, and published by Blacksburg Tactical Research Center this year. A modern / science fiction heroes game that is dice-light.

Battlelords the CCG is released. This is a spinoff card game based upon the Battleords of the 23^rd Century RPG.

Tokyo NOVA is a cyberpunk RPG 2^nd edition is published by F.E.A.R. and an update to the previous years first edition.

FSpaceRPG by FSpace Publications is debuted at KapCon. This is a hard sci fi game set in the late 22^nd century as humans expand out to the stars.

Cyberworld: Dark Ages of the 21^st Century LARP: by Dark Age Games. It is a uniting of Mind’s Eye Theater and Cyberpunk 2020.

Mekton Zeta by R. Talsorian Games. In this release, rules are given to build virtually any mecha, from a sports car to kilometer-long starships.

Tank Girl by WEG. Set in 2029 on the ruins of humanity and the weirdness of the comic / movie that was created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin.

Paranoia ‘Fifth’ edition is published by West End Games. This is considered to be the decline of the Paranoia line, with far more cartoonish illustrations, less dark humor, and ‘cheap’ pop culture jokes. In actuality, this is the ‘third’ edition, after two second edition revisions.

The World of Necroscope by West End Games. Play in Brian Lumley’s world of the ESPionage agents.

Nightbane is published by Palladium Books. The Dark Days have fallen upon earth, people are taken through mirrors, shadow magic reigns, and monsters rule the day.

Wraith: The Oblivion is published as part of the Storyteller System. Play as a spirit dealing with fetishes and unfinished business, while existing in the cultures of the spirit realm.

Steve Jackson Games, do you have anything to present to the class?

GURPS 3: Blood Types

GURPS 3: CthulhuPunk
GURPS 3: Greece
GURPS 3: IOU
GURPS 3: Robots
GURPS 3: Voodoo: The Shadow War

Decipher Inc has the Star Trek CCG game license, and this year, they acquire the Star Wars CCG licensing from Lucasfilm. By next year, the Star Trek license will be increased to the full line of live action licenses.

The Ruins of Cawdor is the third and final installment of the Shadow of Yserbius series. Another milestone came in 1995 as NSFNET restrictions were lifted, opening the Internet up for game developers, which allowed for the first truly "massively"-scoped titles. Square's Seiken Densetsu 3 allowed a number of different possible storyline paths and endings depending on which combination of characters the player selected. The game also introduced a class-change system that incorporated light-dark alignments. America Online and Prodigy offers access to the World Wide Web.

Sadly, the final (original) Calvin and Hobbes comic is published on December 31.