(Operation Game Collection) Ridin Solo: RPG Solo Modules

  Ahh yes.  The Solo Module or Game Book.  Take Choose Your Own Adventure and add in RPG rules to presumably make it the 80s version of a JRPG as opposed to the CYOA's Adventure Game.

I have a handful of them so let's see what we have eh?  Lots of these products will show up in or have already done so in other Operation Game Collection posts but for completeness' sake they all get shown here.

(Well all that I know that I have.  When actually looking for something else I discovered game supplements I never knew I even OWNED.  That is when it is time to seriously cut the hell down on buying this nonsense!)

As usual click for larger.  If you want.

Here we see one of my Car Wars solos, a Fighting Fantasy game book from an entirely different Steve Jackson I got for like two dollars but havent played yet, and two solos from the indie joke RPG Kobolds Ate My Baby!

The Car wars one looks pretty good and fun.

Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are rules integrated CYOAs with simple RPG rulesets.  This one is about being a pirate captain.  I want more of these books which were a lot more popular in the UK than in the US.  Nowadays it is almost easier to just buy the iOS versions of some of these books which add in redone color art, digital dice, and all sorts of neat quality of life bits.

The Kobolds solos are obviously micro niche indie press ones before the modern internet publishing revolution happened.  Gotta love the dig at FASA.  

Now Tunnels & Trolls is rather famous for having tons of solo adventures.  It being a simpler RPG made it a lot easier system for this.  (And TnT being far less popular than D&D means you were probably more likely to play through solos than get a group of people willing to play something other than WHAT GARY WROTE FAAAART.)

Yes City of Terrors is by THAT writey man Mike Stackpole in his pre Star Wars novel days.  There has been a PDF reward of that book for the current TnT kickstarter that thankfully modifies some of the artwork which in this book has.. issues.

Another TnT solo and a solo for the Pulp Adventure Novel RPG using the same basic ruleset as TnT known as Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes that has the best game cover EVER.  But whenever I properly cover TnT stuff we will see it.  (Also KAMB! will get it's own day in the sun.)

TnT solos are big and meaty.

Grimrock Isle is an absolutely MASSIVE solo adventure and RPG campaign for Call of Cthulhu.  Insanely so.

It is by a smaller company so it has a bit lower production values than a larger publisher would but they do a solid job.

Yet another Car Wars solo, and a FASERIP system Marvel Superheroes solo, the latter of which kind of inspired this post.  I got it a few weeks ago for 7 dollars still sealed!  I didn't even know MSH had solo modules!

This Car Wars solo is like the last one only in a bigger book format and thus roomier!

About half the TSR made solo modules for their game lines used a piece of red cellophane to reveal otherwise mostly hidden parts that were printed in a way the red would obscure the text.  Kind of like the old Tech Spec Reader thing 80s Transformers toys had.

This is actually one of two solos here I have actually gotten around to playing.  Well, at least the first scenario.

Something look familliar?  GURPS/Fantasy Trip anyone?

Given that this company also does solos using proto GURPS rules it makes me wonder the legalities and IP rights of Mr. Jackson's original RPG wargame thingie...

It even comes with counters and a generic but modded battle map for fighting battles on.

Even the Mayfair Games DC Heroes Exponential Game System I will talk about more whenever I cover my Supers RPGs had at least one full solo!

Sadly its for HIS HOLY LAMEASS WORST GREEN LANTERNNESS himself, Hal Jordan.  Hal Jordan sucks y'all.  Can I play it and pretend to be John Stewart or Kyle Rayner or maybe that New 52 Lantern who is Muslim?  (Probably wouldnt logically fit to be original 30s Green Lantern, alien Lanterns, Jade, or Guy Gardner.  Even if a Guy Gardner solo would be FUN. AS. HELL.)

And the other solo I have played through, Ghost of Lion Castle!  I played this one sometimes onboard ship in the Navy on a watch post that was basically sitting in an aft steering compartment that was closed off, noisy as hell, and effectively DOING NOTHING FOR 4 HOURS.  Because unless something went wrong you weren't doing anything at all!  Just sitting there staring at walls and looking at backup ship controls.  Well this is what I did when one of the engineering department people also on watch for mechanical reasons weren't being a wanker.  They weren't doing anything EITHER really.  

The DnD ones look nice as was the wont of TSR.

The same guy also did ADnD solo(s) using that red reader thingie.

It seems a lot less like a CYOA styled solo however.  I haven't had time to read through it properly but it has a bunch of odd special rules and stuff plus some massive poster maps.

There are a few other TSR solos but most of them used this odd ass Invisible Ink system which basically made these solos a single use deal.  And you know, even if not the pens are long since dried out and unusable.  If I run into them cheaply I might at least see if you can use them with the HONOR SYSTEM like the normal numbered entry solos that most games were.  Luckily losing a tiny slip of red cellophane is easily replaced.  Heck just a set of old blue/red 3d glasses will cover you!

 TSR even did a small series of system agnostic solo gamebook RPGs in their Catacombs line.  They were probably trying to appeal to more general book fans and people who like me weren't permitted to play D&D for whatever generally dumb reason our idiot parents had.

 This book is HUGE.  Tons of entries and even virtual dice in the corner!  Though you would still need a pencil...

In this one, you are in the Dragonlance setting helping TINKER GNOMES fight off a Draconian army.  As a human baker in a gnomish made steam powered armor.  Your name is.. Rye.  *sigh*  It is a really fun setting and scenario where you go hunting through these crazy gnomes' absolutely bonkers hive city looking for artifacts and working machines that can help fight off the Draconian army.  Nice.

Now you may be wondering WHY you would want these things today?  Well, what if you don't have a game group but want to physically PLAY an RPG and not just have a videogame handle all the mechanics?  Well there you go!  Maybe you like CYOA books but want some RPG mechanics?  What about a way to have some practice in a game system before you try running it for friends?  Hell, maybe even use the solo as the group adventure or as a simpler example of how you do these RPG thingies?  (Though the latter is basically removed as we now have Youtube.)

  Heck, some solo RPG game books like Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf (I could have sworn I owned the first Lone Wolf book but it seems to have been lost to the Ether.) ended up getting full tabletop RPGs and even electronic ports both then and now.

[Operation Game Collection] Car Wars/GURPS: The Steve Jackson Connection Part 3

I have been a bit late on this one eh?  Well if those few people who actually read my stupid posts actually commented here or any of the other places I link them maybe I would be inspired more to GIT ER DUN yes?

Anyhow I want to clean up my living room and I got a few pickups these last few weeks.

Let's dig in!

But first since it has been forever, links back to the first two installments:
http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps.html

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps_26.html

(NOTE:  You can also click most images for larger ones if you want.)

Six more of the small format Autoduel Quarterlies, four of which have the fun mailing covers on them with their little cartoons and other nifty bits.  I am worried I might already own one of them but I haven't had time to properly inventory them yet.  And they were cheap so at worst it is collateral damage.

One of the big format issues I didn't have and the new retail rerelease edition of classic Car Wars!  Because the Ogre Kickstarter proved to SJG that HOLY SMOKES THEY CAN DO MORE THINGS THAN JUST CRAP OUT AWFUL ARSE MUNCHKIN GAMES ALL DAY LONG.  

For twenty US dollars it is a good value!  It even has precut counters as opposed to the sheets you had to chop up yourself back in the day!  Sadly it keeps to the older format record sheets as opposed to the more advanced look of the last Compendium release.

Something they tried also was a stand alone card game in an anime style given the time it was released.  Obviously they.. didn't exactly get the best art.  The game itself is quite a fun little card game however.  Just ignore their bad attempts at anime people.

The thing under it is that Fantasy Trip remake's one dollar intro product.  A little solo party adventure you can also run players through as a GM.  Has a battle map and some counters to cut.  Neat!

And the previous attempt at a Car Wars reboot.  Get rid of all the cruft, all the absurd levels of megarules and nonsense?  Make it cheap to hop in?  Sure! Even everything in FULL COLOR and toy car sized scale so minis fans can customize toy cars.

But.. are you noticing what 6 bucks got you?  Repeating the majority of rules per book.  No construction rules.  Two cars and two variants plus some minor options.

They broke it down and made things easier to get into but for existing fans it was clearly a giant longer term waste of money if you wanted everything.  And things like a vehicle design ruleset, larger cars and trucks/vans, no motorbikes.  In trying to slim it down they gutted it entirely.  And as it did not do well at all it hamstrung the game as even the vehicles they do have don't fit into a construction ruleset thus even making it a failure in the future had it done well.

Its still basically classic Car Wars just streamlined to the rules you CARE about in an easy to digest format and some lovely counters.  Its just even weapon rules are generally split per book that needs it, while 80-90% of the rules in each booklet are identical.  It could almost be considered a prototype of modern BUY OUR SUPPLEMENTS gaming.  Just.. it was cheaper per hit as opposed to nowadays with 50-60 dollar core rulebooks that still need three or four other books to actually be a properly complete game.  

The rules look lovely though.  Very well put together of products.  And it removes the grid from classic Car Wars meaning it is well suited for miniatures play.  If nothing else consider getting one of the Vs books for a miniatures rules supplement.

And some of the bought at clearance GURPS books I got.  As I have said GURPS itself I think is an ok system it just gets lost up its own ass with tons of extra rules most of the playerbase seems obsessed with.  But the books are fun for fluff if nothing else.

This could even be counted as a proper game system for the amazing Steampunk setting of Castle Falkenstein which is a very addicting and interesting world setting but was also one of the first uber rules light storytelling game styled systems which I am not too keen on personally.  I go for lighter middle levels of rules crunch myself.  Enough to be interesting but not so many as to be overwhelming, annoying, slow, and forgettable in play.

And we finish out with the stand alone Prime Directive GURPS game.  So you don't even need to buy the big ass GURPS Fourth edition megabooks.  Just get Prime Directive and play Starfleet Universe Star Trek with just the GURPS you need.  And the Klingon book is cool fluff for their empire.  Making them more than the silly NOBLE WARRIORS of Next Generation and more than their Original Series NOT SPACE COMMUNIST RUSSIANS YOU JUST CAN'T TRUST.  They are by no means angels but they are interesting antagonists you can play as!  I should really see if they released the Romulan book one of these days...

Keeping with Starfleet Universe and GURPS heritage the artwork is.. nothing special at best.  And given your leanings TOS women's wear in the Federation might be distressing or hot depending on how you feel about such things...  As complicated as GURPS can get I would honestly rather play Trek RPG using this game than using FASA Star Trek rules and ship combat.  I mean I have enough Federation Commander supplements to pretty much cover the entirety of the TOS-Animated era through the Andromedan Invasion...

The core book pretty much has the foundational rules to pretty much play any of the Starfleet Universe races.  It just so happens the SFU is full of furries.  For some people this is a good thing.  For others not so much...  I am in the middle.  Don't mind space animal people races but don't exactly think what most of the furry fanbase really wants out of playing them if you know what I mean..  (And if you don't count your blessings.  Lovecraft was right about ignorance sometimes being a good thing.)

  So as far as I know/remember these are my Car Wars and GURPS things.  I may have more but if I do I don't really remember WHERE they are.  I could have sworn I had a couple more books but if I did my record of it is gone.

 You see part of the reason for this long term collection posting thing I do is not only to show off what I have, and to share my love/like/dislike of various gaming things with others but its also to organize stuff, get it all in the same place so I can find it, and then be inspired to get more storage solutions for them.  In some cases it even makes me remember things I forgot I owned!  Or want to go back and enjoy them again.  I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF.  So nowadays I am trying to be more responsible in my purchasing and realize how much I already have that I don't get to enjoy.  

  Saves me a hell of a lot of money on Steam sales I tell you what!

Though if I could get more folks to try some of this stuff out and hopefully LIKE IT I might use it more, eh?

[Operation Game Collection] Car Wars/GURPS: The Steve Jackson Connection Part 2

This one has been on the back burner for a bit as my whims have taken me to share other things.  (Also I am already well beyond my yearly post quota.  I want to do 52 posts a year.  I am on track to hit around 60 or so.  I should probably just schedule a couple of these for January really..)

Anyhow, let's get to the middle section of my Car Wars and GURPS stuff.

 (As always click for bigger.)

 As last Car Wars post showed at the end, http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps.html the big part of this post is the Deluxe and Deluxe Compendium (2nd ed) sets.  These sets basically take all the stuff from Car Wars (roughly up to that point and combine em into mega boxed sets with larger counter sheets, less folded maps, and all the fixins!  Here is some of the sheets included.  (I have both boxes mixed together.  Uncut sheets thanks to having the minibox sheets already chopped up.  Also you know, the joys of a printer/scanner/copier.)

 The back side of the curved road counter still showing those handy turning templates, and some road sheets.

 The Compendium Deluxe sets also came with a random supplement.  My original Compendium set which I got rid of in the Navy ironically enough had the Millitary Vehicles supplement which is a supplement to the Tanks set this one has!  We see the tank sheet on the left with some tank trap counters, and the Deluxe Edition original "Read Me" paper.

 More from the original Deluxe Read Me.  Other goodies out at the time and a vehicle sheet of the era.

 The Deluxe Edition rule book.  Combining all those cute and wee mini books into a large and organized one.

 The internals.  Decent enough to look at but simple.  Note how many rules were already bloating the game less than a half decade in!

 LOOK AT THE LEVEL OF SPERGE AND WEEP.  WEEP FOR CAR WARS.  This is just too much nonsense.  This is "Design for Detail".  I am more a fan of "Design for Effect".  And the main weapons chart.  It will get bigger.  Oh great Alicorn Princesses and Holders of the Matrix of Leadership does this expand.

 The Second Edition Compendium!  Which is technically the third edition as the original late 80s Compendium was so bug and error riddled it was revised within a year or so.  You would think a rules compendium book would not do this but.. yeah.  See the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.  Dragonsfoot.org had people making like 50 page erratas to it!

 Again my flash is getting in the way but you should still get the idea.  Compared to the meh looking original and revised Compendium this one looks NICE.  I normally love blue as a color but this book just looks sharp and CLASSY.

 I TOLD YOU DAWG.  I WARNED YOU BRO.  How many weapons do we really need?  According to Car Wars entirely too bloody many!

 This is the normal rules internal.  It looks good and sharp.  But these rules are what made me get rid of my original Revised Compendium box.  (And 3rd edition GURPS actually.)  TOO MANY RULES NO SANE PERSON NEEDS.  Look at that silly nonsense to move a hovercraft.

Thankfully with original Deluxe Box and the Mini Boxes (and CW Mini) I can have just enough Car Wars to enjoy and can either leave or ignore this supergrog nonsense.

(Something I didn't think of back then.  You don't NEED to know all the rules.  Just learn the parts you care about and need to play and add stuff in later on.)

 TANKS!  This pack in obviously doesn't look as glitzy as the retail stand alone probably did but.. you get it free so rock on.

 Its still done in the mid-late 80s style.  And now more weapons!  Weapons that kill normal Car Wars vehicles super easy!  Weapons that require about as many D6s as your average Warhammer 40K Ork charge!

 AS IF CAR WARS WASN'T COVERING TOO MUCH AS IS.  Now we even have rules for nuclear weapons.  I know when I think about playing post apocalypse CARS WITH GUNZ games I want rules for nuclear bombs.  

No.  No I don't.  

 And the second edition of the GURPS supplement.  So now we can combine Car Wars with its' spergeariffic RPG parent for super sperge levels!

 But it has lots of fluffy fluff in it that the regular game fails to include.  I do not have the original edition but if I could get it for like 5 bucks or so I probably would for completeness sake.

 It is at least nice enough to help you convert them over.  Much like Battletech and its RPG ruleset.. I would rather use my own:  http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-x-plorers-rules-machine-sheet.html

 We even get a nice two page spread of CAR WARS AMERICA.  A future where Utah and Texas are basically no longer part of the USA?  Doesn't sound too bad really....  Sure we eat algae based foods and most highways are an NRA member's wet dream  (except for the part where people you know.. can shoot back which sort of limits their Rambo fantasies..) but we don't have to put up with either state any more outside of being nearby.

 A bit of fun I made.  My hand made sheet using multiple bits from multiple Car Wars record sheets, creating a handy all in one sheet of sheety goodness.

A friend who decided to move away and never run the GURPS roaring 20s game he had in mind?  Well before he did this I got excited and bought the computer character generator program (which I traded off for some sweet Battletech stuff), and the GM screen.  Which came with the free to download in PDF "Lite" ruleset and the Character Creation booklet.  In nice hard copies.  (Dunno or CARE if the Character Creation book is the same sitch as Lite.)  Again, a smaller more REASONABLE set of rules that doesn't go into stupid megadetail levels is what I like.  What I need.  What I crave.

 GURPS at its' core is.. not bad.  It is nothing on Basic Roleplaying or D6 System but.. its ok.  However this is the double sided official character sheet.  

 An example of how overly detailed and silly GURPS gets, much like so many good games that get too big for their own britches.

 Advantages in GURPS are basically what Fallout calls Perks, and D20 calls Feats.  Except GURPS did it first.

 Another way to GURPS Lite is through Dark City Games.  They basically have taken GURPS daddy (Fantasy Trip) and made Fantasy, Modern, and Sci Fi versions of it free to download and then you can buy a bunch of solo adventures for them.  Not too bad!

 Gee.. looks a LOT like GURPS slimmed down to make it fast and fun..

 At one time Car Wars was so popular as to have its' own quarterly in house magazine!  Autoduel Quarterly!  Here is the first two years.

 A picture of one of those issues' backs with new items for the game done in universe fluff, and an example of the internals of the magazine.  

 Year three of the magazine in AADA (American Autoduel Association, the official fan club of Car Wars) subscriber mailer covers plus my last of the small forma issues.  I am missing a lot of the middle era issues.  But I have the first three years worth.

 Showing the mailer covers protecting their issues.  Extra goodies or things to buy in these mailers.  Nice of them to do so.  I guess.

 Somewhere in between the fifth year (of which I have one issue) and this, year seven they switched to a larger format magazine.

 Still basically the same style and format, but now it is standard sized.

 Sadly I am missing a few issues from years nine and ten.  If I ever get a complete run a fun blog project might involve reading the Car Wars rules of the time, and then following along and posting about each issue and the rules and changes and stuff.  (I kind of want to do the same with Palladium's The Rifter.  Except I need a lot more issues of it.  And there are way more issues with way more in them.)

 I did not even know there was a comic book mini series done by Marvel's more "Adult and Creator Owned" imprint known as Epic!  Plus as we see the internals now more or less match the 2nd ed Compendium as we are in the Nineties now.

Was issue four of the tenth year the final issue of ADQ?  I must get it to find out.  Issue three does say something "exciting" was to be announced in it.  Probably it got merged with SJGames' Pyramid gaming magazine where all their other in house stuff went.  It then became a paid on line magazine by the late 90s/early 00s.

Part two is done.  Part three will contain the failed reboot of the line along with what other GURPS junk I have laying about because I am a retail "vulture" and get books on clearance.  Because nobody else wanted them regardless of quality.