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[Column] General: Five Old School Games

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

It seems like the MMORPG or even the single player RPG has been around in computerized form forever. But it's not so. Back in "the day", there were these little things called tabletop RPGs. In The List today, we take a fond look back at five of the best. See what you think!

Going back a long way I thought it would be fun to talk about the paper and pencil games which led us to MMOs. I remember starting Ultima Online and I get nostalgic about those old days. But lately I find myself going back to my early childhood and the game that really made me into today’s gaming self.

Read more of Garrett Fuller's The List: Five Old School Games.

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


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Comments

  • TruthXHurtsTruthXHurts Member UncommonPosts: 1,555
    No Gamma World? Random Mutations and the campy themes made that game a classic.

    "I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 31,892

    I remember awful green things.

    However, I get a visceral emotion when I see the old D&D art work.

    I rememember pouring through the modules, imagining each encounter in my mind.

    Queen of the Demonweb Pits was my favorite:

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  • TardcoreTardcore Member Posts: 2,325

    Wow. Nice dunp truck full of nostalgia. I'd add to the list

     

    Talisman

    Hacker

    Feudal

    Kingmaker

    Squad Leader

    And last but not least, Diplomacy

    image

    "Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "

  • JerYnkFanJerYnkFan Member UncommonPosts: 342
    I remember playing D&D back in High School and College.  After a long hiatus and playing it again at PAX East, I've joined a local group that plays weekly.  While I love MMos , there is something special still about sitting around with other people and using pen/paper and dice.
  • Agnostic42Agnostic42 Member UncommonPosts: 405

    There are gems from the old days I still remember fondly. Gamma World, which would make a great MMO btw. Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, Car Wars, BattleTech, AD&D and many of the old TSR Mini games. Star Frontiers, with its character based systen on huge maps with chits, and DL11 were my first forays into the strategy genre, then eventually Tabletop BattleTech.

    My brother and I used to spent a lot of time playing DL11, I still wish a company would recreate a RTS version with todays specs.

    TSR games are why I became so interested in RPG's, especially when they teamed with SSI and made the original Gold Box series, combining my two favorite things, video games and D&D.

    I can remember long nights slogging away swapping floppies to zone on my old C64 in Curse of the Azure Bonds and Pools of Radiance.

  • garrettgarrett MMORPG.COM Staff UncommonPosts: 284

    I love the posts of old games, Yes Gamma World ruled, so did Champions. I played a ton of Star Frontiers too as a kid.

     

    I could only pick 5, these were my old favorites. But feel free to post yours!!

     :p 
  • spookydomspookydom Member UncommonPosts: 1,782

    Now you are talking my kind of language! Here are some of my faves.

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  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749

    +1 to BloodBowl :)

    I was more p&p dude (d&d, ad&d mostly) and some ccg's on the side, so not much in the tabletop games, but BloodBowl was great.

  • SlukjanSlukjan Member UncommonPosts: 265

    Has anyone ever heard of MetaScape?  My brother bought the game from an ad in the back of Dragon magazine.  It was sci/fi fantasy and had awesome classes and skills plus a cool futuristic universe.  It also had a unique 16 sided die which was used in addition to the standards.

    @Sovrath ; I also get a visceral emotion when looking at the old D&D and AD&D artwork.  It just capitvates me and makes me think..."that is so cool".  Unfortuneately it also made me a dork in high school because I played D&D and read Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms.

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730

    Brings back a ton of memories.

    Champions/HERO game system was great for the genre.

    Loved a lot of the old FGU games, like Chivalry and Sorcery, Aftermath, Flashing Blades, and Space Opera.

    Then there was the old GDW Traveller and Twilight 2000 - had a lot of fun with those.

    Car Wars was a hoot, as were Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, and Stalking the Night Fantastic.

    Anyone else remember the Ace of Aces or Lost Worlds picture-book based batte games?

    Anyone else play Pente?

    Wooden Ships and Iron Men is still one of my favorites.  As was Blue Max.

    Played Tank Charts and Seapower II.

    Empires in Arms was one of the best games ever for the Diplomacy crowd.

    Of course there were the TSR games:  Gamma World, Star Frontiers (loved Zebulon's Guide), Boot Hill, Top Secret, and Chill,  in addition to the many flavors of AD&D.

    Too many others to mention.

    EDIT:  I can't believe I forgot Star Fleet Battles!

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    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • EvelknievelEvelknievel Member UncommonPosts: 2,964

     

    I must of been a EA junkie back then image ahh, the memories on my C= Commodore 64 Computer with my 300 / 1200 baud modem and 1541 Disk Drive.

     

     

     

     

  • red_cruiserred_cruiser Member UncommonPosts: 486
    Mail Order Monsters and The Seven Cities of Gold were great games.  Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and the Return of Heracles by Quality Software were two games way ahead of their time.
  • tman5tman5 Member Posts: 604

    I started my gaming career in HS with the old SPI board games like Outreach, MechWar, Air War, Invasion America; Avalon Hill's Tactics II, Starship Troopers; and Flying Buffalo's PBM games.  In my senior year, I was introduced to D&D (with the original Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements), which lead to T&T,  Champions, Cthuhlu, Traveller, Twilight 2000 and countless others.  I was slow at moving into computer games because I loved personal interaction with friends around a tabletop, something comp games just can't duplicate.

     

    Oh yeah.  I miss it.

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730
    Originally posted by tman5

    I started my gaming career in HS with the old SPI board games like Outreach, MechWar, Air War, Invasion America; Avalon Hill's Tactics II, Starship Troopers; and Flying Buffalo's PBM games.  In my senior year, I was introduced to D&D (with the original Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements), which lead to T&T,  Champions, Cthuhlu, Traveller, Twilight 2000 and countless others.  I was slow at moving into computer games because I loved personal interaction with friends around a tabletop, something comp games just can't duplicate.

     

    Oh yeah.  I miss it.

     

    The social aspect really was what made those games so fun, and so memorable.  The game was almost just an excuse to get together and BS with your friends.  Granted, the games themselves were usually a hell of a lot of fun, but a lot of that was just because of the people you were playing with.

    I was also slow to move into computer games, and that's a large part of the reason why.  Playing with guildies on Vent is nice, but still doesn't compare to the paper and pencil tabletop games.

    Oh, forgot another old favorite - The Morrow Project!

    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • Agnostic42Agnostic42 Member UncommonPosts: 405

    Oh man, the nostalgia!

    Bloodbowl, Warhammer and Talisman.

    And Bard's Tale 3, who can forget that game, defeat the boss in the first dungeon for instant level 35 characters.

    I still play Talisman with my kids, they love it as much as I did when I was their age.

  • differentdifferent Member Posts: 180

    I too (just about) remember Car Wars and Talisman. My personal top 5 would be

    1) Runequest (skill not level based like DnD. Even back then there was a rivalry)

    2) Call of Cthullu

    3) MERP

    4) aD&D

    5) Traveller

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730
    Originally posted by different

    I too (just about) remember Car Wars and Talisman. My personal top 5 would be

    1) Runequest (skill not level based like DnD. Even back then there was a rivalry)

    2) Call of Cthullu

    3) MERP

    4) aD&D

    5) Traveller

     

    Wow, I had forgotten about MERP, and the entire Rolemaster system.  GoGo "Chartmaster".

    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • I was always partial to Steve Jackson's illuminati myself. Guess that may be why I like Secret World so much.
  • spookydomspookydom Member UncommonPosts: 1,782

    Just wanted to selfishly jam up some more room with my very fave old school pnp rules as they appeared in my games collection.

    image         image

    image       image     image  (Def better than modern Twighlight)

  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916
    Gary Gygax was the man!

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

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  • Muerte_XMuerte_X Member Posts: 104

    Ah, aD&D... axis and alies...

    My favorite pnp's were Earthdawn and Shadowrun. Not quite as old school but still getting pretty old :/ Titan (or Titan Quest?) was a fun board game if anyone remembers it. I am probably a little younger than some here because I also remember playing a D&D dungeon crawler (don't remember actual name) on an Intelevision when I was real young. Bard's Tale was a blast too... great nostalgic references all, and cool article idea :)

    Often lurking, rarely posting

  • ArclanArclan Member UncommonPosts: 1,550

    Great thread!  Loved seeing the more obscure games like Feudal, Archon, Ultima IV (a game which I personally mapped every square of).  How about Telengard.  Played a good number of games back in the day. 

    AD&D, (isle of dread was my fav), Gamma World, Boot Hill, Top Secret, Star Frontiers (in fact I recently programmed a Knight Hawks map simulation), Car Wars, Battletech.  Axis and Allies, and I picked up TITAN about two years ago (much easier to learn on the computer/Java version).

    Usually attend Rock Con (Rockford, IL) every year since I was 17 (i.e., long ago).  When Gary passed, a new con came into existence: "GaryCon."  Lots of old TSR employees and artists attend that one; and it is great to game with them and hear their stories.

     

    Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
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  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649

    I'm not sure why threads like this always leave me feeling so depressed.  Part of it could be the age factor, part of it could just be that nostalgia thing kicking in and saying they don't make games like that anymore...meh.

    Gets into all the thinking about the various Avalon Hill games - later games like Phoenix Command - and so many of those already mentioned.

    The game shop that I went to as a kid's still around...selling mainly TCGs...bah.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855
  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730
    Originally posted by VirusDancer

    I'm not sure why threads like this always leave me feeling so depressed.  Part of it could be the age factor, part of it could just be that nostalgia thing kicking in and saying they don't make games like that anymore...meh.

    Gets into all the thinking about the various Avalon Hill games - later games like Phoenix Command - and so many of those already mentioned.

    The game shop that I went to as a kid's still around...selling mainly TCGs...bah.

     

    I know what you mean - and for me, computer gaming never measured up to tabletop gaming.  The social aspect really made the difference.

    The shop I used to go to is also still around, though the products are indeed different.  RPGs and tabletop games don't sell like they used to.  Still can find some interesting things every once in a while.  Finding gaming groups isn't easy - who wants to be the creepy old man?

    Anyway, really loved those old games, like Car Wars.  I remember the first version I bought came in a ziploc bag - then bought the one that came in the little plastic box.

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    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

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