I thought I should finally share some of those results...
1973
Chainmail
Played (twice). A wargame, not a RPG.
1974
Dungeons & Dragons (1st ed)
Played and ran, though seldom without substantial house
rules. Good, if uneven, and needs much
house ruling to fill gaps.
[Warriors of Mars is not listed, but is a wargame closer to
a RPG than Chainmail]
1975
Boot Hill (1st ed)
Played (once). More of a wargame, for one-on-one dueling.
The Complete Warlock
Only 1978 version available.
Empire of the Petal Throne
Ran (twice). Conceptually fascinating, an interesting
D&D variant with good campaign ideas, but better for raiding for ideas than
playing. I’m not a fan of the campaign setting, but I admire its attention to
detail. I blogged about my first solo experience with EPT/Tekumel, playing a randomly rolled scenario...wow, seven years ago!
En Garde (1st ed)
Unavailable, but looks more like a wargame for one-on-one
dueling.
Tunnels & Trolls (1st ed.)
Ran (once). Meant as an improvement on D&D, but wildly
eccentric and no real improvement.
1976
Bunnies & Burrows (1st ed.)
Ran (twice). A fun, but challenging to play game; not having
opposable thumbs is very limiting on a player-character. Never had much support
material; plan on watching Frog God Games for their relaunch and new B&B
adventures.
Knights of the Round Table
Unavailable.
Metamorphosis Alpha
Played (twice), ran (once). At 36 pages, more of a rough
draft of a great idea for a RPG, more fully realized in Gamma World.
Monsters! Monsters!
Ran (once). Tunnels & Trolls, but played from the
monster’s perspective. Ingenious, but as flawed as T&T, and handled much
better years later by Kobolds Ate My Baby!
Starfaring
Unavailable, but from what I’ve read, it is a strange animal,
more like a wargame with exploration as the goal instead of war.
Uuhraah!
Unavailable.
1977
Bifrost (1st ed)
Unavailable.
Chivalry & Sorcery (1st ed)
Unavailable – but skimmed the 2000 Red Book, which claims to
be 1st ed unchanged, but edited and compiled into one book. If so,
then 338 pages is twice too long and complex for a core rulebook for my liking.
Pendragon will, later, do feudal campaigns and unusual time-keeping campaigns
better. It does do Tolkein’s “demi-humans” better than D&D. I rolled up a
random character that was pretty much unplayable (a bungling, weak dimwit, but
with stunning good looks and a poetic voice!). Granted, my next character could have been amazing, but not a promising start.
Dungeons & Dragons (2nd ed/Holmes ed)
Ran. Though only a basic book (levels 1-3) was ever
produced, it is a mostly complete game unto itself, at times both crude and
elegant, and possibly the most streamlined version of D&D ever.
En Garde (2nd ed)
Unavailable, not sure what the differences are to 1st
ed.
The Fantasy Trip (1st ed)
Unavailable, but coming back through Kickstarter.
Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo
Unavailable, but from what I’ve read, it was more like a
board game, with a map instead of a board, and simple combat rules tacked onto
it.
Space Quest
Unavailable, but was apparently D&D reskinned as science
fiction.
Star Patrol
Unavailable, but apparently another reskinning of D&D as
science fiction.
Superhero 2044
Only read it, but can't imagine how you can play this as a complete game without substantial house rulings. It seems more like a supplement meant to be tacked onto another game.
Superhero 2044
Only read it, but can't imagine how you can play this as a complete game without substantial house rulings. It seems more like a supplement meant to be tacked onto another game.
Traveller
I have one of the original booklets now, but don't own the first book with character creation rules in it, so I've never been able to tackle playing it. I've skimmed the rules and tried making a character once, but found the character gen rules too pro-military for my liking. I wanted to make a character who dodged the draft, and wound up with no skills because, apparently, anyone who doesn't serve in the armed forces is a no-talent loser.
Tunnels & Trolls (2nd ed)
Unavailable, but I understand it expanded on 1st edition, rather than replacing anything.
