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Fangs For the Memories – A History of Vampire: The Masquerade
When you look at the roleplaying games released at the beginning of the 1990s, a common trend emerges; fantasy was out and dark sci-fi was very much in. “Corps” dealt with high tech conspiracies fuelled by super-science and magic, duelling with each other, whilst “Morpheus” covered a world where characters linked minds in a…
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A Grim World of Perilous Adventure…
When Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was released back in 1986, it was building on a setting previously established in Games Workshop’s miniatures’ wargame, Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Even though the latest edition to this game had been released two years previously, the “Known World” as it was called then had not been substantially defined. Warhammer Fantasy Battle…
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Five Fingered Bookmark
I can still remember that day in the school playground (that’s “recess yard” or something similar for my American readers…) back in 1985 when Greig McKinnon rushed over to me in an excited frenzy and thrust a book into my hands. “You have GOT to read this. It’s like a story, but you’re the hero…
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Star Wars (WEG) – History
Mention Star Wars and Ghostbusters in the same sentence, and most people will assume that you are indulging in some geek-culture comparison. Both were enormously successful films, both have rabidly devoted fan bases, and both spawned a host of franchise off-shots like action figures, cartoon series and fiction. Amongst those spin-offs were role-playing games. …
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Dungeons & Dragons – History
Mention the name “Geneva” to most people and they’ll probably think you’re talking about the second largest city in Switzerland. Mention “Lake Geneva” and they will assume the city has a lake – which it does; it’s one of the largest in Europe. However, if you inform them that you’re talking about “Lake Geneva, in…
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Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay – History
Back in the mid 1980s, White Dwarf was a very different magazine to the glorified catalogue it has become today. Issue 82 – released in October of 1986 – still bore the strap-line of “The Role-Playing Games Monthly”. The contents very much reflected that; this issue saw reviews for the AD&D “Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide”,…
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