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Re: (TFT) Rules for the newbies
From: JodyM529@aol.com
Subject: Re: (TFT) Rules for the newbies
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 12:31:51 EDT
Jody writes of Davids posting:
> <<copies for "their own personal use". In this vein the Mnoren
Librarium
> was
> started. Till it re-opens this following is all I can offer.>>
The Librarium was (is?) a great idea. Hands down the best answer to the
sort
of chattel I posted. I've got nothing negative to say about the library.
Thanks for support. I (or was it Giovanni) started the Librarium exactly to
handle this sort of thing. I was not going to part with my hard won copies.
I thought "What can I do to help in this situation." The Mnoren Librarium
was founded. There may be some risk that some-one might check it out just
to rip off the books (as my wife cautioned me), but if I let that worry stop
me, then I am not contributing to the TFT effort and without risk there is
no experience points and I won't go up another attribute. HMMM, I seem to
have digressed...
I have started many groups who now play TFT. I need many books for this as
you will see. Sorry for the following history, but I think it does show
that if the books were more in circulation and players beat down the OH NO
of 'another new game', it could spread.
I started playing in about 1977. I got pretty involved with it in 1978-79
with Jeff and I swapping DM rights. Years passed and other games came and
went. (I would have liked to have played more than just one game of
RuneQuest.) It turned out that just the two of us played TFT intensely, no
one else. I have a suspended game where I am running Jeff through a
converted QUESQUETON and he is running me in a suspended TOLENKAR'S LAIR.
Oh well.
In 1984 I moved to LA, about 30 miles away from my friends. So I got new
gaming buddies. But they played D&D. So I played D&D. But I kept saying
that the only game I RUN is TFT. Soon Big Jim and Jim the Sarecen and Mark
and Jeff were playing the occassional TFT Miniatures Roleplaying.
The big change came though, when Jeff's new (not quite so young) wife
brought along her 4 sons that it started cooking. Brian, Richard and Kevin
(Ian was already out of the house) played D&D. I played TFT and was
learning GURPS. I started teaching them the wider aspects of wargaming by
putting down troops of characters for them to battle. They liked the ease
of it. I started calling them The Riverside (CA) Group.
Big Jim and I created our first Dungeon structure an underground Alchemy
College. We got ambitious, using 4x4 plywood and 1x4 to make rooms,
hallways, stairs, traps... 2 levels it was. And I fully stocked it
because I am a miniatures collection freak and have enough furniture to
stock a small ... well... Dungeon. As I said, I also got ambitious because
I also decided this was to be the debut of GURPS for all of us. I ran it
like TFT for the most part, but everyone (especially rules lawyer Richard)
helped clarify what we were doing.
That converted the boys to GURPS (sorry Michael, but they saw a whole new
realm that D&D didn't fill). However, I found that I couldn't handle
RUNNING GURPS. So I decided to go back to TFT and convert what I wanted
from GURPS.
I ended up running more and more TFT miniatures battles. Richard and Kevin
fell out, but Brian and his friend Dave took to TFT miniatures. They
started buying figures to field an army. We play TFT at cons and in a
campaign I am running for them.
At the gaming conventions, I ran into a group from San Diego while
playtesting my game FANTASY CHESS. The loved Fantasy Chess and started
coming up with expansion sets. The RPG they played was D&D. I introduced
them to TFT. Dave moved to San Diego for school. Turns out he became
best friends with THE SAN DIEGO GROUP. I ran them in the Double Dungeon,
this time as TFT. They were amazed. Even now they talk about waiting at a
door, having it open and shining a light through the opening to see whats
inside, until someone steps in and the ceiling comes off. That was in the
mid 90's. Now they play GURPS with zest. They love GURPS. However, I bet
had TFT been available to them, they would be playing that.
Finally, I got my nephew to play. He was a D&D player in the '80s. I got
him playing TFT and he broadened out to VERY MANY other games. (He likes
PARANOIA especially). Well, he moved to Sacramento a couple of years ago.
And a few months ago, he got his group of players up there to play in a TFT
campaign he is going to run for them.
And this isn't including the TFT games I run for anyone at the game
conventions. I know the rules. I have a cheat sheet typed up for them. I
bring all three books. I set the layout up with terrain and miniatures. I
provide all the stats. I put up a sign saying :"The Fantasy Trip - Dwarves
of NavaRhun" and I recruit players to sit and play an easy game to learn.
And I am pretty successful at it.
So yes, I would say that lack of materials is keeping the game from being
widely known, but in the circles of your own sphere, it can spread!
Regardless of what anyone thinks of me or my postings if potential players
cannot get hold of the rules they cannot play the game.
Jody
Most of us have ranted about the problem. If it wasn't for the ranting, I
wouldn't have known about all the stuff David summarized or half the stuff
that was creatively brought forth in the copyright discussions. So I don't
think bad of you 'bout this.
BTW does the library have a copy of Tollenkar's Lair?
Yes, I have a copy and it is in excellent condition. As I said, I am
mid-Tolenkar's Lair, so I feel I cannot look at the rulebook until my
character is finished with that scenario (however many years of hiatus.)
The Librarium will be open soon.
Hail Melee,
John Paul
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