Star Fleet Battle Manual (1977)

From the web:

Star Fleet Battle Manual (SFBM) is a Tactical level Space Combat miniatures wargame for two or more players with spaceships familiar to fans of Star Trek (the original series).

SFBM is easily confused with the much better-known and much more complex "Star Fleet Battles" boardgame. Although the theme is the same, and some of the mechanics are quite similar, crawling around on the floor, and spatial skills for estimating firing angles, make SFBM unlike Star Fleet Battles.

A playing area of perhaps 8 feet square is the minimum requirement, 12 feet square (or more) is better, with a bare floor or very short carpet. Two or more players plop down their starships on the floor. Everyone plots their moves simultaneously, allocating limited engine energy to some combination of movement, shields and weapons. Moves are executed simultaneously. Weapons have varying arcs of fire, and shield strength is independent on the four sides of the ship, so clever move plotting is critical to victory.

After movement, there is simultaneous combat. Shooting is the unusual element of the mechanics. Each starship has a compass card, with a silhouette in the middle. The player must estimate the exact correct angle to fire at, stretch out a string from the center of their card, and hope that their chosen angle intersects the silhouette of the chosen opponent.

Damage is logged in points against different capabilities of the starship, allowing for the damaged or crippled ships familiar from the Star Trek TV episodes and films. Different weapons and angles of fire allow for unique abilities for different races and starships.

The game was originally published in 1972 as Star Trek Battle Manual (this used the Star Trek name without having properly licensed it, and therefore was not sold for long).

The closely related Alien Space Battle Manual came out in 1973, offering a completely different set of alien races and somewhat different hit/damage rules, but allowing for interplay between the two different games.

 

Advanced Wizard (1980)

From the web:

This 39-page rulebook expanded the In The Labyrinth version of The Fantasy Trip providing a list of spells of those with IQs from 8 to 20, a magic item creation table, ingredient cost charts, and information about spell casting, spell creation, illusions, laboratories, chemists and alchemists, and magical items.

The The Fantasy Trip system also includes Advanced Melee, and is compatible with Melee and Wizard.

ADVANCED WIZARD expands Wizard's basic magic system into a complete guide to adventure magic. New material includes a series of higher IQ spells, alchemy, and magic items. This greatly expanded module is just the thing for masters of the wizardly arts.
 

Advanced Melee (1980)

From the web:

This 32-page rulebook expands Melee, providing rules for movement, facing, initiative, surprise, lots of information about weapons and combat including peculiar weapons, left-hand weapons, thrown weapons, missile weapons, shield-rush attacks, hand-to-hand combat, trampling, sweeping blows, ambush, berserking, dropped and broken weapons, fire, poison, gunpowder, and mounted combat.

Advanced Melee is part of The Fantasy Trip system, which also includes Melee, Wizard, Advanced Wizard, and In The Labyrinth.

FT: ADVANCED MELEE is an expansion of the basic character weapon combat rules presented in MICROGAME #3, TFT: MELEE. New rules cover new weapons (like cestus, nunchucks and bola), shield rushes, adverse conditions (like darkness, water, and cliffs), aimed shots, dagger marksmanship, berserking, ambush, crippling hits, fine weapons & armor, gunpowder, gas bombs, poison, prisoners, brief mounted combat rules, aerial combat and more. If you like more reality in your combats this is for you.
 

In The Labyrinth (1980)

From the web:

 This 80-page rule book allowed the micro board games Melee and Wizard to be expanded into a full-fledged role-playing game. Released at the same time were the rule books Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard. The three books together formed the complete Fantasy Trip game system.

Book includes: character generation tables, world creation tools, adventuring rules, a flora and fauna section, a number of additional tables, and various copy-ready play aids.

 IN THE LABYRINTH is the Game Master's module of Metagaming's THE FANTASY TRIP role-playing game system. Everything necessary to create a fantasy world and guide players on adventures is included in IN THE LABYRINTH. Metagaming brings you the new standard in fantasy role-playing games, the next generation in the evolution of the genre. As Game Master, you act as guide and moderator for a group of adventurous gamers. You create a fantastic world of Wizards, Dragons, Heroes, Dwarves, Elves, Heroines, surprises, magic, treasure and danger. As their characters adventure, players direct them through a series of encounters. An encounter may be dialogue among players or a detailed combat with monsters played out on scale labyrinth maps. The adventure develops through real-time decisions and actions in response to character experiences. Play is imaginative, open-ended, fast and fun - the ultimate fantasy.
 

Killer (1981) - First Edition

From the web:

The Game Of Assassination. Watch Your Back.

You might be . . . Bitten by rubber snakes! Poisoned with peanuts! Electrocuted by ropes! Bombed with pillows! Shot with a banana! Hosed & sprinkled, squirted & boffed . . . even ping-ponged! Killer is the exciting live roleplaying game for intelligent, creative and slightly uncivilized people . . . people who want to knock off their friends . . . without hurting them. In this unique game, each player becomes an assassin, stalking one (or all) of the other players. Squirt guns replace pistols; water balloons become bombs . . . whatever your fiendish mind can devise. As the assassins take out their targets, the number of players dwindles. The last one alive is the winner.
 

Villains & Vigilantes (1st Edition) (1979)

From the web:

Includes (i) a cardstock sheet (slightly smaller than 8.5 x 11) with the combat table and other useful information, (ii) a cardstock character sheet, (iii) an approximately 8.5 x 11 errata sheet.

Villains & Vigilantes is a role-playing game simulating the lives and adventures of comic-book style superheroes. Players take the roles of superheroes. But unlike most role-playing games, in V&V, the character used by the player is himself with the addition of super-powers. Each character receives a random set of powers, then creates a costume and a.name in order to fight crime and protect society. As the characters gain experience, their abilities will increase, along with the difficulty of the tasks they will be called upon to perform.  

From the Back Cover:

CONTEMPORARY ROLE-PLAYING IN THE AGE OF SUPER-HEROES

COMPLETE RULES FOR:
Origins of Super-Heroes
Super-Powers
Use of Super-Powers
Costumes
Secret Identities
Scientific Inventions
Encounters
Captured Secret Equipment
Immunity from the Law
Penalties for Capture Villains
Super-Hero Organizations
Super-Villain Organizations
All You Need to Know to Create a World of Comic Book Style Adventure

 

Castles Book 1 (1978)

From the web:

A book to help a DM/campaign judge to quickly generate and populate a fantasy castle. It contains tables that can be used to randomly generate castle attributes such as:
- Walls: number of sections, thickness, type, height, length, characteristics, defenses, etc.
- Garrison: size, technical level, morale, composition
- Siege Engines: technical level, crew type
- Leaders: level, class, race, alignment
- Followers: level, class, race, alignment
and so on.

The majority of the book is comprised of castle layouts that are mapped using Judges Guild's Campaign Hexagon System.

It was originally published as an official Dungeons & Dragons supplement in 1978 but was later reprinted as part of Judges Guild's generic "Universal Fantasy Supplement" line.

A 64-page booklet with 50 pages of maps on various fortifications, every type from solitary spires and wooden stockades to massive fortress and walled cities. These are excellent for siege, intrigue, and other adventures by the players. Included are six pages of tables for generating wall thickness, height, composition and features, towers, moat creatures, garrisons, trebuchets and other engines on the walls, retainers, servants, leaders, followers and more. The castles are mapped on light gray hex grids, suitable for changes by the Judge with colored felt-tipped markers.
 

The Book of Treasure (1978)

From the back cover:

You have gone places where no sane man would go.

You have carried your sword into forgotten castles and labyrinthine caverns below the earth, and there it has tasted the blood of men and dragons and foul creatures of the dark, and won you free again.

And your sword has brought you rich treasures. Your horse and your armor are the best that money can buy. Gold and silver coins are stacked high in your iron chest, and your belt is bright with jewels. Is is whispered in the town that enchantment lies on your blade, and on the protective amulet around your neck.

You should count your gold, and be content. And yet...

An yet you are not content; for you have read in The Book of Treasure, and you know that there are prizes far richer than gold and jewels.

 

Bio One (1974)

From the introduction:

Rules for exact hit location and damage determination; for use with gunpowder period man-to-man rules.

Bio One provides a complete and accurate system of damage location and effects for any gunpowder period of warfare. Bio One will prove an interesting addition to any set of man-to-man rules which uses gun fire...

 

Village Book 1 (1978)

From the web:

A book to help a DM/campaign judge to quickly generate and populate a fantasy village. It contains tables that can be used to randomly generate village attributes such as:
- Walls: number of sections, thickness, type, characteristics, defenses, etc.
- Streets: number, width, length, type
- Shops: number, type
- Government type, buildings
- Population
- Religions
- Village names
and so on.

The majority of the book is comprised of village layouts that are mapped using Judges Guild's Campaign Hexagon System

It was originally published as an official Dungeons & Dragons supplement in 1978 but was later reprinted as part of Judges Guild's generic "Universal Fantasy Supplement" line.

 

Harpoon (1981)

From the web:

This is the first edition of the Harpoon Modern Naval Miniatures Rules was published in 1981. It explained the basics of modern naval combat and allowed players to take on the role of a ship captain or formation commander.

It received the H.G. Wells award as the best miniatures game of 1980.

Because it described the technical aspects of naval warfare in an easily understood manner, an insurance agent in rural Maryland used it as one of his many data sources when he wrote a novel about modern submarines, titled The Hunt for Red October. The book did well.

HARPOON is a system of detailed but comprehensible rules covering the many facets of modern naval actions. HARPOON also achieves realistic results with hypothetical scenarios. But HARPOON is more than a detailed simulation of modern naval tactics: it is an award-winning game, which can provide hours of enjoyment and recreation. Its treatment of modern naval warfare follows the tradition of Jane’s pre-dreadnought naval war game of the 1890’s and Fletcher Pratt’s Naval Wargame of the 1940’s. For a few hours players command a naval task force cruising the high seas and braving the dangers of modern naval warfare!

RuneQuest (1978) - 1st Edition 1st Printing

From the web:

A venerable RPG set in the colorful world of Glorantha. RUNEQUEST has a revolutionary game system, being the first to present such concept as critical hit and fumble, hit locations, individual skill improvement, flavorful magic and "spell points."

This is a 120-page core book using 1st edition rules.
 

The Book of Monsters (1978) - Second Printing

 From the web:

A sourcebook containing 124 fantastic creatures drawn from the world's folklore and myth, with information for easy adaptation to your fantasy campaign. Written by Phil Edgren and published by Gamescience. 

Thieves' Guild (1980)

From the web:

Thieves' Guild is the first in a continuing series of game rules and scenarios for adventuring in a medieval underworld where the players act as the criminals in a fantasy crime adventure.

Thieves' Guild, also known as Thieves' Guild I, was originally sold as a set of loose leaf pages to be place in a folder.

 

The Ogre Book (1982)

 From the web:

This collection of the best OGRE/GEV articles from the pages of The Space Gamer will introduce you to basic strategies, polish up your game for tournament play, and introduce you to exciting variants and scenarios for one, two, three, or more players.  

From the back cover:

"Ogre and its sequel G.E.V. are among the best-selling wargames of all time, with over 100,000 copies in print. Fast, challenging, yet easy to learn, both games are tournament standards. Now, by popular demand...The Ogre Book. This collection of the best Ogre/G.E.V. articles from the pages of The Space Gamer will introduce you to basic strategies...polish up your game for tournament play...and introduce you to exciting variants and scenarios for one, two, three, or more players.

"Contents of The Ogre Book include:

• "'Playing the Odds in Ogre and G.E.V.,' by Roland Parenteau- a mathematical analysis of the best use of attack strength.
• "'Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It...,' by J. H. Oxley, and 'Adding Fear and Loathing to G.E.V,' by Timothy C. Weidel- a random generation of missions and multi-player scenarios where you may not know your opponent's real objective!
• "'Ogres and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy,' by Lawrence Duffield, and 'The Four Howitzer Defense in Ogre,' by Chester Hendrix, and 'Defensive Tactics and Strategy in G.E.V.,' by Tim Solis- advice for the defensive player with an Ogre breathing down his neck.
• "The original designer's articles for Ogre and G.E.V., including specifications for the Mark I, II, and VI Ogres and discussions of possible expansion sets...
• "And much more!"

 

Survival of the Fittest (1979)

 From the web:

 Solo dungeon for Dungeons & Dragons. Has a somewhat unique approach in that you can take a party of up to 4 characters through -- you just have to multiply the number of monsters in a room by the number of characters in your party. A deadly solitaire dungeon for 1-4 players. Designed for 1st and 2nd level characters of any class.

Operation Ogre (1979) - First Printing

From the web:

The 1979 Pacificon AD&D official tournament dungeon, which details the capture of an Elven Princess by a band of fierce new monsters: Ice Ogres. This booklet includes a very detailed Alchemist's Laboratory which may be used by the Judge on other situations, and pre-rolled characters and combat tables, plus statistics on the Ice Ogres, Electric Crawlers and more. Beware the King of the Ice Ogres and his gruesome treasure! 

User Summary:

The official AD&D tournament dungeon from the 1979 PacifiCon. Players have four hours to rescue the elven princess Soula who was taken by Bugbears and a new monster: Ice Ogres. Contains all the pre-rolled characters and scoring system needed to run the dungeon as a tournament.

Note: Despite what the cover says, the module is written for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons; not basic D&D.

 

Legendary Duck Tower and Other Tales (1980)

From the web:

 The legends of the fallen citadel of Duck Tower have long haunted both Ducks and Humans. Recently, the location of the tower has been rediscovered and parties of brave adventurers have begun to seek it out in hopes of finding the great treasures rumored to be there. These treasure will not easily be obtained as the area is guarded by many creatures who have always known that Duck Tower was no legend.  

Official Playing Aid for Runequest Gateway

From the front cover.

A complete campaign adventure pack
Long-ruined city and deserted citadel
Tales of fabulous riches and terrible monsters
Rumors of horrible dooms and powerful magic

 

War of the Sky Cities (1979)

From the web:

After centuries of fighting, man finally accomplished what he had attempted for centuries: the destruction of the world he lived on. After the last and greatest war, some people survived underground. But radiation had penetrated even there and they were forced from their new homes. They rebuilt their great cities as floating platforms to carry them above the radiation belts that now encircled their planet. Some launched themselves to safety before it was too late, but others were slow or miscalculated. Their sky born heirs were mutated, some horribly beyond belief, others invisibly. The centuries passed and the radioactivity began to fade away. The sky cities began to look for ways downward to the planet. But they found each other first, humans and non-humans, as allies or competitors. Then started what man had left off: WAR.

You are the ruler of a sky-city. Your objective is to capture or destroy your enemies, and find an opening in the radiation belts. The action occurs in the upper atmosphere, about 55 to 75 miles off the surface of the Earth.

WAR OF THE SKY CITIES is an exciting two-player science fiction table top game, where players become rulers of complete cities in the sky. Each side has small scout/research centers, medium battle cities, and/or large battle cities. There are two objectives: capture or destroy your enemies and find an opening in the deadly radiation belts surrounding a future Earth. In addition, optional rules introduce the use of small fighter craft and airborne landing parties. WAR OF THE SKY CITIES is a game of tactical "air" combat, but instead of aircraft you command large floating cities with their own engines, armor and weapons.

The components include two pages of cardstock counters and a cardstock reference sheet (printed on one side).

Game Scale: Each inch represents 200 miles.

 

Tech Law (1985)

From the web:

Tech Law is one of first two rule books for Iron Crown's futuristic version of their Rolemaster game system. The rule book is essentially compatible to the Arms Law weapons book used in the Rolemaster system with some additional information about technology, armor, futuristic equipment, vehicle and spaceships statistics and their weapons, and various weapon and maneuver charts.

Note: The character and campaign development version of the book is called Future Law.

 

Chivalry & Sorcery: (1st Edition - 1977)

From the web:

CHIVALRY & SORCERY represents the most complete and detailed fantasy role playing game on the market. Includes all necessary rules for character creation, experience and specialist skills, combat, magick, and the campaign setting. The world of Chivalry and Sorcery includes laws, customs, social classes, and all that would be found in the feudal setting of a complete fantasy environment.

 

Spacefarer's Guide to Planets: Sector Two (1979)

From Publisher's Catalog:

The 100 planets described in Sector Two are all a part of a single cluster - the curious astrological entity known as Roarde's Diadem. Here two vigorous, expanding religions are held in precarious balance by the Imperial House of Cavoral.

From the inside page:

Spacefarer's Guide to Planets: Sector Two is a science-fiction role-playing game aid. It is designed to fit most science-fiction role-playing game rules:

• Traveller
• Space Patrol
• Space Quest
• Starships and Spacemen

 

Toon (1984)

From the web:

The Cartoon Roleplaying Game.

This is the core rulebook for the quick, simple, fun and silly cartoon rpg.

From the back of the book:

Remember all those great cartoons you used to watch every Saturday morning? Now they're on again... and you're the star!

TOON lets you be a rabbit, duck, mouse, moose, woodpecker, wombat, crocodile, caveman... whatever you want.

TOON brings you a world where crazy animals talk, fight, carouse, and always act silly. Been punched? Blown up? Steamrollered? Don't worry - you'll bounce back in the next scene, ready for more!
TOON is quick, simple and fun. Ready to get silly? Get in TOON - and be a cartoon star!

 

Campaign Law (1st Edition) (1984)

From the web:

Campaign Law, 1st Edition is an original Rolemaster core rulebook which is essentially a gamemaster's guide without detailed information about character development, magic, or weapons while the book Character Law is essentially a player's guide. This book includes information about setting up and running a campaign and information about gods, plants, and animals. The book also includes an encounter chart, a list of character secondary skills, an equipment list, a list of enchanted herbs, weather charts, a trading chart, and a sample adventure.

Note: This book was later combined with Character Law as Character Law & Campaign Law with some additional material.

 

The Compleat Fantasist - How To Convert The Major Fantasy Role Playing Systems To Each Other (1980)

 From the back cover:

AT LAST!...no longer need characters from one system to be stuck there. And never more will you have to arbitrarily decide how to change personal statistics to fit a different set of rules. Fantasy roleplaying veteran Mark Wagner gives guidelines to help convert many parts of each system the others, and describe aspects that don't concert well.