During the heyday of the RPG craze (which I figure was the late 80's to mid-90's ) a bunch of really cool game came out. Very few of them have stayed in print to this very day. What out-of-print game would you love to see continued officially?
I would really love for a well resourced company to re-imagine the horror RPG Kult. There was a half-assed attempt at a revival recently by a french company called 7th Circle, but it failed miserably. Kult's status as a license is unknown to everybody.
Similarly, attempts at re-publishing the Chill RPG have yet to yield any results. The company that currently holds the license doesn't have the capital to put the game out there.
Kult and Chill are two amazing games that deserve to be huge, but by nature will never ascend their cult status.

I playtested Chill 3rd edition a few years ago and the system was a mess.   You can probably still find it on the web somewhere.   There were a few great ideas - mechanics for enforcing the power of a team and how that team morale would be broken if one or more were lost and mechanics for showing the ramping up of the story as the climax approached.    However, everything else was Rolemastery and overdone.

As for RPGs I would love to see get a second chance, I am deeply surprised that WotC has not done anything with either Top Secret or Star Frontiers.

Quote from: Spinachcat;280592As for RPGs I would love to see get a second chance, I am deeply surprised that WotC has not done anything with either Top Secret or Star Frontiers.

Where have you been? A large chunk of setting for d20 Future was taken directly from Star Frontiers.


As far as games I'd like to see more popular, I'd love to see Mekton return witha vengeance. Mekton Zeta and its predecessor Mekton II were able to capture the anime mecha genre perfectly IMHO. The system beat the holy shit out of Battletech on every level.

I'd love to see new versions of these games, with wider audience recognition:

DragonQuest
Legendary Lives
Lost Souls
Nephilim
Psi-World
Jorune

I think the original post is based on a premise that "getting republished" is enough to make an old RPG mainstream. Well, okay, I'd like to see Crimson Cutlass republished just because I've heard some nifty things about it and it's just about impossible to find.

I'd also like to see Waste World republished. And Jorune. I think there may be some work going on to officially GURPS-ify Jorune but I'd rather that if either of these games were republished with a new system, it'd be a simpler one (particularly as regards chargen) along the lines of Omni/Talislanta, or one of the old school throwbacks, or perhaps Barbarians of Lemuria.

BTW, most of the games I'd like to see republished would be so that other people could access them easily (without borrowing them from me). I wouldn't change much about Dragonquest for example. (Good call, Jason.)

Space 1889 is another candidate--I never played the game but a friend of mine has infected me with his enthusiasm.

Quote from: Spinachcat;280592I playtested Chill 3rd edition a few years ago and the system was a mess.   You can probably still find it on the web somewhere.   There were a few great ideas - mechanics for enforcing the power of a team and how that team morale would be broken if one or more were lost and mechanics for showing the ramping up of the story as the climax approached.    However, everything else was Rolemastery and overdone.

As for RPGs I would love to see get a second chance, I am deeply surprised that WotC has not done anything with either Top Secret or Star Frontiers.

I playtested the Chill rules too. That new ruleset Other World Creations tried to implement was clunky as hell. It's a pity, because I think that if they would have simplified that percentile based system and maybe made the whole S.A.V.E storyline a bit more edgy, they would have delivered a very good RPG that could have stand on it's own in this market.
I emailed the guys a month or so ago to ask them how the game was going.
No response.

Tricky.

The good thing about my group is that I'm not limited by what is the new, hot game - assuming I evne knew that that was. I can just as easily run an retro game like Gamma World or D6 Star Wars or a modern "indie" game like octaNe of 3:16 or even a homebrew system I might come up with. So I am not really affected by what game is considered mainstream and thanks to the Internet, getting hold of out of print games isn't that hard. And frankly, I don't there that many games that actually benefit from on-going support. Once you have the rulebook, what else do you really need?

Incidentally, that bad thing of my group is that while we are open to try almost any game, if it's not a great success first time round it can be hard to get people to give it a second chance. Ah, the pressure!

How about Castle Falkenstein? I've hear some very good shit about the R. Talsorian version.

I agree 100% that ongoing "support" isn't desirable for a game at all. I particularly hate ongoing rule-bloat, and I'd probably hate metaplot if I'd ever let it come anywhere near me. Self-contained adventures are okay, though.

Quote from: jeff37923;280600Where have you been? A large chunk of setting for d20 Future was taken directly from Star Frontiers.

That's like saying Planescape got a new edition because they put out the Manual of the Planes.  

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;280607Well, okay, I'd like to see Crimson Cutlass republished just because I've heard some nifty things about it and it's just about impossible to find.

It's nigh-impossible because I doubt more than 1000 copies were sold.  I see them on eBay about once per year.   Shame the author never put out a PDF.

Quote from: Spinachcat;280645That's like saying Planescape got a new edition because they put out the Manual of the Planes.  

Notice how I didn't say it was satisfying?

I'm gonna say Star Wars D6.  Can I say Star Wars D6?  I'm gonna say Star Wars D6.

It'd be nice to see Backstage Press' Theatrix come back, too.  It's a diceless game and it's a good diceless game, and it's loads of fun for one-off pick-up games.  

Oh -- and Extreme Vengeance, too.  Maybe shined up and streamlined a little.  Oh, man, the memories...I used to play a Mexican-American dude named Antonio Machísimo, who was part Antonio Banderas and part Cheech Marín.  he had twin 9mm pistols with pearl handles, one fashioned like the Mexican flag and the other like the Stars & Stri--

...

...okay, back on topic.  HEY!  Marvel Super Heroes!  YEAH!!

Extreme Vengeance? I've never ever heard of that game. Wait, you had a character called Antonio; he was mexican, he had 2 9mm pistols? I'm intrigued!

Yeah, it was an action movie game by Tony Lee.  Archangel Entertainment, 1997.  Back cover blurb:

Quote

SNEAK PREVIEW

So ya wanna be an action hero?

With EXTREME VENGEANCE it's no problem!  Be the baddest dude around as you take on all threats foreign or domestic!  Protect innocents from s.o.b. terrorist scum, fight for what's right in every land, and kick butts the Hollywood way!  Mow down psychotic miscreants, obliterate slimy thugs, free hostages, avenge a pal, rescue a damsel, put low-lifes behind bars, and still have time to flash that winning smile!  If Arnold, Sly, Clint, Chuck, Jean-Claude, and the rest of the gang can do it, so can you!

Unlike ordinary, wimpy role-playing games where keeping track of ammo and passing off two-shots-a-minute from behind cover are the norm, this one is overloaded with larger-than-life heroes who speed into a roomful of armed men on a forklift with auto-rifles and contempo tunes thundering loudly; who watch an enemy jet explode 20 feet away, then casually make dinner plans with the attractive foreign beneficiaries of their heroism via subtitles.

That's right!  No boring "realism", no tedious modifiers, no grim storytelling, no holds barred!  Just outrageous plots, wild action, and rip-roaring fun that delivers all the cinematic excitement right to you!

EXTREME VENGEANCE is an "explosive action-adventure extravaganza" in one book.  All you need are two or three fellow stars, a hunger for action, and a pile of six-sided dice!

So get ready for the reel world, and let the show commence!

Right away we can see why this game needs to be redone--the concept is solid freaking gold (roll a bunch of dice and make crazy-ass movie shit happen), but the writing is too enthusiastic.  It needed to be reigned in and tightened up.  

The mechanics were just fine; they actually simulated action-movie clichés rather well and let you focus more on blowing shit up than on...well, anything else, really.  

As for Antonio, well--I played him with a ridiculous accent (think "We don' nee' no esTEEENK-EENG BADGERS!"), as an uber-macho ladies' man who would light his cigarettes on the burning hulks of downed helicopters and would drink tequila straight out of the bottle right after he used it to conk a mofo the hell out.  "All I need ees a boddel o' tequila een WAN HAN', an' TOO WEEMEN in de ODDER!"

Ah, ha ha ha...!  GREAT TIMES!