From this thread.

Quote from: GrimGent;476491A current RPGnet thread about "licensed RPGs you can't believe existed" (here) actually makes that Dallas game sound quite a bit more viable than the title might suggest.

Now this is fairly interesting:

Quote from: The Scribbler;14330831I've now looked through the Dallas RPG.

I'm... actually sort of interested in the system. I mean my entire knowledge of the show boils down to faint memories from when I was a kid, the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode, and Patrick Duffy, and the set-up isn't exactly stellar.

But it's interesting, part RPG/part Diplomacy-like. I'm oddly fascinated.

You play a character from the show, which is sort of lame but since I remember very little of the show doesn't matter to me much.

You have basic stats and you own certain Minor Characters or Organizations (represented by cards in the book) that give you bonuses to your core abilities. At the start of an Episode (adventure) each Major Character (PC) is given a set of objectives ("Control X Minor Character and 5 of the following Minor Characters/Organizations") as well as some secrets (like control of certain of the above).

Each scene has a Director (GM) phase where the action/location is set up, a Negotiation phase where the characters can maneuver and deal for what they want through roleplaying, and a Conflict phase where you deal with conflicts that couldn't be handled by Negotiation (you compare the appropriate abilities, subtracting the lower from the higher to get the result of the conflict, but this is when pulling a "But I control the local FBI office!" card off the table to surprise the other guy can come in handy and there's a Power resource you can use to further modify your situation).

There's also a little rules section for dealing with when PCs commit illegal acts, which boils down to a PC using their own Investigation skill or that of a Minor Character/Organization they control to call out the suspect and get them in trouble.

2d6 are used for Investigations and for Conflicts where the difference between the high score and the low score is between 2 and 11.

It comes with three "Scripts" for Episodes.

I want to run a session now, just for the hell of it.

Is there something wrong with me? I feel like there's something wrong with me.

Help.

Sounds a bit storygamey (mostly because of the terminology, it seems to play completely trad just fine), but it might be an interesting structure to model a domain management system, be it for Name-level D&D play a la D&D RC, or other games which include politicking and intrigue and wars over influence (like either Vampire game). I like the "phases" aspect in particular, which reminds me of the BECMI/RC combat sequence. Also separating pure roleplaying "Negotiation" from dice-rolling "Conflict" sounds like a good way to keep it from devolving into a glorified "social combat" system (something I don't really dig).

What do you all think?

Is the world ready for a Dallas RPG retro-clone?

Well, the ARE making a short-run series of Dallas (not a remake, just set in the modern era with sons/daughters of the originals and a couple of returns like Larry Hagman) I think for USA network if memory serves. License fees anyone?

Never really watched Dallas much (I was pretty young when it was on the air), but I could see this sort of game being interesting. I myself have run several RPGs as sitcoms and pretty much kept them in the traditional RPG realm.

Huh, I didn't remember that it said "Role-playing" on the cover.

The game was made by SPI and it failed horribly in spite of considerable marketing (at least within the gaming hobby--not sure if SPI did the smart thing and advertise in TV Guide). Redmond Simonsen, who was one of the leaders of SPI, wrote (in an interview)

QuoteAs to DALLAS: we didn't print 250,000 of them. More like
80,000 (in two runs). That was about 79,999 more than anyone
wanted. DALLAS didn't kill SPI, but it didn't save it either (as
some had vainly hoped). Essentially, anyone who is wired on DALLAS
(the TV show) is not also wired on games.

One thing to remember is that the established wargame companies, SPI & Avalon Hill, didn't have a really good grasp of what made an RPG an RPG. Some of their efforts at capturing the market (such as AH's Magic Realm) were quirky but brilliant. Dallas might be, too, but other threads and comments I've found characterize it as a weak equivalent of "How to Host a Murder Mystery".

There's another detailed description at Grognardia: http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/06/retrospective-dallas-television-role.html

Actually that looks pretty usable.

If you move it from an RPG which it isn't by the sounds of the review, change it to a board game and change the trappings from Oil Barrons in Texas in the 80s to fueding families in a fantasy kingdom (ala Amber or Game of Thrones) and you have a game I would play.

In fact I would not be at all suprised if the exact opposite isn't what actually happened.

Hey Dave got this great little Borgias style political murder board game. It's got some RPG bits, some cool little different types of conflict resolution rules and the referee can set up their own scenarios for massive replayability.

Well Frank that's swell but there is this really huge TV show and we just got a license so can you switch out the pseudo Rennaissance papal stuff and change it to Texas with shoulder pads and alcoholic ex-models.

And it didn't sell... who would have guessed that there isn't a lot of cross over between folks that watch Prime time soap operas and geeky kids that live in their mum's basements and dream about meetign a real goblin (or indeed a real girl) ... go figure  

Quote from: jibbajibba;476513Actually that looks pretty usable.

If you move it from an RPG which it isn't by the sounds of the review, change it to a board game and change the trappings from Oil Barrons in Texas in the 80s to fueding families in a fantasy kingdom (ala Amber or Game of Thrones) and you have a game I would play.

It sounds very much like a proto-Houses of the Blooded. I'd like to give it a try at the table, actually.

Quote from: The Butcher;476498Also separating pure roleplaying "Negotiation" from dice-rolling "Conflict" sounds like a good way to keep it from devolving into a glorified "social combat" system (something I don't really dig).

Actually, that bit reminds me of how in Polaris a die roll is only used to resolve conflicts if a player absolutely refuses to give in during a negotiation first. ("It Shall Not Come To Pass.")

As a small child, I remember watching Dallas on TV.  My uncle was frequently unhappy the evening's episodes were not taped on VHS.

I don't remember much about Dallas.  

I remember that it pretty much sucked.

The parts that were cool were J.R.  He was FUCKING EVIL.  The rest of the show ate shit and I didn't have time for that shit, considering that Cobra was trying to dominate the world and that demanded my immediate attention.

I haven't brought myself to watch any Dallas since I've been an adult.

I would not be interested in this even as a novelty.

Quote from: Blackhand;477083I would not be interested in this even as a novelty.

I suspect you weren't part of the target audience for the series, at the age you were then.

I suspect most roleplayers weren't either, which is why it was a flop.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;477294I suspect most roleplayers weren't either, which is why it was a flop.

RPGPundit

Which is the thing, isn't it, because - popular license? Check! Mechanics that guide but not overwhelm play? Check! Copious examples to show what to do in a game setting? Check! Setting that an "average person" can parse easily? Check!

This, right here, is the introductory RPG for adult non-gamers. Not really sure what the modern-day equivalent would be, but it'll be on prime time TV. And it would probably sell just as well, so wouldn't be worth anyone's time to bother writing.

*sigh* They sure knew how to write female characters back then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5a5Sp2r7u8

I got dibs on playing Alexis! Oh wait, wrong show... on playing Sue Ellen!

Quote from: Ladybird;477314Which is the thing, isn't it, because - popular license? Check! Mechanics that guide but not overwhelm play? Check! Copious examples to show what to do in a game setting? Check! Setting that an "average person" can parse easily? Check!

This, right here, is the introductory RPG for adult non-gamers. Not really sure what the modern-day equivalent would be, but it'll be on prime time TV. And it would probably sell just as well, so wouldn't be worth anyone's time to bother writing.

A fair and well made point.

This is an entry level RPG for non RPG adults as a result it flopped horribly a lesson for all starter sets.

Quote from: jibbajibba;477367A fair and well made point.

This is an entry level RPG for non RPG adults as a result it flopped horribly a lesson for all starter sets.

I don't entirely agree. I feel it had as much to do with the specific licence (Dallas? Really?). Perhaps a Magnum PI or Rockford Files or Quincy RPG (McCloud, Columbo, hell... MASH) would have done better. I remember Dallas, and I'd bet the audience for that show had absolutely zero interest in RPGs of any kind, no matter the genre or licence. Not sure my suggestions would have done much better, but the point I'm trying to make is that I'm not sure the audience who would be open to RPGs of any kind and the audience for Dallas overlapped all that much.

Quote from: Sigmund;477370I don't entirely agree. I feel it had as much to do with the specific licence (Dallas? Really?). Perhaps a Magnum PI or Rockford Files or Quincy RPG (McCloud, Columbo, hell... MASH) would have done better. I remember Dallas, and I'd bet the audience for that show had absolutely zero interest in RPGs of any kind, no matter the genre or licence. Not sure my suggestions would have done much better, but the point I'm trying to make is that I'm not sure the audience who would be open to RPGs of any kind and the audience for Dallas overlapped all that much.

But that is the point no?

If you are looking for new players then you want new players not lapsed players or people who are actively playing you want new players.
I agree its a terrible license and I am still pretty sure that the game probably started out as something totally different but was fit into the Dallas template as a way to exploit the license (you know like they tried to squeeze fury of dracula into a Strontium Dog game).

So most popular TV show of its day. If there was any mainstream appeal to RPGs surely that would have picked it up.