Quote from: -R.Tunnels & Trolls is one of my areas of ignorance as far as RPGs go.  I've never played a game of it, nor have I ever read any incarnation of the rules.

Tell me what I'm missing.  Is there a particular edition that I'd want to check out?  Is there anything hinky in the rules that I'd need to watch out for and house-rule?  What sort of play does the game provide?

There's a set of free rules online here: //www.freedungeons.com/rules

These are the same as the abridged rules that were printed in the front of the Corgi solos.

One unusual feature of the rules is that, compared to other role-playing games, it's very difficult to hit anything with a missile weapon.

Another is that character death is unusually common. This might be because of the emphasis on gamebooks, and because characters are very quick to create.

Another thing to watch out for is that Rogues aren't thieves - they're more like fighter/magic-users. There is in fact no official thief class.

Most people on the Trollbridge forum (http://trollbridge.proboards44.com/index.cgi?) seem to play 5th edition rules, with some changes - most notably spells being powered by a seperate attribute, Wizardry, instead of Strength, and characters having Talents. Talents are a simple skill system. There's no set list of skills, you pick one skill to start and a new one every level (Talents don't have levels, you either have the Talent or you don't), and a relevant talent can add to your saving roll.

The consensus on this forum is that 7th edition has good ideas but is quite under-edited, and that new people should get 5th edition (5.5 is 5th edition plus some extra articles).

Quote from: Age of FableTalents are a simple skill system. There's no set list of skills, you pick one skill to start and a new one every level (Talents don't have levels, you either have the Talent or you don't), and a relevant talent can add to your saving roll.

I'm thinking that Talents were drawn from the Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes rules, no?  I don't have them on hand, but that sounds like how psychic talents are handled.

!i!

I know that M.S.P.E. was out long before 7th edition, but I don't know anything about how skills work in it, sorry.

Psychic abilities in MSPE are skills you can buy if you roll and determine that you are eligible.

Talents are do it yourself traits/skills for which you get a
+1d6 to a relavent attribute when doing that thing. You make one up each level. It's cool, but an appropriately broad or narrow skill is not defined, so it confuses some people. Like most stuff in T&T, it's way better to just play it than to think about it too much.

Yes, T&T was certainly a serious influence on FtA!'s system, alongside classic D&D and Nethack; it was a main influence on the combat system.

That said, I think that T&T is pretty dated, and FtA! is better, but that might be my own vanity.

RPGPundit

First, thank you to everyone that replied and offered their opinions, advice and so forth.  I have to admit that once I had read Dr. Rotwang's blog entry, I was hopelessly sold on the game.  I seem to have a sudden desire to recapture the fun that I had as a kid playing RPGs, back before I had either the sense or misfortune (take yer pick) to become worried about whether or not my games were any good.

Now, what's this FtA! that's been mentioned?

It's Pundy's baby, but I'll pipe up.  Forward...to Adventure!  The link to it is in his .sig file, too.

Here's a fair review of the game on RPG.net.
Here's a rather less fair review in my opinon, also at RPG.net (I think the reviewer spoke better of the game than he rated it numerically, so take that with a grain of salt).

!i!

[Edit: "numberically"? Scratch that.]

Yes, unfortunately some of the commentaries on FtA! have been unduly peppered with personal bias about its author. I suppose that was unavoidable.

RPGpundit

Speaking of which when are you going to get around to changing your avatar to the much more appropriate one I found for you? Do you need it resized down to fit because no problem, I can whip that up and email it to you pronto. :pundit:

Ah...blakkie, need I point out that there is a difference between a pipe and a cigar? He'll not make that jump I fear.