| Stalking the Night Fantastic | |
|---|---|
 Cover by Phil Foglio | |
| Designers | Richard Tucholka |
| Publishers | Tri Tac Games |
| Publication | 1992 |
| Genres | Contemporary Horror |
| Systems | Tri Tac system |
Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic is a satirical science fiction/horror tabletop role-playing game published by Tri Tac Games in 1992.
Bureau 13 describes the operations of a fictional top-secret American government agency that investigates and combats supernatural events and creatures.
The game uses the role-playing game system common to other Tri Tac releases such as Fringeworthy and FTL:2448 :
Bureau 13 is published by Tri Tac, and is a revamp of their previous publication Stalking the Night Fantastic , and included an extra 90 pages of material. [2] Stalking the Night Fantastic was first published by Tri Tac in 1983,and a second edition was released the following year, accompanied by a number of standalone adventures. The third edition, retitled Bureau 13, featured a somewhat streamlined game system, and was released in 1990 as a 190-page softcover book designed by Richard Tucholka, with interior artwork by Tom Dow, with artistic contributions by Randy Bathurst, Doug Blanchard, Larry Dixon, Sandy Harlan, Tom Howell, Bradley McDevitt, Scott Ruggels, and William Wardrop, and cover art by Phil Foglio. [3]
This was followed by a 4th edition in 1992, a 5th edition in 2007, and a 6th edition in 2008 that uses d20 System mechanics.
In the January 1995 issue of Shadis , Dirk Dejong thought the game "includes a decent magic system and a well-thought out array of monsters to start your adventures with." He found a lot to like, writing, "though the premise is not new, it's done in an eminently playable style." Dejong did note that if there was a balance in horror games between what the characters should react like and how the players instead control the characters, "Bureau 13 leans to player control, as opposed to character reaction." [4]
In 1991, the third edition of the Bureau 13 series won the Gamers Choice Award at Gencon for Best Fantasy Game.[ citation needed ]
GameTek published a video game based on the role-playing game in February 1995. [13]
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, who first came to prominence in the 1930s writing as C. L. Moore. She was among the first women to write in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Moore's work paved the way for many other female speculative fiction writers.
James Cooke Brown was an American sociologist and science fiction author. He is notable for creating the constructed language Loglan and for designing the Parker Brothers board game Careers.
Philip Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art.
Nick Pollotta was an American author. He is best known for his humorous novels, including the science-fiction novel, Illegal Aliens and the fantasy novels Bureau 13 and That Darn Squid God. The majority of his work was published by Gold Eagle Books under house names "James Axler" and "Don Pendleton."
Fringeworthy is an alternate history role-playing game published by Tri Tac Games in 1982 that involves playing characters who have the ability to travel to different versions of Earth. It was the first role-playing game to explore the genre of alternate worlds.
FTL:2448 is a science fiction role playing game published by Tri Tac Games in 1982 in which players use a faster-than-light (FTL) spaceship as a commercial enterprise, doing whatever it takes to buy enough fuel for the next voyage. This could involve trade, espionage, exploration, war or police work.
Incursion is a science fiction roleplaying game created by Richard Tucholka and published by Tri Tac Games in 1992.
Tri Tac Games is a publisher of role-playing games based in Pontiac, Michigan. The company is built primarily on the work of Richard Tucholka, its founder and president.
Richard Tucholka was a writer, game designer and publisher, best known for his work in the creation of the role-playing games Fringeworthy and Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic.
Gemma Files is a Canadian horror writer, journalist, and film critic. Her short story, "The Emperor's Old Bones", won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Short Story of 1999. Five of her short stories were adapted for the television series The Hunger.
Vivien Alcock was an English writer of children's books.
Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland, United States. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, its focus has broadened since then, both in content and format.
Alan Rodgers was a science fiction and horror writer, editor, and poet. In the mid-eighties he was the editor for Night Cry. His short stories have been published in a number of venues, including Weird Tales, Twilight Zone and a number of anthologies, such as Darker Masques, Prom Night, and Vengeance Fantastic. His novelette "The Boy Who Came Back From the Dead" won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction in 1987 and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.
Sarah A. Hoyt is a Portuguese-born American science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction writer. She moved to the United States in the early 1980s, married Dan Hoyt in 1985, and became an American citizen in 1988.
Illegal Aliens is a science fiction comedy novel written by Nick Pollotta and Phil Foglio.
Harry Otto Fischer (1910–1986) was an American science fiction writer and fan best known for helping his college friend Fritz Leiber create the sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and their imaginary world of Nehwon.
Lorelei Shannon is an American writer of horror and computer games.
Stalking the Night Fantastic is a supernatural horror role-playing game published by Tri-Tac Inc. in 1983. Several editions of the game were published before it was revised as re-published as Bureau 13.
The Mask of the Sorcerer is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer.
Brian Lee Durfee is an American wildlife, landscape, and fantasy painter, and a fantasy and horror writer. His paintings have appeared in various genre and other magazines, games, and books. One of his wildlife paintings is in the permanent collection at the Grand Canyon National Park visitors center.