| Thrilling Adventures In A World Gone Mad! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Designers | Frank Chadwick |
| Publishers | Game Designers' Workshop |
| Publication | 1990 |
| Genres | near-future post-apocalyptic |
| Systems | Twilight: 2000 (2nd edition) |
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Roleplaying Game is a near-future post-apocalyptic role-playing game published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1990 that is based on the underground comic book Xenozoic Tales .
The game uses the second edition Twilight: 2000 rules. Players create a character defined by six attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Charisma, Intelligence and Education. The character's skills, each ranging from 1–10, are derived from the ability scores. To use a skill, a player must roll a 10-sided die under the character's applicable skill score. [1]
The game is set 450 years in the future, in the post-apocalyptic world of Mark Schultz's underground comic book series Xenozoic Tales ( ISBN 1-55878-073-4) when creatures from every era of history roam the Earth. Players take the roles of humans trying to survive against sabre-tooth tigers, dinosaurs and other creatures from the distant past. [2]
A sample adventure, "The Known World", is included. [2]
Mark Schultz published the first issue of the post-apocalyptic comic Xenozoic Tales in 1986. Although the series only lasted fourteen issues, it spawned an arcade game, a Sega videogame, some toys, an animated series, a music album, and this role-playing game (RPG). [2]
The 144-page soft-cover book for the RPG was written by Frank Chadwick using the rules from another GDW post-apocalypse RPG, Twilight 2000 , with artwork by Mark Schultz, Steve Bryant, Steve Stiles, and Kirk Wescom. [3]
In the September 1992 edition of Dragon (Issue 185), Rick Swan liked the simple and easy, laid-back approach of most of the rules. He was therefore surprised at the complexity of the combat rules, calling them "gratingly out of synch with the user-friendly approach of the rest of the game." Swan used calculating damage from a demolition charge as an example: "You divide the Damage Point value by two, take the square root of the results, and multiply it by 5. Square root? What’s a square root doing in a game with rampaging dinosaurs?" Swan concluded that most gamers should likely give the game a pass: "[Combat is] too hard by half. Fans of the comic book should get a kick out of the informative sourcebook material and Mark Schultz’s exquisite illustrations. Roleplayers, however, may wonder if a premise this modest is worth all the effort." [1]
Although Walt Williams liked the "wealth of information about the Xenozoic world, plus several helpful tables, maps, and rules for exploring that world.", he thought the included adventure was "rather boring". He also found the complex combat system from the gritty Twilight 2000 RPG did not match the looser style of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, saying, "The combat system really defeats the overall pulp tone of the setting. Again, C&D is about two-fisted adventure, gun fights, and facing prehistoric monsters. Combat should be quick and light, allowing players to move from one scene to the other in relatively rapid succession. But the rules system here is unnecessarily complex and, at least when involving automatic weapons, potentially very deadly." [2]
Twilight: 2000 is a 1984 post-apocalyptic military tabletop role-playing game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). Set in the aftermath of World War III, the game operates on the premise that the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact have fought a lengthy conventional war followed by a limited nuclear war with all its consequences. The player characters are survivors of said war.
Rolemaster is an extremely complex fantasy tabletop role-playing game published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1980. The game system has undergone several revisions and editions since then.
Champions is a role-playing game published by Hero Games designed to simulate a superhero comic book world. It was originally created by George MacDonald and Steve Peterson in collaboration with Rob Bell, Bruce Harlick and Ray Greer. The latest edition of the game uses the sixth edition of the Hero System, as revised by Steve Long, and was written by Aaron Allston. It was released in early 2010.
2300 AD, originally titled Traveller: 2300, is a tabletop science fiction role-playing game created by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) and first published in 1986.
Castle Falkenstein is a steampunk-themed fantasy role-playing game (RPG) designed by Mike Pondsmith and originally published by R. Talsorian Games in 1994. The game is named for a legendary unbuilt castle in the Bavarian Alps. Players play the roles of gallant adventurers who take on quests of intrigue and derring-do in the spirit of Victorian adventures such as The Prisoner of Zenda.
Xenozoic Tales is an alternative comic book by American artist Mark Schultz, set in a post-apocalyptic future. Originally published by Kitchen Sink Press, the series began in 1986 with the story "Xenozoic!" which was included in the horror comics anthology Death Rattle #8. This was shortly followed by Xenozoic Tales #1 in February 1987. Kitchen Sink published 14 issues between 1987 and 1996 and it has since been reprinted by several publishers, including Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Flesk Publications.
Dream Pod 9 (DP9), formerly Ianus Games, is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. Its most notable products are Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Tribe 8, and Gear Krieg, as well as the Silhouette role-playing game system.
Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.
The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a fantasy role-playing game published by Palladium Books in 1983.
Aftermath! is a role-playing game created by Paul Hume and Robert Charette and published in 1981 by Fantasy Games Unlimited.
Nightbane is a dark fantasy role-playing game and setting created by C. J. Carella and published by Palladium Books.
Ghostbusters is a comedy role-playing game published by West End Games (WEG) in 1986 that is based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters.
Recon is a military role-playing game where players assume the role of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The first edition featured a wargame with role-playing elements, somewhat like Behind Enemy Lines and Twilight 2000, then gradually evolved into a full role-playing game.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is an animated television series produced by De Souza Productions, Galaxy Films and Nelvana, which aired on CBS as part of its Saturday morning children's lineup in the United States from 1993 to 1994, lasting for one season of 13 episodes. Based on Xenozoic Tales by Mark Schultz, the show was created by screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, who acquired the TV rights after producing the video game Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, which was also based on Schultz's comic. The show dealt with many strong ecological and political issues that were central to the plot development.
Powers & Perils (P&P) is a fantasy role-playing game published by Avalon Hill in 1984. The highly complex game was Avalon Hill's first foray into the role-playing game market, and proved to be a commercial failure.
Mark Schultz is an American writer and illustrator of books and comics. His most widely recognized work is the creator-owned comic book series Xenozoic Tales, which describes a post-apocalyptic world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. In 1993, Xenozoic Tales was adapted into an animated series titled Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and a video game of the same name. Schultz's other notable works include various Aliens comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse and a four-year run on the DC Comics series Superman: The Man of Steel. In 2004, Schultz took over the scripting duties of the Prince Valiant comic strip.
Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the tabletop role-playing game industry. The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.
Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game is a science fiction role-playing game published by Games Workshop in 1985. A second edition was published in 1989.
Aliens Adventure Game is a combat-oriented role-playing game published by Leading Edge Games in 1991.