West End Games (WEG) was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included Star Wars, Paranoia, Torg, DC Universe, and Junta.
The Player's Handbook is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It does not contain the complete set of rules for the game, and only includes rules for use by players of the game. Additional rules, for use by Dungeon Masters (DMs), who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of the more obscure spells, are found in other sources.
Fading Suns is a science fiction space opera role-playing game published by Holistic Design. The setting was also used for a PC game, a live action role-playing game, and for a space combat miniature game.
Battlelords is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Optimus Design Systems (ODS) licensed paper and pencil role-playing game titled Battlelords of the 23rd Century. The card game was released in 1995 and only one set was produced. Two planned expansion sets called Genesis and Arachnids never materialized. The card game was introduced by New Millennium Entertainment. According to Allen Varney, the game was "really good" and "as good as Star Wars, thought not quite as pretty". Varney also stated that the game had a "steep learning curve, plays badly from a single starter, and the rulebook's print is ludicrously small." The Battlelords of the 23rd Century license was later sold by ODS to SSDC, Inc. in September 1999.
Battlelords of the Twenty-Third Century is a paper and pencil science fiction role-playing game designed by Lawrence R. Sims and first published in 1990. The game's newest tagline is Roleplaying in a Galaxy at War. The Battlelords of the Twenty-Third Century license was later sold by Optimus Design Systems (ODS) to SSDC, Inc. in September 1999. In 2017, SSDC granted exclusive rights to produce games set in the Battlelords Universe to 23rd Century Productions, LLC. Subsequently, 23rd Century Productions, LLC. launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the Kickstarter Edition, also known as the Revised Edition, of Battlelords of the 23rd Century.
Pendragon, or King Arthur Pendragon, is a Tabletop role-playing game (RPG) in which players take the role of knights performing chivalric deeds in the tradition of Arthurian legend. It was originally written by Greg Stafford and published by Chaosium, then was acquired by Green Knight Publishing, who in turn passed on the rights to White Wolf Publishing in 2004. White Wolf sold the game to Stewart Wieck in 2009. Wieck formed Nocturnal Media, who updated and reissued the 5th edition originally published by White Wolf. In 2018, it returned to Chaosium.
Fate is a generic role-playing game system based on the Fudge gaming system. It has no fixed setting, traits, or genre and is customizable. It is designed to offer minimal obstruction to role-playing by assuming players want to make fewer dice rolls.
Robin D. Laws is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist.
GURPS Basic Set is a role playing game publication written by Steve Jackson, Sean M. Punch, and David L. Pulver. The first edition GURPS Basic Set box was published in 1986, a standalone third edition book in 1988, and a hardcover, two-volume fourth edition in 2004.
Spycraft is a d20 and OGL-based role-playing game dealing with superspies and modern action. Originally published by the Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), it is currently published under licence by Crafty Games.
Furry Pirates is an anthropomorphic, historical fantasy, pen-and-paper role-playing game published by Atlas Games. It is set in a parallel universe, reminiscent of 17th-century Earth. The game was written by Lise Breakey, designed by Bruce Thomas, and illustrated by Terrie Smith and Eric Hotz.
Sean K. Reynolds is an American professional game designer, who has worked on and co-written a number of Dungeons & Dragons supplements for Wizards of the Coast, as well as material for other companies.
Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He is best known for his work for the publisher R. Talsorian Games, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines since founding the company in 1982. Pondsmith is credited as an author of several RPG lines, including Mekton (1984), Cyberpunk (1988) and Castle Falkenstein (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Eldritch Wizardry is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, written for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game, which included a number of significant additions to the core game. Its product designation is TSR 2005.
Blood Dawn is a cyberpunk role-playing game designed by Lawrence R. Sims and first published by Optimus Design Systems in 1996.
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974. It included the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation was TSR 2002.
The following is a timeline of tabletop role-playing games. For computer role-playing games see here.
A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.
Immortal: The Invisible War is a role-playing game created by artist and writer Ran Valerhon. Characters discover that they are part of an ancient race of shape-shifters with the power to alter reality itself. Immortals have the ability to literally reinvent themselves through a special form of reincarnation-like evolution. Characters may have been an ancient god, mythical creature, or legendary hero in a former incarnation. As the characters struggle to remember who and what they truly are these past-lives continue to inform, empower, and confound the character's current incarnation; They also must re-acclimate to a millennia old war against dark forces to save their last bastion in the universe, Earth.
Jim Bambra is a British designer and reviewer of fantasy roleplaying games (RPG), and a former company director. He is particularly known for his contributions to Dungeons and Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Warhammer, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game which was based on the Star Wars films. Later he became head of design at MicroProse, then managing director of Pivotal Games, a publisher of video games including Conflict: Desert Storm.
