 | |
| Designers | Dave Arneson, Eric Goldberg, Rudy Kraft, Wes Ives, Stephen Marsh, Midkemia Press, Marc W. Miller, Steve Perrin, Lawrence Schick, Ken St. Andre |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Chaosium |
| Publication | 1981 |
| Genres | Fantasy |
| Systems | Basic Role-Playing |
Thieves' World is a role-playing game supplement published by Chaosium in 1981, based on the Thieves' World series of novels. It was notable for including rules and statistics allowing for its use with nine different fantasy and science-fiction RPG gaming systems.
The Thieves' World Complete Sanctuary Adventure Pack is a boxed set published by Chaosium in 1981, containing: 1) The Player's Guide to Sanctuary; 2) The Gamemaster's Guide to Sanctuary; 3) Personalities of Sanctuary; 4) Map of Sanctuary; 5) Map of the Maze; 6) Map of the Maze Underground. [1]
Just as the Thieves' World series of books was a shared universe with multiple authors using a common setting, Chaosium initially positioned the Thieves' World RPG as a setting that could be used with multiple game systems. The Personalities of Sanctuary included statistics and gaming notes for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons , Adventures in Fantasy , Chivalry & Sorcery , DragonQuest , Dungeons & Dragons , The Fantasy Trip , RuneQuest , Traveller , and Tunnels & Trolls . Later products in the series provided stats only for RuneQuest and Rolemaster / Middle-earth Role Playing . Thieves' World series contributing novelists Lynn Abbey, Poul Anderson, Robert Asprin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, John Brunner, Christine DeWees, David Drake, Philip José Farmer, Joe Haldeman, Janet Morris, Andrew Offutt, and A.E. van Vogt wrote descriptions, essays, and short stories for the player and game master volumes in the box set, and game designers Dave Arneson, Eric Goldberg, Rudy Kraft, Wes Ives, Stephen Marsh, Midkemia Press, Marc W. Miller, Steve Perrin, Lawrence Schick, and Ken St. Andre helped translate the world into the various game systems. [2]
The Thieves' World Companion was published in 1986 to update the setting.
Harry White reviewed Thieves' World in The Space Gamer No. 45. [3] White commented that "it's worth the price. Thieves' World provides a wealth of information for repeated use but allows considerable flexibility for individual creativity and customizing. Physically, typographically and artistically it is a quality product. Highly recommended if you don't expect miracles and need a home for your adventurers." [3]
Thieves' World was awarded the Origins Award for "Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1981". [4]
Oliver Dickinson reviewed Thieves' World for White Dwarf #30, giving it an overall rating of 10 out of 10, and stated that "This has to be one of the most challenging adventure packs to come on the market. It is a whole city, realised with a richness and thoroughness of detail that matches City State of the Invincible Overlord, and though not as comprehensive as this, it presented in a much more readable form." [1]
Steve List reviewed Thieves' World in Ares Magazine #13 and commented that "Thieves' World is not a work that allows a GM to spend merely a few hours reading it, nor does it present a campaign that will be exhausted in a few playings. It does provide a vehicle with which a GM willing to devote the time can create an entire city which should never grow stale no matter how many times it is visited." [5]
J C Conner reviewed Thieves' World for Imagine magazine, and stated that "There is plenty of information in this pack for the DM to make a really first rate and exciting city for the players, fleshed out by their collective imaginations and perhaps coloured by the books, if you can get them. The set may seem a little pricey - what isn't these days? - but it is worth every penny." [6]
In the October 1988 edition of Games International , James Wallis noted that "unfortunately [the player] needs a good knowledge of [Robert Asprin's Thieves' World books] to bring it alive." Further, Mason found "Good attention is paid to the fantasy background, but neither the areas of the town nor the more notable citizens are fully fleshed out." Wallis thought that far too much space was wasted on listing monster and character statistics for "every rolegame imaginable." Wallis concluded, "If you know the books or are prepared to put work into it then Thieves' World is still worth a look, but it is showing its age." [7]
John O'Neill of Black Gate comments: "It was a beautiful product that rose above the gimmick at its core. Sanctuary was the city where anything could happen, where characters created by some of the best fantasy writers of the generation crossed paths and shared adventures. Chaosium's Thieves' World became the setting where gamers of every stripe could likewise gather and share a beer... and perhaps an expedition into the caverns beneath The Maze together." [8]
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include Call of Cthulhu, based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft, RuneQuest Glorantha, Pendragon, based on Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and 7th Sea, "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th century Europe.
RuneQuest is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first published in 1978 by The Chaosium. Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016. RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games. There have been several editions of the game.
Arduin is a fictional universe and fantasy role-playing system created in the mid-1970s by David A. Hargrave. It was the first published "cross-genre" fantasy RPG, with everything from interstellar wars to horror and historical drama, although it was based primarily in the medieval fantasy genre.
Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by science fiction authors Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, C. J. Cherryh, Janet Morris, and Chris Morris.
Stephen Herbert Perrin was an American game designer and technical writer/editor, best known for creating the tabletop role-playing game RuneQuest for Chaosium.
Worlds of Wonder is a multi-genre set of three role-playing games (RPGs) produced by Chaosium in 1982 that all used the Basic Role-Playing set of rules.
Different Worlds was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987.
Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games.
Rudy Kraft III is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Cults of Prax is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest. Originally published by Chaosium in 1979, it was republished in 2016 in PDF format as part of Chaosium's RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter.
Broken Tree Inn is a 1979 fantasy tabletop role-playing game adventure for RuneQuest published by Judges Guild. It is a RuneQuest Gateway product and so not set in Glorantha.
Griffin Mountain is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest, written by Rudy Kraft, Jennell Jaquays, and Greg Stafford, and published by Chaosium in 1981. Griffin Mountain is a wilderness campaign setting for the RuneQuest system, focussed on the land of Balazar and the Elder Wilds. It contains role-playing material to help gamemasters design adventures in the setting. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including Ares, White Dwarf, The Space Gamer, and Dragon.
Griffin Island is a boxed tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest. Originally published by Chaosium in 1981 as Griffin Mountain, a set of adventures set in the world of Glorantha, this edition was published in 1986 by The Avalon Hill Game Company as part of its third edition RuneQuest rules set. It was written by Rudy Kraft, Jennell Jaquays, Greg Stafford, and Sandy Petersen. Griffin Island contained role-playing material to help gamemasters design adventures in the setting. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including Casus Belli, White Dwarf, Dragon, Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer, The Games Machine, and Games International.
Questworld is a boxed supplement published by Chaosium in 1982 for the fantasy tabletop role-playing game RuneQuest.
Pavis: Threshold to Danger is a boxed tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest, originally published by Chaosium in 1983. This boxed set detailed the fictional city of New Pavis for use in role-playing adventures. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including White Dwarf, Dragon, Different Worlds, and Fantasy Gamer. The set was republished in 1999 by Moon Design Publications in a single volume with Big Rubble: The Deadly City as Gloranthan Classics Volume I – Pavis & Big Rubble. The 1983 edition was republished in 2019 in PDF format as part of Chaosium's RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter.
RuneQuest Companion is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest. Originally published by Chaosium in 1983, it consisted of reprints of Wyrm's Footnotes magazine articles as well as new material to expand the game rules and setting. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including Dragon, White Dwarf, Fantasy Gamer, and Different Worlds. It was republished in 2019 in PDF format as part of Chaosium's RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter.
Vikings, Nordic Roleplaying for RuneQuest is a boxed tabletop role playing game supplement, written by Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen, with a cover by Steve Purcell. Published under license by Avalon Hill in 1985 for Chaosium's fantasy role-playing game RuneQuest.
Land of Ninja is a supplement published under license by Avalon Hill in 1987 for Chaosium's fantasy role-playing game RuneQuest.