More Research-- D&D and its Spin-offs

Once Dungeons & Dragons had become relatively popular, it was only natural that other companies would publish their own spin-offs and versions of the game. Today's post is a look at some of these, with most of the information from the History of Roleplaying, Part II article referenced last time.

• Tunnels and Trolls (St. Andre, 1975): Created by Ken St Andre, T&T is very similar to its counterpart D&D, but the most interesting point between the two games are their differences. T&T's rules relied on 6-sided dice rolls for just about everthing, whereas in D&D, there are all different shapes of dice, from 4 sides up to 20-sided. T&T's combat and spell tables were well presented and clear for players to understand. The final difference between the two games is that Tunnels and Trolls was built to be fun. It was supposed to be silly and the writing was full of jokes. Enemies were giant squirrels instead of fierce dragons or other mythical creatures.

• Chivalry and Sorcery (Fantasy Games Unlimited, 1976): While T&T was all fun and games, Chivalry and Sorcery got down to business about being historically accurate, much more so than D&D. The rules and style of the game intend to recreate late 12th century France, not as just a setting, but as a society. Players must find their character a place in a complete feudal system including nobles, serfs, and the widespread power of the Catholic church. C&S did away with much of what D&D had established as RPG canon. Instead of dungeon battles, C&S used overland quests, and the enemies were Vikings and Picts instead of mythical creatures. Players could use magic, but their characters needed to study to learn more. C&S tried to do too much to be realistic. Besides having complex rules and tables, Cleric characters had to preach sermons, knights had to earn money from quests to buy swords and armor, and magic users had to collect ingredients, study spells and perform rituals! All of this took time away from adventures (and fun!).
• Empire of the Petal Throne (M.A.R. Barker, 1975): Barker created a fantasy world called Tekumel, including a complete language for its main country, but, lacking talent in writing, had nothing to do with either. Twenty years after Barker abandoned Tekumel, he discovered D&D, using the world of Tekumel as his game setting. Petal Throne's detail and descriptions were laid out precisely for players since Barker knew exactly what the world looked like. The world of Tekumel was not based on a Westernized, medieval world, but rather Barker's own experiences in India and Asia. One of the biggest problems with Petal Throne was that it wsa so specific. It was said that only Barker himself could successfully run a Petal Throne campaign. Players had to know Tekumel before they could role play well in the strange setting, so the game often confused players.

Each of these games did help the RPG industry, borrowing ideas from one another to enrich players' experiences, although none stayed as popular as D&D.