I have now hammered on the text from all eight of the recovered games, and with the exception of some remaining ENTHUSIASTIC CAPITAL LETTERS, it's corrected, de-OCR'd, and up to current standards of grammar and typography.
Phil, Ross, and I continue to discuss release formats. Current thinking – and this may change, but I know you are curious – is a Kickstarter comprising Melee, Wizard, Everything-Else, and a PDF of the whole shooting match. We have toyed with the idea of doing the two Death Tests in Ace Double format – a single book with two fronts – since nobody will be using both adventures at the same time. It would save a bit of money and might be kind of cool.
The Fantasy Trip was Steve Jackson's first RPG. Its first part, Melee, was published in 1977. TFT was published by Metagaming, which went out of business about 1982, and TFT has been unsupported since then, and only available on the secondary market.
In late 2017, Steve regained the rights to the eight TFT releases that he had written himself: Melee, Wizard, Death Test, Death Test 2, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In The Labyrinth, and Tollenkar's Lair.
Most if not all of this material will be republished. The format is totally up in the air right now . . .
To see what's new with TFT plans, and to join the discussion of what should be updated and what should be untouched, visit the forum thread.
The Fantasy Trip FAQ
Can you give us details on the TFT release schedule or the format of the new releases? No, because I don't know myself. We'll probably do at least one Kickstarter – for Melee – in 2018. With miniatures! Lots of miniatures!
What changes will you make in the new TFT releases? I want a fully modern presentation, but most of the rules are pretty good as they are. I might revisit the cost of spells, and I might make some changes in the character advancement rules. But I might just leave things alone.
How did you get these rights back? Great patience . . . 17 US Code §203 requires a long wait.
What does this mean for GURPS? Probably nothing; I have no intention of combining the systems. TFT is a much simpler system than GURPS, optimized for single sessions and dungeon crawls. They can co-exist on the store shelves and in your own collection.
What about the TFT releases that you didn't write? What about other Metagaming releases? I did not get any of those rights, or any other Metagaming rights, and I can't tell you anything about their status.
I detect a trend, with Ogre, Car Wars, Triplanetary, and now TFT. Do you have any other classic titles waiting for a modern reissue? It does seem that we're going full retro here, doesn't it? The answer to your question is "Maybe!"
Will you re-use the art from the original publications? Unfortunately, no. I don't know what its original contract status was with Metagaming. I never had any rights in the art, so I could not re-acquire them. When the game is republished, we will need new art, even though so much of the original art was excellent. Insert sad face here . . .
Interview
Shannon Appelcline interviews Steve Jackson about TFTon rpg.net.
Fan-Created The Fantasy Trip Websites
These are sites that seem to me (SJ) to have new things to offer the TFT fan, and that either never posted links to the copyrighted rules or took them down after the announcement was made. I owe them all thanks for helping to keep the flame alive all these years. Give them a look!
