"FGU's Space Opera RPG - " Topic

A wonderfully retro game with some cool source material. Pop over and take a look.

link

Cheers
Brian

I bet Fantasy Games Unlimited would appreciate it if you mentioned that they still sell most of the range (mostly in pdf) form right off their site rather than pointing people at Ebay and the like:

link

They get more money with direct sales than through RPG.Now. Sadly, no Space Marine available – probably due to GW's legal department, the scumbags.

Not like FGU is a dead company – they've even been releasing new Villains & Vigilantes stuff over the last few years.

Well you learn something new every day. I had no idea they were still around. They should advertise more :)
I added a link.

Yes, they should – but since they don't, we fans have to pick up the ball. :)

I don't see why they can't produce some official FGU Space Marines in miniature, since I believe they coined the term before GW did.

Would love to see them do that by the way, but I guess there are probably some decent proxies to use, in the interim.

A great set of rules.

Will have to dig mine out of the archives, once I can located them.

I have most of their games – also love Daredevils and Privateers and Gentlemen. Merc was pretty cool as well. Actually – I like all of them.

Don't try running a space combat with Space Opera rules without getting a headache though. All those batteries of Nova guns and StarTorps. I used to fudge that side of it with hand-waving rather than trying to keep track of potential damage done and what got inflicted.

WOW!! Totally forgotten about that game, wow, and their still around as well GREAT! I lost alot of stuff back when my EX walked when I was sent overseas, and now slowly recovering what was lost back then, this is great and saved the link, WOW Thanks for the great fine.

I am sure no one will buy Space Opera to actually play it – it is a nostalgia buy for most people I think:)

Privateers and Gentlemen and Heart of Oak are still dang good systems!

@ Brian Smaller

Bet again, going to get a copy and play the tar out of it!

V&V is my favorite supers rpg.. better than Heros Unlimited, Marvel, DC heros, Champions

to be fair I have not played Mutants & Masterminds..

@War Monkey – There is always one masochist. Let me know how it goes:)

@Brian Smaller

Interestingly I also bought a copy of Space Opera and some of the supplements a little while ago. As you suggest it was primarily for the nostalgia factor… We used to play lots of SO at Strathclyde Uni in the 80s… But my son and I have been dabbling with RPGs and I was curious (and weak willed when it comes to EBay!)

We really have played it (…no…honestly, we have!!) but it can be a little…erm…"unwieldy" in places. Like you I used to fudge a lot of the complex factors and end up resolving things by saying "roll a dice" and winging it from there. I still think it's a good system… a bit clunky aneeds some fairly loose interpretation at times to avoid getting bogged down in charts and maths… but fun!

Actually a lot of the FGU games were played at Uni in the 80s… Daredevils, V&V, Bushido…. hmmm…mustn't buy anymore!!!

Some thoughts on SO the other games we've dabbled with (amongst lots of other wargamey things) here….. link

V&V is my favorite supers rpg.. better than Heros Unlimited, Marvel, DC heros, Champions

to be fair I have not played Mutants & Masterminds..

I've played all of those, and honestly, M&M is the only one I actually like better than V&V. One of FGU's best efforts IMO.

Savage Worlds works quite well for supers, too – it's probably #2 ahead of V&V for me, but that varies with my mood.

I bought the SO box set when I was 15 or 16 because I wanted a sci fi RPG and was too cheap to invest in multi-book Traveller at the time. I used it for a Star Wars setting, but don't think I did the ships, just walkers and characters. It was pretty math heavy, and the campaign didn't last long.

A few years later, as a teenager with a job, I bought Traveller and didn't look back (other than getting the WEG Star Wars RPG later). I tried to sell SO at a few garage sales but never had any interest, so it's still in my collection, and I've picked up the Seldons and Space Atlases since, as they can be used for anything.

BTW, FGU also sells their stuff via RPGNow and Wargame Vault, and usually participate in the big sales those sites have (GM-Day, Christmas-in-July etc.).

Flashing Blades was a cool game. Swash the buckle.
Hmmm…I could probably Savage Worlds the background for Space Opera. Will have to think about this.

Our group had a great time playing Space Opera in the 80s, and much preferred it to Traveller. The Campaign faded away as we all moved away to what seemed to be the 4 corners of the kingdom. Ah halcyonic days

BTW, FGU also sells their stuff via RPGNow and Wargame Vault, and usually participate in the big sales those sites have (GM-Day, Christmas-in-July etc.).

The OP actually mentioned the RPGNow listings in his blog post, but FGU does make a bit more profit with direct sales.

Hmmm…I could probably Savage Worlds the background for Space Opera. Will have to think about this.

I haven't found a setting that Savage Worlds can't handle, although some are more work than others.

While I probably haven't cracked open the rules in over a decade, I still like flipping through the starship books from time to time.
--
TAZ

Quick FYI,

Villains & Vigilantes is now back in the hands of its original creators, Jeff Dee and Bill Willingham after a rather lengthy legal battle with the owner of FGU. They have released it from their new company Monkey House Games. They also have a successor game for it called Living Legends.

I once spent days creating a character and ploughing through the rather unwieldy rules and then never played a game. IIRC, the first two pages of the actual rules were devoted to a situation where one character throws a weapon to another. It was meant to show how the numbers you were generating could be used, but it did leave me with the distinct impression it was dice heavy.

Traveller, on the other hand was less 'realistic', but you could get into the game quicker and was therefore more popular. I would have liked my SO character, Hank Eagleburger III with his semi-auto elephant gun, to have gone on at least one adventure though.

Wow. Small world.

Phil McGregor was the president of a games club I used to be in (liability insurance hikes post 9/11 killed a few clubs here) and is still gaming, as far as I know.