Did you know there was a Ringworld RPG? Based on Larry Niven’s first two novels in the series and published by Chaosium in 1984, this is an RPG with crazy high production value that went absolutely nowhere. Like Questworld, the cover art says it all – this cover painting was by Ralph frickin’ McQuarrie. Talk about big guns.

Another modified Basic Roleplaying with strong RuneQuest elements, Ringworld is (I think?) the lone science fiction game Chaosium has produced. The materials within are packed to brimming, with the text and illustration smaller than usual to cram everything in. I have only read the first Ringworld novel, but the RPG seems like an exhaustive compilation of the source material. Of particular note is Lisa A. Free’s illustrations. She’s amazing, even dealing with Niven’s kind of creepy Ringworld inhabitants.

Why did the RPG fail? Well, at its most basic, the ringworld itself is a lot to wrap your mind around, being a vast alien construct some 186 million miles in diameter floating around a star. It is inhabited by all sorts of weird creatures and hominids. Characters are likely shipwrecked on the structure and faced with alien defense mechanisms and bizarre cultures. Nowadays, it is easy to see a sort of survival style game playing out in Ringworld, but I am not sure that framework was obvious back in 1984.

It was a moot point, though. Niven got a development deal worth much more than what Chaosium had paid shortly after the RPG was published, and it included rights for games, and that killed the line.