Wizard Archives - Vintage RPG

The Fantasy Trip

Stu Horvath — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Coming from an era of RPGs in which you could still get away with just naming your game Wizard, this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast we’re looking at Melee, Wizard and the larger Fantasy Trip RPG. We focus on its innovative use of point-buy mechanics, but also get into the game’s larger place in RPG history.

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The Wizard (1984)

Stu Horvath — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 04:01:05 +0000

This week, I’ve got the Dragonriders of the Styx action figure line to share. These dudes first appeared in 1983 and disappeared by 1985, roughly coinciding with the LJN Dungeons & Dragons toy line, which they were kind of knocking off. Dimensions for Children had a history of this; the previous incarnation of the Dragonriders line, molded plastic figures like army men, directly ripped off some of Donald Sutherland’s Monster Manual art work, attracting the ire of TSR. This line wasn’t so blatant — they’re more meant to be cheap consolation prizes, or to confuse clueless grandparents.

I can’t really express how much, or even why, I love these creeps. They’re cool, but accidentally so. They’re designed with a kind of naiveté or innocence I find appealing. I would almost certainly have been upset to get one as a gift instead of a D&D toy as a kid, and they are objectively less cool than them, but they still have a mystique. Honestly, they’re sort of remind me of how charmingly inferior most Judges Guild publications are in comparison to TSR products.

Anyway, this guy is a wizard, and he’s precious, with his little dunce cap. I love him. There is a black and silver colorway as well, but that one looks way too sci-fi disco. I prefer this more circus performer-esque scheme.

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Wizard (1978)

Stu Horvath — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Wizard (1978) is the companion to Melee, released by Metagaming as Microgame 6. In the plastic envelope is a rule book, a spell book, two sheets of tokens and a hex map. Like Melee, its tiny! Also, kind of wild to realize there was a time where you could just name your product “Wizard” and it worked.

Wizard builds on the rules of Melee, adding IQ to the physical attributes. Armor is also introduced, offering damage reduction in exchange for a lower DEX. Spellcasters know a number of spells equal to their IQ (which also determines the potential pool of spells – the higher the IQ, the more access a mage has to more powerful and complex spells). Casting spells costs points of Strength, which also serves as hit points. This introduces an interesting dynamic of risk to the tactics game.

I have to say, I am not super into tactical combat. As much as my brain enjoys it on one level, I also find it kind of tedious. That said, I extremely appreciate the way Wizard approaches spells on a tactical level. As much as I enjoy the often nebulous descriptions of spells in D&D, and how they facilitate creativity and strangeness, I also dig spells that have super short and precise descriptions that remove any wiggle room for lawyering. So much less mental static that way.

Clark Bradley does all the art here. I don’t know that he ever did work elsewhere (though he does seem rather GURPs-y). I love the feel of the cover art, and the interiors are super crisp.

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