TFT History

Background to TFT TFT (The Fantasy Trip) was a fantasy role playing game that was published from 1977 till 1982 or 1983. t was popular in the !nited "tates and elsewhere during the early to mid 198#s. $s a fantasy role playing game% players &reated &hara&ters and pretended to ha'e ad'entures in a fantasy world of medie'al &ombat and magi&. t was li(e playing )ord of the *ings or +onan the ,arbarian. ,e&ause this before &omputer games and the internet% players used paper % pen&il% di&e rolls and lots of imagination. Beginnings of TFT TFT was published by -etagaming. -etagaming was a &ompany founded by -r. .oward Thompson in $ustin% Te/as% in or about 1970. -etagaming mostly published s&ien&e fi&tion games and ta&ti&al war games. This was during a time before &omputer games had been in'ented. 1ar games (ta&ti&al and strategi&) were popular% but they were somewhat e/pensi'e and their rules were &umbersome. -r. Thompson2s inno'ation was the 3mi&rogame.4 These were games that were ine/pensi'e enough for most people (espe&ially most (ids) to afford. -i&rogames &onsisted of a small boo(let of rules% a sheet of small &ardboard game pie&es (3&ounters4)% a small fold5up map on hea'y paper (whi&h ser'ed as the game board)% and a small si/5sided die. $ll of this fit into a &lear plasti& baggy (li(e a sandwi&h baggy). They were ine/pensi'e (about 63 ea&h)% and they were small and fle/ible enough to fit into a (id2s ba&(5po&(et. The &on&ept was a su&&ess. ,y 1977% one of -etagaming2s young designers% -r. "te'e 7a&(son% had written twosu&&essful 3mi&rogames4 about tan( battles% 8gre and 9:;. .e then de&ided to turn his hand to writing a 3mi&rogame4 for medie'al &ombat. $t that time% a new (ind of game was be&oming popular< the fantasy role playing game (frpg). The most popular of these was =ungeons and =ragons. .owe'er% the rules for &ombat for frpg2s were poorly designed at the time. ($gain% this was before &omputer games had been in'ented.) "o% -r. 7a&(son de&ided to &orre&t that problem. .e wrote a set of rules to represent medie'al &ombat that &ould be used by any frpg. The result was an elegantly simple game that balan&ed playability and realism. t was &alled -elee. -etagaming published it as a 3mi&rogame4 in mid51977% and it was su&&essful. ,y the end of 1977% -r. 7a&(son wrote a similar set of rules for magi&al &ombat% &alled 1i>ard? and it sold well too. The Creation of TFT t @ui&(ly be&ame &lear to the people at -etagaming that -elee and 1i>ard &ould also be

the basis for a new fantasy role playing game. This be&ame TFT. 8riginally% "te'e 7a&(son designed TFT to be published as a single bo/ed game. t would ha'e been a single 'olume of rules% an ad'enture s&enario% &olor maps% di&e% and plenty of playing pie&es. t would ha'e &ost about 62#. .owe'er% .oward Thompson (the owner of -etagaming) de&ided this would be too e/pensi'e for the mar(et. nstead% he de&ided to publish TFT in the form of three boo(lets of rules (whi&h &ost about 60 ea&h)% and he published the ad'enture supplement as a separate boo(let (for about 63). t was hoped that the game would be more affordable and more fle/ible in this way. n reality% a player still needed all three boo(lets of rules to play TFT. Ae'ertheless% it was &heaper and somewhat more fle/ible. The rules &ost a total of 610? that was &heaper than 62# for a bo/ed game. The ad'enture s&enario was a'ailable for 63 as an option. The TFT rules boo(lets and the ad'enture s&enario were published in -ar&h of 198#. The three rules boo(lets were $d'an&ed -elee (a set of ad'an&ed &ombat rules)% $d'an&ed 1i>ard (a set of ad'an&ed magi&al rules)% and n the )abyrinth (rules for &reating &hara&ters and running an ad'enture in a fantasy game setting). The ad'enture s&enario was Tollen(ar2s )air (a &lassi& e/ample of an ad'enture where &hara&ters e/plore and &on@uer an underground &omple/). $ltogether% TFT was su&&essful. $t one point TFT was se&ond only to =ungeons and =ragons as the most popular fantasy role playing game. $lthough the game was not perfe&t (most notably% in its la&( of an inde/)% TFT was ne'ertheless 'ery well respe&ted for its simpli&ity and its e/&ellent balan&e of realism and playability. TFT Microquests -etagaming soon published se'eral 3mi&ro@uests4 for TFT. The 3mi&ro@uests4 were the appli&ation to TFT of .oward Thompson2s 3mi&rogame4 &on&ept< small% ine/pensi'e games that anyone &ould afford. )i(e the 3mi&rogames4% the mi&ro@uests &onsisted of a small boo(let plus a small si/5sided die and a &ardboard sheet of &ounters (as game pie&es)% all tu&(ed inside a &lear plasti& sandwi&h baggy or a small &ardboard bo/. They &ost about 63 ea&h. :a&h mi&ro@uest was a short ad'enture that was played a&&ording to the TFT rules. The rules boo(lets &onsisted of numbered paragraphs of instru&tions to a&hie'e some goal or sol'e some mystery% while o'er&oming foes% traps and obsta&les. n short% they were short stories in whi&h people &ould play &hara&ters and &ombat a&&ording to the TFT rules. They &ould be played by a small group of gamers. They &ould also be played solo (be&ause the numbered paragraphs were arranged randomly). They were 'ery popular. n effe&t% they were the prede&essors for many of today2s &omputer games. There were se'eral series of mi&ro@uests.

The Thorsz Three mi&ro@uests had the same setting< =eath Test% =eath Test 2% and 8rb Buest. n this series% a mer&enary &aptain (=halla( m2Thors> +arn) was hiring new mer&enary re&ruits. To Coin his &ompany% potential re&ruits had to pass a lethal set of tests of &ombat s(ills and martial honor. The first two games represented those tests? the third game represented the group2s first assignment in the Thors>2 ser'i&e. $ll three of these games were well5designed e/amples of an ad'enture set in a dungeon or &astle and &onsisting of o'er&oming foes and traps. Treasure .unts Two other mi&ro@uests shared a different setting. Treasure of the "il'er =ragon and Treasure of the !ni&orn 9old were outdoors ad'entures. nstead of going through dungeons or &astles% &hara&ters Courneyed on an o'erland @uest to find a rumored treasure< first of a sil'er dragon and then of a golden uni&orn. =uring the ad'entures% &hara&ters had to o'er&ome hostile imperial troops% wandering brigands% wild animals and 'arious other &reatures. The treasure% when it was found% was both money and wisdom. These games are uni@ue be&ause they were also promotional efforts by -etagaming. :a&h fi&tional treasure hunt was tied to a genuine one. For ea&h game% -etagaming a&tually buried treasure and hid the instru&tions to find the treasure in &lues that were s&attered throughout the game. The buried treasure for the first game was a sil'er statue of a dragon? the buried treasure for the se&ond game was a golden statue of a uni&orn. f a person found the treasure% he or she would also re&ei'e a 61#%### (!") &he&( from -etagaming. .en&e% people were en&ouraged to buy the games in order to learn the &lues to find the buried treasure and &laim the 61#%### pri>e. The treasure to the first game% Treasure of the "il'er =ragon% was @ui&(ly dis&o'ered Cust si/ wee(s after the game2s release. The treasure to the se&ond game% !ni&orn 9old% was ne'er offi&ially found. -etagaming went out of business soon after !ni&orn 9old was published. The buried treasure was probably dis&o'ered and remo'ed years ago. "till% the mystery of its lo&ation endures. Two people independently wor(ed out the same solution to this mystery. !nfortunately% Treasure of the "il'er =ragon and Treasure of the !ni&orn 9old are now mostly remembered as &le'er mar(eting efforts. .owe'er% they were also good ad'entures with a genuinely thoughtful perspe&ti'e. Three Different Adventures Three other mi&ro@uests were independent of ea&h other. 9rail Buest was an ad'enture set in the days of Ding $rthur. +hara&ters were Dnights of

the *ound Table who had to go on an o'erland ad'enture in sear&h of the .oly 9rail. =uring the &ourse of the ad'enture% the true meaning of the grail (selfless ser'i&e for the good of others) is dis&o'ered along with the &up itself. 9rail Buest was perhaps the best designed of all the mi&ro@uests. "e&urity "tation was set in a &ombination of high te&hnology and medie'al fantasy. +hara&ters &ame from &ommunities whi&h were at a medie'al le'el of de'elopment and whi&h were suffering from a shortage of metals. The &hara&ters were from one of these 'illages% sear&hing for metals to bring home to their people. $fter entering a &a'e% howe'er% they found themsel'es transported to an underground &omple/ that turned out to be a fall5out shelter in a post5nu&lear war era. 8n&e there% the &hara&ters had to battle foes and obsta&les in order to find metal and return home. -aster of the $mulets &onsisted of a &hara&ter being teleported to an isolated and magi&al 'alley. n order to es&ape and return home% the &hara&ter had to o'er&ome foes and &olle&t se'eral magi&al amulets. Other cenarios There were two other ad'enture s&enarios for TFT. .owe'er% they were not published by -etagaming. They were The 1arrior )ords of =aro( and The Forest )ords of =ihad. nstead of 3mi&ro@uests%4 these were full5si>ed boo(lets whi&h des&ribed an entire &ountry in whi&h ad'entures &ould ta(e pla&e. "ome were impressed with the le'el of detail in these s&enarios. 8thers felt that they were not in the same spirit as the original TFT games. -oreo'er% -etagaming attempted to broaden the de'elopment of TFT to in&lude ta&ti&al rules for small armies through a game &alled The )ords of !nderearth. Further de'elopments were intended for TFT both as a role playing game and as a ta&ti&al game. .owe'er% -etagaming went out of business in either 1982 or 1983. !ndings ,y -ay of 198#% "te'e 7a&(son (the designer of TFT) and .oward Thompson (the publisher of TFT% through -etagaming) had agreed to part &ompany. -r. 7a&(son went on to found his own su&&essful games &ompany% "te'e 7a&(son 9ames. .e has published many other games sin&e then% in&luding one &alled 9!*E"% whi&h is regarded by many to be a (ind of se&ond generation of TFT. t is mu&h more detailed and realisti& than TFT% but some would say it is less easy to play than TFT. -etagaming &ontinued to publish TFT till 1982 or 1983% when -etagaming went out of business. .oward Thompson was the owner of -etagaming and% presumably% of the &opyrights to TFT. .owe'er% -r. Thompson left the gaming industry after -etagaming &losed? and he has not been heard from sin&e then. TFT has ne'er been republished sin&e -etagaming went out of business% and no one has enfor&ed the &opyrights to TFT sin&e

then either. ndeed% the &urrent ownership of those &opyrights has be&ome a matter of spe&ulation. !"i#ogue ,ut% TFT remains. t is &onsidered to be a &lassi& among game designers and afi&ionados of fantasy role playing games be&ause of TFT2s elegant simpli&ity and its balan&e of realism and fun. TFT also has the warm regard of former players who enCoyed the game in their youth. -any of them ha'e &hildren of their own% and some of them are tea&hing their (ids to play TFT. .en&e% maybe a new generation will dis&o'er TFT as a springboard for enCoyment% friendship and the imagination. !"i#ogue$ %art && There are se'eral fan based re'ised 'ersions of TFT on the net% as of 2##F. There are new solos for TFT being de'eloped and released% along with a wor(5ali(e ruleset &alled )egends of the $n&ient 1orld.