In December 2022 we presented The Fantasy Trip Bundle featuring The Fantasy Trip, the first RPG designed by Steve Jackson, in its 2018 Legacy Edition from Steve Jackson Games.
The early game company Metagaming published TFT in installments, first as the combat board game Melee (1977) and the magic game Wizard (1978), followed by In the Labyrinth (1980) and various adventures, including the solos Death Test and Death Test 2 and the dungeon-crawl Tollenkar’s Lair. These early releases made The Fantasy Trip extremely popular, but when Metagaming went out of business around 1982, support ceased. TFT was off the market for more than 35 years. Through his own company Steve published Car Wars, Ogre, Illuminati, Munchkin, and the spiritual successor to TFT, GURPS.
In 2017 Steve regained rights to The Fantasy Trip and set about creating a new edition. The July 2018 Kickstarter campaign raised more than US$300K. The 442-page Legacy Edition, released later that year, weighed in at more than eight pounds and contained two mini-games, three adventures, a 176-page roleplaying rulebook, color poster maps, and more. With it, TFT found a new audience. Several more Kickstarters followed, including the upcoming Rose Labyrinth Roleplaying Game Adventure Set with new TFT gameboards, counters, lore, and scenarios.
TFT is more “cinematic” than “simulationist.” The combat system emphasizes speed and ease of play. Melee and Wizard work well as drop-in combat modules for campaigns using other systems. TFT‘s setting, the mega-world of Cidri, is a huge place that can contain every campaign world anyone wants to create. Magical Gates connect many areas, so travel to distant places is easy if you know the way. The background is unabashedly swords-and-sorcery. Elves are noble, dragons are greedy, and gunpowder weapons are likely to blow up in your face.
This all-new Fantasy Trip Bundle presented a Cidri-sized lineup for an unbeatable bargain price. There were four titles in our Core Collection (retail value $47) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks. The star attraction was the complete The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition that includes the combat board games Melee and Wizard, the solo adventures Death Test and Death Test 2, In the Labyrinth, the dungeon crawl Tollenkar’s Lair, the TFT GM Screen, two sets of megahexes, and lots more cool stuff. We also added the solo adventure Red Crypt and two play aids: the Labyrinth Planner and Deluxe Character Journal.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got our entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $57, including The Fantasy Trip Companion, TFT Adventures Volume 1, The Book of Unlife, and the first issue of the Fantasy Trip magazine, Hexagram.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this Fantasy Trip offer’s designated charity, the Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program. Each year, the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, amplifies the voices of up-and-coming game designers by featuring them during an expenses-paid visit to Gen Con. The global Emerging Designer Program focuses on creators from marginalized communities.
