Daredevils (role-playing game)
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Daredevils is a Pulp role-playing game that was written by Bob Charrette and Paul Hume and first published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1982. The box set included a staple-bound rulebook, a staple-bound scenario book, a cardstock character sheet, and a three-panel, cardstock gamemaster screen. Charrette and Hume also published Bushido and Aftermath! with FGU. Daredevils was the third game in the series. All three games featured similar game mechanics, with the mechanics in Daredevils being a simpler and more refined version of the mechanics used in Aftermath.[1].
Setting
Daredevils is set in 1930s.[2] It is based on the pulp adventures of characters like Doc Strange and The Shadow.[2] Designed to feature "larger than life" adventures the game system was a streamlined version of what FGU had previously used in Bushido and Aftermath![1] . While the core rules focused on larger than life, but still real-world adventures, supplements expanded the game to other areas popular to the pulp magazines of the 30s such as "lost worlds", exotic locations and even supernatural horror.[3]
Reception
In The Name of the Game feature of White Dwarf #55, Marcus Rowland stated "(t)he complications of this game's character generation and combat systems make it unsuitable for beginners, but experienced players may enjoy it."[2]
Dragon Magazine gave Daredevils a rather lengthy review comparing it to the adventures of Indiana Jones. The reviewer, Ken Ralston, claims that the rules are more complex than the causal gamer might be used to, but the were to right complexity for someone that is a fan of the Pulp Era[4].
Daredevils gets a positive review from Paul Cockburn of Imagine Magazine. He compares the game favorably to the earlier Pulp Adventures game, Gangbusters, and also praised it's realism, something that another 30's era RPG, Call of Cthulhu lacked. Again the game is compared to the adventures of Indian Jones[5]. This feeling was shared by the editors of Different Worlds magazine, but the rules were also criticized as being too cumbersome and complex[6].
In the pages of his own book, Role-Playing Mastery, Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax mentions Daredevils along with Bushido in his short list of notable RPGs.[7]
These points were all encapsulated in a retrospective of Daredevils by RPG designer James Maliszewski[8].
References
- ^ a b Appelcline, Shannon (2011), Designers & Dragons (1st ed.), London: Mongoose Publishing
- ^ a b c Rowland, Marcus (July 1984), "The Name of the Game", White Dwarf (55): 13
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Fantasy Games Unlimited: Daredevils". Fantasy Games Unlimited. 2006. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
- ^ Ralston, Ken (1983). "This game's for daredevils only". Dragon (magazine). VII, 8 (70). Lake Geneva, WI: TSR Hobbies: 73. ISSN 0279-6848.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Cockburn, Paul (1983). "Scenario Reviews". 1 (9). TSR Hobbies (UK) Ltd.: 42.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Review: Daredevils". Different Worlds (27). Chaosium: 43. 1983.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Gygax, Gary (1987), Role-Playing Mastery (1st ed.), New York: Putnam Publishing
- ^ Maliszewski, James (26 May 2010). "Retrospective: Daredevils". Grognardia. Retrieved 26 October 2012.