Mythus
erster Teil des multi-genre Dangerous Journeys. 1986
Roleplaying at its finest-simple or with elective complexities which place this game far beyond any other.
Straightforward mechanics¸ with emphasis on percentile dice and the six-sided die¸ yet allowing a battery of optional modifiers to heighten realism to any degree desired.
More than 50 starting vocational backgrounds for Heroic Persona creation¸ plus as many personalized ones as the gamemaster wishes to add.
A Knowledge/Skill system using percentile probabilities¸ with hundreds of areas and sub-areas to learn¸ and specializations too. With Joss¸ Socio-Economic Class considerations. Special Connections¸ Quirks¸ background information¸ and more included¸ never have RPG personas had the character and personality of the Heroic Personas herein or has roleplaying been so detailed and enabled.
More armor and weapons included than would be found in the arsenal of a medieval potentate! Use them with a short and easy combat resolution method¸ or with expansions that take into account virtually every salient feature of armed¸ magickal¸ and mental or spiritual battle¸ too.
Persona advancement based on logical and realistic standards¸ not relying on loot garnered and critters slain.
No totally fanciful monetary system with ridiculous standards and confusing pricing. Income and costs are as easy as knowing what a BUC is.
All this and still more... Need more details? Buy this book. In it¸ youll find everything you need to begin playing. Along with it¸ pick up the Mythus Magick volume (Book II of these rules¸ with over 1000 magickal Castings¸ plus Powers¸ personalized Castings¸ and more!) and the Epic of Ærth companion volume (which describes the world of Ærth in detail). Find a comfortable place¸ and begin reading immediately. This work is a quantum jump in roleplaying games¸ something which enthusiasts have awaited for years!
Heres a could-have-been... In the early 90s Gary Gygax (a creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons) teamed up with GDW to create an all-new RPG. The game was originally called Dangerous Dimensions (DD). Though this was changed early on¸ the damage was done. Rival company TSR claimed that the renamed Dangerous Journeys game infringed their D&D trademark¸ though the rules systems & backgrounds of the games have little in common. TSR sued. The issue was resolved out-of-court¸ with game production ceasing¸ and TSR acquiring the game.
The lawsuit was both costly and distracting for GDW¸ at a time when the RPG industry was beginning a contraction. GDW would stumble on for a few more years before ceasing operations in 1995. (Interestingly¸ TSR -- $30 million in debt -- was sold to Wizards of the Coast in 1997¸ a victim of poor management and market forces.)
Quality of production appears to be high¸ and the basic game is relatively simple. Much of the book is taken up with elective add-ons. Its a shame Mythus wasnt allowed to continue.