News — TSR

I’m not completely sure what I can say about TSR’s 1985 release of Battle System.  For one thing, I don’t own it, although it has been in my possession since 1988.  It officially belongs to my longtime gaming compatriot ‘Murphy’ who often says that it is on permanent loan, like an exhibit at the Smithsonian.  Whatever the case, I have dragged this boxed set with me from north to south, then east, and finally west.  In all that time I’ve never played it, as there has never seemed to be a reason.  Inherently, I’m not a miniatures player, and as...

Al-Qadim… Arabian Adventures.  The name alone makes any gamer have to take notice and I have to admit that I’m even more moved by the tag line from the back cover which reads: Magic carpets, ghoulish vixens, genies rising from the sand in a whirlwind of smoke and fire – such wonders, spun into tales by fabled Scheherazade, enchanted a king for a thousand and one nights. When looking over this magnificent softcover campaign setting from 1992, two things keep coming to my mind.  The first is that Howard Andrew Jones, author of the middle-eastern setting fantasy novels Bones of...

There is no question that I hold a special place in my heart for Star Frontiers, so it is with great pleasure that I can talk about a randomly chosen module from that old TSR classic; SF4 Mission to Alcazzar. The first thing that strikes you about SF4 is the inspired Larry Elmore cover.   Now certainly in 1984, what wasn’t inspired about Larry’s work?  He was truly in the beginning of his prime and this piece is no exception.  I well remember seeing it for the first time and dreaming, literally dreaming, about having my characters own/posses/drive one of the...