This week's entry is another PinkFae archive from the series I wrote about Gen Con 2016. This article is a look at MetaArcade, an online platform allowing solo gaming using the
Tunnels & Trolls system. This article was originally published on 23 September, 2016.
One of the more interesting things that I got to see at Gen Con was the MetaArcade booth. They're working on an interesting new concept: digital roleplaying. That sounds like computer or console-based RPGs, like the
Final Fantasy series or
Secret of Mana. But it's not. Here, let me explain. In order to explain, we'll need to go back in time to 1975, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tunnels and Trolls
A librarian by the name of Ken St Andre read a friend's copy of
Dungeons and Dragons, and loved the idea of fantasy roleplaying. However, he thought that
D&D's rules were too complex, and the need for multiple polyhedral dice would intimidate new players. So he wrote his own game in the same genre, calling it
Tunnels and Trolls. Although it was very similar to
D&D in feel and style, the rules were more straightforward, and it only required six-sided dice. St Andre self-published the first edition, and in July of that year, Flying Buffalo mass produced the first commercial edition.
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