The Fantasy Trip

The Fantasy Trip was Steve Jackson's first Role-Playing Game. Starting with Melee in 1977, later expanding with Wizard (which added magical combat), the rules started out as a simple yet tactical set of combat rules. When In the Labyrinth came out, the rules expanded to a full-on RPG — one of the earliest RPGs, along with Dungeons & Dragons and Tunnels & Trolls, in 1980. For a while, The Fantasy Trip was the second-best selling RPG of all time.

Unfortunately, Microgaming went out of business only a few years later. Steve Jackson tried to buy the rights to the game, but instead went on to his new company, Steve Jackson Games, and wrote a set of rules that was, more or less, The Fantasy Trip Advanced.

Despite being out of print for decades, The Fantasy Trip still has a cult following. Its rules are viewed by its fans as a more elegant version of GURPS, as the rules were very simple and focused on fantasy. There have been conversions to other settings on the Internet.


 * Blob Monster: Slimes were a favorite enemy.
 * The Movie: Not a movie, but the almost unknown Tomb of Terror video game from 1985 used the base mechanics.
 * Precursors: The Mnoren.
 * Squishy Wizard: Partially averted. Wizards are penalized for wearing metal armor or carrying metal weapons (specifically, iron or steel), so can't defend themselves very well. However, casting spells costs fatigue, which is dependent on strength, so wizards are often relatively strong.
 * Tabletop RPG
 * Trope Maker: The game, particularly Melee, is widely considered to be the first RPG also meant to be realistic, now a common type of RPG.