Post by Finarvyn on Mar 31, 2009 10:14:30 GMT -6
As best as I can determine, there were a total of three articles in Dragon magazine relating to the Gangbusters RPG.
1. "Gangbusters: The 1920's Come Alive In TSR's New RPG" designer’s notes article by Mark Acres. (Dragon 62)
This was an interesting article because of several factors. First, it gives a quick overview of the system for a person not familiar with the game. Second, it gave some design philosophy explaining why the game turned out the way it did. Third, it gave a couple brief stories from the TSR playtest of the game.
2. “Expanding the Genre of RPGs; Gangbusters game recreates the roaring 20’s” by Ken Rolston. (Dragon 76)
What I liked most about this article is that the reviewer of the game isn’t afraid to say what he likes and dislikes about the game. He cites as a dislike the fact that Gangbusters doesn’t fit the “party” model of adventures and that it would appear to be hard to learn to run a game in this style. Very favorable comments overall, however.
3. “Prices for the Roaring 20’s” by Glenn Rahman. (Dragon 95)
A two-page article which has very little actual text, but is mostly a list of items and their costs in 1920. The author says that this list is designed to act as a supplement to the 1920’s sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu but should work fine for other games of the period. I have not gone back to compare this list to the one in CoC to see if this list is complete or just an expansion to the other one.
1. "Gangbusters: The 1920's Come Alive In TSR's New RPG" designer’s notes article by Mark Acres. (Dragon 62)
This was an interesting article because of several factors. First, it gives a quick overview of the system for a person not familiar with the game. Second, it gave some design philosophy explaining why the game turned out the way it did. Third, it gave a couple brief stories from the TSR playtest of the game.
2. “Expanding the Genre of RPGs; Gangbusters game recreates the roaring 20’s” by Ken Rolston. (Dragon 76)
What I liked most about this article is that the reviewer of the game isn’t afraid to say what he likes and dislikes about the game. He cites as a dislike the fact that Gangbusters doesn’t fit the “party” model of adventures and that it would appear to be hard to learn to run a game in this style. Very favorable comments overall, however.
3. “Prices for the Roaring 20’s” by Glenn Rahman. (Dragon 95)
A two-page article which has very little actual text, but is mostly a list of items and their costs in 1920. The author says that this list is designed to act as a supplement to the 1920’s sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu but should work fine for other games of the period. I have not gone back to compare this list to the one in CoC to see if this list is complete or just an expansion to the other one.
