The secret source of the return of Star Wars
May 18th 2008 02:48
In 1987 star wars was dead. Return of the Jedi had come out and had a huge impact on the cultural environment. We had all reaped the whirlwind of marketing and merchandising.
To the point that in 1984 - 85 there was a star wars stage show with a Break dancing Ewok. But then by 1986 it had started to wind down and in 1987 Star Wars was off the radar.
You could buy Star Wars figures in Flea Markets for 50c each ( The Same figures that now cost you $8 - 10 on ebay now.) It was what has been termed the dark time for Star Wars fans.
It was an easy way to get ridiculed to say you were a Star Wars fan.
This was the moment that Star Wars the roleplaying game was released by a small gaming company called West End Games. It contained a logo on the back 1977 - 1987 (The first ten Years).
This game contained everything that you needed to play in the universe of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
This was the first thing I ever put on lay-bye.
It took me a few weeks, but finally I took home the star wars RPG.
It was light on gaming information for the big characters and vehicles from the movies but contained a dynamic and flexible rules set to run a heroic campaign. But you and your friends (the children of the Star Wars films were now around there teens) could enter the worlds of the game and jump aboard the YT - 1300 space transport and evade imperial blockades.
This game was my primary focus I had left Dungeons and Dragons for the universe of George Lucas. I took my friends through adventures in a galaxy far far away. They outwitted imperial troops and tried to find whatever mcguffen I wanted to throw at them this week.
West End Games started to release more and more supplements for the game until in 1991 Heir to the Empire a novel by Timothy Zahn was released.
The role playing game primed an audience with a hunger for new Star Wars material the novel pulled the trigger.
The game was riding a wave of popularity and in 1992 The second edition was released.
And this book was never far from my side I know the rules so well of that book because I ran it so often that I said that I could run it in my sleep.
The game catapulted from the new series and the novel reaching the New York Times best sellers list started to build a momentum, bit by bit.
Star Wars was selling again.
People started to take notice. All three books by Timothy Zahn were best sellers. They spawned a literary empire that still dominates to this day.
The role playing game continued to build in strength and popularity till in 1997 it was the strongest Science Fiction Role playing game on the market.
That all changed when Hasbro brought the rights to the Star Wars Role Playing game just before the release of Episode 1.
What many people don't know is that in those initial source books many of the incidental characters were christened for the first time in the early source books. A practice continued with the Star Wars Card Game (More on this later).
That momentum built like a Tsunami till 1999 with the release of The Phantom Menace. (If you want to see the height of Star Wars Fandom get a copy of The Phantom Menace DVD and watch the documentary "The Beginning" watch the end of that film to see the hype that built till the day that The Phantom Menace was unleashed on us all. I remember having a breathless wait till The Phantom Menace was released in Australia as it didn't premier on the same day as the US.
That was the highest that Star Wars Fandom got in my opinion it was for Star Wars fans our moon landing.
George Lucas has said in an interview that what prompted him to start making the prequels was the response to releasing the cleaned up video copies (Before the Special Editions) and I don't think that he would have entertained the idea if there had not been sales figures for a book and a role playing game.
So I take out that old book from 1987 from time to time and thumb through familiar pages and say a word of thanks for the people at West End Games who beleived that there was life in Star Wars even after it had been pronounced Dead.
So when the Clone Wars opens in August this weekend and does crazy numbers for what is essentially a pilot of an animated TV show, I will grab out my Star Wars Role Playing game and rattle my dice and smile cos that book is where all this came from.
To the point that in 1984 - 85 there was a star wars stage show with a Break dancing Ewok. But then by 1986 it had started to wind down and in 1987 Star Wars was off the radar.
You could buy Star Wars figures in Flea Markets for 50c each ( The Same figures that now cost you $8 - 10 on ebay now.) It was what has been termed the dark time for Star Wars fans.
It was an easy way to get ridiculed to say you were a Star Wars fan.
This was the moment that Star Wars the roleplaying game was released by a small gaming company called West End Games. It contained a logo on the back 1977 - 1987 (The first ten Years).
The first SW RPG
This game contained everything that you needed to play in the universe of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
This was the first thing I ever put on lay-bye.
It took me a few weeks, but finally I took home the star wars RPG.
It was light on gaming information for the big characters and vehicles from the movies but contained a dynamic and flexible rules set to run a heroic campaign. But you and your friends (the children of the Star Wars films were now around there teens) could enter the worlds of the game and jump aboard the YT - 1300 space transport and evade imperial blockades.
This game was my primary focus I had left Dungeons and Dragons for the universe of George Lucas. I took my friends through adventures in a galaxy far far away. They outwitted imperial troops and tried to find whatever mcguffen I wanted to throw at them this week.
West End Games started to release more and more supplements for the game until in 1991 Heir to the Empire a novel by Timothy Zahn was released.
The role playing game primed an audience with a hunger for new Star Wars material the novel pulled the trigger.
The game was riding a wave of popularity and in 1992 The second edition was released.
SW2
And this book was never far from my side I know the rules so well of that book because I ran it so often that I said that I could run it in my sleep.
The game catapulted from the new series and the novel reaching the New York Times best sellers list started to build a momentum, bit by bit.
Star Wars was selling again.
People started to take notice. All three books by Timothy Zahn were best sellers. They spawned a literary empire that still dominates to this day.
The role playing game continued to build in strength and popularity till in 1997 it was the strongest Science Fiction Role playing game on the market.
That all changed when Hasbro brought the rights to the Star Wars Role Playing game just before the release of Episode 1.
What many people don't know is that in those initial source books many of the incidental characters were christened for the first time in the early source books. A practice continued with the Star Wars Card Game (More on this later).
That momentum built like a Tsunami till 1999 with the release of The Phantom Menace. (If you want to see the height of Star Wars Fandom get a copy of The Phantom Menace DVD and watch the documentary "The Beginning" watch the end of that film to see the hype that built till the day that The Phantom Menace was unleashed on us all. I remember having a breathless wait till The Phantom Menace was released in Australia as it didn't premier on the same day as the US.
That was the highest that Star Wars Fandom got in my opinion it was for Star Wars fans our moon landing.
George Lucas has said in an interview that what prompted him to start making the prequels was the response to releasing the cleaned up video copies (Before the Special Editions) and I don't think that he would have entertained the idea if there had not been sales figures for a book and a role playing game.
So I take out that old book from 1987 from time to time and thumb through familiar pages and say a word of thanks for the people at West End Games who beleived that there was life in Star Wars even after it had been pronounced Dead.
So when the Clone Wars opens in August this weekend and does crazy numbers for what is essentially a pilot of an animated TV show, I will grab out my Star Wars Role Playing game and rattle my dice and smile cos that book is where all this came from.
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