Thursday, 23 April 2020

Long Live Long Dead RPGs: Justifiers

I recently joined the facebook group Fans of Dead Games, where members share their stories and pictures of Roleplaying Games throughout history.

Whilst my collection is myriad, it doesn't come close to some of the shelves I've seen shared in the brief time that I've been a member.  Here's my little contribution:

Justifiers RPG (ISBN: 1-878711-00-8) p128

Published in 1988 by Star Childe Publications, Justifiers RPG puts you in the role of a Betahumanoid.  A half human, half animal genetically modified hybrid, you are the property of your corporation and your job is to "justify" or explore newly discovered planets.  If anthropomorphic sci-fi adventure in the style of Traveller is what you want, then Justifiers is for you.

Reviews from Ryleh gave Justifiers a good going over 

The rule book also contains the scenario The Axon Confrontation written by Battletech author Blaine Pardoe.

Justifiers RPG - Core Rulebook
Justifiers RPG
(Core Rulebook)
Justifiers RPG - The Tower Scenario
The Tower
(Adventure)
Justifiers RPG - The Insidious Campaign Scenario
The Insidious Campaign
(Adventure)
Justifiers RPG - Out of the Mists Scenario
Out of the Mists
(Adventure)

There are a handful of other books I do not (but would love to) own to complete my collection:

Justifiers RPG - Aborigine Sourcebook
Aborigine Sourcebook
Justifiers RPG - Corporate Sourcebook
The Corporate Sourcebook
Justifiers RPG - Poseidon Scenario
Poseidon
(Adventure)
Justifiers RPG - Hybrid Sourcebook
The Hybrid Sourcebook
Justifiers RPG - CyberMedTech Sourcebook
The CyberMedTech Sourcebook
Justifiers RPG - Cold as Ice Scenario
Cold as Ice
(Adventure)
Silent Corp Sourcebook
Justifiers Boxed Set
(Dark Tower Enterprises)
UPDATE:  Thanks to the wonderfully generous people in the Fans of Dead RPGs facebook group I have discovered that there was in fact a reprint box set released in 1992 by Dark Tower Enterprises.  This contained: Core Rulebook, Hybrid Sourcebook, Aborigine Sourcebook, Poseidon Adventure, an unknown bonus adventure and a Poster.

I have also subsequently discovered that Justifiers is not technically dead and some of the books are available as Watermarked PDFs from Drivethru RPG.  Apparently more are in the works.

Other StarChilde Books


Domination: Sabot and Laser - I can't tell if this is a standalone game or a supplement for something else.  The cover has a modern soldier and a generic insect atop a WWII tank so this could be something completely unconnected.

UPDATE: This is the blurb from the back of the book:
"In 1961 mankind struck out into space...In 1992 space struck back! Play out the critical campaigns of mankind's most desperate war. On the one side the superior technology of the Kalotian Empire. On the other, men and women who know too well that the fate of the Earth rests with them. With a complete role playing interface for Domination."
 So clearly this is a standalone game and nothing to do with Justifiers.

Domination: Sabot & Laser

Guardians RPG - StarChilde Publications also made this Superhero roleplaying game.  From what I can research this amounts to two even rarer books (someone should really create a Starchilde wikipage).

UPDATE: As with Justifiers RPG both of the Guardians books are now available on Drivethru RPG as Watermarked PDFs

Guardians RPG
(Core Rulebook)
Freedom Union
(Scenario)
If anyone out there has any more information regarding any of these books please drop me a message in the comments below.

Old School RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com


8 comments:

  1. I wrote Domination and Sabot and Laser - and some work on Justifiers. It is a separate game sytem. B. Pardoe

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    1. Hi Blaine, Thanks for the info. It's always nice to have the authors set the record straight. Many thanks for your contribution to the hobby over the years.

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  2. Just as a mention there was a new version of the game out in 2010. Called Justifiers - Das Abenteuerspiel. It had sme supplement and was finished then. There were an additional ten 400 page novels written for that version. The German writer Markus Heitz bought the rights to the game and released the new verson and the books in German only. While the game tanked, the novels sold quite well, so they made it to twelve books by different authors.

    Clockwork Publishing teamed with Heitz to bring a new edition based on a different rule system in 2019, which has not been published yet. Latest details say that the game will be based on the Year Zero engine.

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    1. Hi Ingolf, Thanks for clearing this up. I did spot the Markus Heitz version of Justifiers on eBay but as I'm not a German speaker and I couldn't verify for sure if it was the same game.

      It's good to see someone continuing with the Justifiers game and I would be interested in an english translation of the novels if they ever become available. Happy Gaming

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    2. Just for fun I converted Justifiers to the BESM 2ed system for my group at the time and it seemed to work rather well as they still talk about it. Though that's more down to the superb original concept, which I too thought would be excellent book material, more than anything I did. I have a PDF of it if anyone's interested.

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  4. I not only own all the Justifiers and Guardians books (I have 5 copies of the Justifiers core rule book), I played it for a few years, running a couple campaigns.
    Looking back, it is not the best rule system, but I've always loved the setting! I've more recently ran it using the Savage Worlds rules to pretty good effect.

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    1. Hi Patrick,

      Wow, looks like you are hoarding those rule books :D

      I'm also a big fn of Savage Worlds and keep meaning to publish my home brew version of Savage Dredd. I've never run Justifiers in Savage Worlds but I can see how it would be a good fit.

      I've fallen in love with ICRPG recently which I think would also be a good fit for the setting.

      Thanks for commenting

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