roleplay-geek: A to Z of UK RPG in the 80s - T is for Tunnels and Trolls

Sunday, 24 May 2020

A to Z of UK RPG in the 80s - T is for Tunnels and Trolls

T is for Tunnels and Trolls and Flying Buffalo

My first exposure to Roleplaying was actually Tunnels & Trolls. My Dad came back from one of his working trips with a photocopy of the Weirdworld solo module and I voraciously lapped it up. This was back in the day when Flying Buffalo (the company formed in 1970 by Rick Loomis) released their T&T solo modules as spiral bound A4 booklets making game piracy a fairly simple task. Perhaps that was the point, what's good enough for Microsoft is good enough for Flying Buffalo.

The pages were full of great images like the entrance to the dungeon itself and new and strange words words like myriad. As you can imagine it made quite an impression on my tiny growning brain.

The entrance to Maximillian the Magnificen't Madhouse (Weirdworld)

The entrance to the Madhouse which was solo adventure #6 Weirdworld

I had no rules and I had no idea how to play it, I just treated it as choose your own adventure book before I even knew what one of those was. Later on I would experience my first group session of the game at a games club in my home town of Bradford. The DM using the a very early boxed set version of the rules with the little yellow booklet.

Our relocation down to London in the mid 80s coincided with the release of the Corgi edition paperbacks and I picked one up in a local Virgin Games store (remember them).

Core Rulebook	The Amulet of the Salkti Arena of Khazan	Catif D'Yvoire Beyond the Silvered Pane
The City of Terrors	Gamesmen of Kasar Misty Wood	Naked Doom Deathtrap Equalizer
Sword for Hire Blue Frog Tavern

The Corgi editions are really memorable. They had amazing cover art by Josh Kirby and were published in a standard paperback formfactor at pocket money prices. The main competition at the time were the Puffin Fighting Fantasy books written by the Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson of Games Workshop. I preferred T&T because there was a bit more meat on the bones and I remembered the fun I had playing in that group game back in Bradford.

They are very collectible and hold their prices but they are very available when you search for Tunnels Trolls on eBay.

Flying Buffalo have of course continued to publish games and still exist today. Their products were always on the fringe of the hobby never taking themselves too seriously but they were always popular.

My Collection Includes:

Corgi Edition Core Rules	5th Edition Core Rules	Grimtooths Traps Too
The Hole Delver's Catalogue	Maps Cities Book 1	Sword for Hire Blue Frog Tavern
The Amulet of the Salkti Catalogue

Availability of Flying Buffalo is good and they tend to be on the cheaper side of RPG collectables. I aim to reacquire all the Corgi adventure books in the very near future. Search for Flying Buffalo Products on eBay.

The AtoZ of UK RPG in the 80s