Anybody Ever Played the TSR Indiana Jones Games ??

I remember back in the mid-eighties TSR's Indiana Jones RPG game, has anybody played it ?? I guess/assume it was based off the AD&D rules of the time, I don't even know if AD&D or D&D is even around anymore ( last I remember playing was sometime 1984-88 I enjoyed it). Is it a good game ?? I see the game and modules for sale on Ebay fairly cheap. If it is a good game would anybody be interested in playing ??

From what I've read online, the TSR Indiana Jones games were kinda "meh." You couldn't create any of your own player characters. So that means one person would play as Indy, and everyone else would have to play as one of his "sidekicks" from the movies. Like Marion, Willie, or Short Round.

That's the biggest reason why I went out of my way to collect the West End Games versions off Ebay. I'd much prefer to play an original character, but maybe that's just me. I haven't had a chance to sit down with a group of friends to play just yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Seven said:

From what I've read online, the TSR Indiana Jones games were kinda "meh." You couldn't create any of your own player characters. So that means one person would play as Indy, and everyone else would have to play as one of his "sidekicks" from the movies. Like Marion, Willie, or Short Round.

That's the biggest reason why I went out of my way to collect the West End Games versions off Ebay. I'd much prefer to play an original character, but maybe that's just me. I haven't had a chance to sit down with a group of friends to play just yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

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I played a LOT of the West End Star Wars game, which was absolutely excellent.

I was always intrigued by the idea of a West End Indy game and I perused through the books in stores on occasion (hey, kids, once upon a time there were entire STORES dedicated solely to roleplaying games!!!)

But I always felt it would be very challenging to actually plan an Indy-style game.

The biggest problem, of course, is that Indy the character is the defining feature of that universe. Playing "Indy without Indy" would be tough indeed.

Whereas you could conceivably come up with dozens of kinds of characters to populate the Star Wars universe and set off on countless adventures.

But, for instance, the West End game "character templates" for the Indy had a lot of great ideas for what felt like would make very good Indy sidekicks and allies....but without Indy himself, it didn't quite feel right.

And though even Indy is set in "our world", coming up with appropriate adventures - even with the help of the well-writte modules and source books - also felt prohibitively difficult.

The easiest games to play are in fantasy universes where you have some familiarity - "Star Wars" or the Tolkein-inspired D&D universe.

But playing "our world" games is tough, as I discovered when I GM'd several "spy" campaigns back in the day.

Far better to throw yourself into an entirely fictitious setting than something that needs to bear at least a little bit of resemblance to "reality."

Lance Quazar said:

But playing "our world" games is tough, as I discovered when I GM'd several "spy" campaigns back in the day.

Far better to throw yourself into an entirely fictitious setting than something that needs to bear at least a little bit of resemblance to "reality."

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I completely understand where you're coming from. I guess it just depends on the players' expectations as well.

Personally, I plan on incorporating Indy as an NPC who starts the journey with the players, but then lets them do their own thing. Keeping the tone consistent when he's not around will be the tricky part.

Seven said:

I completely understand where you're coming from. I guess it just depends on the players' expectations as well.

Personally, I plan on incorporating Indy as an NPC who starts the journey with the players, but then lets them do their own thing. Keeping the tone consistent when he's not around will be the tricky part.

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That's an interesting approach, but I can't help but feel everyone will be standing around saying, "Where's Indy?"

Or waiting for him to show up to save their asses when they're in the soup.

Best of luck with your game, though. Sounds fun!

I have the West End Games one, picked up at MGM Studios 20+ years ago, but never have played it. Can't say the rulebook did anything to excite me of the gaming value of it. Nice package and fun to read, just an awful lot of work to pull an adventure together. Maybe the kids and I will give it a go sometime...