Someone is selling all three known World of Synnibarr tomes on the eBay. That's the '91 edition of the rules (the one with the angel chick and the dead lion men on the cover), the fairly well known 1993 edition, and the only known supplement, the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide. I've long wanted to see the insides of the 1991 edition. My gut tells me chargen would be simpler. Two of the three character generation options in the 2nd edition look like later additions to me.
I suspect that there might be earlier editions of Synnibarr, done in very small print runs. But at this point I don't have any hard evidence, other than the fact that in the copy I own McCracken copyrights his book "1980, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993". I need to go through the Dragon's classifieds and see when the Synnibarr ads first appear.
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One possible explanation for the earlier dates: Sometimes it's the case that publishers don't fully understand copyright law, and they declare copyright years for the game's existence (in private forms) prior to publication.
ReplyDeleteThis confuses some research, unfortunately :( For example, I've been wanting for ages to write a comprehensive history of free RPGs of the last century, but some of them have copyright dates that don't jibe (or even seem impossible) with their documented history. The earliest free RPG I can _confirm_ the existence of is Fudge in 1992, but several more recent free RPGs claim copyright going back to the mid-80s, and those may refer to pre-publication private copies, or possibly to actually-small-scale published copies distributed locally (even Risus existed in various forms in the late 80s, but I only claim copyright from the first year of echonet publication, 1993).
ometimes it's the case that publishers don't fully understand copyright law, and they declare copyright years for the game's existence (in private forms) prior to publication.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I had considered that. I think it is very important to remember that World of Synnibarr is basically Raven McCracken's D&D house rules, a latter day Arduin if you will. The earlier dates might be when he rolled out various manuscripts he distributed soley to his game group.
That said, good hunting in the Dragon archive ... it's a shame that the index doesn't search the advertisements :(
ReplyDeleteJosh says the '91 edition is "comically worse" than the '93. It has no skill system and the layout is dreadful.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That sounds right up my alley!
ReplyDeleteI think I have a vague recollection of these ads. Are they the ones that featured star ships from the Papal fleet blowing up a city?
ReplyDeleteNope. That was a different game, though deuced if I can remember it now. Synnibarr's ad was a completely unremarkable little classified with a black & white picture of a dragon, shoved in among a bunch of eighth page jobbies.
ReplyDeletePeeking at the old entries related to Synnibarr. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you eventually picked up a copy, but the '91 edition is indeed simpler. You were correct in guessing that the two variant character gen methods (other than the classes) were later additions, just put in for the final printed version.
I believe Raven did actually publish (or at least self-produce) earlier versions. When I first started I got the version prior to '91. Its cover art was that same simple black and white dragon which featured in the ads, and it was in the form of a big dark blue three ring binder, instead of a perfect-bound book.