Editorial The Digital Antiquarian on Fallout

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Zed's own corrections on the D&D license also shine an unconfortable light on some of the research, reviewing some of the chronology might be in order.

In fairness to the Digital Antiquarian, the conclusion of his series on SSI & D&D did explain the termination of TSR's relationship with SSI and mentioned that TSR would seek new partners, though it didn't mention which companies obtained new D&D/AD&D licenses from TSR. It's possible that he had intended to discuss this in a later article about Interplay, such as this one for Fallout, and simply forgot in the intervening five years. Moreover, the sources for his Fallout story would consist mostly of people who either were never familiar with the Interplay-TSR relationship or who could easily have misremembered it years later.

The Digital Antiquarian will need to cover this ground in later articles on Interplay, so I hope he fully investigates Interplay's use (or mis-use) of the license for AD&D (specifically tied to the Planescape and Forgotten Realms settings) that it had acquired from TSR three years before the release of Fallout and shortly after acquiring the GURPS license from Steve Jackson Games.

 

[Falkner]

It's crazy how these supposed dark ages lasted for only three years, and besides the obvious duds (Ultima 8, Dark Sun 2) there were also some good enough games like Star Trail, Arena, Daggerfall, Anvil of Down, Albion, Exile 1 and 2, ADOM... But of course, next to the 1987-1993 golden age those three years were truly awful.

God, imagine having to live through three whole years of just a handful of all-time classics. Truly horrifying. Glad that time is behind us.

 

[Infinitron]

Felipe Pepe
January 27, 2025 at 12:45 am
We know from Interplay’s 1998 report that Stonekeep sold 300,000, which is more than Fallout 1 would sell until the 2000s, despite being an all-time TRUE RPG classic. People like Jeff Green might complain about the genre being diluted and uninspired, but it was selling. There’s a hardcore bias in this, like Morrowind fans saying Oblivion is dumbed-down garbage.

There were definitely struggles in adapting old-school RPGs to this new reality, but that 3rd paragraph in your article makes some broad statements that I find it very hard to justify. Again, you’re saying RPGs are out of touch and out of ideas in a world of fast-action, multimedia presentation & streamlined stats, all while games like Lands of Lore 1, Stonekeep, Anvil of Dawn and Ultima Underworld are coming out, not to mention Ultima VII & VIII. That’s why you’re getting so much push-back.

• Jimmy Maher
  January 27, 2025 at 6:54 am
  Fair enough. It seems I jumped from A to C without making time for C. I added another paragraph after the one to which you objected, to correct that. Thanks!

 

[Angnomynous Wasp Scholar]

 

[The Nameless One]

Zed's own corrections on the D&D license also shine an unconfortable light on some of the research, reviewing some of the chronology might be in order.

In fairness to the Digital Antiquarian, the conclusion of his series on SSI & D&D did explain the termination of TSR's relationship with SSI and mentioned that TSR would seek new partners, though it didn't mention which companies obtained new D&D/AD&D licenses from TSR. It's possible that he had intended to discuss this in a later article about Interplay, such as this one for Fallout, and simply forgot in the intervening four-and-a-half years. Moreover, the sources for his Fallout story would consist mostly of people who either were never familiar with the Interplay-TSR relationship or who could easily have misremembered it years later.

The Digital Antiquarian will need to cover this ground in later articles on Interplay, so I hope he fully investigates Interplay's use (or mis-use) of the license for AD&D (specifically tied to the Planescape and Forgotten Realms settings) that it had acquired from TSR three years before the release of Fallout and shortly after acquiring the GURPS license from Steve Jackson Games.

Well done misuse is done when there's a hint of creative freedom possible and no IP police/woke stasi sniffing over everything, unlike most stuff now - that happens when IPs aren't as high-valued or popular. When Woketards of the Coast or some other big holdings group for a major RPG franchise falls under the rug, someone else buys the whole circus at a cheap price and everything starts over again. Franchises are just as replaceable though.

With that said, someone needs to be realistic and stop worshipping the past. This whole Interplay remembrance interviews sound fine but don't we ever get to the major funny fuckups like Fallout BoS?

Also, whenever someone brings up Cain's ass piracy or Sawyer's cuckery there's smell of butthurt reactions to those insights. Some need to get out of the basement, acquire some sense of humour and start thinking or imagining alternatives. When nobody does, is when we live in gray times like these when the entrapment rhymes with 'ye past is golden' and 'nuttin's what it used to be'.

 

[KeAShizuku]

PST sold like shit but was one of the best vidya of that era. People are swine.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

In fairness to the Digital Antiquarian, the conclusion of his series on SSI & D&D did explain the termination of TSR's relationship with SSI and mentioned that TSR would seek new partners, though it didn't mention which companies obtained new D&D/AD&D licenses from TSR. It's possible that he had intended to discuss this in a later article about Interplay, such as this one for Fallout, and simply forgot in the intervening four-and-a-half years. Moreover, the sources for his Fallout story would consist mostly of people who either were never familiar with the Interplay-TSR relationship or who could easily have misremembered it years later.

The Digital Antiquarian will need to cover this ground in later articles on Interplay, so I hope he fully investigates Interplay's use (or mis-use) of the license for AD&D (specifically tied to the Planescape and Forgotten Realms settings) that it had acquired from TSR three years before the release of Fallout and shortly after acquiring the GURPS license from Steve Jackson Games.

Well done misuse is done when there's a hint of creative freedom possible and no IP police/woke stasi sniffing over everything, unlike most stuff now - that happens when IPs aren't as high-valued or popular. When Woketards of the Coast or some other big holdings group for a major RPG franchise falls under the rug, someone else buys the whole circus at a cheap price and everything starts over again. Franchises are just as replaceable though.

By "misuse", I primarily meant Interplay's failure to develop AD&D-licensed games in a timely manner or even to complete development at all: as I mentioned in my comment at the Digital Antiquarian site, even though Fargo was enthusiastic about the Planescape setting and initiated three games for it, one was cancelled fairly quickly, one was integrated into the Stonekeep II project that was later cancelled, and the third belatedly emerged as Planescape: Torment releasing five years after the license had been acquired (and only via a game engine developed elsewhere). Meanwhile, Interplay published in 1996 an RTS ostensibly using AD&D rules and in the Forgotten Realms setting, only releasing its first AD&D CRPG at the end of 1997, by which time TSR had collapsed, and that game flopped.

Though the term "misuse" would also apply to Interplay permitting another developer to use the AD&D license for a second RTS game, released in 1998, this one proving commercially successful but with vile consequences for the CRPG industry.

With that said, someone needs to be realistic and stop worshipping the past. This whole Interplay remembrance interviews sound fine but don't we ever get to the major funny fuckups like Fallout BoS?

Jimmy Maher has taken over five years to advance from Dark Sun to Fallout, meaning he is moving more slowly than the material he is covering, so we can expect him to take longer than the six years that passed between Fallout and Fallout:BoS.

 

[Angnomynous Wasp Scholar]

Blood and Magic wasn't even supposed to be a Forgotten Realms gnome - it was an external project inspired by Magic: The Gathering. Interplay agreed to publish it on the condition the Forgotten Realms brand was slapped on (I believe Zeb Cook was one of the Interplay staff who helped rewrite the background lore/story to fit).