Game Designer's File Library - AOL archive of the Online Gaming Forum

[greyskieshappymind]

I've been having fun using discmaster.textfiles.com as a search engine for Internet Archive, I had specifically heard it in the context of the days that people used to share files through discs instead of over the internet. With this time period in mind, I was curious to see what was archived in the realm of TTRPGs.

My search was kinda clunky, not too bad for an experimental search engine but not as efficient as archive.org. But I did manage to find an interesting archive: The Game Designer's File Library. According to the LibGuide.txt, this was just one of several libraries managed by the Online Gaming Forums though searches for some of the others turned up blank. But I think this one has plenty to satiate the curious.

From what I've skimmed there are TTRPGs, war games, and some meta about games and game companies. Most of the files open just fine. Some were designed for Mac word processor and don't appear with an MWd (Microsoft Word) alternative. One point of interest for me was that the two TTRPGs that piqued my curiosity the most do have newer versions that I was able to find by searching. Could compare the new to the old to see what was changed and supplemented.

Here's a brief look at some the files that stood out to me;

Toaster: a Roleplaying Game (1997) - a generic/universal system that left a better first impression than others of its type. Published 1997, though Internet Archive seemingly has a newer version.

Air Combat - an alpha-stage fighter pilot system inspired by the Hunter Hawk book series. Not my favourite setting but the mechanics of it all seem conceptually interesting.

Earth of the Fourth Sun V4.0A (1995) - I haven't looked too closely at the system but the author claims to have made a complex spell system that pays off for its longer setup time with spells that are fully unique to each spellcaster. His personal website, with system revisions dated to 2005, concisely says "Each spell is given as a template- the player customizes each spell. Included are 40 spell templates." Very curious to check this one out.

Computer Aided Design - an archived conversation from 1993. Those more familiar with TTRPGs than CRPGs are invited to imagine how a computer might assist in game design. Might be an interesting read if you're programmer-minded.

I'm putting this on the Communities and Webrings board because 1) the game board specifies virtual worlds so this did feel more appropriate and 2) the pieces of this as a community as a whole are interesting. Would be cool if the other libraries like PBM (Play-by-Mail) Forum General Library or RPG Forum Character Library were archived as well, somewhere out there. But again, I believe this library is a treasure trove in and of itself.