Rider Fantasy Creations

Posts: 183 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:24 pm

I've been trying to collect products from this company for years and they just don't come up that often. Here's a sample:

According to the list in the back, the available titles are:

Demons and Notmen
Dimensions and Doors
Castles and Kingdoms
Masterscribe's Guild Certificates
of Survival
of Slavery
of Life
of Death
of Polymorph
of Manualmission

Does anybody know anything about this company, or have any of the items on the list? Thanks!

Posts: 577 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:48 pm

I have always considered this item to be specifically for T&T. Let me know how you feel about that.

I know Bob Liddil did a bit of authoring for that company. When I say company that means like 1 or 2 people. So maybe it was all him?

Otherwise, these items are frustratingly rare.

Posts: 4717 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:29 pm

I have Dimensions and Doors. WHat did you want to know?

Posts: 183 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:48 pm

Thanks for the offer of help. Actually, I have Dimensions and Doors, along with two versions of Demons and Notmen. I just wanted to get a sampling to find out just how rare these are. Castles and Kingdoms came up once on eBay, and I have no idea what the Masterscribe's Guild Certificates are all about. Given the depth of some of the collections here, someone's got to have the MGC or C&K.

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:26 pm

I have the three booklets they came out with, but not the MGC. I used to have extra copies of the books but I think I sold those long ago. I think they were more generic fantasy than T&T, though I could be wrong.

Posts: 4717 · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:32 pm

I've seen the certificates up before, but they're not my style so I didn't bother with them.

Posts: 1007 · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:50 am

I have Dimensions and Doors, I have noted that its a second ed printed 1979...

Brette:)

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:45 pm

Rider Fantasy Creations also released a few old computer adventure games. As far as I remember, they were text adventure type games for the Commodore 64.

Spider Mountain Adventure (1979) by Bob Liddil and Teri Li
Lost Dutchman

Posts: 10 · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:08 am

Mars wrote:

Rider Fantasy Creations also released a few old computer adventure games. As far as I remember, they were text adventure type games for the Commodore 64.

Spider Mountain Adventure (1979) by Bob Liddil and Teri Li
Lost Dutchman

The correct dates for the above games was 1980 and they were BASIC language Adventure games for (first) the z-80 based TRS-80 and later, the Motorola based TRS-80 COCO (Color Computer).

They were ported from the COCO to the C64 for use in a book published by VIRGIN BOOKS in the UK (I actually met Richard Branson and Boy George on that trip) and the book was released in Europe exclusively, then bootlegged in one of the Iron Curtain countries.

The same two titles were produced under license for the DRAGON computer by ALGRAY Software of Barnsley, South Yorkshire and later the license was sold to someone in Lancashire who subsequently went bankrupt.

They were offered through INSTANT SOFTWARE of Peterborough, NH and appeared in THE CAPTAIN 80 Book Of Basic Adventures published by 80 Northwest Publishing of Tacoma, WA.

All this happened between sept 1980 and the summer of '83.

The coding was done by Terry Lee Kepner under the pseudonym Terry LI an all this activity was done under the auspices of THE PROGRAMMER'S GUILD.

Lou Zocchi may still have copies of the Captain 80 Book which had a print run of 1000.

And he is also the primary source for Bones of Power, which was produced under contract to him later on during the Pandora years.

God! That was a fun time in my life.

Posts: 2938 · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:04 am

Welcome to the boards, Bob (?) Very Happy

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:47 am

So, tell us more. How did you get into the business and who else did you work with?

Posts: 10 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:44 am

A blizzard, a car crash, a CB Radio and a copy of Tunnels and Trolls introduced me to tabletop publishing.

Ohio experienced a white-out blizzard in '77 so there was nothing to do much until it passed. A friend from CB Radio suggested we try out this new game he bought, T&T.

I was intrigued with what was the ancestor of "Interactive Fiction" and embraced it throughout the 3 day long campaign during which we all stayed at Jack's (the friend) house, which had a frieplace. Jack and Theresa were Mormons, which means prepared for anything - candles, popcorn, soda, zillions of dice and this whippin' great game.

On the 3rd day, just as Damian the Dangerous was about to recover a 4th level Kris, made of meteoric iron that repels magic, a car slid down jack's hill and crashed into the front of his house, damaging it severely and ending the game.

But the spark was lit in me an I went OCD on Fantasy fiction, D&D, T&T and within 3 months had written a generic module (Dimensions) on the generalities of the snow day campaign.

To this day - werewolves make the best sailors.

It was step one of a hundred thousand miles of conventions, and a thousand friends coast to coast.

Within 2 years (1979) I had an article (It Ain't Easy) published in Sorcerer's Apprentice and within 12 years had a short story published in DRAGON (The Blue Eyed Thief).

Now I am a member of SFWA (Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers of America), sat in a hotel room with Ben Bova and Isaac Asimov listening to advice on writing, and designed weapons for a Allen Steele novel (Labrynth of Night)

Don't take it as a brag - because the whole world is better than me - but I have been allowed a taste of success and for that I am grateful. Smile

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:20 pm

How did the Rider Fantasy publishing come about?

Posts: 10 · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:34 am

FormCritic wrote:

How did the Rider Fantasy publishing come about?

It was a day spent with the legendary Louis Zocchi of Gamescience fame that inspired the company.

The name "Rider" was a take on a T&T character, a warrior named "Dark Rider" who was "questmate" to "Damien The Dangerous" and "Gadlin The Dwarf" in an early generic adventure called "The Search For Fezenclop's Tomb" played out over several months in southeastern Ohio 1977-8.

Most campaigns over the years have gone unchronicled, but our Ohio games and the Con Campaigns that followed in Michigan, Wisconsin, California, and New York among many; elements of these games found their way into different books, such as "Rascals, Rogues, Rapscallions and Renegades" which was a Rider production for Pandora, shortly after an intense weekend at UMASS Amherst, and an even more intense weekend a month later at SUNY Stonybrook.

Contact with legendary pros like Mike Stackpole and John Norman and Allen Steele never hurt. The stimulation was like brandy at AA. Very intense!

Rider was a conduit for my intense desire to "become" a writer. It never occurred to me that a Master's in English would have helped enormously.

The most difficult to write were the dice tables.

Smile

Posts: 10 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:03 am

Brand new book released today and premiering at COASTCON in Biloxi next month.

More information here:

http://www.riderfantasy.com

Posts: 1350 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:30 pm

I've been trying to find a copy of Demons and Not Men for some time, as well. The others, I'm not so sure about (I have a preference for bestiaries,) but they are designed for T&T? Doesn't matter to me, as I like that game (have a second printing of it a friend picked up while visiting England - wish I could locate the original 1st edition, but nooooo...)

What's actually in D&NM?

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:31 pm

serleran wrote:

I've been trying to find a copy of Demons and Not Men for some time, as well.

I'm still looking for this one too. They really don't come along very often and the last 2 have sold for over $150+ - I remember since I bid $150+ and was outbid both times Sad

Nice to see a new Rider Fantasy book though!

Posts: 4717 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:42 pm

I traded one of these a while back. i don't recall ever reading it, though.

Posts: 10 · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:41 pm

Most of my original works were designed for Tunnels and trolls but were so generic in their presentation as to be easily adaptable to any system. Later on, I generecised much much more clearly, mainly because Gary was suing everybody who mention his product (at the time). it was a good lesson in copyright that I have retained to this day Very Happy