Wildspace game • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Wildspace game
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Ralf Toth
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:52 pm

Hi all,

TSR's "Best in Games & Books" 1994 catalog advertises a "Wildspace" Game in the AdventureVision format (video tape, same format as "Dragonstrike") and four "Wildspace" adventure books. They also announce a "nationwide tv and print advertising campaign".

Were these items ever produced? If not, does anybody know why they've never been released?

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

bbarsh
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:02 pm

Remember the name, but not the product. And I was big time into D&D back then. Did it become spelljammer?

And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

Ralf Toth
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:58 pm

Actually, Spelljammer was discontinued in 1993. However, Wildspace seemed to draw heavily from the Spelljammer concept. Please do not confuse this with TSR 9273 Wildspace (the module).

The catalog advertises it as a video tape like Dragonstrike. It does not even bear the AD&D logo.

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

Theleb
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:26 pm

The Dragonstrike VCR game did so poorly in sales, that TSR cancelled WildSpace before it ever came to physical fruition. There may have been some office copies produced but it never made it to market.
A lot of VCR boardgames were being proposed at the time but ended up getting cancelled because the public rejected the concept. Star Trek also had a Borg VCR boardgame proposed that never saw the light of day, but the footage ended up being used in a Borg PC game.

Ralf Toth
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:13 am

That makes sense. Thanks for the info.

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

bbarsh
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 8:16 am

Sorry, I looked at the release date incorrectly. Thought it said 1984

And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

darkseraphim
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:53 pm

TSR phased out Spelljammer in the winter of 1994, and refused to sell the rights to anyone else for continuance of the line. The rumor is that the early Magic:The Gathering craze (Alpha-Beta) was taking a bite out of RPG sales, and they felt that the Spelljammer universe was too "light" to compete with the sophisticated look and feel of the Wizards stuff. Which led down the road to the creation of the "dark" Dark Sun, Ravenloft and Planescape universes. I can't say whether or not the reasoning is true.

But it is known that Wildspace was going to be the "next generation" of Spelljammer, taken out of the RPG context and more into the mainstream. I think the only products slated for release were 4 novels and the VHS game.

I've never seen the Wildspace novels, so I don't know if they were released (I don't think they were). But curiously, these novels were assigned ASIN numbers, and slated for a December 1994 release; you can see the entries at Amazon.com.

Battle Against the Draconians (Wildspace Young Adult Series, Book 4): Louis Anderson: 9780786900374: Amazon.com: Books
Battle Against Necros (Wildspace Young Adult Series, Book 1): Louis Anderson: 9780786900343: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Battle Against the Flayons (Wildspace Young Adult Series, Book 3) (9780786900367): Louis Anderson: Books
Battle Against Lord Fear (Wildspace Young Adult Series, Book 2): Louis Anderson: 9780786900350: Amazon.com: Books

If anybody has these (pre-production proofs or otherwise), I'd love to hear about it!

Ralf Toth
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:00 pm

Just curious: If you say "winter of 1994" in English, does that mean in the winter between the years 93 and 94 (that's what I think) or between 94 and 95? If you say "winter of 1994" in German, it means the latter.

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

darkseraphim
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:35 pm

Yup, it was the winter of 1993-1994. Some people say 1994 only, which makes me think it was at the very beginning of that year.

As far as I can tell, the mainline Spelljammer releases began in September 1989 with the first boxed set, and ended with The Ultimate Helm in September 1993. Sporadic bits after that, such as Endless Quest and Spellfire.

(For reference, Alpha M:TG came out in the summer (con) and fall (stores) of 1993, and Beta late in the year.)

geomendez
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:26 am

Durning my days at Wizards, I saw a few of these laying around. They where mostly personal items of ex-TSR folks. I'll ask Jeff next time I see him, he was a lead designer for Spelljammer.

"If at first you don't succeed, pay someone else to do it." -upper management

bbarsh
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:42 am

Wildspice; I've got the answers

1) Emiril is at again. Used in pan-seared fish dishes.

2) The fifth "spice" girl. Rumored to be dating Robert Downey Jr.

3) Close second choice to the product name "Viagra"

And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

GamesGuy
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:23 pm

Just curious: If you say "winter of 1994" in English, does that mean in the winter between the years 93 and 94 (that's what I think) or between 94 and 95? If you say "winter of 1994" in German, it means the latter.

Ralf,

For real? I've never heard that... That's pretty interesting. Don't mean to go OT with this but that's a great bar bet if you ask me!

-------------------------------------------------

Ralf Toth
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:19 pm

Jon,

I would say "winter 94/95" in German, just to make it clear. I mean, winter starts in December, right? And it ends in March - astronomically. So it falls between the years... how can you be sure, which year is meant?

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

Moustache_Green
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:03 pm

Here's a 1993 trailer for the Wildspace video game. Looks crazy and cool!!

Kingofpain89
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:46 pm

Moustache_Green wrote:Here's a 1993 trailer for the Wildspace video game. Looks crazy and cool!!

Looks like a crappier than usual Winger video. :lol:

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

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