Recently retrieved from a giveaway pile, it's possible that free was still too high a price for me to pay. Amazing Engine is a weak RPG system backed by sparse worldbooks, only notable as an artifact of late-stage TSR's flailing attempts to grasp after its diminishing audience. As failures go, I'm not even sure it's an interesting one.
@E_T_Smith - The system certainly produced ineffectual characters - like beginning Star Frontiers whiff factor ineffectual - but several of the setting books had some interesting ideas. I still think FFQC & Kromosome were pretty strong.
@Mark_Krawec@peteramthor@artikid There were definitely some compelling glimmers, but the setting books don't really provide functionally developed campaigns or games in themselves, they're not much more than broad concept pitches. I already have the Bughunters book because I like its potential (and Galactos Barrier because its such a hilariously blatant Star Wars rip-off) but I've never really found them playable.
@Mark_Krawec@peteramthor@artikid@SJohnRoss I'll concede the fault of execution was almost undoubtedly forced by top management, accepting grudgingly that they needed to try some innovations after White Wolf's Vampire and Wizards of the Coast's Magic tore big bloody chunks out of their market share, but tepidly unwilling to put real resources into doing so.
@SJohnRoss@Mark_Krawec@peteramthor@artikid Large portions of my gaming library were at one time built from stacks of books acquired at desperate discounts from shops trying to clear space for Magic players, and bought used from gamers selling their own collections dimes-to-the-dollar to support their new CCG habit. I think my collection of Classic #Traveller books, constituting most of the LBB's, came to me that way.
@SJohnRoss@E_T_Smith@Mark_Krawec@artikid I was also working at a game shop when MtG came out, it was my first part time job. The entire dynamic of the shop changed in just a few months. Including a lot of anger when we would run out packs to sell. Being a young guy who could barely drive and having a grown man yelling at me with his finger in my face was pretty scary.
@SJohnRoss@E_T_Smith@Mark_Krawec@peteramthor MTG reached Italy by the time of Revised edition (1995?1996?) and I got in it myself, as one of the early adopters. Before the year had ended a streetful of kids where camped day-long in front of the FLGS (of ALL gameshops, actually) playing MTG on parked cars with "Don't play Magic on my car" signs. It wa like looking at an alternate reality.
(But, damn I didn't get to buy used rpgs cheap )
@E_T_Smith@peteramthor@artikid@SJohnRoss - The impression I got even at the time was that someone had decided TSR needed a GURPS & this was going to be it. Have to say I liked that the stamina/damage points for the same PC core would fluctuate depending on how fighty the setting was. FFQC, don't get into a fistfight if you want to keep all your teeth; Bughunters, you ain't got time to bleed.
@SJohnRoss@Mark_Krawec@E_T_Smith@peteramthor Masterbook... that's TORG, right? I kinda liked it back in the day. I think it was a lot better than other games with a similar idea (Yes Rifts, I'm looking at you). Probably too much crunch for the current me.