# The Fantasy Trip *Melee, Wizard and In the Labyrinth* - Work: Tabletop RPG - Date: 1977–80 (Metagaming); Legacy Edition 2019 (Steve Jackson Games) - Made by: Steve Jackson (Designer) - Houses: Steve Jackson Games - Platforms: MicroGames in plastic bags (Melee, Wizard), Rulebooks (In the Labyrinth, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard), Hex map and counters - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-fantasy-trip/ > Steve Jackson's pocket-sized answer to D&D: a $2.95 bag of hex-map arena combat that grew into a full RPG with point-bought characters — then vanished for decades and came back. **Why it matters:** The Fantasy Trip was the first roleplaying game to let players build characters by spending points rather than rolling dice, and its tactical hex combat and talent system became the foundation of GURPS. ## Quick answers **When was The Fantasy Trip first released?** The Fantasy Trip was first released in 1977–80 (Metagaming); Legacy Edition 2019 (Steve Jackson Games). **Who created The Fantasy Trip?** The Fantasy Trip was made by Steve Jackson (designer). **Who published or developed The Fantasy Trip?** Steve Jackson Games. **What kind of work is The Fantasy Trip?** The Fantasy Trip is a tabletop RPG in the Tabletop Roleplaying Games and Miniatures & Board Wargames tradition, released for MicroGames in plastic bags (Melee, Wizard), Rulebooks (In the Labyrinth, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard) and Hex map and counters. **Why is The Fantasy Trip important?** The Fantasy Trip was the first roleplaying game to let players build characters by spending points rather than rolling dice, and its tactical hex combat and talent system became the foundation of GURPS. ## Overview *The Fantasy Trip* (TFT) is a fantasy roleplaying game designed by [Steve Jackson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/steve-jackson-us/) — the American designer, not the British co-founder of Games Workshop — and published in pieces by Metagaming Concepts of Austin, Texas, between 1977 and 1980. It began as two tiny, cheap combat games, *Melee* and *Wizard*, and grew into a complete RPG with the 1980 gamemaster's book *In the Labyrinth*. Its big idea was control. In [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) you rolled dice to see what kind of character fate gave you, then chose a class to fit. In TFT you *designed* your character, dividing a fixed pool of points among a few attributes. That idea — point-buy character creation — became one of the main currents of RPG design. ## Origins Jackson was working at Metagaming, whose owner Howard Thompson had pioneered the **MicroGame**: a small, fast, inexpensive wargame sold in a ziplock bag or thin plastic case. Jackson's science-fiction tank game *Ogre* launched the line in 1977. Like many wargamers, Jackson was also playing D&D, and he disliked parts of it: the character creation left too much to chance, the assorted polyhedral dice struck him as irritating, and the combat felt confusing and short on tactics. He had joined the [Society for Creative Anachronism](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/society-for-creative-anachronism/) partly to understand real hand-to-hand fighting. The result was *Melee*, MicroGame #3 (1977), priced at $2.95: a man-to-man arena combat game that Metagaming was already advertising as the first part of a roleplaying system. *Wizard*, MicroGame #6, added magic in 1978, and a line of "MicroQuest" adventures began with *Death Test* the same year. Jackson then expanded everything into a single full RPG. Thompson thought it too big and too expensive, and without showing Jackson final proofs, split it into four products in 1980: *Advanced Melee*, *Advanced Wizard*, *In the Labyrinth* and the adventure *Tollenkar's Lair*. Jackson left Metagaming that year to found [Steve Jackson Games](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/steve-jackson-games/). ## How it plays In *Melee*, a character is two numbers. **Strength** measures how much damage you can take and which weapons you can wield; **Dexterity** is your chance to hit. A new fighter divides exactly 24 points between them. You fight on a hex map with cardboard counters, moving and facing and choosing whether to attack, defend or dodge. To hit, roll three six-sided dice: if the total is equal to or under your adjusted Dexterity, you hit. Weapons roll their own damage — a dagger one die minus one, a battle-axe three dice — and armor stops a fixed number of hits but lowers your Dexterity. A quick, bloody duel takes minutes. *Wizard* adds **IQ**, which determines which spells you can know. Casting costs Strength, so a wizard who overreaches can exhaust himself. *In the Labyrinth* turns the duel into a roleplaying game: human characters start with 8 in each attribute and 8 extra points to spend, and IQ also buys **talents** — skills such as swimming, tracking or two-weapon fighting — each with a point cost and an IQ minimum. There are no character levels; experience earned in play is traded in to raise attributes. A TFT session therefore feels like a hybrid. Exploration and dialogue are refereed as in any RPG, but when the swords come out, the table turns into a small, precise tactical [Miniatures & Board Wargames](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/wargame/) on a hex map — a design lineage visible in many later games' grid-based [Turn-based combat](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/turn-based-combat/). ## Reception & impact *Melee* drew praise for being clean and fast. David Ritchie in *Ares* called it "simple, but not simple-minded," and Jon Freeman in *The Complete Book of Wargames* (1980) called it "the cleanest, simplest, and most understandable role-playing game around." Shannon Appelcline later noted that its tactical combat "was simple, yet allowed for thoughtful play, all without paging through charts and tables." Reviewing the full system in *The Space Gamer*, Ronald Pehr called TFT "an excellent FRP game system" though he wished it were better organized and cheaper. Metagaming published further adventures and supplements, but Thompson closed the company in April 1983. Jackson tried to buy back TFT; the asking price was reportedly $250,000, far beyond his means, and the game went out of print. ## Legacy Jackson's response was to design a new system that nobody else could own: [GURPS](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/gurps/) (1986), the Generic Universal RolePlaying System, which kept TFT's small set of attributes, its 3d6 roll-under resolution and its point-bought skills, adding Health and a far broader toolkit. Through GURPS, TFT's ideas fed the [Universal & Generic RPG Systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/universal-rpg-systems/) tradition. The original returned in the end. In December 2017 Jackson announced he had used a provision of U.S. copyright law allowing authors to terminate publication grants after 35 years to reclaim *Melee*, *Wizard*, *In the Labyrinth* and related works. A July 2018 Kickstarter funded the same day, and *The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition* reached stores in April 2019, followed by new adventures and licensed material. Few games from the hobby's first decade have enjoyed such a second life. ## Facts - Melee began as MicroGame #3 in Metagaming's line of cheap, bagged games — the series launched by Jackson's Ogre. - Jackson found D&D's polyhedral dice "irritating" and its combat "confusing," and drew on his experience in the Society for Creative Anachronism. - In Melee, a starting fighter divides exactly 24 points between Strength and Dexterity. - Casting a spell in Wizard costs Strength — magic literally exhausts the caster. - When Metagaming closed in 1983, owner Howard Thompson reportedly asked $250,000 for the rights; Jackson built GURPS instead. - Jackson reclaimed the game in 2017 using a U.S. copyright provision letting authors terminate grants after 35 years; its 2018 Kickstarter funded in a day. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantasy_Trip) - [Wikipedia — Melee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_(game)) - [The Fantasy Trip — official site (Steve Jackson Games)](https://thefantasytrip.game/) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.