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27-514: The Nile Empire is a supplement published by West End Games in 1990 for the cross-genre role-playing game Torg . A second edition was published for the Torg Eternity RPG in 2020. Earth has been invaded by High Lords, alien beings who have imposed different realities, called "cosms", on various parts of Earth. One of the aliens, styling itself Pharaoh Mobius, has imposed a reality of 1930s pulp fiction across Africa. In this reality,

54-606: A box of West End Games Star Wars books and directed to utilize the background material presented within. Zahn's trilogy, in turn, renewed interest in the franchise and provided further sales for West End Games, which released sourcebooks for Zahn's three novels from 1992 to 1994. 1990 saw the release of the Torg roleplaying game, followed in 1994 by the Masterbook system, which was mostly used in licensed RPG adaptations: Indiana Jones , Necroscope , Species , Tales from

81-491: A lot of weight". He further stated that this led him to print more books than he could sell, books which he eventually had to destroy in order to save on storage costs. Gibson planned to release the d6 System under the terms of the Open Gaming License (OGL) to increase sales but also "to protect it from myself", meaning that if the company had to be sold or go out of business, the system would still be available to

108-621: A new Nile Empire has arisen, armed with 1930s technology, magical astronomy and "weird science" powers and gizmos. The player characters are Storm Knights, who must enter the reality of the cosm to thwart the plans of the evil Pharaoh Mobius in the hopes of sending him back to his own alien plane. This book details the cosm, the history of Pharaoh Mobius, how the empire is structured, the various cities, and several areas to be explored. The book also outlines new rules for this cosm, as well as new skills, powers, devices, magic, miracles, creatures and equipment. Each city and area has adventure hooks that

135-611: A new West End Games (D6 Legends, Inc.) was formed in partnership with Yeti, a French design house and publisher and subsidiary of Humanoids Publishing, in March 1999. Under court supervision, WEG/Creative Design Group sold off product and assets to pay off debt. WEG/Creative Design Group sold to the new company intellectual property, the Paranoia licensing contracts, and the trademarks. Licensing contracts for Indiana Jones , Star Wars and Xena remained with Creative Design Group, though

162-458: A new science-fiction RPG by Bill Coffin called Septimus , offering preorders, but following delays it was publicly cancelled by Gibson in March 2008. Gibson stated in July 2008 that West End Games could not afford to provide refunds to customers who preordered the cancelled Septimus product, and indeed could not even afford to pay the postage to ship books to individuals who were willing to accept

189-533: A refund in the form of products instead of money. Following the Septimus cancellation and fan backlash, Gibson said that he was planning on selling all of WEG's properties, although this did not occur at that time. WEG eventually released Septimus via PDF and print on demand . Gibson stated in a 2010 podcast interview that he was "perhaps foolishly optimistic" in assuming sales would be higher than they turned out to be because "the name West End Games would carry

216-430: A role-playing game that originally had been conceived by their friend Dan Gelber . Palter agreed to buy the rights to the game, and after some editing and polishing by Rolston, it was released at Gencon in 1984 as WEG's first role-playing game, Paranoia . In 1985, Paranoia won WEG an Origins Award for "Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984". The high production values demanded by the wargames industry made them one of

243-662: The Origins Game Fair in five categories: Best Professional Game , Best Amateur Game , Best Professional Magazine , Best Amateur Magazine and Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame . Since the first ceremony, the game categories have widened to include Board games (Traditional, Historical and Abstract), Card games (Traditional and Trading ), Miniature wargaming (Historical, Science Fiction and Fantasy ), Role-playing games and play-by-mail games . There are additional categories for Graphic Design , for game expansions and accessories, and for game-related fiction . During

270-522: The Star Wars license was soon lost to Wizards of the Coast , who released their own Star Wars game in 2000. At the 1999 GAMA Trade Show, the new West End Games announced a third edition of Paranoia for late June or early July of that year, followed by a Bug Sector supplement, but these were never released. The DC Universe license was acquired and a new RPG was also announced at that time, which

297-535: The Torg Eternity rules that included ten adventures written by Greg Gorden , Miranda Horner , Steve Kenson , Wendy Reischl, Bill Slavicsek , Ed Stark , John Terra, Tracy Sizemore, John Wick , Scott Alan Woodard, and Camdon Wright, with art by Ben Acevedo, Emma Beltran, Chris Bivins, and Donald Crank. Stewart Wieck reviewed the product in the October–November 1990 issue of White Wolf . He praised

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324-460: The West End Bar near Columbia University. Initially a producer of board wargames , In 1983, Palter hired Ken Rolston , Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan as game designers, and WEG's focus turned away from traditional wargames. Costikyan's 1983 game Bug-Eyed Monsters brought WEG into the science-fiction and fantasy genres. Then Costikyan and Goldberg brought Palter a manuscript for

351-533: The gamemaster can use. West End Games originally published the cross-genre role-playing game Torg in 1990, and quickly followed up the same year with The Nile Empire , a 126-page softcover paperback written by Ray Winninger with additional material by Greg Farshtey and Michael Stern, interior illustrations by Bob Dvorak, Link Mahone, Francis Mao, Allen Nunis, Dan Panosian , and Tim Wright, and cover art by Daniel Horne . Thirty years later, in 2020, Ulisses Spiele published an 80-page hardcover revision for

378-686: The 1980s and 1990s, awards were also given to Computer games . Starting in 2003, the Origins Awards began a new category called the Vanguard Award, which honored highly innovative games. Charles S. Roberts Awards Originally, the Charles S. Roberts Awards and the Origins Awards were one and the same. Starting with the 1987 awards, the Charles S. Roberts were given separately, and they moved away from Origins entirely in 2000, leaving

405-518: The Crypt , Tank Girl , and The World of Aden . Another licensed game, the Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game , was the last title released by the initial version of the company: in July 1998, West End Games went into bankruptcy, following mismanagement between West End Games and its then-parent company, shoe importer Bucci Retail Group. When the parent company filed for bankruptcy, West End Games

432-692: The D6 System—was purchased in April 2016 by Nocturnal Media, White Wolf Publishing founder Stewart Wieck 's gaming company. Nocturnal intended to keep the West End Games brand alive, and their first project using this branding was a revised edition of Greg Costikyan's 1984 WEG boardgame, Web and Starship . A Kickstarter was launched in April 2016 and was successfully funded, but the death of Nocturnal owner Stewart Wieck in June 2017 ultimately resulted in

459-455: The D6 products produced since he acquired West End had turned a profit, and West End's other RPG lines were not performing as well as he had expected, leading to losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. West End also expanded back into board games, beginning with a new edition of Junta , which according to Gibson was one of the few products that did turn a profit. In 2007, the company announced

486-543: The cancellation of that project. A licensing deal to publish a Second Edition of the D6 System was made with Gallant Knight Games in October 2017. Company founder Scott Palter fell ill and died on February 17, 2020. Game designers previously affiliated with West End Games over its long history include: Historical boardgames. Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in

513-474: The few companies who could compete with TSR , and they were able to acquire the license from Columbia Pictures to produce an RPG based on the film Ghostbusters . This game, Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game , formed the basis of the D6 System which was to be heavily used in many of their licensed products. In 1987, the company released their Star Wars role-playing game . Since

540-508: The films had been released some years previously, and there was (at the time) no new media forthcoming, the success of these books came as a surprise. The game established much of the groundwork of what later became the Star Wars expanded universe . Lucasfilm considered their sourcebooks so authoritative that when Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the Thrawn trilogy , he was sent

567-517: The gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 game fair. Award categories include board games, card games, tabletop role-playing games, strategy games, and game accessories. History of Categories The Origins Awards were initially presented at

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594-539: The general public. In 2009, West End Games moved forward with these plans, with the resulting license known as OpenD6. Following the Septimus project, Purgatory Publishing sold off most of their properties. In June 2010, Torg was sold to German game company Ulisses Spiele, while in July 2010 the Masterbook system, Shatterzone , and Bloodshadows were sold to Precis Intermedia. West End Games itself and its remaining properties—which by then consisted primarily of

621-518: The product's quality and informative value, stating that, "If you play Torg, then this product is a must have." He rated it a 4 of 5 possible points. In the February 1991 edition of Dragon (Issue #166), Jim Bambra thought that "Fans of pulp adventure and the Indiana Jones movies will find this supplement very much to their tastes [...] Characters can wander the streets of Cairo or enter

648-499: The surrounding deserts, seeking to thwart the schemes of Dr. Mobius and his unscrupulous henchmen." West End Games Scott Palter received a JD from Stanford in 1972 and joined the New York State Bar before he began work at the family firm, Bucci Imports. Drawing on this financial connection, Palter was able to found West End Games, named after the bar in which the meeting that finalized its founding occurred:

675-449: Was bought by Eric J. Gibson 's Purgatory Publishing. He moved the company to Downingtown, Pennsylvania, in 2004. Under his tenure, Torg received a revised edition and a generic version of the D6 System was produced, which led to a line of irregularly produced supplements and met with general approval from fans. However, this did not translate into high sales; in a post on the official West End forums in 2008 Gibson announced that none of

702-401: Was forced to go under as well, despite an attempt by Palter to perform a Chapter 11 reorganization of the company's finances. As a result, former WEG designers Costikyan and Goldberg took Palter to court over ownership of Paranoia , and in 2000, the courts ruled that the license should revert to Costikyan and Goldberg. The bankrupt West End Games became WEG / Creative Design Group while

729-567: Was published in 1999. As Humanoids Publishing was the publisher of the Metabarons graphic novels, they utilized the D6 System to release an RPG based upon that setting. The project was a commercial failure, and Humanoids Publications decided to exit from the role-playing game market and sell off West End Games at the end of 2002. On July 1, 2002, the company made its systems—D6 Classic, D6 Legend, MasterBook, and Torg—available via license to any publisher. In November 2003 West End Games

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