''Elric!'' is a roleplaying game published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

in 1993.

Description

''Elric!'' (1993) was designed by

Lynn Willis Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium. Biography Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for Me ...

, Richard Watts, Mark Morrison, Jimmie W. Pursell Jr., Sam Shirley, and Joshua Shaw; book; cover art by Brunner (same as 2nd edition of ''

Stormbringer Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos with its own will. It is wielded by the doo ...

''). The purpose of the "!" was to distinguish the role-playing game from the ''Elric''

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

published by Chaosium in 1978 and subsequently by Hobby Japan in 1981 and

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...

in 1984.

Translations

* Japanese edition (1993), soft-cover, published by

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan'' magazine, as well ...

, cover art by

Yasushi Nirasawa was a Japanese illustrator, character designer, and model maker born in Tochio, Niigata. He is well known for character designs in the Kamen Rider entries ''Kamen Rider Blade'', ''Kamen Rider Kabuto'', and ''Kamen Rider Den-O'' and the creature ...

* French edition (1994), hardback, published by Oriflam, cover art by Hubert de Lartigue * Spanish edition (October 1997), soft-cover, published by Joc Internacional as ''Elric'', without any exclamation mark, cover art by Frank Brunner ()Psnrol.com
Psnrol.com (9 August 2013).

System

''Elric!'' was a substantial reworking of the ''Stormbringer'' game, and version 5 is a new layout of the ''Elric!'' rules, with additional material from several older game supplements that are no longer in print.

Publication history

Shannon Appelcline noted that Chaosium started working on major new role-playing systems at the same time it was entering the fiction field, and for the first time in nearly a decade: "The first was ''Elric!'' (1993), a totally new ''BRP'' vision of the Young Kingdoms, meant to replace the venerable ''Stormbringer''. Richard Watts and Lynn Willis — the latter fresh from a major overhaul of the ''Call of Cthulhu'' rules — were the new game's creators. The new system was cleaner and more balanced. It also downplayed demons and increased the role of common magic — perhaps making it more accessible, particularly in Middle America." Appelcline explained that Chaosium took a substantial loss on ''

Mythos Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

'', and "Chaosium responded by shutting down several of its lines, this time Pendragon, ''Elric!'', ''Nephilim'', and ''Mythos'' itself." Appelcline added that "Chaosium also participated in the d20 explosion, though in a fairly minimum way. While re-releasing the ''Elric!'' rules as ''Stormbringer'' fifth edition (2001), they also published a d20 version of the game called ''Dragon Lords of Melniboné'' (2001)."

Reviews

*''

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * ...

'' #39 (1994)

References

External links

Elric!
at

RPGnet RPGnet is a role-playing game website. It includes sections on wargaming, wargames, tabletop games and video games, as well as columns on gaming topics. RPGnet was founded in 1996 by Emma and Sandy Antunes, Shawn Althouse ( etrigan) and Brian Dav ...

Elric!
at

RPGGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...

{{Michael Moorcock Basic Role-Playing System Dark fantasy role-playing games Lynn Willis games Michael Moorcock's Multiverse Role-playing games based on novels Role-playing games introduced in 1993