# Anyone know the tabletop game Melee? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738 "2016-09-12T03:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/1 "2016-09-12T03:53:19Z")
I played this long ago, and I found the Wiki page: [Melee (game) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_(game)) Anyone know the version best to start with? I have some board game friends I think it would be good to play with. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/2 "2016-09-14T17:45:53Z")
Your link is slightly broken but the game you might be linking to is the Steve Jackson game Melee. It’s a microgame, meaning it has a small rule book and a few sheets of counters you cut out yourself. Cost me a whopping $2.95 back in 1977. It was lot of fun actually and there’s another microgame, Wizards, that links. Look it up on BoardGameGeek. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/3 "2016-09-14T18:30:51Z")
Unless you’re using a bootleg copy, you’re not going to find one. Melee’s been out of print since 1983. If you do have access to copies (I’m not pointing fingers) I’d suggest you get the final versions, which were three books: _Advanced Melee_, _Advanced Wizard_, and _In The Labyrinth_. The system was known collectively as _The Fantasy Trip_. I had all three of these games and they were pretty solid. Steve Jackson set out to make a more straight forward RPG system than some of the others that were popular at the time. You had three stats: Dexterity, IQ, and Strength. Everyone started with a certain amount of points and divided them among their stats as they wished - there was no dice rolling. There were also no character classes. Astonishingly enough, there is a company - Dark City Games - which is still publishing modules for use with the system. Which is amazing because they didn’t own the rights to the system itself. They’re apparently selling these modules to people who own the original game from back in the seventies (or people who have bootleg copies). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/4 "2016-09-14T19:47:39Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Your link is slightly broken but the game you might be linking to is the Steve Jackson game Melee. It’s a microgame, meaning it has a small rule book and a few sheets of counters you cut out yourself. Cost me a whopping $2.95 back in 1977. It was lot of fun actually and there’s another microgame, Wizards, that links. > > Look it up on BoardGameGeek. I played Wizard and Melee back in high school (a pencil is easily modded into a D6, and you can complete a game or two during lunch). Good times. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/5 "2016-09-15T14:28:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you do have access to copies (I’m not pointing fingers) I’d suggest you get the final versions, which were three books: _Advanced Melee_, _Advanced Wizard_, and _In The Labyrinth_. The system was known collectively as _The Fantasy Trip_. > > I had all three of these games and they were pretty solid. Steve Jackson set out to make a more straight forward RPG system than some of the others that were popular at the time. You had three stats: Dexterity, IQ, and Strength. Everyone started with a certain amount of points and divided them among their stats as they wished - there was no dice rolling. There were also no character classes. Steve Jackson used many of the ideas and mechanics from those original games when he developed [GURPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS) (Generic Universal Role Playing System). That said, GURPS is generally much more complex than the relatively simple TFT system. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/6 "2016-09-15T20:46:32Z")
Haven’t thought about Melee and Wizard in ages. Villains and Vigilantes (1st edition) was my first RPG, and I used Wizard to fill in the gaps in V&V’s magic system. Later moved on to The Fantasy Trip and GURPS. The original Melee and Wizard rules can be found [here](http://www.meleewizards.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/7 "2016-10-14T20:34:05Z")
Just wondering if \*\*Cardinal \*\*is still around. Have you tried \*Melee \*yet, and if so, did you like it? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-tabletop-game-melee/765738/8 "2016-10-15T00:08:28Z")
One can find Melee and Wizard on eBay from time to time …