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Secret of Skull Island and Dragon's Den
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jamesmishler
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:43 am 
 

In Dragon #86 page 33 there is a full-page TSR ad with two SPI board games listed, Secret of Skull Island and Dragon's Den.

Secret of Skull Island (with a cover featuring a wanna-be Humphrey Bogart and clone of Janet from Three's Company somewhere on said jungle-cloaked isle) is about adventurers in the '30s searching said island before the volcano blows.

Dragon's Den, interestingly, is an SPI-branded game advertised as "A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Boardgame" with the following text:

In TSR's new adventure game, up to six players represent different characters and their abilities, creating a geomorphic dungeon, encountering various horrible monsters and gathering valuable treasure. Be wary of Aulicus, the dragon. For ages 12 through adult.

Now this is interesting indeed. I've never encountered any remnants of this boardgame anywhere, re-tasked or otherwise. It doesn't seem to ahve any relation to the later D&D boxed set module, The Dragon's Den (TSR1073). AFAIK, neither game ever released. Anyone know anything about these two bits of vaporware?


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xraygord
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:38 pm 
 

jamesmishler wrote:In Dragon #86 page 33 there is a full-page TSR ad with two SPI board games listed, Secret of Skull Island and Dragon's Den.

Secret of Skull Island (with a cover featuring a wanna-be Humphrey Bogart and clone of Janet from Three's Company somewhere on said jungle-cloaked isle) is about adventurers in the '30s searching said island before the volcano blows.



Sounds like this is directly from King Kong :?
  

Xaxaxe
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:42 pm 
 

Skull Island is definitely vaporware ... no mention at all at BGG, which lists everything that had a board and pieces.

Either way, though, that's one of the best parts about old game magazines: the advertisements. They are a real snapshot into what was happening in our little hobby at any given moment in time.
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ExTSR
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:42 pm 
 

Date please...

(The Acaeum's Official Pricelist for Dragons very conveniently omits ALL dates. Bizarre.)


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g026r
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:45 pm 
 

Dragon #86: June, 1984 according to http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=8133


"Reader, Carthegena was of the mind, that unto thoſe Three Things, which the Ancients held Impoſſible, there ſhould be added this Fourth ; To find a Book Printed without Errata's."
  

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Post Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:54 pm 
 

Danke. That explains some of it.

Skull Island would be Francois's kewl idea that never got completed.
We had a prototype, tho; full 3D skull-shaped adventure setting.

We were gonna try it as a double-use item -- both a toy (with figurines) and a setting (with encounter key etc, for use with miniatures).

iirc we never figured out how to make it big enough for a valid adventure setting (at 25mm scale it had very few areas), and as a toy the little figures would choke kids...

Concept & Adventure Design by Francois Marcella Froideval, prototype by Art Neckerman (head of TSR miniatures, formerly of Valiant). Never got further than the prototype, which prolly got thrown out unless Francois kept it.

Gee, I haven't thought about that one in years.
No idea about Dragon's Den tho.

Frank
  
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