West End Games

West End Games is a company that makes role playing games. It was founded in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its current and past product lines include Paranoia, Torg, Shatterzone, Men In Black, DC Universe, Star Wars, Junta and Metabarons.

Related Topics:
Role playing game - 1974 - New York - Honesdale - Pennsylvania - Paranoia - Torg - Shatterzone - Men In Black - DC Universe - Star Wars - Junta - Metabarons

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Previously a producer of board wargames, the company began producing roleplaying games in 1984 with Paranoia. The high production values demanded by the wargames industry made them one of 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.

Related Topics:
Board - Wargame - 1984 - TSR - Columbia Pictures - Ghostbusters - D6 System

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Around 1987, the company acquired the license to produce a Star Wars RPG. Since the films had been released some years ago, and there was (at the time) no new media forthcoming, the success of these books came as a surprise. Their early work on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game established much of the groundwork of what later became the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and their sourcebooks are still frequently cited by Star Wars fans as reference material. Lucasfilm considered their sourcebooks so authoritative that when Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the Thrawn trilogy, he was sent a box of West End Games Star Wars books and directed to base his novel on the background material presented within. Zahn's trilogy, in turn, renewed interest in the franchise and provided many sales for West End Games. (In the early 90s, the FidoNet Star Wars Echo hosted a message forum for playing the Star Wars RPG on computer bulletin board systems, and several West End Games employees took part.)

Related Topics:
1987 - Star Wars - Star Wars Expanded Universe - Timothy Zahn - Thrawn trilogy - FidoNet Star Wars Echo - Bulletin board systems

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In July, 1998, despite very successful product lines West End Games went into bankruptcy as a result of poor financial management. The company lost all their licensed roleplaying game settings, most famously Star Wars (which was most of their business). The company liquidated most of its assets, including a large backstock of unsold books, and heavily restructured. A almost complete unwillingness to maintain any Internet presence also hurt their presence, while other gaming companies had web sites and message boards, West End Games only had a contact e-mail address through America Online, and only actually launched its web site while in bankruptcy proceedings as a way of liquidating stock.

Related Topics:
July - 1998 - Bankruptcy - America Online

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By 2004 they had completely restructured and were regularly producing new products, including a generic version of their "d6 System".

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Game designers affiliated with West End Games include Greg Costikyan and Ken Rolston.

Related Topics:
Greg Costikyan - Ken Rolston

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