Talk:Starfaring

Notability

As the "first science fiction rpg" (I was able to ref that claim), this would be good to rescue, but right now outside the one ref I found we have nothing. Can anyone dig something, maybe some old American review? Pyramid, etc.? Ping User:BOZ, User:Guinness323, User:VickKiang, User:Daranios, User:ReaderofthePack. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:44, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

I'm not sure how much more Appelcline says about this game, but I can check the book tomorrow. BOZ (talk) 12:02, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

• I'm not really finding anything. I think that this may deserve an extra sentence in the creator's article if this ends up as a merge/redirect. It looks like it was relatively obscure even back then. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 15:03, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

• Being the first science fiction rpg, it would be great if we could preserve this as a stand-alone article. With the improvments made by Guinness323 and others, and considering that the "Publication history" section also contains some commentary, I think we are beyond WP:WHYN and can keep it. Daranios (talk) 10:45, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

• Agreed. I deleted the notability tag, but it can be re-added if the consensus here disagrees with our reasoning. Rray (talk) 13:57, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

First Science Fiction Role Playing Game?

The Wikipedia article on Metamorphosis Alpha says that it is the first science fiction role playing game. Scott Haley (talk) 23:40, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

@Scott Haley: Good spot! That's a really interesting case, as each article has a secondary source backing up the claim to first sci-fi rpg: The Generation Starship in Science Fiction says Metamorphosis Alpha, the "Timeline Tree of Tabletop Role-Playing Games" says Starfaring. The Wikipedia articles say publications were July 1976 for the former and August 1976 for the latter, giving Metamorphosis Alpha priority, but I see neither month backed up by a source. Does anyone have more insight? Daranios (talk) 18:07, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

Don't some of the sources call Metamorphosis Alpha the first science fantasy game instead? BOZ (talk) 13:17, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

@BOZ: Indeed, both The Generation Starship in Science Fiction and David M. Ewalt's Of Dice and Men say that, that's where the decision problem comes in. But not both sides can be right, can they, so this Catalog of Copyright Entries decides from me that Starfaring has to be first, being listed in August as compared to Metamorphosis Alpha in November. I guess we should note the discrepancy as a footnote at Metamorphosis Alpha. As far as I can see, those two are the only sci-fi rpgs from 1976 listed in "Timeline Tree of Tabletop Role-Playing Games", so we could either all Metamorphosis the second (but with a secondary source directly stating that) or one of the first sci-fi rpgs. Daranios (talk) 15:26, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

We could always say "some sources identify it as... while others say..." BOZ (talk) 15:28, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

I guess, but so far the "July 1976" simply seems to be an error in the Metamorphosis Alpha article I'd like to correct. - Except if anyone knows anything more why the document copyrighting should not be the publication date or so... Daranios (talk) 15:34, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Hah, found it: Both Designers & Dragons: The '70s, p. 25, and the Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series 1976: July-December p. 2992 say Metamorphosis Alpha was actually published in November 1976, while the same Catalog, p. 3051, confirms Starfaring publication in Auguast 1976. So Starfaring it is and we whould correct the Metamorphosis Alpha article. Daranios (talk)

I've made a note on the discrepancy now. Daranios (talk) 19:26, 19 July 2023 (UTC)