Daredevils is a pulp magazine tabletop role-playing game set in the 1930s. It was written by Robert Charrette and Paul Hume and published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1982. The game comes with a rule book, a scenario book, a character sheet, and a three panel game master screen. Daredevils is Charrette and Hume's third game of a series. The first two games were Bushido and Aftermath!. All three games feature similar game mechanics, but those of Daredevils are simpler than those of Aftermath! Daredevils was not popular. In his book Designers & Dragons, Appelcline said, "It was probably still too awkward and it was only supported with four supplements."
Contents
Description
The game consists of a sixty-four page rulebook which describes the characters' abilities, their careers, skills, movements, forms of combat (with an emphasis on firearms) and vehicles. There are chapters which give an overview of life in the 1930s; describe the creation of the game; and list the non-player characters. There is also a thirty-two page book entitled Adventures which describes four mini-scenarios. In addition to these items, the packaging contains a game master's screen.
Setting
Daredevils is set in the 1930s. The player takes the persona of a detective cum pulp fiction hero. The game is based on the adventures of Pulp magazine characters such as Doc Savage and The Shadow. The main game, however fantastic, is set in a realistic historic world. The supplementary adventures involve other scenarios which were popular in the pulp magazines of the 1930s, such as lost worlds, exotic locales, and supernatural horror.
Reception
In 1984, in The Name of the Game feature of the White Dwarf magazine (issue 55), the author Marcus Rowland said, "The complications of this game's character generation and combat systems make it unsuitable for beginners, but experienced players may enjoy it."
Dragon magazine published a lengthy review of Daredevils. The magazine compared the game to the adventures of Indiana Jones. The reviewer, Ken Ralston, concluded that the rules were complex for a casual gamer but appropriate for a gamer with an interest in the pulp fiction era.
Daredevils received positive comments from Paul Cockburn of Imagine magazine. He compared the game favorably to the earlier Gangbusters game. He praised the realism of Daredevils in comparison to Call of Cthulhu. Cockburn also compared the game to the adventures of Indiana Jones. The editors of Different Worlds magazine, made similar comments but criticised the rules for being too complex.
In the pages of his book, Role-Playing Mastery, the Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax mentions Daredevils and Bushido in his short list of notable role playing games.
James Maliszewski, a role playing game designer, summarised the critics' findings in a review of Daredevils.