Steve Jackson has acquired the rights to his first role playing game design, The Fantasy Trip, originally published in 1980 by Metagaming Concepts.  Jackson plans to begin republishing the game starting next year.

Before founding Steve Jackson Games, Jackson did work for Metagaming Concepts, best known for producing small format games during the 1970’s and 80’s.  The Fantasy Trip was Jackson’s first foray into role playing game design, well before the creation of his more famous GURPS. 

The rights to The Fantasy Trip remained with Metagaming Concepts after Jackson left that company, including the eight books that Jackson wrote himself:  Melee, Wizard, Death Test, Death Test 2, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In the Labyrinth, and Tollenkar’s Lair.  Steve Jackson announced today that the rights to those eight books have now reverted to him.

Steve Jackson Games intends to re-release The Fantasy Trip in a new, updated format, but Jackson has stated that widespread changes to the game rules are not planned.  A specific release schedule for The Fantasy Trip materials has not yet been determined.  However, in a forum post related to the subject, Jackson hinted at a possible Kickstarter-funded version of Melee in 2018.

2017 was the 40th Anniversary for another Jackson design originally published by Metagaming Concepts, Ogre (see “Steve Jackson Plans OP Program for ‘Ogre’”).