Item - The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game

I was a Star Wars kid, until one day, my parents (when I was far too young) took me in to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. After that, I traded light sabres for treasure hunting, so I was a perfect candidate for an Indiana Jones role-playing game (I also played D&D and Marvel Super Heroes). The game was introduced at the right time, after The Temple of Doom solidified the franchise (but before The Last Crusade would turn the concept into a comedy farce -- a fun film but it destroyed any sense of seriousness to the franchise).

The game featured Indiana Jones and a few sidekicks on an adventure, often culled from the comics. The system was based on a percentile die system (0-100) and was heavily focused on combat. It had one clever innovation, which was a chart to determine where a wound took place on the body. If you rolled a 62, and got a medium wound, you would then reverse the numbers, 26, and consult a chart to see that it was a wound in the arm. The location affected the consequences, as a serious wound to the chest or foot would have different consequences.

The game doesn't seem to have been particularly successful. I'd guess this was due to the role playing limitations. There was really only one character to be, Indy, rather than getting saddled with Jock, the pilot, or Wu Han, the guy that got killed off at the start of Temple of Doom. There was no real character creation, or motivation to do so. So no adventuring party to speak of.

I recall playing as the judge (DM) with a friend, and he bought Indy a submachine gun. The idea of Indy walking around with a Tommy gun just went against the grain. Indiana Jones was probably better suited to individual gamebooks, like Find Your Fate.

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