Melee (game)

Melee is a simple man-to-man combat boardgame released in 1977 by Metagaming.

History

Melee was originally released as Pocket Microgame #3 by Metagaming, which released a number of small games in ziplocked bags. The game came with a small empty hex map, counter sheet of men and monsters, and a 17-page rulebook. In 1979, magic was added to the game system with the release of Wizard (pocket Microgame #6), and in 1980 the system was turned into a fantasy role playing system (known as the Fantasy Trip) with the release of In the Labyrinth, Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard, three magazine sized publications. Over the next two years, several modules were released for the system, called Microquests.

Despite the title of this page, Melee was never owned by Steve Jackson Games. However, Melee was designed by Steve Jackson himself, who later founded Steve Jackson Games. After Metagaming went out of business, Steve Jackson's GURPS borrowed heavily from his Melee, first role-playing effort, with strength, dexterity and intelligence (add in Wizard) being the primary abilities that determined combat results.

Gameplay

Every figure had a strength and dexterity attribute. Strength allowed one to use big weapons which increased the damage one inflicted in combat and also served as how much damage one could take, while dexterity determined how likely one was to hit one's opponent. They totalled to 24 when added together. Armor could be worn, which would reduce the amount of damage taken in combat while lowering one's dexterity.