UPDATE: Tunnels & Trolls

A NEW AGE? FOR TUNNELS & TROLLS
By Alex Ness
April 6, 2026

I've interviewed some of the people who worked on the Flying Buffalo's game Tunnels & Trolls, shared reviews and considerations of the same. In 1993 I was alone and the world was far away. My wife was with her family for the holiday and I had finished all of my course work as both a Graduate teaching assistant and a grad student at my beloved history program at North Dakota State University. Solitaire T&T was very easy to learn, flowed well and actually had such a flavor that even in the case of solitaire, it felt epic and fun. Flying Buffalo's owner Rick Loomis sadly passed away, but he and game designer and writer Ken St Andre, artists Steve Crompton and Liz Danforth all joined together and created an elevated product.

Over time since that time I've still RPGed, but less intensively. However, I have become friends or friendly acquaintances with Ken and Steve. As such I've interviewed them, enjoyed their products and saw other games and various RPG systems, but preferred T&T. Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls came out a decade ago and reading through it, game testing it led me to prefer this over most RPG systems, and easily worth the series.

REBELLION UK games purchased the game May 2023. I had hopes, but nothing of substance immediately happened. But then recently came a Kickstarter to drive the first new edition under Rebellion's hands. I didn't post the news of a kickstarter when it first appeared, as I was mostly offline. When someone shared the link with me, I was dealing with the issues regarding my health over the last five plus years. As I am doing better, more or less, I took a look and read various PR for the event. I absolutely do like the look of the new product. I am curious if it captures the original product's good points but I don't think of it as being a new edition, as a new system built upon the foundations of work that led it to still be played, 50 years later.

KEN ST ANDRE
Interview one https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2015/06/tunnels-trolls-creator-ken-st-andre.html
Interview two https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2022/06/ken-st-andre-answers-questions-on.html

LIZ DANFORTH
https://www.lizdanforth.com/

STEVE CROMPTON
Interview https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2024/03/steve-crompton-artist-writer-game-maker.html

RICK LOOMIS Head of FLYING BUFFALO Games
http://rickloomispbm.com/

TUNNELS & TROLLS THE NEW AGE THE  KICKSTARTER

I look forward to seeing the game arrive after being funded, and perhaps playing it as well.  Good luck to Rebellion UK Games and thank you to Flying Buffalo for support of Tunnels & Trolls.

LINKS:

MY POETRY AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com 
HERE: Poplitiko.Blogspot.Com 
My published works: https://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2024/09/published-works-of-alex-ness.html

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Contact email: Alexanderness63@gmail.com

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