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| The huge Role Aids line |
Darwin Bromley has died on Tuesday, according to the Icv2 web site, another gaming legend of old leaving us forever. Mr. Bromley was known mainly as the founder of Mayfair Games, the US publisher that started with the Empire Builder boardgame, launching Mayfair Games involvement with railroad games that took the publisher in bizarre directions (for example the Iron Dragon and Lunar Rails games, one in a fantasy world and the other on the Moon). Many gamers have fond memories of the Role Aids RPG line too, the very first series of adventures and sourcebooks using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons trademark without the permission of TSR. This caused a legal battle but mr. Bromley, being an attorney, was far better equipped than most publishers to fight TSR's lawyers. Another successful product line was the DC Heroes Roleplaying Game (Mayfair's advertisements comparing DC Heroes RPG and Marvel Super Heroes RPG boxes' contents were particularly impressive...), while forays in the CCGs world did not go very well (Sim City CCG, anyone?). After some difficult periods, due to softness in the RPG market and failure in the CCGs field, Mayfair found salvation in 'Euro style' boardgames, being the very first US publisher of Settlers of Catan in 1996 and demonstrating mr. Bromley's vision (before Mayfair Games some German games were occasionally translated by Avalon Hill). Mr. Bromley was also involved in the publication of Gameplay magazine, a short lived general gaming founded by Tim Kask after his departure from TSR and Dragon Magazine.