Help me identify this RPG set in a museum world?

July 9, 2010 4:09 PM

Help me identify this old RPG please.

This was an RPG with gameplay set in a museum gallery where the painting were worlds that you could enter into. It was familiar to Ultima (and may have been Ultima, but which one?) Can't remember which system it was (Commodore, Mac, etc.). Making it harder, the dates it could have been played ranged from the mid-80s to mid-90s.

posted by AmitinLA to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 answers total)

Going out on a limb here, but could it have been Museum Madness? That was an educational puzzle/adventure game, not an RPG, but the time period and setting match. You could enter and interact with any of the exhibits, some of which were art.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 4:46 PM on July 9, 2010

I have a very vague and probably wrong memory of one of the Bard's Tale games maybe starting this way?
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:10 PM on July 9, 2010

I don't believe it was Ultima.

Do you remember anything else about it? You didn't say what kind of game it was, etc. Was it first person like Eye of the Beholder or the Elder Scrolls games? Overhead like the Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights games? Single-character or party-based? Was there combat?

I know you may not remember much but if there is anything else you do remember it might help.

Oh! Shot in the dark: Are you certain they were paintings you could enter and not a deck of cards?
posted by Justinian at 5:15 PM on July 9, 2010

Thanks a lot for all the thoughts and feedback. It definitely wasn't educational. I'm pretty sure there were two different world views - classic "dungeon" game (a la NWN, or Ultima's dungeons) inside the museum, when you were going between hallways and looking at paintings, and then a "world" view for the worlds inside the paintings. I remember long hallways with numerous paintings in them and text narration that gave some additional information.
posted by AmitinLA at 5:23 PM on July 9, 2010

legacy of the ancients
posted by radiosilents at 5:57 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

radiosilents: "legacy of the ancients"

Seconding this. I was getting ready to type LOA before I finished your second sentence.
posted by barnacles at 6:06 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yes! Legacy of the Ancients! Thank you!
posted by AmitinLA at 6:09 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

barnacles - i read the question to my husband (radiosilents) and i got so far as "an RPG with gameplay set in a museum gallery where the painting were worlds" before he said "legacy of the ancients for the commodore 64". :)
posted by nadawi at 6:09 PM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

nadawi, radiosilents: I don't know you two, but I think I like ya. :) (mind you, I played it on the Apple ][c, but still!)
posted by barnacles at 6:46 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

hahaha - i actually left out the rest of his quote for shortness sake. "legacy of the ancients for the commodore 64 - it probably came out for other systems but i played it on the commodore."
posted by nadawi at 6:59 PM on July 9, 2010