In the Labyrinth (supplement)
In The Labyrinth is a 1980 role-playing game supplement for "The Fantasy Trip" published by Metagaming. An expanded version released in 2019 by Steve Jackson Games as part of the company's revival of "The Fantasy Trip". Contents. The Metagaming release of "In the Labyrinth" is the rest of "The Fantasy Trip" system's rules, including character creation, labyrinth generation, how to run an adventure, creature descriptions, and the weapons table. The Steve Jackson Games rerelease includes all the same character creating and game mastering rules in addition to the full combat and magic rules  published by Metagaming as "Advanced Melee" and "Advanced Wizard". Publication history. "In the Labyrinth" was written by Steve Jackson and published by Metagaming in 1980 as an 80-page book. Jackson planned for "The Fantasy Trip" to be released as a boxed set, but publisher Howard M. Thompson decided that the price was too high and so he split the product into four books: "Advanced Melee" (1980), which had the combat extensions to the "Melee" system, "Advanced Wizard" (1980), which had the magic extensions, "In the Labyrinth" (1980), which had the Games Master rules, and "Tollenkar's Lair" (1980), which  was a GM adventure. In 2017, Jackson reacquired the rights to "The Fantasy Trip" and the following year his company re-released "In the Labyrinth". The new, 178-page version adheres more closely to Jackson's original vision for "TFT", combining in a single tome the combat, magic, and game mastering rules that Metagaming had published across three books. Reception. Steve Perrin reviewed "In the Labyrinth" for "Different Worlds" magazine and stated that "this is a very readable and enjoyable work. As a guide for GMs who devise the fantasy worlds for others to adventure in, this is an excellent  reference, whether the users ever play "Melee" or "Wizard" or neither one." Eric Goldberg reviewed "In The Labyrinth" in "Ares Magazine" #3 and commented that ""ITL" is as good as any FRP system currently available commercially. It has the Metagaming hallmark of easy accessibility, but also has the limitations usually found in the company's game (which, to be fair, are caused in part by the system's size constraints)."