Powers & Perils

Powers & Perils is a fantasy role-playing game published as a boxed set that contained five rulebooks, a pad of character sheets, and dice.

[1] Through a four-part adventure, the player characters become aware that the lich Nilgeranthrib seeks to become ruler of Thaliba, and they must endeavor to destroy the creature.

[7] After the widespread interest in Avalon Hill's entry into the role-playing game market, Powers & Perils was received with disappointment by players and critics alike.

Fantasy Gamer called it "the target of derision from many quarters within the gaming industry: Its rules are condemned as overly complicated and chart-heavy; its layout and graphics are generously described as uninspired.

Costello called the time he worked through the booklets "one of the most tedious game activities I've had to do ... the rules start to read like a Mad Math Professor trying desperately to communicate the dizzying complexity of his beloved subject.

"[5] In the September 1984 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #57), Adrian Knowles commented, "Overall, P&P introduces some nice ideas which can be adapted readily into other systems.

"[9] In the October 1984 edition of Imagine (Issue 19), Mike Dean stated that "I have my doubts as to whether P&P will make it as a widely popular RPG, but I am sure it will gain a considerable and well-deserved following.

"[7] In the January–February 1985 edition of Different Worlds (Issue #38), Troy Christensen was unimpressed, saying that the game "is lost in the limbo somewhere between the complexity of Chivalry & Sorcery and the simplicity of Dungeons & Dragons."

In contrast, he found combat too simplistic, and commented that "With a combination of simplicity and complexity mixed so unequally and haphazardly, the game seems ungainly and plays roughly."