Elsewhere I have set down, for whatever interest they may have in this, the 25th Century, my personal recollections of the 20th Century.

Now it occurs to me that my memoirs of the 25th Century may have an equal interest 500 years from now - particularly in the view of that unique perspective from which I have seen the 25th Century, entering it as I did, in one leap across a gap of 492 years.

With these words Philip Francis Nowlan began the career of one of science fiction's most famous and enduring heroes. In the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories Anthony Rogers succumbed to gas in a cave and woke up almost 500 years later.

The future presented in Armageddon 2419 was a bleak one. America was broken up into tribal entities that were scrapping for survival against the vicious Han.

The Han strike at what remains of America from giant death ray firing airships as the brave men and women of the tribes launch daring levitation belt raids against them.

The racism and Yellow Menace fears of the time period are sadly evident in the novel. The fear that a race of evil little yellow men would come across the sea and subjugate America with their superior technology fuels the story (thankfully we are past that now...)

However the stories of Anthony "Buck" Rogers (he would earn the nickname later in his career) did have an interesting open mindedness about the roles of the sexes. Wilma Deering was a very strong character for a 1920s story. In fact she was the equal of the men in her ability to wage war and fight. In many ways she is stronger than the Col. Wilma Deering character found in the TV show.

After the two Anthony Rogers novels (serialized) Buck Rogers would go on to have a long career in comic strips and movie serials. In the early 1980s several sequals were written by John Eric Holmes, Richard McEnroe, and John Silbersack.

In the 1990s TSR got the rights (through horribly convoluted internal politics) to publish Buck Rogers RPGs. This resulted in the Buck Rogers XXVC line of game products, novels and video games. They also published a lesser known RPG, High Adventure Cliffhangers (1995) that drew heavily from the comic strips and novels.

I managed to get my hands on a copy and Friday I will be subjecting my game group to the first of what I hope will become a series of classic game review oriented sessions.

Details to follow....