In 1987, we made radio history in Norway with the show “Midnight Magic“. It was the first role-playing program on the air and the only program that had a thriving black marked for recordings where certain programs were sold for as much as NOK 400 (USD 100 today). Stein Halvorsen and I had great fun running the program for 3 years.
The format was simple and effective: Each program had a certain theme and a specific goal to reach within a 10-minute play. An introduction was played at the start of the program to give the listeners the background to the evening show. This could range from rescuing a fair maiden from the clutches of an evil dragon to disarming a nuclear warhead before the city was blown to dust. Four players were picked out of the 100 or so calling in to participate. Each player got to pick a few items to help them on the quest. And then the adventure begun.
One of us (me or Stein) was the Game Master telling the participant what he or she saw while the other played each encounter along the way. They could meet the troll under the bridge, the goblin in the woods, the pireate on the ship, the alien in the hangar, etc. Spontaneous acting on the air.
Having released the complete Amar RPG, I thought my next project would be releasing all the recovered Midnight Magic recordings. But alas, SAJ has kept the Midnight Magic site going and I could sit back and relax, write this blog post and simply point to the great Midnight Magic archive.
Ah, the memories 🙂
The cover of the original Mega Role-Playing System (Fantasy Edition) released in the UK by Bent Brakas an me the same year as Midnight Magic started airing.
Geir Isene - uncut 
I totally get you Geir. Ahhhh. The sheer exhilaration of seeing all that creative input, arousing and engendering even further of same, in the hands of others.
— Pretty satisfying stuff, that — all things considered, hey?? 🙂
This program format is an evergreen, it can be available even in our days, not only in 1987!
Takk for reisen tilbake til 1987… Jeg var en av de som kjøpte MEGA da det kom. Spesielt utsyrslisten var utmerket, og jeg brukte den til mange forskjellige spill (vi spilte mest MERP), men det var også en del gode ideer i “Skills”.
Jeg har siden den gang forresten laget mitt eget rollespill, MYFAROG (Mythic Fantasy Role-playing Game), som er tilgjengelig fra Amazon.
Som du sier: Ah, the memories…
PS. Jeg Googlet navnet ditt fordi jeg snakket med en på YouTube om rollespill, og tittelen MEGA kom opp. Da fant jeg altså denne WP siden.
Dessverre funker ikke linken nå og dermed kan man ikke høre på arkivet 😫
Glemte å si at jeg lærte om denne perlen via Krisemøte podcast, hvor de snakket om dette programmet.
🤗
Snufs. Skal se hva jeg kan ordne.