In The Labyrinth

The Fantasy Trip
Metagaming released In The Labyrinth in 1980 and brought The Fantasy Trip line of products to the point of being a complete role-playing system. Previously they had released the Microgames Melee and Wizard separately which were a stand alone combat system and magic system respectively. In The Labyrinth says both those products are necessary to play as the rules for combat and magic are not repeated in this thin paper bound booklet.
In 1980 The Fantasy Trip had a lot going for it. The system, written by Steve Jackson who would soon found his own game company, Steve Jackson Games, was intuitive and clearly written. The illustrated examples were informative and the system had a tactical, wargames element to it that appealed to many. The Microgames came with hex map and counters, which were really required to make the best use of the system.
The group I gamed with in the early eighties played a lot of The Fantasy Trip. It hit the sweet spot for many of us with the right mix of complexity and ease-of-play. The writing had an elegance that isn't usually seen in a rule system. The play advice was well above the standards of the day and re-reading publisher Howard Thompson's GM advice section I am amazed at how succinctly (in 1980!) he captures many of the finer points of good GM-ing. Despite some issues, this early system holds up well in comparison with games written much later. I still play The Fantasy Trip in solo mode.
What The Fantasy Trip lacked was a boxed set presentation. The store, and we are talking bricks and mortar back in 1980, had to stock at least three products, the two Microgames and In The Labyrinth. An advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard soon made their appearance and that brought the core products up to 5 items. The consumer had to collect three to five separate items. All the booklets were paper covered and none had really durable covers. (In The Labyrinth is basically a magazine format.) The Microgames held up best, but that was probably due to their small pamphlet size format. A box containing all the core material in one or more booklets, a couple hex map sheets and the cut-out counters from the Microgames would have improved the game immensely.
After releasing eight solo MicroQuests and Tollenkar's Lair, a challenging group adventure for The Fantasy Trip, Metagaming closed shop in 1983. After trying to acquire rights to The Fantasy Trip, Steve Jackson took some of his best ideas from the system, added additional new ideas and presented the hobby with GURPS, a system with a large following and that remains in production to date. Steve Jackson Games put GURPS in a box. The first 2 Basic Set boxed editions came as two rule booklets (2nd Ed. had stiff card covers), a bundle of charts and hex maps and a set of cut-out Cardboard Heroes counters.