A look back...

One of the few things I end up doing in my spare time is play and collect games. Since 1979 one of the dominating game types in my life has been role playing games. It all started that Christmas with Traveller, by the now defunct Game Designers Workshop.

This gave me a chance to play the characters in my favorite science fiction books and movies. I could also make my own stories and adventures, bringing my friends along to be a part of the epic adventure. Over the years I have played dozens of role playing games, and owned more that I never played. Dungeons & Dragons; Boot Hill; DragonQuest; Gamma World; Top Secret; Man, Myth & Magic; The Morrow Project; Villains & Vigilantes; Marvel Superheroes; GURPS; Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes; Call of Cthulhu; Paranoia; Bunnies & Burrows; Champions; Gangbusters; Empire of the Petal Throne; and the list goes on and on.

Lately, during a great deal of the 1990s, I concentrated on just a few game systems for RPGs. First was GURPS from Steve Jackson Games. I played or ran a great many GURPS games in all sorts of genres. That is what made the game system so useful. At one point I was so involved with GURPS that I was playtesting game books and even wrote some new material for one. Then I sort of burned out on gaming and had a bit of a falling out with one of my gaming group members. Just a tip: gaming with a girlfriend is fun, but potentially dangerous. Gaming with an ex-girlfriend is subject to all sorts of bad things. I could take days describing this.

So, after several years of no gaming, I had a group of people interested in playing the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The third edition of the game was just coming out, so I bought the core books, read them, and started a campaign. That lasted for a couple of years, until scheduling conflicts just made it impossible. It was a lot of fun, and I would gladly start that campaign up again with all the quirky characters it contained.

Then a group made up of my roommates and a number of friends from the Minnesota Renaissance Festival asked me if I would be interested in taking over the DM role for their group. They had burned out on their other DM, who I feel was also needing a long break from DMing. So once again I took up the reins of DMing with gusto.

I bought and read a great many D&D and d20 related books, and even started playtesting again. One playtest, for a game about Robin Hood, lead to an offer to be the editor of the game. It was a couple of years in the making, but Sherwood: The Legend of Robin Hood from Battlefield Press is now out and we are even thinking of revising it for a second edition.

Since then my focus seems to have been on a game called Gaslight: Victorian Era Campaign Setting, also from Battlefield Press. I could go on and on about it now, but I think I will wait till next time to talk about game writing, playtesting, and imposing deadlines.

Also, let me know what you would like me to talk about. Would people like a contest? Is anyone actually reading this? Comments are welcome, and will actually be read. Even the bad ones.