Hi there,
Just signed up again, after an abscence of QUITE a while, so I thought I'd
introduce myself...
My name's John Kovalic. Currently, I draw a comic strip and comic book called
DORK TOWER. I've been a gamer for about 20 year now (gaaah!). I'm 36, which
bemuses me. A year ago, someone referred to me as a "veteran of the gaming
industry," which scares the hell out of me.
I was born in Manchester, England, but am a dual national of Great Britain and
the United States. The first gaming I ever did was miniatures, with
1/72nd scale Airfix tanks and solidiers. Then I found out about board
gaming with SPI's Panzer '44. I got into Dungeons and Dragons in high school
in England (with the little white boxed version). I soon got hooked on
Traveller (the little black box version). Games companies then stopped
putting out little boxed versions of anything, so I had to move on. :-)
Both Dungeons and Dragons and Traveller, by the way, were bought at Games
Workshop's Hammersmith shop, when it was a *real* games store...and a GREAT
one at that! Brits on the list will know what I'm talking about.
My degree was in Economics. I've got a minor in Astrophysics. I've never used
either. They allowed me to skip two out of three classes at college
(the University of London/Queen Mary College followed by the University
of Wisconsin) and still get "A"s. This meant I could hang out at the student
newspapers and draw cartoons and play Traveller.
In real life, I used to be a journalist for the State Journal in Madison,
Wisconsin. I quit the paper three weeks before my wedding (three years ago),
to take the plunge and concentrate on cartooning. (There's an interesting
story about my wedding, and how I got my wife into the pages of the National
Enquirer, on the "Personal" section of my web site at
http://kovalic.com/kovalic/ . It's too weird to go into here).
My first professional gaming industry experience was back in 1995, when Scott
Haring asked me to take over the reins of the venerable MURPHY'S RULES. One of
my proudest achievements in the biz, up to this point, is
that I'm now the feature's longest-serving artist.
I don't have a lot of time to game, anymore, so I tend to be selective about
what I play. FULL THRUST is a passion. My roleplaying group is the inspiration
for DORK TOWER. When its my turn to run games, they tend to be Call of Cthulhu
and GURPS.
I play a lot of historical miniatures games, and Madison, Wisconsin (where I
now reside) has a VERY healthy miniatures scene. I play very few Collectible
Card Games, and one of these days I *will* go through my old Magic cards and
sell them off. My wife is a good sport about all this, and accepts gaming. She
herself has learned to enjoy train games and "Kill Dr.Lucky," although she'll
never roleplay again after I foolishly used Call of Cthulhu as her
introduction to that side of the hobby.
On the plus side, she DID buy her wedding dress using proceeds from the beta
Black Lotus card she had. If THAT'S not a geek story, I don't know what is.
One day, I'd like to try the other GZG games. But until I have the time, Full
Thrust is a great way for me to relax. I've used it with GZG minis (my fleets
are NAC and FSE), and for Star Trek and Star Wars MicroMachine minis. I'm
looking forward to a Battlefleet Gothic conversion. And the Mecha rules
fascinate me. We'll see...
Anyway, hope this wasn't too long-winded! (And Hi, Jon!)
Wow... Talk about being able to "rub elbows"... These mailing lists are cool,
eh? Nice and very interesting info, Mr.Kovalic. Welcome to the list. (though I
am by no means an official greeter):o)
God bless,
- Buddy
> Buddy Chamberlain wrote:
Hmmm, I don't think the official greeter job exists, unless Matt S.
wants to create it? (8-)
J.
Hi John,
Welcome Aboard!
Actually, I'm 31 myself and fondly remember some of the days of which you
spoke.
Have fun,
Though I doubt it will be as envied a position as that of the Wal-Mart
greeter.;o)
(sorry to all you people on the international scene. I think that joke would
only apply to Americans, and probably only some of them)
God bless,
- Buddy
---------------------------------------------
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Referal #: BXL-474
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[quoted original message omitted]
> Hi there,
[snip]
Hi John, good to have you back!
Keenly awaiting Dork Tower 4's arrival this side of the pond.... :-)
Talk to you soon,
Welcome aboard John!
Call of Cthulu as an INTRO to RPGs? heh Almost as amusing as a friend of mine
who, er, ah, was undergoing, er, um "treatment" and was running a Call of
Cthulu game in his ward. The same Call of Cthulu that has that little aspect
of your character losing Sanity Points...
Life is funny....
-=Kr'rt
Resident Kra'Vak CofC Tag Skills: Hide, Running, Dodge (In that order)
> She herself has learned to enjoy train games and "Kill Dr.
I got into Dungeons and Dragons in high
> school in England (with the little white boxed version). I soon got
<snip>
> My degree was in Economics. I've got a minor in Astrophysics. I've
Hi John!
Welcome (back) to the list! Always nice to welcome a "kindred spirit" -
I share the memories of the little black Traveller books and the joys of
exploring the universe through them... I still have all mine, including a big
pile of the supplements. D&D in 8th grade and onwards, Traveller, Star
Frontiers, GangBusters, Boot Hill, and even "The Morrow Project" (anybody
else remember that one - with it's almost-photocopied rules) - and
skipping classes to sneak off to the library or the cafeteria and huddle over
maps,
dice and endless bits of note paper. Good fun, that time was.
I'm sure there are more than a few of us out there with degrees collecting
dust on the wall :) Mine is in History and Geography, and I'm now an
Industrial Designer.
Anyway - welcome on board.
[quoted original message omitted]
On Tue, 08 Jun 1999 12:18:43 -0500 (EST), "Just when I was getting used
to yest
> erday, along came today" writes:
(anybody
> else remember that one - with it's almost-photocopied rules) -
This is starting to straw pretty far off topic, but I can't resist a Morrow
topic.
Morrow project was a great game, for its time. We ran a number of full
campaigns, even using some of the published stuff. Mostly very very military,
but with the occasional good bit of role playing.
(Must remember, when trapped on the second floor of a wooden house by a load
of bad guys, don't roll white phosperious (sp?) grenades down the stairway.)
> On Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:20:01 -0400, Jerry Han writes:
Hay, if someone wants the job, they're welcome to it. These days I have
trouble just getting time to read everything I want to while still getting
work done.
> In a message dated 6/8/99 9:54:03 AM EST, john@kovalic.com writes:
<< I've been a gamer for about 20 year now (gaaah!). I'm 36, which bemuses me.
A year ago, someone referred to me as a "veteran of the gaming industry,"
which scares the hell out of me.
> [quoted text omitted]
I've been board war gaming since 1960 (AH Midway) and miniature wargaming
using you fellow countryman (Donald Featherstone"s) Rules since 1963. Yeah
Airfix! I still game using 1/72nd plastics and am heavily into ACW and
Napoleonics using those wonderful things. I mostly play historicals using
Volley and Bayonet! The selection of plastics these days is marvelous.
<<
Both Dungeons and Dragons and Traveller, by the way, were bought at Games
Workshop's Hammersmith shop, when it was a *real* games store...and a GREAT
one at that! Brits on the list will know what I'm talking about.
> [quoted text omitted]
I'm not British, but I've heard the shop was as good as White Dwarf before
they disavowed the existence of all other games besides their home brew
-
none of which have I ever played nor want to!
<
I don't have a lot of time to game, anymore, so I tend to be selective about
what I play. FULL THRUST is a passion. My roleplaying group is the inspiration
for DORK TOWER. When its my turn to run games, they tend to be Call of Cthulhu
and GURPS.
> [quoted text omitted]
I never much cared for GURPS, but COC is my all time favorite RPG which I've
had ever since the early eighties when it first came out.
<V. FUNNY THING YOU SHOULD MENTION! My wife has no patience for horor games
either - must be a female thing.
<
One day, I'd like to try the other GZG games. But until I have the time, Full
Thrust is a great way for me to relax. I've used it with GZG minis (my fleets
are NAC and FSE), and for Star Trek and Star Wars MicroMachine minis. I'm
looking forward to a Battlefleet Gothic conversion. And the Mecha rules
fascinate me. We'll see...
> [quoted text omitted]
All the GZG mini games are well worth buying to support your gaming habit.
Space Gothic is Games Workshop isn't it? If so I will continue to boycot as I
object to their hideous pricing, their elitis attitude and their rather more
than shady business practices. I consider Brian Ansell a gentleman however,
and think he made a wise move when he sold out of that evil empire and went
to skirmish and wargaming interests - Check out his historical minis for
Old West, Victorian gaming and such one of the best lines available.
> This is starting to straw pretty far off topic, but I can't resist a
HA!! I went to West Virginia University and actually played the Morrow
project with the games designer!!!!! God, I can't remember his name
(this was in the 80's)....... All I remember was...he was SO damn good we
often forgot to roll dice!! LOL
Someone look on their copy and tell me his name damn it!!!
> I share the memories of the little black Traveller books and the joys
(anybody
> else remember that one - with it's almost-photocopied rules) -
The Morrow Project! Yep, I've got it. With a couple of modules. Never played
it. Picked it up eons ago in college, thought I'd get some people involved,
and....phut. Made for some fun reading (instead of doing, oh,
say, my physics homework ;-)
> I'm sure there are more than a few of us out there with degrees
Mine's in Astronomy, and I'm only kinda sorta using it (it gave me a foot in
the door for my job with the Hubble project, but since then all I've
been doing is computer stuff, with a leetle astro-research on the side)
Mk
> In a message dated 6/8/99 12:51:01 PM EST, KOCHTE@stsci.edu writes:
<<
The 3rd ed book I have lists three: Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler, and Richard
Tucholka (though the copyright thing is 'signed' by the first two). H N Voss
did some of the artwork and a few of the modules.
> [quoted text omitted]
Richard did some work on it but he is the founder of Tri-Tac gaming
which publishes Bureau 13 and other great RPG's. Those of you on the DC list
or DG list should check out Bureau 13 as characters are members of the
fictitious 13th Bureau of the US Justice Department founded by Abraham Lincoln
to defend the United States from Supernatural threats. Well written with
tongue firmly in cheek. it's a lighter hearted game than DC or COC
> Jerry wrote:
> HA!! I went to West Virginia University and actually played the
Kevin Dockery. I played with him several times at the Oakland University
campus in Michigan in the early '80's. Although, wasn't Richard Tucholka also
involved in that?
You have a copy of THE YTHRI??? Can you scan the cover and put it up
somewhere? I used to love looking at that game on the shelf at the Dragon's
Lair in Detroit, but that was back when I had NO money, so I never did pick it
up.
> M 'who just found his old, unplayed copy of "The Ythri"' k
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, John Kovalic wrote:
Hiya John! Don't worry, there are quite a few of us in the "over 40" club on
this ML. No need to be scared...
Since everyone is doing a gaming bio in response to your "hello" post, I might
as well toss my info into the void.
Let's see, I'm 43 and I've been playing games ever since I can remember. My
father was a frustrated Bridge and Pinochle player, so I got "tutored" in card
and board games from *real* early on - whether I wanted to or not <g>.
Hint Of The Day: Do *not* try and teach your 6 year old son to play tournament
rules Bridge - having been on the receiving end of that treatment, I can
tell you from personal experience that it does *not* work.:) However,
Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Canasta, and other rummy varients work just fine at that
age.
I started playing Chess in 5th grade, and then went on to all of those lovely
Avalon Hill and SPI games: Luftwaffe, Midway, Third Reich, Platoon, Squad
Leader, Panzerblitz, Wolfpack, Army Group Center, and the like. Too bad I gave
away my copy of Starforce:Alpha Centauri about 10 years ago.:(
I got involved in D&D from 75 to 80, and burned role playing thoroughly out of
my system with that. Played some sand table microarmor for a few years, then I
got involved in computer gaming. Played Battletech in the late 80s, and I'm
just not getting back to miniatures gaming these last two years. Currently,
I'm playing Heavy Gear, Full Thrust, Car Wars (a little), and starting in on
Clan War.
Know of any good 28mm Highlander figs?:)
Slightly Mad Jerry pens:
> HA!! I went to West Virginia University and actually played the Morrow
The 3rd ed book I have lists three: Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler, and Richard
Tucholka (though the copyright thing is 'signed' by the first two). H N Voss
did some of the artwork and a few of the modules.
M 'who just found his old, unplayed copy of "The Ythri"' k
In a message dated 6/8/99 1:40:15 PM EST, Hauptman@concentric.net
writes:
<<
Let's see, I'm 43 and I've been playing games ever since I can remember. My
father was a frustrated Bridge and Pinochle player, so I got "tutored" in card
and board games from *real* early on - whether I wanted to or not <g>.
Hint Of The Day: Do *not* try and teach your 6 year old son to play tournament
rules Bridge - having been on the receiving end of that treatment, I
can tell you from personal experience that it does *not* work.:) However,
Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Canasta, and other rummy varients work just fine at that
age.
> [quoted text omitted]
My parents waited til I was 10 to teach me contract bridge - I used to
play duplicate years back, til I moved away from my favorite partner and just
never got back to playing. I did learn to count
2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-jack-Queen-King-Ace however.
I'll take it so long as I don't get severly beaten around the cranial area for
being late or missing someone.;o)
God bless,
- Buddy, the dude who goes home on weekends and has to wade through
hundreds of emails on Mondays.
---------------------------------------------
Get paid for surfing the Web! (I'm dead serious!) www.alladvantage.com
Referal #: BXL-474
---------------------------------------------
[quoted original message omitted]
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, -MWS- wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, John Kovalic wrote:
club on
> this ML. No need to be scared . . .
there are some of us who are barely embryonic, too. it's sort of a meeting of
two worlds out here...
btw, i am laughing my sitting organ off at this thread, so i've archived some
of it:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~univ0938/gzg/dinosaurs.html
i'll add more if it continues.
> Since everyone is doing a gaming bio in response to your "hello" post,
heh, maybe us youngsters should do the same. "i learned to read six weeks ago
and started off playing Gorkamorka...".
i'm only just 19 (but i have learned to walk, and i can just about write my
own name:), but i bought Full Thrust first edition, when it came out as the
little orange rulebook plus the starter pack of nac and esu minis
along with the little cream-coloured scenario sheet (which clearly
indicates that japan was highly integrated into the NAC, and as such is now
considered heretical:), which must have been 1992 or something. i
played it once or twice, then took up GW's Space Marine (first edition -
special actions for elite troops! off-table fire support! a genetic
engineering lab in the scenery kit!) until i was cured by rediscovering my
long-lost FT stuff. i never looked back.
tom
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, John Kovalic wrote:
Ach, are we all old? Maybe we play these particular games because we have
better taste when we're older...
And yes, I bought the original 3 black books too... what's more, I kept them
in mint condition. And before that I played D&D in, 1982?.
I stopped playing games when I went to University, primarily because I didn't
have any time. It never occcured to me to restart, until I saw a mention of
Ogre on the net (about 2 years ago) The only rules easily available were Ogre
Miniatures, which I bought. Naturally, I had to buy miniatures, at which point
I discovered GZG minis.
I was choked (after my 3rd game) of Ogre that there were no rules for
flanking, so I bought Dirtside II, having heard many good things about the
rules, as well as being attracted to the unusually tasteful (for the genre)
cover. Naturally, things snowballed from there, so I bought Stargrunt (with
attendant miniatures). And then they released GURPS Traveller...
All of this is in a one room apartment, so I have had to develop folding
gaming tables, and handy miniatures hiding compartments throughout.
Fortunately for me, my wife actually plays all these games with me, so I
actually get to use all this stuff, instead of just collecting it with
monomaniacal frenzy.
As an added bonus, working in the interlibrary loan office has shown me that
most gaming materials are archived in some library or another, although they
generally won't lend any attendant miniatures. Try before you buy...
Ach,
Well, back in my day, we just had dirt. Nothing else. Just dirt. Roleplaying
was conducted by sitting around in a circle, and scratching in the dirt with
your finger. Adding rocks and twigs and bits of mammoth bone were significant
innovations.
Actually, I'm only 30 so I'm just barely into the "older person" category
on the list - I didn't realize that there were so many old guys <G>
<duck>
> there are some of us who are barely embryonic, too. it's sort of a
> heh, maybe us youngsters should do the same. "i learned to read six
I think it would be safe to divide the list membership up into "PRSW" and
"POSW", and "PASW".
That would be "Pre-Star Wars", "Post-Star Wars", and "Parent at Star
Wars".
If, like young Tom here, you were born after the release of Star Wars, you may
indeed be able to write your own name. Maybe. You probably don't have any
recollections of the boom in the Role Playing world at the end of the 70's and
beginning of the 1980's. You won't remember GW as just another gaming company,
and probably won't remember the original releases of all the great Steve
Jackson small plastic boxed games like CarWars, Ogre, GEV, and supplements
like TruckStop...
OK, so this thread is desperately off topic, but what the heck. It's generated
more traffic on the list today than we've seen in a while, and it's nice to
take a break from being "official" for a while:)
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999 ScottSaylo@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/8/99 1:40:15 PM EST, Hauptman@concentric.net
I never did pick up bridge (for some odd reason:). However, Pinochle turned
out to be a really fun game - 3 handed single deck cutthroat with a
widow is just too much fun to have with cards.
> I did learn to count 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-jack-Queen-King-Ace however.
Hehehe - try that with a Pinochle deck, and you'd learn to count
"9-9-10-10-jack-jack-queen-queen-king-king-ace-ace"! <g>
Good to see you post again, Tom. You ever gonna reply ot my last ideas email?
:o)
Though I have you beat in infancy when it comes to minaitures.;o)
I am 18, and I've already posted my RPG experience (I won't go into my
computer game experience in detail. I started at age 3, my dad's run a
computer company since 85, and I've actually worked here for almost as long
as I've role-played), but my miniatures experience is much, much
shorter. I discovered all those beautifully painted WAB minis last May on the
'net.
I
was drooling, to say the least. Visions of just as well painted miniatures
with just as good scenery on *my* dinig room table floated through my head. I
found a local group who had just dropped WFB for 40K. I demoed one game with
them and found myself sorely disappointed both with the game and the local
group. I still decided to pursue it. I bought 10 Terminators and 10 Marines
and two Jetbikes (it was a slightly illegal hybrid army. heheheh). I then went
to Origins'98, which was my first con ever, and was like a kid in a toy store
on their birthday. there I discovered the relative low prices of historical
miniatures. I also discovered Warhammer Ancient Battles (not a GW product,
just made by some of their employees). So, I went home with a dozen Normans
and immediately switched my plans to
ancient/midieval wargaming. From there I found that I really, really
enjoy painting. I ended up getting a deal with Mr.KR of GeoHex to paint the
New Israeli Assault Troops (now visible on his web site), and in return he
thrust a copy of SGII into my hands. I was skeptical, due to it's general lack
of popularity, but I thought I'd give it a try. This was last month or so. I
sat down and played a game. Then I proceeded to play tow more games
the next day. I was hooked. SGII is by far the best modern/sci-fi
infantry game I've played yet. (which include it and 40K and Combat Zone) For
me, while I like the heroics of role playing, the realism of SGII is just so
addicting. <shrugs & grins> So there... I bet I'm one of the newest players on
this list.:o)
God bless,
- Buddy
---------------------------------------------
Get paid for surfing the Web! (I'm dead serious!) www.alladvantage.com
Referal #: BXL-474
---------------------------------------------
[quoted original message omitted]
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, Tom Anderson wrote:
"barely embryonic"? I qualify, but I don't like the term much...
> http://users.ox.ac.uk/~univ0938/gzg/dinosaurs.html
Love the file name. Tho' I suspect our resident dinosaurs won't...
All right, my 'gaming bio':
I'm 20, I've played board games & computer games for years, but few wargames
(Risk...) and no minis.
I've always liked minis, tho, and had a big model railroad setup for a
while. I wanted to get back into building stuff, and I wanted to _do_
more with it than you can with model railroads...
So I picked up a copy of DS2 about '95. The rest, as they say, is history...
I've now got an armoured regiment for ds2, three seperate companies of 15mm
troops for Stargrunt, and a whole wack of 15mm fantasy
figures. I also make what I've been told is very nice scenery - leftover
skills from model railroads. I like to have little detail scenery bits on the
battlefield...
Never got seduced by the Dark Si...I mean GW...although MoW tempted me. Then
they canned it, of course. Rotters.
In between gaming, I work for the local public library (great job) and study
for a BA in History. I read like mad, enjoy a good beer, and handcode HTML for
fun...
Next!
In a message dated 6/8/99 2:34:36 PM EST,
> thomas.anderson@university-college.oxford.ac.uk writes:
<<
> Since everyone is doing a gaming bio in response to your "hello"
post, I might
> as well toss my info into the void.
You think I'm old! I game with a guy named Richard Houston he is old Sam
Houston's great grandson! He's been in gaming since just before God said let
their be that new-fangled light! He has the old piano his grandad Temple
Houston shot full of holes in a saloon in Austin. He's best known for carving
casting and distributing Houston's Ships and Lyzarde's Grin Miniatures. He
finally retired from that endeavor recently. A fine gentleman gamer -
but he don't hold with them new fangled RPG's no sir, he plays hystericals
only
(with the occasional Martian Tripod tossed in for spice!) He's the one who
taught us to use mice for dice, back when we gamed in the dark with the real
gamers.
You're a lucky guy... How does one go about finding, if I may use the term,
"gamer chicks" anyway? Just curious...:o)
God bless,
- Buddy
---------------------------------------------
Get paid for surfing the Web! (I'm dead serious!) www.alladvantage.com
Referal #: BXL-474
> In a message dated 6/8/99 3:05:11 PM EST, ajohnson@idirect.com writes:
<< Well, back in my day, we just had dirt. Nothing else. Just dirt.
Roleplaying was conducted by sitting around in a circle, and scratching in the
dirt with your finger. Adding rocks and twigs and bits of mammoth bone were
significant innovations.
> [quoted text omitted]
Dirt, huh! You sure had it easy. Wasn't no dirt to be had till we scratched it
off the rocks with our fingernails.
> << Well, back in my day, we just had dirt. Nothing else. Just dirt.
> In a message dated 6/8/99 3:19:10 PM EST, yh728@victoria.tc.ca writes:
<<
In between gaming, I work for the local public library (great job) and study
for a BA in History. I read like mad, enjoy a good beer, and handcode HTML for
fun... >>
HTML, Huh? We had to chew berries and charcoal and spit pictures on the cave
wall!
> On Tue, 8 Jun 1999 ScottSaylo@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/8/99 3:19:10 PM EST, yh728@victoria.tc.ca writes:
and
> study for a BA in History. I read like mad, enjoy a good beer, and
Ahhhhh! Enough, please!:)
Next you're going to be saying that you scratched your first games into the
primordial ooze..."Tic tac sludge"...
Save us from the ancients...
> In a message dated 6/8/99 3:31:21 PM EST, ajohnson@idirect.com writes:
<<
back in my day, when we crawled up out of the primordial ooze...
> [quoted text omitted]
Nice warm ooze, huh?
> In a message dated 6/8/99 3:40:53 PM EST, yh728@victoria.tc.ca writes:
<< Next you're going to be saying that you scratched your first games into the
primordial ooze..."Tic tac sludge"... >>
Actually we called it Splish- Splash - Sludge
> Slightly Mad Jerry pens:
> HA!! I went to West Virginia University and actually played the
> The 3rd ed book I have lists three: Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler, and
It was Kevin Dockery who ran the game I played in. The University had a small
game convention on campus and I got into the game because nothing else was
open. To this day, it was one of the most memorable RPG experiences
I've had!!!
> John Kovalic wrote:
Ah! Then you are in good company with our own Keith Watt, who also is into
Astrophysics.
> Adrian Johnson wrote:
(anybody
> else remember that one - with it's almost-photocopied rules) - and
> "Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today" wrote:
> ScottSaylo@aol.com wrote:
> Buddy Chamberlain wrote:
That's the million dollar question...
Now on the other side of the gender fence, my wife did notice something
interesting a couple of months ago. I had stopped off at The Armory in
Baltimore, to see what was new. My wife wandered in to see what the store had.
There were a bunch of male gamers playing WH40K. One looked up.
She said it was most pathetic. First he had a look of "OHMYGOD! It's a woman
in a *game* *store*!!" Then he caught sight of me, obviously with her, and he
visible deflated in disappointment.
Patti told me that she was going to tell her lady friends
DEAR GOD!! It'll be like letting a Wolf in the Chicken coop!!
> -----Original Message-----
Right.
I had to get up every morning half an hour before I went to bed, eat a handful
of hot gravel, work for 36 hours a day down at the mill, and when I got home
my parents would kill me and dance about on my grave singing "Alleluia".
So there.
I was born in 1970, making me...medium old, I suppose. I started out with D&D,
as so many did, buying my first box of miniatures (Grenadier D&D "Fighters")
at the Philadelphia Origins con in 1983 or thereabouts. My first minis game
was a dead simple homebrew that a friend and I played, based loosely on the
D&D mechanics. After, that I played a more generic
fantasy minis game in 1987 or so, and things progressed from there. My first
army (meaning that I owned and painted them all) was a Ral Partha Combine
force for Ogre. At the moment, I have five FT fleets of various
sizes, 8 DSII forces, two 25mm forces, and more 28mm than I care to count.
I've been doing less GZG and more ShockForce these days, but I still have
plans for a grand urban DSII game.
In the real world, I'm a librarian -- children's librarian, to be
specific
-- and I will soon be marrying a woman who actually enjoys RPGs and
painting miniatures. She's not a wargamer, other than the occasional game of
Destroy All Monsters!, but she's willing to put up with it. In fact, she once
remarked that we need to get a house with a nice big basement, so that (in her
words) "you can have a good sized gaming table." This was without prompting,
you understand!
I'm a very lucky man.
> My name's John Kovalic. Currently, I draw a comic strip and comic book
You and Winchell. TWO famous personages. All right!
> I've been a gamer for about 20 year now (gaaah!). I'm 36, which bemuses
That means you've survived it, which is better than the alternate case.
Marginally.
> Magic cards and sell them off. My wife is a good sport about all this,
(wince)
> [quoted text omitted]
> -- and I will soon be marrying a woman who actually enjoys RPGs and
And the chickens would love every minute of it
Chan 'Buck-Buck-BuGock' Faunce
> Mike Wikan wrote:
> DEAR GOD!! It'll be like letting a Wolf in the Chicken coop!!
In a message dated 6/8/99 6:03:39 PM Central Daylight Time,
> john1x@hotmail.com writes:
<<
I had to get up every morning half an hour before I went to bed, eat a handful
of hot gravel, work for 36 hours a day down at the mill, and when I got home
my parents would kill me and dance about on my grave singing "Alleluia".
> [quoted text omitted]
Hot Gravel? Cor! You didn't have it half lucky now, did you? WE had to dig it
up out of the primoridial ooze when we were lucky enough to find any and eat
it plain.
So There! Then we had to play Tunnels and Trolls for two hours before we got
up a half hour before we went to bed and go get run through the mill for a 36
hour day.!
G'day guys,
Given the warnings about drowning the list I wasn't going to jump on this
thread, but then you started bringing up the rarity of female gamers so I
thought I'd better put my two cents in.
I'm 26, I'm currently doing a PhD in ecomathematics, I'm female and I game
(though I usually have to resuscitate my opponent first if he hasn't been
forewarned that he will be playing a girl!)
I started gaming when I was 4, with pegs (no really, I'm not taking the piss).
Unfortunately growing up on a farm out the back of beyond meant that
no-one had the vaguest of ideas that playing with "toy-soldiers" was not
an unusual thing. Thus, it degenerated into that unspoken of family secret,
until I hit Uni that is. Then in a moment of insanity I joined the fencing
club, I promptly fell off a waterfall at their first club picnic (yeah I'm
a real picture of grace and elegance in action - and pigs fly). Anyways
Derek happened to be at the bottom and he asked me out etc. 5 days later I
stumble across his Starfleet Battles minis (carefully hidden so as not to
cause me to panic and flee) - a door was opened, other people play too!
5 days after that I was playing Empire V (Napoleonics). Since then I've rolled
more ones than should be statistically possible, given the law of
averages, been called weird at my own wedding by my father-in-law (he
games too, he just didn't like the fact I kept beating him), and got a ton of
lead - including my own FSE fleet and Dwarf, Naughty Nun, X-File alien
and Russian armies and enough WWI planes to refight anything you like. I've
also play tested a few Piquet modules, had two children that think gaming is
the natural order of things and I spend every Friday night ritually poisoning
half a dozen or so fellow gamers with my cooking before heading into FT
battle.
My parents still don't talk about it. In fact my Dad (a lay preacher) bought a
book about why wargaming can lead you to devil worship, sigh.
Happy gaming,
Beth
P.S. The comment about asking your would be female gamer what colour to paint
you army is a good place to start, after all a girl wouldn't be caught dead
playing with an army who wasn't tastefully colour
co-ordinated ;P
> I'm 26, I'm currently doing a PhD in ecomathematics, I'm female and I
That could be quite pleasant in & of itself.... (speaking in a theoretical
mode, Derek)
> John (DORK TOWER) Kavalic wrote:
> ... And the Mecha rules fascinate me.
If you want some 'mech enhancements to DSII, be sure to check out my site.
> Buddy Chamberlain wrote:
You don't...
I have come to the conclusion that like Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, God, and
moral government; women (gamer chicks or otherwise) do not exist. They are
merely are figments of a deranged mind. Men actually reproduce asexually.
Seriously, I made the mistake of dating a role player turned
semi-goth
chick. It didn't last but two dates. She threw me off after I sent her a dozen
roses.
My advice: Forget about women. They'll only break your heart at the first
chance their they get. Love dosen't exist. Get used to it.
> John Kovalic wrote:
> My name's John Kovalic. Currently, I draw a comic strip and comic book
<Studio Audience Hi John! </Studio Audience>
Love your work, by the by.
> I've been a gamer for about 20 year now (gaaah!). I'm 36, which
A sad, lonely, and bitter 24 myself. I'm been gaming since I was 10 (my first
RPG was Star Frontiers).
> I was born in Manchester, England, but am a dual national of Great
> My degree was in Economics. I've got a minor in Astrophysics. I've
I'm finishing up my Journalism degree myself. I should be out of that
perpetual hell hole called UWM by the end of December. Then I'll be on to more
serious work... like finding a new home of the UFTWWWP.
> In real life, I used to be a journalist for the State Journal in
I'm going to drop a resume and some clippings to one of my local
cow-town newspapers that is looking for a reporter. It would certainly
beat my current summer job: Gas Station Attendant.
> I play a lot of historical miniatures games, and Madison, Wisconsin
COOLNESS!!! I live out near Milwaukee! Maybe we can make arrangements for me
to come to the to meet and game sometime!
> One day, I'd like to try the other GZG games. But until I have the
Still working on my Gothic Thurst rules. As for mecha, I'm got a copy of Mecha
Carnage that I have been dying to try out for years.
> Anyway, hope this wasn't too long-winded!
NAH!
> I'm female and I game
Cheeky!
;)
Beth
> Beth Fulton wrote:
My wife felt much the same way. It was only on the second date that I found
she had her own model railway set, and the third before she admitted to owning
a copy of Panzerblitz.
My own history:
1967 - Played a few games with Airfix Romans & Ancient Britons as part
of the history lessons at boarding school. Learned about Pila etc
1968 - Hiatus, family emigrated to Australia.
1970 - New School (in the CBD, near shops). Picked up a copy of Donald
Featherstone's Naval War Games. Became interested in Fletcher Pratt rules,
looked up many stats about various ships. Located Fred T Jane's original rules
in a musty old copy of Jane's Fish and Chips of 1899 in a local library.
Started carving balsa ships (badly).
1972 - Having dropped History at school (I was too interested in it to
be confined by the curriculum) it was some time before I found that the School
I now attended had just opened up a Wargames Club. Napoleonics only, first
with Donald Featherstone rules, then Wargames Research Group.
1973 - Joined the NSW Wargames Confederation (now a mere branch of the
Sydney Wargames Club). Had my first game of Ancients (WRG 2nd ed). Bought
SPI's Napoleon at Waterloo. Mainly into Paragon's WW1 Air Wargame at this
time. Started collecting GHQ Microarmour for WWII.
1975 - Had a look at D&D. Wasn't impressed at first sight. By this time,
had been involved in double-blind games (CinCs in a different room from
the one the table was in, subordinates requesting artillery etc support).
Bought NORAD (Conflict Games), Battle for Hue, and had written my own Vastly
complicated modern air rules (involving great quantities of
look-up tables, cardboard analogue computers/circular slide rules etc
1976 - Went to Uni. First game of D&D. Got hooked. Later on, introduced
Phil McGregor (author of Space Opera) to D&D.
I've worked on various Combat Team Trainers, which has meant that I tend to
shy away from things too realistic and contemporary (been exposed to too much
classified material, so I know what some of the real
> Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:
EPT is still going. Are you on the Blue Room mailing list? Example post:
> We all know that the high status members of the Temple of Ksarul have
To keep this sorta kinda almost on topic-ish, EPT takes place in the far
future, approximately 200,000 years hence, on a world that's been cut off from
the rest of the Universe for at least 175,000 years. So could even be in the
Tuffleyverse:)
> Jerry wrote:
> >This is starting to straw pretty far off topic, but I can't resist a
Richard Tucholka & Robert L. Sadler (This from a "designer's Notes"
artical from Space Gamer # 65.)
I have a friend who went to college with Richard Tucholka.
(He tells me that they got started on a project to make a low-budget
sci-fi
flick, and my friend designed the ship's deckplans -- so characters
leaving a room, would turn in the proper direction. After a while, they
switched the movie into a game, and FTL:2448 was born. The deckplans were
turned into a game module for that game. My friend still gets copies of the
latest games Mr Tucholka has done.)
[quoted original message omitted]
> John Kovalic wrote:
> Hi there,
(Snippage!)
> Anyway, hope this wasn't too long-winded! (And Hi, Jon!)
On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 10:30:09 +1000 Beth Fulton
> <beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au> wrote:
> The comment about asking your would-be female gamer what colour to
So no Napoleonic Russians for you, then? <g> Pink and puce.... bleah!
Phil, whose wife is still muttering about the game of Kingmaker in which the
entire House of Lancaster was killed by a plague in London....
> -- and I will soon be marrying a woman who actually enjoys RPGs and
Thank you! And what can I say? Other than: It took long enough to find her in
the first place, dammit! It's been fortunate that our tastes dovetail so
well. She's always been a big fantasy fan -- she can actually write in
Tolkien's Tengwar runes, without having to use a reference book -- so
RPGing comes naturally to her. Wargaming, as I've said, isn't to her taste but
she was really impressed by the gaming table I first showed her. Jenknitown
Hobbies had some really great, award-winning terrain. Sadly, I can't
match it myself at this point. But I'm working on it! One Armorcast ruin down,
10 to go....
Well, I've been lurking and injecting the occasional LTA comment every now and
then, but I think I'll take this opportunity to make a proper introduction of
myself.
I started gaming in 4th grade with Avalon Hill's STARSHIP TROOPERS game, and
was heavily into D&D (the original boxed basic version, not to be confused
with the earlier digest version) by the end of sixth grade. Then came
Traveller, and Aftermath, and Morrow Project, and... well, you get the idea.
My miniatures career didn't start until much later, and at least as far as
playing regularly, is still largely theoretical. Mostly I drifted into it
after using minis (with progressively larger and more elaborate tabletop
layouts) to handle the larger conflicts in the RPGs I ran, although I have
always played in miniature events at local conventions, starting with Werecon
'80 at Wayne University (sigh, RIP Werecon).
I currently live in Ann Arbor, MI with my wife (a real gamer chick --
she says she married me so she could guarantee access to a good GM). I love
Full Thrust, BFG, Dirtside II, A Soldier's Companion, OGRE Squash, Shockforce,
etc. Unfortunately, I seldom get to actually play outside of convention
settings.
I also regularly run and/or participate in large CHAMPIONS rpg superhero
battles with miniatures, thus my interest in flying stands and my large
collection of urban scenery. I can currently set up a small downtown area in
28mm (an unwieldly scale, I know, but it's what I started with),
and I collect civilian and non-combatant miniatures whenever I can find
them. If anyone starts making good police figures, let me know!
I own an awful lot of GW figures (my only defense is that I did not pay full
price for any of them), and have almost completed building a large Imperial
Guard army out of old Grenadier Future Warriors minis, UNIT troops from
Harlequin, Galoob Alien's and Battleforce vehicles, and diecast military
vehicles from a variety of sources.
My current pet projects include improving my adjustable flying stands,
learning Bill Wardrop's paper-into-wood modeling techniques, and
converting some Oldsmobile Starfires and Cadillac convertibles into
post-apocalypse 'technicals'.
In real life, I am a technical writer.
Okay, since everybody else seems to be doing it, I will come out of lurkdom
and give my history.
Born in 1956, I was introduced to board wargaming through the old Milton
Bradly Dogfight! game (still have it and use it to play with my 10 year old
son). Cut my teeth on miniature gaming during early high school using WRG
Ancients and WRG Armour rules (25mm and micro-armor, respectively).
First intro to RPG was with Empire of the Petal Throne while a freshman at
college (and enjoyed it greatly). Expanded into probably too many periods for
gaming since then. I have lots of micro-armor, about a dozen completed
DBA armies, a US and a Confederate Navy fleet, a number of ancient ships, 2
completed HOTT armies, a number of OGRE! figures, a large number of
Starguard! figures, about 8 small, completed FT fleets (all non-spec
universes), and a whole slew of unpainted lead/resin/plastic for all of
the above and not enough time to paint it all.
I am married to a non-gamer who supports my hobby, and have two
wonderful children. My son is currently 10 and enjoys when we have a chance to
game. I've taught him Starguard! and FT when he was around 6 (or 7). In his
first game of FT, he trounced me severely. My daughter is now 6, but she
hasn't shown any interest in gaming.......Yet.
In a message dated 6/9/99 1:04:22 PM Central Daylight Time,
> kent.mcclure@lmco.com writes:
<< old Milton Bradly Dogfight! game (still have it and use it to play with my
10 year old
son). >>
Did you have Broadsides! too??
G'day Phil,
> So no Napoleonic Russians for you, then? <g> Pink and puce.... bleah!
Actually I do have Napoleonic Russians - what can I say Derek loves the
Turks... besides the green isn't that bad and the Cossacks have beards
(I
love beards)!
Cheers
Beth
> Beth Fulton wrote:
If you like colour, try Spanish... or even better, Neapolitan!