Note: This article is a snapshot of content from my old Interests page. The effort required to keep this page up to date finally pushed me over the edge, and I installed Movable Type so I could just blog current events in my life. This article represents a snapshot of my interests, circa 26 February, 2003. For a more up-to-date view of my current interests, just take a look at my entries on the home page.
I play a number of different roleplaying and strategy games. The best roleplaying system I’ve had the pleasure of playing is GURPS, the Generic Universal RolePlaying System from Steve Jackson Games. GURPS provides enough detail to keep the most slavering game fanatic interested, yet it is simple enough that people completely new to roleplaying games can pick up the basics of the system in a short period of time. Check out GURPS Lite, a 32-page distillation of the core rules, for a great introduction to this game and roleplaying in general.
Other roleplaying games in which I have an interest include In Nomine, Mage: the Ascension (White Wolf Games), Shadowrun (Fasa), Cyberpunk 2020 and Mekton Z (R. Talsorian), and Traveller (Imperium Games, recently re-released as GURPS Traveller). I’ve also put together a Web tool for generating Vilani names for Traveller; take a look at my Vilani by Lonnie page.
Along with roleplaying, I also enjoy strategic, tactical, and miniatures gaming. My favorite system by far is Full Thrust. Made by Ground Zero Games in England, Full Thrust is a miniature space fleet game with very quick and simple rules.
At one time or another, I’ve also played Car Wars, Ogre, Heavy Gear, and Robo Rally.
I’ve been playing a number of amusing games from Cheapass Games, a company dedicated to offering very fun and ludicrously inexpensive games. All three of the games I’ve played so far (Falling, Kill Doctor Lucky, and Give Me the Brain) are hilarious and a heckuva lot of fun to play, particularly at parties. And for the price, you just can’t beat these games.
And yes, I have been known to play Magic: the Gathering, though I try to give Wizards of the Coast as little money as possible; no self-respecting gamer wants to appear to be supporting an Evil Empire, especially one that unleashed the Pokemon card game on an unsuspecting public.
