It's the Eighties again

I have been noticing a upswing in the anti-gaming vitriol as of late most of it is rehash of stuff We have dealt with before. What gets Me is the number of EDUCATED PEOPLE, the ones with College diplomas who believe this stuff. It has been My purpose of late to speak out when falsehoods and outright lies are spoken about gamers and gaming. Here is a example last week I was talking to a friend and the subject of Dungeons & Dragons came up this is a guy with good education but he subscribes to every conspiracy theory he hears he spewed out the usual stuff "Gary Gygax was a Satanist and offered up small Animals/Children in his Basement" the quote is accurate even if on the wild side of things and easy to defeat. The ones that are hard are the twists, half quotes and exaggerations about who we are as gamers and people. In My case these attacks come from people involved with Churches (being a Minister this should be expected). Here is how I have dealt with some of this:
1: role playing games talk about demons/the devil
Answer: So does the Bible and both have nothing good to say about them.
2: It's so violent
Answer: Read much of the old Testament? it has a lot of violence.
3: What about that kid in East Lansing MI that killed himself?
Answer: His name was James Dallas Egbert and his suicide had nothing to do with D&D or steam tunnels I will let you Google his name and read for yourself about this troubled young Man.
4: It is anti social.
Answer: No, it played with other people acting together to accomplish a goal.
The best way to beat the lies is to be armed with the truth

Home from the Hospital

I have been wondering about why I was having certain health problems and now I know why, Last week I had Pancreatitis. For those not familiar with this it is basically a inflamed Pancreas accompanied by abdominal pain and extending to the lower back and the grand prize is DIABETES. Good news is that the pill seems to be effective in controlling my blood sugar, Bad news I have to miss Marmalade Dog due to surrounding circumstances I did not want to but t this time it is the wisest choice.

A Good Man Passes

This last week saw the passing of one of my mentors and a dear friend Raymond Orr. I first met him almost thirty years ago. His youngest son was a School mate of mine and when I met him he showed a genuine interest in me, at the time this was a new thing for me. As the years went by a honest friendship grew and still grows to this day. The things he taught me have helped me become the person I am today and He shall not be forgotten.

A bright idea for Marmalade Dog

I was wondering what to run for a Swords & Wizardry white box event at Marmalade Dog and getting nowhere fast than it hit me like a street car why not pull random monsters/treasure from a deck and see what happens! I have never done this for a convention before but it is worth trying. My other games are nearing completion and I have a couple chores to do before I can go. If this goes well I will try it again.

Marmalade Dog

I really don't know how they came up with the name but this con is one of my favorites and I look forward to going this year I will be running Labyrinth lord on Saturday and Stars without Number on Sunday. I choose these two games for two different reasons I like Labyrinth Lord because it is D&D B/X and there is a good amount of support for it. Stars without Number is the best Science Fiction game in years and the supplements for it have been first class. I really enjoy convention life meeting old friends and making new ones, seeing new products getting a chance to be a player as well as a G.M but this year will see a major change due to some health concerns I will be carrying more food from home (I hate it when medication screws up my stomach) so I have reserved a room with a microwave and am preparing home made frozen dinners (these are actually easy to make and good for you). My Labyrinth Lord adventure is a return to keep on the border lands using the new Realms of Crawling Chaos, My Stars without Numbers is based on a old Science Fiction Movie called Green Slime. this should be fun.

Old Gamer geek Special Box Set Double Feature

Most people in my circle of friends know of my love for the old box sets of D&D. So for Christmas this year I wanted to give something along that line for selected friends at Church (those who gave me clothes dryers when mine died a five hundred dollar death) . What I came up with is "The Old Gamer Geek special Edition Double Feature Box Set" featuring Swords & Wizardry White Box and Mutant Future and dice, well Christmas came and went and the sets were a big hit. My friends kids are now well on there way to the geek side with one Dad reading Mutant Future.
I made a real find in online comics a few months ago called WereGeek it's about , well gamers and Geek stuff reading it is a riot. see the link.

I never thought it would happen

My group has been playing Traveller for years and years 33 to be exact but when we tried Stars without Number they all told me "This game was made for us", Now I am a guy who tries to accommodate my players and this time it is easy to do. For tonight's game I stranded them on a abandon planet so far they have survived my plans pretty well. They have established a base of operations and will be exploring a city next session. I ordered the Hard Light module and after looking through it I find it is of high quality just like the core rules. Now this made my list of "core games".
Our next session is New years eve/day a mega game weekend is in order to ring out this game some more. After a vote Traveller is our #2 SCI - FI game and Stars without Number goes to first place.