Part Twenty-Five: 1992, Try to Love You Baby But You Push Me Away – A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Dangerous Journeys Dangerous Journeys from GDW I have no other table-top RPGs to talk about for the year 1992, because this is the year that Gary Gygax’ Dangerous Journeys was published by GDW, the Traveller company. They were immediately sued by T$R and kept in court for years. By 1996 GDW was in serious financial …

Part Twenty-Four: 1991, You Are Not of The Body – A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

So what were we playing in 1991? I’m glad you asked. Let’s review. - 1st ed AD&D: This title still dominated our gaming time, but our rules system had been off the market for two years by now. Lorraine Williams’ T$R had tapped David Cook to re-write Gary Gygax’ game, and Cook’s D&D was all …

Part Twenty-Three: 1990, Crossing the Rubicon – A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Just to put things in perspective, 1990 was marked by a number of significant world events. The dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification, the departure of Margaret Thatcher, and the Gulf War. It was a very strange time to be alive, and certainly affected our mood and outlook. All of that makes resentment against …

Hey Boomer

Guess what Boomers stand for? Equal rights for minorities and women, and an end to the repression of sexuality. Economic justice. Environmental protection. The peace movement. Open mindedness regarding recreational drug use. Protests! In fact, everything the current shouting is all about? Those are issues that the Boomers fought for, too. So the next time …

Review: For All Mankind

It should come as no surprise that I’d be checking this series out. I am, after all, a child of the space race. This series has had two short seasons and has been renewed for a third. I’m very pleased. The premise is that the space race never ended. It’s an alternate history. The Soviets …

Part Twenty-Two: 1989, Revolution in the Air – A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Life During Wartime It was 1989. Home computers were making a splash. Somewhere around this time I bought a used Amiga from a friend, hooked it up to a little TV, and everyone loaned me all those games I had never been able to play by myself. Home internet was also becoming a thing. Compuserve, …

The Last Days of Pompeii (1984), A Re-Watch

What you see here was originally an ABC three-night television mini-series that I watched back in the day. It was on the cover of TV Guide, and cost $19 million to make. It sported a huge cast of contemporary notables. Everyone had their story line, and the stories intertwined nicely. This production recently came to …