MY LIFE IN GAME DESIGN

I have been designing games since I was 14 (in 1969) when I read E. R. Burroughs' CHESSMEN OF MARS. I made a set of the game he made to use as a plot device and quickly discovered the design was flawed - 99% of all games ended in a draw. Not much fun. So I changed and clarified the rules to make the game competitive and fun and spent a year trying to get my redesign patented and/or published under the title EAGLES AND KINGS. That was my introduction to the world of game design. I've never looked back. I have written extensively on the subject of game theory and design on three folders (BASTOGNE OR BUST, THE UPPER HAND and STARSHIP TROOPERS / ON THE BOUNCE!) on the CONSIMWORLD website.

The following is a list of games I have finished, worked on, or have in progress.

EXPRESS LINE
A train game based on the logos of US and CANADIAN Railroads. All are licensed. That was quite a feat that took over a year to accomplish - but the game is finally in the box, though the print run was limited to 100 numbered copies. The RR companies are now agreeable to having their logos licensed by a publishing house, but none have yet come forward to pick up this little gem for themselves. EL is an AVATARS-based game, see PANTHEONS below.

EAGLES AND KINGS
- a chess style game based on the game included in the book CHESSMEN OF MARS by E.R. BURROUGHS. I finally had a mold created for professional looking pieces in 2007, and it is now for sale by me. Interestingly, I still have the prototype I made in 1969 and still play it once in awhile.

ON THE BOUNCE! / STARSHIP TROOPERS (Avalon Hill original, not the version based on the movie)
- in 1980 I wrote to Avalon Hill explaining to them a fatal flaw I had found in the game system and offering my services to redesign a 2nd Edition rules to correct it. I spent the next 2 years working with Jim Stahler (who they assigned to work with me) on this. Unfortunately, AH dropped this title from their lineup just as we were going to the playtest stage. The project floated until early 2003 when I headed an effort to revive the redesign. In early 2004 I spent 4 months tracking the individual responsible for licensing STARSHIP TROOPERS, only to discover they were not interested since the redesign had nothing to do with the movie version of the name. By then, the redesign had evolved so far beyond the original game that I created a new universe / storyline under the title ON THE BOUNCE! I am pleased to report OTB! now has a publisher, L2 DESIGN GROUP who has taken over the project which is currently in development under the able care of the awesome Lembit Tohver, and going through the final playtesting phase. Look for a print date of 2011.

STORMBRINGER
- this is an RPG rulebook based on the world of Elric, published by Chaosium. I was given an advance writeup of the rulebook because I had written to them about their boardgame ELRIC (which was under redevelopment at the time - I was making suggestions again because I am a fan of the novels). I was asked to be a contributing editor.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Character Sheets
- back in the early 80s before desktop publishing took over, I recreated and dramatically expanded the popular D&D Character Sheet which I sold at northern California Conventions. This publishing venture paid for many conventions for me. I was a printer at the time (until about 1991) and so was able to publish this and many other designs to follow.

BATTLE SIMULATOR
- in the early 80s I also designed a do-it-yourself kit for BATTLETECH that streamilned the Design Your Own Mech process and created a new class of 100+ ton class Mechs (which supposedly weren't possible). Another self-published effort that sold about 200 copies.

PANTHEONS
- in 1984 I created a dice and card game based on the role-playing game RUNEQUEST by Chaosium. Designed to be played by 10 players it was a big hit at California Cons for many years. Greg Stafford (the designer of RQ) gave a copy to his son who promptly wore out three sets. I published about 250 copies which have all been sold for many years. At the time, specialty dice and cards were the two most expensive game components for companies to produce and so I was unable to find a professional publisher. I am currently [2009] in the process of attempting to produce a 25th Anniversary Limited Edition version that will be the same quality as EXPRESS LINE - a Railroad retheme. It eventually dawned on me that this was as much a game SYSTEM as it was a GAME. I have rethemed this game many times, but only one has seen print beyond a prototype - see EXPRESS LINE above. I have named the game system AVATARS [for myself], so if you see me referring to it that way, now you know what I'm talking about.

AVATARS
- the Pokemon craze of the mid 90s caused me to retool my PANTHEONS game, which is very adaptable vis. subject matter as the game system is built around icons and player interaction. I was never able to break the licensing wall so I 'standardized' PANTHEONS and named the game SYSTEM AVATARS. This has resulted in numerous other iterations:
EXPRESS LINE - published in 2008 in a Limited Edition run of 100 numbered copies using Licensed Railroad logos
MAGIC COLLECTOR - using expansion symbols from MTG, it was successfully offered to WOTC via the legal submission process, but was neither accepted nor rejected, and the prototype lingers in a vault somewhere in Washington - perhaps for The HASBRO to someday discover
MAJOR GENERAL - uses NATO military symbols
ROSETTA STONE - based on various alphabets and heiroglyphic writing systems, a letter / glyph from 32 different writing systems become the icons
GENERAL MANAGER - Fantasy Football version that was ALMOST purchased by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, but the deal fell through when headquarters in New York decided couldn't figure out how to distribute it

OPERATION GREIF
- in 1980 I entered an apprentice program to learn to be a printer. I looked for a board wargame project that I could graphically redesign without having to do any actual reDESIGN work. I just wanted to republish something that I could redo the artwork on. I found Don Lowry's OPERATION GREIF which he had published under his GUIDON GAMES label. OG was a variant OOB / OOA / rules set for AVALON HILL's game BATTLE OF THE BULGE '65. I completely redesigned the artwork and layout (with Don's permission) and produced a 2nd Edition. This was so popular that I got a number of requests to adapt it for AH's BB '81, which I did, and which is referred to as the 3rd Edition. 3rd Edition OG contains OOB/OOA/rules for both BB '65 and BB'81.

THE ARMORY
- for a brief 4 months in the early 80s, I went to Baltimore and set up an in house print shop for The Armory - then the largest game distributor on the east coast. The relationship didn't work out well and I approached Avalon Hill for a job. Mr. Dott kindly offered me a job for his upcoming magazine HEROES (that didn't last long). AH was preparing to support their entry into the world of RPGs as they had just acquired RUNEQUEST from The Chaosium. But it would be another 6 months before they would need my services and without a job right away my family was determined to return home to California. An interesting might have been.

FIRST BLOOD: THE GUADALCANAL CAMPAIGN
- I first designed this little gem as the Silver Anniversary Issue of the AHIKS newsletter THE KOMMANDUER (of which I was the Editor for 7 years). It is a small introductory level wargame with an innovative air system that is designed with the pbm player in mind. I overpublished the issue on my own and sold about 150 copies over the years on the side. I later offered it to Doc Cummins at DECISION GAMES for publication in STARTEGY & TACTICS magazine. It was my first commercial game sale. It was extensively redeveloped and appeared in S&T #178. The original AHIKS version is now available as a free printable download on the GROGNARDS website.

BASTOGNE OR BUST
- this was my first full sized wargame design - based on the Battle of the Bulge (I returned to this subject after my OPERATION GREIF experience of many years previous). I set out to design The World's Finest Bulge Game. While I love classic board wargame designs such as THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN, I do not enjoy the overly complex designs found in this hobby. I don't mind them - there is plenty of room for everybody's tastes. But my basic design philosophy is this: if you spend more time in the rulebook than you do on the gameboard then you've probably wasted your money. I also approach wargame design from the John Hill School of Design Philosophy - does the simulation FEEL right historically for the campaign it represents? And I want all my wargames to WORK as GAMES - not just simulations. If a wargame doesn't work as a GAME then it is just a graphic novel based on history. BOB (as it is affectionately known) was eratta free for the first 6 years of its life until one fellow found one line. *sigh* BOB addresses a number of pet peeves I have had about wargames in general and Bulge games in particular. There is a rather large folder on CONSIMWORLD. I first self-published BOB in a dtp format and took it to ORIGINS '94 under my TERRAN GAMES banner. It was purchased for publication there by Ray LaBarbera who wanted to start his own company. I also lent him the name TERRAN GAMES, which he changed to TERRAN GAMES, INC. He recently folded TGI and I have retaken my old company banner. BOB was my second commercial game sale. Both versions - BOB 1994 and the TG,Inc boxed edition - have their own pages here on BGG.

RELENTLESS
- I also play MAGIC: THE GATHERING. I may be the last private individual that I know of that was allowed to legally submit an expansion set for MTG. At the time I submitted it, MTG had just done a heavy multi-colored set and wasn't interested in another for awhile. I resubmitted years later, but my timing was off again - now they don't really want to look at outside submissions. I could never get much actual feedback out of WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and that probably hurt more than anything. It wasn't a total loss though. I wrote an extensive story line to go with the expansion, and since they decided not to use it, I have decided to go ahead with the storyline and expand it into a novel. Don't hold your breath on this one.

BOOGER RUN
- this is an interesting little party game involving gross things on tiles you pick out of a bag (while verybody in the group hollers 'pick yer nose!'). The idea is eventually to package it in a plastic bowl shaped like a nose. Don't know if this will ever get published.

DUAL STOCKPILE RULES
- this is a set of rules that incorporates box powers and dual stockpiles (one for resources and one for non-resources) for BATTLETECH the ccg published by WOTC. It is a pipe dream that will probably never see the light of publication. BT perished a long time ago and FASA folded. BT is now a heroclix game and the BT universe was last owned owned by WIZKIDS. It is unknown if BT will ever be resurrected as a ccg.

DICE-OFF!
- this is a game I put together in 1999. Haven't sold more than 50 copies because I would prefer to just sell the rights to it. Basically it is the classic card game WAR played with polyhedral dice (one of those 'how come nobody ever thought of this before' things). It was pitched for me by a game promoter to various publishers, but nothing ever came of it.

THE UPPER HAND
- this is my area based wargame on the Battle of Kursk. MMP has first dibs once it is finished. Still being worked on sporadically - I'm currently [2009] trying to finish OTB! You can find an infrequently visited folder on CONSIMWORLD.

ORBIS
- this is my ultimate creation and personal Holy Grail of game design. It is a classic board game that (I hope) will one day be packaged with Chess, Checkers and Backgammon sets as The Fourth Classic Game. I came up with this beauty in 2003. Designing a classic game is probably the most difficult thing in the world to do. It is minimalization to the Nth degree. A classic game has few pieces, a simple board, basic rules, quick playtime and that ephemeral quality that demands replay. I have been searching for this puppy since I first got started in 1969. I have been moving very slowly with it, but someday I hope to retire on this baby.