Re: Age and Complexity

Geez-leweeze, this thread has taken on a life of its own!

I already gave you guys my vitals (age, SO (or lack thereof), kids (or
lack
thereof)) in a way earlier msg, so what the hey, I guess I'll supplement
it
with a brief gaming history. This *should* bore some of you to death! 
;-)

<ramble>

Started out with RPGs and wargames almost at the same time about 20
years ago.
Had been frequenting a magazine/bookstore and discovered the old "The
Space
Gamer" magazines. Picked up a couple and became intrigued, especially
with the
low-cost games that were advertised on the back (this was back when
Metagaming
had something like 6 games to it's name - that I know of, anyway).
Placed an
order for Ogre, received Chitin:I. Decided to not complain, but check
out what
I got. I liked it, but couldn't get my younger bros to play it much, so
I
solo-played it a lot. Then ordered Ogre (got it finally) and Melee.
About the
same time I found the boxed version of DnD and saved up enough $$ to
purchase
my first Real Wargame - Arnhem: A Bridge Too Far.  Haven't been able to
play it
much, but still got it.  :)  Quickly after that picked up a few more
Metagaming
Microgames and some boardgames (Tactics II, for instance; my parents
gave me
Risk for x-mas because that's the only thing they understood). And more
quickly
gathered a group of neighborhood kids, including my brothers, into a DnD
world
of adventures, in which I was DM for 95% of the games.	:-/ (others DM'd
when I
bitched too much about always DMing and wanting to play sometimes, but
it
quickly became apparent that the adventures I had for them were better
than the
ones they came up with; so much for trying to play a lot, though I did
get a
few memorable sessions in when I found the local college gaming group).

Discovered Starfire when it first came out and purchased every
incarnation of
the game that I could find after that. Played that more than any other
(because
I could find opponents for *that*!). Juggled my time between gaming,
astronomy,
and photography for a number of years, then mid-college found climbing,
too. So
much for lots of free time. ;-)  Discovered during college a small game
shop
which carried starship miniatures (the Superior line!) and picked up a
handful
that my meager funds would allow. Then the minis disappeared and I was
greatly
disappointed (well, up 'til recently last year ;-). Played a little of
the
Superior Wars game with the miniatures, but didn't really have enough of
them
to make a worthy game (I had an eclectic collection, but I did have at
least
one of each destroyer :).

Kept up mostly with Ogre, Melee/Wizards/GURPs, Starfire, and SFB during
the
college years (threw some Champions in there, too, but didn't last long
due to
the fluid nature of the gaming group I was familiar with and my
class/work
schedule) before graduating and moving on to my job with Hubble. Picked
up on
the Magic event when it came out in Beta form and thought it a really
fun and
good idea - but watched it quickly go from Magic: The Gathering to
Money: The
Sucking, so only play occassionally now with the cards I picked up long
ago.
Discovered FT from an old college friend of mine during one of my
climbing
adventures out in Colorado back in '94. Instantly converted and dropped
SFB
like a hot potato (had been running PBeM games of SFB for almost a half
dozen
years at this point). Couldn't find many opponents in the area, so
started the
PBeM stuff with FT. Found a couple other card games that are worthwhile
(FLUXX
- only ever need *1* deck, and if you want more cards, you make 'em up
yourself! - and the new B5 card game), and picked up SGII and DSII a
couple
years ago, but haven't played too many sessions of either (again, that
lack of
opponents thing). Was involved with playtesting of the B5Wars game, but
AOG
managed to totally not credit my group whatsoever. :-/	Have dabbled a
little
in Silent Death, and think I would like it, but haven't justified the
cost of
picking it up for (Lord knows I have a ton of games I've picked up over
the
years that I played only once or twice, or never at all, for lack of
interested
opponents). I have almost every MicroGame there is (unfortunately I just
discovered I lost my rulesbook to WarpWar a couple months ago; <sigh>),
but
haven't played half of them (that bloody lack of opponents thing again!
though
nowadays it's also lack of time).

Never seen CoC. Much less played it. Back into a limited engagement ADnD
campaign being run by an ex-co-worker (when *he* has time!), but half
the
time I can't attend due to other things going on in Life (so I make
'guest
appearances' :).

Have met a handful of people from this list in RL (some of them no
longer on
the list due to Real Life interferences; more's the pity since they had,
and
no doubt still have, plenty to contribute), and have enjoyed each
meeting.
It's a most cool group of folk here (yes, even you, Aaron ;-). Looking
forward
to seeing those of you I haven't met yet who can make it to the GZG East
Coast
Con next month.

</ramble>
Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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  /@		       .  .	      If you insist on reaching for a
  <|\			  .  )	      star, be prepared to take a long,
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   |		    //
   /		 o //*		      Indy - climber, astronomer,
adventurer
  /		<%- /|\ 	      supreme. Have rope, will travel.
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