"I'm so Old School, you were in preschool"
I am an old school gamer with over 40 years of gaming experience, mostly as a GM. I have run AD&D, 5E D&D, Traveller, Cyberpunk 2020, FASA's Star Trek, Star Wars D6 and Serenity campaigns. We did a mini-campaign using the Space:1889 setting with the Serenity/Cortex RPG rules. I have also run Cowboy Bebop and Hellboy games with the Serenity/Cortex rules. You can contact me through moc.oohay|1rihkcar#moc.oohay|1rihkcar
I play many wargames, OGRE and G.E.V. being my favorites and card games like Chez Geek, Hacker, Munchkin and dice games of Zombie Dice and Cthulhu Dice. In other words, I am a big fan of Steve Jackson games. I have written my own Chez games, Chez Zombie, Chez Convention, Chez Firefly and am working on two more. I have played many computer games, mostly first person shooters like Half-Life and Counter-Strike or strategy games such as Battlezone and Homeworld. I also played the Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG for three years.
As of Fall 2019, I am retiring my 1st ed. AD&D and running D&D 5E. I've got a lot of young, new players and I don't see any point in teaching them 1st ed. when they will probably never meet another 1st ed. DM. And 5E is more logical and consistent.
In addition to gaming, I enjoy hiking, nature photography (especially birds and on whale watches), backyard astronomy and I am constantly reading sci-fi and fantasy. I am interested in science from astronomy to zoology and military history and technology.
Jim's Book Log
Star Trek Notes
Short Stories
Becoming a Gamemaster
Writing Adventures
Running Games
Writing Backstories An old lecture I prepped for a DM's conference. But it needs updating and some expansion.
Getting along with the DM Another old lecture for players.
Individual Rewards- Old discussion about rewarding players and characters.
How to write adventure modules that don't suck Review of the GM's sourcebook
Assorted Quotes
"To paraphrase Sun-Tzu, no adventure survives contact with the players."
Playing Star Trek edition of Settlers of Catan. Emily pointed out that the symbol on the Food card looks like an old McDonald's styrofoam container:
"The Klingons have cut off my supply of Big Macs!"
"Non-alcoholic beer is just horse piss without the buzz"
"I don't kill player characters, PLAYERS kill player characters"
While playing Star Trek Panic, discussing what happens if the ship gets boarded
"We fight them! <sings> Da da da dadada" (fight music from Amok Time episode)
Jo "I'm just tired"
Jim "Just tired is still partially awake"
Jo "Don't go there"
Jim "All tired, there's only one thing to do. Give them a glass of warm milk and put them to bed. Hey, Mr. Tired, what have you got to look forward to? Com-fyyy pajjaammmaaass"
I just had to throw out a week of campaign notes, I usually write my stuff longhand on a clipboard
Jim "Back to the drawing board"
JoAnne "Or the clipboard, as it were"
Jim "I'm doing magical math" (Working on material costs for a magic item)
JoAnne "So you're doing Arithmancy?"
Discussing that 5E is often lacking in details, and you have to go back to 1st edition. For example, how tall is an ogre?
Jim, looking at the 1st ed. Monster Manual, in Inigo Montoya voice "Vizzini said go back to the beginning. This is where I learned to roleplay, so this is the beginning"
I had been doing lots of movie quotes since I spent two days at work talking with a much younger coworker about great old films. I was headed out to the grocery
JoAnne "Bye"
Jim "You don't seem too broken up that I'm leaving"
JoAnne <waves dismissively> "Take your quotes and go"
Everyday Conversations with Cats
For a complete list of my games:
Roleplaying Games
AD&D 1st Ed. and 2nd Ed.
D&D 5E
Serenity RPG
Classic Traveller
Megatraveller
GURPS Traveller*
Traveller 5*
Star Wars D6
Cyberpunk 2020
Star Trek RPG (FASA)
Mechwarrior
Kobolds ate my Baby!
The Expanse AGE
Planet Mercenary*- I backed the Kickstarter for a RPG based on the webcomic Schlock Mercenary
GURPS Hellboy*
Hellboy 5E*, a new version, running on a modified D&D 5E framework
2300AD*
Space: 1889*
Cortex RPG*
Supernatural RPG*
Monster Hunters International*
The Laundry Files*
Jovian Chronicles*
Blue Planet*
Star Trek Adventures*
Hero System*
Delta Green*
Twilight: 2000*
Hostile*
Rivers of London* based on the excellent urban fantasy series of the same name.
Wargames
Battletech
Ogre/GEV/Battlesuit
Rivets
Starship Troopers (the original)
S.F.3.D. and S.F.3.D II
Star Cruiser*
Hammer’s Slammers (Mayfair games)
Star Fleet Battles
The Creature that ate Sheboygan
Attack Force
Air Force
Boardgames
Car Wars
Orcs at the Gate
Frag!
Castle Panic and Wizard's Tower expansion
Settlers of Catan
Star Trek Catan
Seafarers of Catan
Firefly Board Game
Pandemic
Star Trek Panic
Small World
Here Kitty, Kitty
Tsuro of the Seas
Carcassonne
Card & Dice Games
Chez Geek 1-3, Slack to the Future, Chez Goth, Chez Greek, Chez Grunt, Chez Gueverra, Chez Cthulhu and my personal games, Chez Zombie, Chez Convention and Chez Firefly.
Munchkin 1-3 and Star Munchkin
Hacker and Hacker II: The Dark Side
Zombie Dice
Cthulhu Dice
Poo: the card game
Abduction
Chupacabra
Hipster Dice*
King of Tokyo
Exploding Kittens, Imploding Kittens and How to play
The Princess Bride: As You Wish*
Seven Wonders
Battle Kittens*
*I own it, but have never played it.
Maine D&D
https://archive.org/details/StarshipGeomorphsV1.0/page/n6/mode/1up