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[CortJstr]

FYI Wizards of the Coast/Gamekeeper retail stores are going out of business. Right now all games (except Magic) are 20% off. As stocks run low the liquidators are expected to increase the discounts. So if you'd been meaning to pick up Settler's of Cataan or start that Illuminati: NWO collection now might be the time to do it. I picked up several new titles myself this weekend.

[slink]

or start that Illuminati: NWO collection now might be the time to do it. I picked up several new titles myself this weekend.

Hmmm. I may have to add to my Illuminati collection!
Mind you, I've been meaning to finish with my project to utilise the blanks I bought too. I had some nice groups in the works.
Damn, now I need someone to play it with again.

[St_Zartan]

Damn, now I need someone to play it with again.

The correct answer to this is not my ex-girlfriend. That girl was ruthless; a cold emotionless machine of Crush. I don't know if any of you have read Stefan Fatsis' Word Freak - it's an immersive journalism experiment into the world of professional Scrabble players, and very highly recommended (and I don't even particularly like Scrabble, apart from suffering a weird compulsion to put the tiles in my mouth every now and again) - but what I'm getting at here is that these people no longer play Scrabble; the game element of it has been completely removed for these players and they perform like machines, essentially making the best of their draws and waiting for the opponent to somehow fuck up. It is a weird and terrible thing.

This was how my ex-girlfriend played INWO. Sure, at first it was all giggles and glances over ice cream sundaes and International Cocaine Smugglers, but she started building these invincible decks, good lord -

I haven't played the game in years, but I've got a complete set of the Limited Series and, inexplicably, a fair whack of the German set. It's fun to flip through them every now and then and marvel at them / congratulate myself so blowing so very much of my time and money on a hobby that allowed me to feel superior to Magic players. Not that that is, by definition, a very exclusive set.

[V-Adore]

(EDIT: Annotated for the reading convenience of Jough and others not as nerdly as myself.)

I always sort of wanted to play INWO(1), but by the time I was old enough and cool enough to appreciate it, I'd gotten out of CCGs(2). I suspect my unflagging GURPS(3) habit is somehow a subliminal response to this.

what I'm getting at here is that these people no longer play Scrabble; the game element of it has been completely removed for these players and they perform like machines, essentially making the best of their draws and waiting for the opponent to somehow fuck up. It is a weird and terrible thing.

Horribly ego-shredding fact: as a CCGmonkey kid, I was like this with Spellfire.(4) Spellfire. I am perhaps the only person in human history to have put together killer Spellfire decks.

I think I need to go ritualistically play Shadowrun(5) or Unknown Armies(6) or something to cleanse myself.

--
(1) Cool collectible card game about the Illuminati.
(2) Collectible Card Game.
(3) Cool roleplaying game/game system by the same people who made INWO. (See 1.)
(4) Legendarily lame collectible card game.
(5) Cool, semi-indie roleplaying game.
(6) Cooler, very-indie roleplaying game.

[jough]

The manner in which you people write is all jibber-jabber to me.

[V-Adore]

WHEN YOU GO TO HEAVEN YOU INSTANTLY KNOW ALL GAMER SLANG

Anyway, see above annotated post.

[slink]

The manner in which you people write is all jibber-jabber to me.

SHall I start with the computer geekery to make you feel better Jough?

And I had a couple of pretty killer INWO decks. I managed to collect enough to manage a damn fine deck, and then swapped whatever I could with my brother, who had about twice the collection I ever could afford.
And I have read the scrabble book. Somewhat compulsive reading, remarkably enough. I believe he, or someone related, albeit maybe by publisher, wrote one on poker which I want to read.

As for GURPS, I used it for a few different styles of RPG throughout my time, but never really stuck with it. I tended, after of course an illspent few years of D&D, to play Cyberpunk/Cybergen. They stuck far more to a style I could get involved with.
Toon was fantastic for a few people sat round having fun, although it took an iron fisted GM to keep it in any kind of order, even if the kind of order was pure Looney Toons fun. It did tend to devolve into pure anarchy very easily.
I'm desperately trying to remember the title of the one I really dug, set in a waste filled Earth of the future.
Call of Cthulhu could be quite fine. And I just discovered someone else who played Steve Jackson's Car Wars as an RPG as well! That was good too.

Anyway, christ, what he fuck was I talking about?
INWO yes... good old California.

[V-Adore]

As for GURPS, I used it for a few different styles of RPG throughout my time, but never really stuck with it. I tended, after of course an illspent few years of D&D, to play Cyberpunk/Cybergen. They stuck far more to a style I could get involved with.

Yeah, I'm not too heavily into GURPS right now, but it's useful for games in strange styles or for crossover gaming. That, and the original settings published for the system tend to be transcendently odd and glorious; I'm a big fan of GURPS Illuminati University and GURPS Goblins, personally.

As for Cyberpunk, I can respect that. Shadowrun is actually an intriguing implementation of the genre -- I've never quite been into the pure product, but I can more or less respect the idea.

[AugustWest]

And I just discovered someone else who played Steve Jackson's Car Wars as an RPG as well!

If this came out somewhere between 1980 and 1983 or so then you know somebody else who played Car Wars.

[CortJstr]

I just got Munchkin and the product magazine contained insides lists about 7,000 GURPS games they sell that I've never heard of. But hey, Ninja Burger!

[slink]

Yeah, I'm not too heavily into GURPS right now, but it's useful for games in strange styles or for crossover gaming.

Absolutely. That's what I used it for. If I ever came up with a really bizarre basis or style for a game, I'd take the GURPS rules and twist em round to fit it.
The only original GURPS one I ever used as a, oh crap, it was a space based one. One of the earliest ones I seem to recall. Very long ago. I ended up combining the ruleset with Cyberpunk to create a space-able Cyberpunk game.
Have to say as well, Cyberpunk with the more recent fight rules (Saturday Night Skuffle - as opposed to Friday Night Firefight, the original fight rules) wasn't nearly as good. There were some lovely extras for Night City though.

And I think Car Wars was probably released around then. It was a board game in which you placed down on a board the wrecked cars, then had to get from one end to the other, and back with your piece, by rolling die, and you could fire at your opponent and whatnot. But turning it into an RPG made it even better.

[AugustWest]

Yes, I played Car Wars as an RPG too.  If I recall correctly you could extensively customize your vehicle with different engines, armor, weaponry et al.  It was fun to do things like pit 4 motorcycles against a truck.

I think it was inspired by Mad Max.

[slink]

I think it was inspired by Mad Max.

Oh absolutely. Even just looking at the board made you think Mad Max. Which kind of put me off at first 'cause it's a truly awful movie, but quite a good concept.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Anybody ever play Globbo?  Or The Awful Green Things from Outer Space?

My RPG phase is but a distant memory...

[AugustWest]

Let's see... D&D, AD&D, T&T, M&M, Top Secret, Traveller, Car Wars... that's about all I can remember.  But it's been nigh on 25 years and many many brain cells kilt since I've actively RPG'ed.