Want To Play A Game?

One of the big rewards of moving to an Urban Area was finding other people who liked to play games. Back in the boonies, the only card players were my folks, who only played Bridge, and sometimes Hearts.

I mysteriously know a lot of small press game designers.

A juggler I had a crush on at a long-ago Pennsic turned out to be the same James Ernest who now runs Cheap Ass Games. I spent a Spring Break visiting folks at CMU. Aside from overlapping into almost all of my social circles (and I have quite a few), many of them went on to become game designers. It was Zarf who eventually introduced me to the folks at Wunderland, and made me into the Mad Lab Rabbit I am today. My nephew accused me of knowing every game designer when he found out I worked (in the same company, as a temp) with the creator of Zoombeanies (which is actually spelled Zoombinis, but where's the fun in that?)

In terms of role playing games; I had some D&D books in high school (including the apparently rare Fiend Folio, but never found folks who wanted to play with a girl. In college, I eventually joined a campaign of about 15 players. Along with the non-gaming friends who tolerated us, we're (still!) collectively known as The Second Ottoman Empire. They are like family to me now, familiar but generally too far away. Our original GM once again lives nearby. He spent the previous years piquing my interest, as a tarot reader, in author Tim Powers and convinced me to try out Nephilim.

With video games, I tend towards Tetris and Snood (Don't tell me if your palmtop has Bejeweled on it!) solitaire, Shanghai and Spectre (remember Spectre?) than Doom or Quake or the like, (although I did buy the first Quake CD for the music, being a hard core devotee of Mr. Reznor at the time). I loved Myst and Riven and even read the novelized versions (when I find them used). I even played (with) Manhole and Cosmic Osmo in college. Loved Fool's Errand (I'm working on my own tarot deck) and 3 in Three. Zarf's Systems Twilight is in the same vein, although his text adventures continue to befuddle me.

Thanks to empassioned raves from friends, I have gotten sucked into Kingdom of Loathing, although I stay for the community more than anything else. In Somerville, one can even get a picture (as opposed to a pitcher) of Imp Ale.

I'm not really a game creator myself, although I have recently devised a fun variant of Aquarius. I can play a mean Mah Jongg or Backgammon, but I'm adequate at Chess and... inadequate... at Go. Hence, I make myself useful by promoting some of these small press games, and bringing divers players together.

I am part of the Boston Warren of Mad Lab Rabbits, which has hosted monthly Mostly Looney Game Nights at Your Move Games (Somerville, and Danger Planet (Waltham).

I coordinated a "Micro-Poptart Cafe" at Arisia 01. The Boston Warren did a "Not-tart" cafe in 02. The Looneys themselves were invited to be Special Gaming Guests in 03.

A photo of me about to play Icehouse with Andy Looney. Woo!

What's My Sign: An Aquarius Variant | Arisia 2001 Micro Pop-Tart Cafe | Arisia 2002 photo | Arisia Web site