*in quavery little old lady voice*
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…
Many years ago, in the last century, when I was but a slip of a girl, I met a few geeks at University who were playing D&D. (I ended up marrying one of them; another married my sister; we are still friends with the others). And then Chivalry and Sorcery came out, and then Aftermath, and then Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne, then Traveller. And they were good. Well, not Aftermath. We needed slide rules to work out the fight results… Yes, children, this was in the days when calculators were not allowed in lecture halls. It was also in the days when I knew how a slide rule works. I have forgotten now. I have forgotten many things… But the Computer knows. Trust the Computer. the Computer is your friend. (That’s Paranoia. I’m mentioning it out of order, which is probably treasonous. I like to live dangerously.)
Then it was Runequest, which led me to repaint a whole lot of figures’ armour and weapons bronze, only to repaint them steel when the characters reached Rune Lord rank. It also led to the meeting with someone else who became a dear friend.
And Bushido, where for the first time ever I played a male character; he started as a young landless samurai, and ended up as daimyo of a province, and as his three sons reached majority, he retired to live under the sea with a dragon princess… It’s a long story.
A brief stint through a superhero system, I forget which one, it didn’t click.
A fun run through a Dragonquest campaign – when you end up captain of a magic flying sailing ship, life is good.
Pendragon: didn’t play it nearly as much as I would have liked.
Many flavours of GURPS, from Tolkien’s Second Age to a Victorian Cthulhu-ish setting (and one of my favourite characters, but I mustn’t froth), to an adaptation of M.A.R. Barker’s Tékumel (more new and wonderful friends) to Hyboria…
And Amber Diceless RPG, which led to AmberCon UK, and AmberCon US, and AmberCon NW, with more amazing friends. We go to ACNW every November in Portland OR; where I am currently in the 10th year of running a Firefly game, with a wonderful crew of not-quite-criminals; and last year concluded a short series of MiddleMan-themed games.
And John Wick, author of Legend of the 5 Rings, 7th Sea, and Houses of the Blooded, lives locally, and we see him occasionally but haven’t managed to get into a regular game together yet, because taiko practice. But it’s Comicon next weekend so we might manage some time to play, when we’re not busy shepherding new cadets through the Artemis bridges!
So now you know.
