What Am I Looking for in Used Games?
TSR:
Metamorphosis Alpha: Any copy, but looking especially for 1st and 2nd printings.
Gamma World First Edition: 1st Printing. The edition won't say first printing on it, that's the first printing.
Shadowrun: Dunkelzahn's Secrets and a complete set of the Universal Brotherhood.
Other Companies:
ARES Magazines: Any copies with Gamma World or Metamorphosis Alpha Stuff.
If you have any of these and want to let it go, you can EMail me at oss1ncrp@northcoast.com.
What Am I Gaming Now?
Now the choice of my group, Shadowrun. The thrid edition of Shadowrun by FASA is fantastic. Fixes a lot of the problems with earlier editions and streamlines everything. Give it a try for a nice twist on cyberpunk. We are running Shadowrun weekly now. If you'd like to know more, go to the Shadowrun page.
What Have I Gamed Before?
Well this list is pretty long. Most anything that has come out since October of 1979 has been placed before my eyes. A simple chronology of major events is probably best: October 4th, 1979 - I moved to Mckinleyville, California under protest, with my mother. I began highschool and met Jeff Zebrack. Soon after, I was brought into a game of Dungeons and Dragons by Mr. Zebrack. Yep, like many of the older sect of gamers, I popped my cherry on D&D. It wasn't long before we were playing the brand new Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as well.
Early December, 1979 - Fed up with the way other people ran, and believing I was better (at the time, a fat headed assumption on my part), I began running my own game of Gamma World. This fool-hardy trail that I began travelling down has never ended. Though I put the game on hold every year or two, for a year or two, I always seem to come back to it. I have created a Space setting for the game and have run adventures on the... Well, err... Galactic Scale.I had a crew of 3 long-time players to thank for the insanity that anyone playing in my game has to deal with. Sharon Smith who played a strong female Zinton pleasantly (and aptly) named Widow Maker; who married Huze Fox (run by Ferrel Reid), a presumptuous and impetuous Venusian (no relation to the planet Venus) who decided to slay the President of Venusia to become Emperor of Venusia; who was aided by Mel Westbrook in his many forms as either Hitler, Skeir, Skeeter Dugan or Skeeter Jr. (all alias for the same character) and a host of other individual characters who helped the previous two do what was necessary to try and control a Galaxy.
In 1985, when I was not running Gamma World, I ran a long-lived and multi-playered game of Villains & Vigilantes. We ran it very comic book style and I have Mike Straus to thank for the world anyone joins in my V&V game will play in. When others were ready to quit, Mike would haul out Shocker (his erstwhile alter-ego) and start spouting out "How 'bout some Shock-Treatment" his call to warn villains and pedestrians alike that he was ready to rumble. The few years this game ran strong, we progressed through about 15 years of game time. The characters survived invasions, super-villains, and finally, the apocalypse. And yes, thorugh it all, the call of Shocker could still be heard.
In 1987, I began an exploration style Mech Warrior/Battle Tech game that enjoyed a lot of play. The background for this game was the basis for my two Battle Tech articles in Space Gamer magazine issues #85 and #83. I ran the on the Periphery before it was popular to do so. In late 1989, I got invovled with a company called Starchild which produced a fantastic little game called Justifiers. I liked the background and the system and wanted to be a part of it. I began running games, which quickly turned into a far-reaching campaign. Long before the game designer produced books on the upcoming rebellion, many of the players in my game were already primed to fight the system. If you have not seen the game, you can probably find it in some game sotre's bargain box. Many things have kept this game down. If you cannot find it anywhere else, EMail me and I will see if I can find you a copy. It is worth the read!!! Two players in particular really set the feel of the game. Dave Hughes ran a crazy Coyote-Beta who had decided that since it would be impossible for him to ever buy himself back from the company, he was going to run his bill up to infinity. Ask him some day about how he flooded and froze the entire penthouse level of a hotel just so he could play nude ice hockey with a dozen beta females using hockey sticks and a bunch of oranges. On the other side of the world was the sanity and strength of Erik Jones' Ram-Beta. He signified the strength and defiance that many Betas had towards the system they were born to. He continued to strive for his buy-back (and he would have got there if the game had not ended) and eventual release were he had strong intentions of joining or creating a rebellion against the corporations. Many other games through out the years have taken up my time: an all Kobolds game for AD&D (in numerous varieties). A Creeks and Crawdads game. A Psi World campaign based around the phone-call to a Dominoes of "No Anchovies Please." A few Star Wars games including one where the Jedi was being controlled by a Dark Side of the Force Weilder's Light Saber. And many more. A lot of years of gaming, and a lot of FUN!
For awhile, I was running my own game. A near-future game set in the post changed world of 2013. The Mayans were right and the change does happen on December 23, 2012. Most of the players show weekly to enjoy each other's company and to play in my brain. So far, we have found that all PCs will be the strongest men in the world. Random rolling stats gave all the characters a maximum strength, but that makes things easy to begin the game, the gang all works out a Gold's Gym. Some day this game may see print, but until then, my head and nowhere else.
Most recently, I was running Alternity. You can see more at my
What Have I Playtested and do I recommend anything?
Well I have playtested a few things in my day. GURPS Witchworld and a few others GURPS products a few years ago. Also some other assundry games during my stay as Editor of Space Gamer Magazine. Nothing major to speak about and even less I am truly proud of. I can, however, recommend things.
For those of you looking for a Space Game; If you haven't tried Shatterzone by West End Games, you are missing out. WEG has produced a splendid setting with all the corporation and military involvement you need to recreate a predator or Aliens or Outland style game. They are still adding more to their space combat section, and I trust that it woo will be excellent. Shatterzone is really for hard-core science fiction-ers. If you are looking for lesser fiction and more fantasy, then I recommend the Star Wars role play system, but I assume everyone already knows abou that one and it doesn't need much plugging here.
For Fantasy players, even though no one is printing it right now, Ars Magica is really the only choice out there. Best role playing system, best magic system. You name it, other than ridiculous fantasy monsters, it has it all.
And speaking of recommendations, you've got to check out Blood Dawn. The new Post-Holocaust game from ODS has already begun its takeover of the gaming fields. It appears to be a cross between Shadowrun and the Storyteller stuff from White Wolf, and judging by its initial interest, it's going to be a winner. At the store, we are selling this like hot-cakes (do hot cakes really sell that well?!) Why? Well, I believe it has something to do with the Web connection. Gamemasters and players alike are able to be involved in the production of this world with ODS.
Pop the Seal of approval and find out what I'm talking about. 
Got any cool downloads??
As a matter of fact, I do. Each is available in text form. If you have trouble downloading these, please let me know.
I have text lists for Traveller detailing everything printed for Traveller through 1988 (about the time the game turned to s**t with the help of DGP! I know Marc Miller has regained control of Traveller and I am sincerely hoping he will bring it back en force, but without DGP. The first is a list of magazine Articles. The second is the Master List. The third was the first Update done. If anyone wants to take over this list, please let me know and I will pass new information to you.
I have finally got the beginnings to the Gamma World/Metamorphosis Alpha list. The list is Here! If you know of items I don't, please let me know.
If you have any cool gaming downloads, please let me know about them. You can EMail me at oss1ncrp@northcoast.com.