Really great game! The latest version (I don't think there is a newer one than the 8th edition) is the nicest version to date, too... nice mounted board and nice, thick chits. Really fun game that came out in the 70s and is STILL fun to play! :-D
So many memories there. I have a real love hate relationship with SJ Games. I love their mechanics. I love to play GURPS, and Fantasy Trip, OGRE, and all of the versions of Illuminati (esp. the nineties INWO version). And I hate their lack of support for their own games. No advertising, minimal store support. It's like they are trying to be hipsters with their own games. SJG employee in a fedora: "Oh, I have the best game ever here. You've probably never heard of it."
I got the new Car Wars but haven't tried it yet.. but I so loved the old one.. I had tones of the expansions, maps and Travel books.. it was done so well. It would be cool if they would do a lot of the smaller games in a box collection.. or something. If they are not large enough to do a deluxe on their own.
Nice selection Rob, loved those micro games, Ogre is a classic, and the big box version is out of this world, just got the two player Car Wars set, can't wait to get it to the table.👍🏼
Triplanetary is probably my favourite game of all time. I was first introduced to it around 1995 when a coworker gave me a copy of a copy of a copy of the rules. Had to make my own map and token. It stuck with me and I was so excited when the Steve Jackson edition came out.
'80s military, the beauty of SJ Games was a lot of play took up little space in a footlocker. Ogre/GEV & Car Wars traveled all over the Pacific with my unit
Back in 1984, I was lucky (?) that my family moved from Canberra, to Victoria, due to my father’s work. He had earned a huge promotion in a Government department, but meant we had to relocate for a couple of years. Now I love Canberra, but moving to Victoria aged 14 was eye-opening. Despite being the Nation’s Capital, Canberra, back then, was really a small country town, with FIFO politicians, who made decisions for the rest of the country, then flew back home to their electorates, when parliament was not in session. Games other than Scrabble, Monopoly, and the like, were hard to come by, and there were, possibly, two stores which stocked games like this new-fangled “Dungeons and Dragons” which people started to notice. We moved into the suburbs in Victoria, a stone’s throw away from the city centre, by train. And what a city centre! It was massive, compared to what I was used to (but still not a patch on contemporary centres in the US, from what I understand. There was a chain of stores, called “Mind Games”, that specialised in games, puzzles, “role-playing games”, etc. it was here that I discovered my love for all things games. One of the first things I purchased was “Melee”, in the black plastic pocket box. I went back the next week, and bought “Wizard”. Then other microgames, which were all small, but packed full of fun. My two favourites were, hands down, Death Test, and Death Test 2, which I played solo, and with a handful of other people, so often, I had to create randomised tables for room contents, just to keep things fresh! Eventually came Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard, as well as “In the Labyrinth”, all of which I managed to get, before we moved back to Canberra. I also picked up the different Car Wars pocket boxes, as well as OGRE, and an expansion. When we came back to Canberra, all my old friends were now playing D&D, or Traveller. I introduced them to The Fantasy Trip, and managed to convert enough people to have a regular gaming group. While we were away, a couple of “specialty” stores had opened, which catered to geeks such as myself. One was literally 15 minutes walk from my house, in the local mall, and I spent much of my time there pouring over all these wonderful games. Steve Jackson, through Metagaming, was my gateway into a lifetime of, quite literally, fun and games. His rules were tight, mostly consistent*, and varied between either being quick to play, or lasting the whole day. I always hoped SJG would get the rights to produce games set in the Star Wars universe, but I guess they just weren’t big enough to handle such scope (but GURPS allows you to do that now, in any case… :) ). I have, of course, played many games, from many different companies over my fifty+ years, but I still get that same tingle of excitement when I hear about a new game, or Deluxe Edition of an old classic, from Steve Jackson Games, as I did, when I bought that first copy of Melee home, and cracked it open. Cheers, * For those who are not familiar with it, look up SJG’s “Murphy’s Rules”, which poked fun at ridiculous rules in games, including several of their own. These all form a part of a greater “what not to do when designing a game”, as well as having individual artwork, depicting the rule in action, in some humorous fashion. I still believe that “Murphy’s Rules” was the original inspiration for what became Munchkin (and was illustrated by the same guy that did the original Munchkin artwork - his name escapes me at present, but you all probably all know his work).
I loved using GURPS: Horrors on my players back when I still ran RPG's on weekends!...One of my players remembered how I terrified the entire group just by using a couple of tricks I had read about in the book...She thanked me for giving her and the others such a memorable experience!...
I use to play car wars, net ninja, illumanti, and ogre a lot. A little bit of gurps , but was never hooked. Anyways, a few months ago my brother and his family came over, and they broke out munchkin! Lots of fun.
My #1 and #2 would be in the exact same order! :-D Other Steve Jackson games I dig that weren't already mentioned: Awful Green Things From Outer Space, Illuminati, Zombie Dice (w/ expansions), and Knightmare Chess. :-) Car Wars is forever king, though! Either old-school Car Wars or 6e. I'm in! ^_^
...since you're askin'... (1) Triplanetary... in a class by itself, (2) Awful Green Things From Outer Space, (3) Raid On Iran, (4) TFT and family, (5) Frag, (6) Ogre and family, (7) Illuminati, (8) Undead, (9) Car Wars, (10) GURPS The Prisoner - just for this module...
I liked the munchkin humour (but it gets old). The gameplay was OK.... 20 years ago. It is definitely not the best. Never played Munckin Dungeon. G.U.R.P.S. is a fine system. A lot of the bolt on sub-systems were a bit iffy (at least back in 2nd edition). I barely remember FRAG. I seem to recall enjoying it. The theme is definitely on point. I'm tempted to give OGRE and Car Wars a go. But it is hard to fit more miniature games in with my group. Car Wars is probably going to be a hard sell because of the competition (specifically from Gaslands).
