BGTG - June 4, 2005 (Mark's boardgaming biography)
A show all about me. I hope this is still of interest to everyone--I figure it's important to know where your writer/podcaster is coming from. Once you're calibrated on who I am, you can interpret my reactions to different games a bit better. I start at the games I played as a kid, but then move through the microgames and roleplaying games that dominated high school and college. The boardgaming we now enjoy didn't come around until the late 90's, and it was Magic: The Gathering that showed the way--I'm not one of those guys that played Acquire and Civilization back in the old days. (In fact, I forgot to tell the story of how Acquire completely bombed with my roleplaying games--and me--when we tried it. So did Cosmic Encounter.)
I've been involved with three boardgame groups over the past near-decade, and I spend a little time discussing how they all started. First the Tri-Valley Boardgamers, then the Left Coast Gamers, and now the Santa Clarita Boardgamers.
I didn't wrap up the show with a teaser for what the next theme show will be. I haven't quite decided. Figure I ought to post those ideas here on the blog like I've been threatening to see what piques interest.
Email Mark Johnson
Games
Ogre
Magic: The Gathering
Air Baron
Settlers of Catan
Streetcar
Links
Microgame mailing list, website
My GURPS books (Super Scum, Supertemps, others)
Michael Dean's Fine Games
Tri-Valley Boardgamers (then and now)
posted by Mark Johnson at 3:18 PM
3 Comments:
Mark -
We would love to have you stop by the Tri-Valley Boardgamers anytime you are in the area. Interestingly, your history is similar to mine. While I never did get into Magic (Comic Books at that time), I did start with interested in AH games and have fond memories of the Microgames (Melee and Wizard) as well as Ogre and GEV. I did move through wargames, enjoying the historical lessons before discovering Eurogames once again. Still enjoy a wargame when I can find an opponent but mostly, enjoy playing any game whenever I can.
Rich Pardoe
(TriValley Boardgamers)
If I'm not mistaken, it's called "Tri-Valley" because of the shape of the valley, north (toward Walnut Creek) south (toward Sunol) west (toward Livermore), using the Interstate 580/680 intersection as the central point.
I think the credit for keeping the group going/reviving the group from near obscurity needs to go to Sterling Wright. Right now we're a small active group with a large audience of lurkers. :-)
Dave Wilson
(TriValley Boardgamers)
Thanks for another great episode Mark. I remember Ogre, CAR WARS and Green Things from Outer Space (as they made it over to the UK) but I haven't heard of many more games. Maybe you could do a microgames special one time?
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