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A Valentine to OGRE

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There Will Be Games
ogre2.gif If you read Steve Jackson's design notes in the OGRE BOOK (thanks Dogmatix), one thing you see him discuss a couple of times is how "science fiction" was a more important thing to him than realism or practical design. It paid off because OGRE is great science fiction. But it's also a great game, almost elemental in its simplicity and so open-ended and receptive of player creativity that it really puts a lot of "thematic" games today, many of which are called so just because they're loaded down with card text and professional illustration, to shame. I've just rediscovered OGRE after nearly a decade's lapse and I have to say that it's practically criminal that for one thing, we rarely talk about OGRE to the point where MUNCHKIN is associated with the Steve Jackson name more than his masterpiece and for another that OGRE is out of print and won't be indefinitely.

So this week's Games from the Crypt over at Gameshark.com is a Valentine to OGRE. And an apology. I'm sorry I put you in that bin in the basement, MkIV.

Anybody that wants to learn, PM me and I'll get you set up with VASSAL or Gamebox, your choice. Dr. Mabuse is already taking my training course and he's already learned that charging up the middle with a couple of howitzers in the way is a bad idea.

I also have another article up at Worthpoint.com, this time it's about valuing board games as collectibles. The other day the editor there asked me if I was an "expert" on board games. I thought that was kind of funny, to think you can be an "expert" on them.
There Will Be Games
Michael Barnes (He/Him)
Senior Board Game Reviews Editor

Sometime in the early 1980s, MichaelBarnes’ parents thought it would be a good idea to buy him a board game to keep him busy with some friends during one of those high-pressure, “free” timeshare vacations. It turned out to be a terrible idea, because the game was TSR’s Dungeon! - and the rest, as they say, is history. Michael has been involved with writing professionally about games since 2002, when he busked for store credit writing for Boulder Games’ newsletter. He has written for a number of international hobby gaming periodicals and popular Web sites. From 2004-2008, he was the co-owner of Atlanta Game Factory, a brick-and-mortar retail store. He is currently the co-founder of FortressAT.com and Nohighscores.com as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Miniature Market’s Review Corner feature. He is married with two childen and when he’s not playing some kind of game he enjoys stockpiling trivial information about music, comics and film.

Articles by Michael

Michael Barnes
Senior Board Game Reviews Editor

Articles by Michael

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