Author & Game Designer

One of my favorite roleplaying systems to develop for is the Arthurian world of Pendragon, designed by Greg Stafford with Sam Shirley. Published & copyright by Chaosium, and now on its Fourth Edition

Pete & Pendragon -- years of work

• Perilous Forest -- 1992
  Roleplaying Game (RPG) Adventure
  I published an article in this Pendragon supplement about adventuring around Hadrian's Wall in the world of Arthurian Britain.

• Spectre King -- 1992
  Roleplaying Game (RPG) Adventure
  Still my favorite all-time work to date, the Spectre King is the lead adventure in this supplement. Many people have spoken to me about how much they have enjoyed playing it, and I have to admit it's always been great fun to run at gaming conventions. It also includes my article on Cambridge as a setting for Anglian adventures. It's now nearly out of print; Chaosium has a few copies left, and it's unlikely to be reprinted.

  Interesting Story: When I wrote about the burial place of King Hengest in the adventure, I had placed it in the woods to the west of the castle. Yet when I arrived at Conisborough, the English Heritage guides pointed me to a very unassuming mound at the base of the castle, and said this was the site of his resting place! (I turned down the chance to get a picture taken on the top of his barrow... No need to disturb him.) Instead I gave them a copy of the Spectre King for their museum exhibit. They hadn't heard about roleplaying games, though they were quite honored to have been mentioned in a publication... (It would be rather keen seeing it displayed right next to a copy of Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe", which also mentioned Conisborough Castle.) In return, they took me on a tour of the castle during it's reconstruction (required-hard-hat-style conditions). Since the castle had been in ruins for centuries (since the reign of Henry VIII), they told me I was the first American to *ever* set foot in the "camera" (the main chamber) of the castle of Hamelin Plantagenet, the fifth Earl de Warren. The view from the newly reconstructed roof was magnificent.

• Courts of King Arthur -- work in progress
  Roleplaying Game (RPG) Supplement
  This is a complete book I have been working on near since I finished Spectre King. It was what spurred me on to my travels to Europe in 1994. I have a good amount of research finished, some of the book written, but there's still much more to go!

• The Christmas Tourney -- work in progress
  A Pendragon Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) Event
  This year I committed myself to get cranking again. Besides working on the book above, I'm also going to be preparing a short Live Action Roleplaying Game (LARP).

  URGENT MESSAGE
  Was formerly to be hosted at GloranthaCon IV. Now deferred to date TBD! Regardless, I'd like to encourage everyone to still attend GloranthaCon IV. I'll be hosting a seminar:

  "The True Nature of Character: Questing for Spirit in Pendragon"

  Glorantha Con IV
  date/loc: Jan 24-26/97, Ramada Hotel O'Hare, Chicago, IL
  contact: Andrew Joelson, 1330 D. Gifford Ct, Hanover Park, IL 60103;
  or email joelsona@cpdmfg.cig.mot.com
  cost: $40/weekend via pre-registration, or at the door
  events: RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, PenDragon, Mythos & other
  Chaosium games. Two RQ LARPs plus Live Action Trollball!
  

• Links to Other Pendragon Resources
  
  Why reinvent the wheel? Here's a list of Pendragon-related links maintained Lydia Leong at the U. Penn.

Other Chaosium Products

• Nature Trail to Hell in 3-D -- 1991 (not published) Roleplaying Game (RPG) Adventure
  A great romp in the (haunted) woods. I ran this adventure a few times at gaming conventions, to great howls of horror and laughter. My thanks to the great Al Yankovic for the borrowing of the title. (I'll gladly pass along 100% of all the money I earned while using it... $0. Sorry Al!) The plot was simple: a monster in the woods swipes the head off the shoulders of the Nature Scout Master. You're all 12-16 year old kids looking in the bulbous eyes of a monster with oozing pores, slime-covered skin, and a large tusky grin. What do you do? (Screams, panicked running around, and general chaos ensues...) Magnificent fun!

• Cthulhu Now! -- 1992 Roleplaying Game (RPG) Supplement
  
  This handbook, updating the world of Call of Cthulhu from it's original 1920's Gothic horror setting in New England to a present day, worldwide web of conspiracy. I wrote the section for using Computers in the game. This was later re-released as part of the updated 1990's Handbook for CoC. Looking back over what I had written then -- the lack of presence or forsight of the Web (as we know it, rather than that term's use in conspiracy-theory circles), the insanely simplistic descriptions of what a "network" is -- whew! What a difference the last years have made to the topic! What a difference in my own knowledge! Actually, I only had three-and- a-half pages to write up everything there was to know about computers. I knew I was leaving out a lot.

West End Games

(Interesting story: This was surprisingly proved when I went to Trondheim, Norway. At a small gaming shop just 200 or so miles south of the Arctic Circle -- it was just down the street from the museum, which was closed that day -- I was greeted with great enthusiasm when I pointed at a few games I had worked on. They even let one of the employees off for the day to show me around the town. I was quite honored.)

Roleplaying Games

PARANOIA

• Paranoia -- The Roleplaying Game of a Darkly Humorous Future -- 1984, 1987
  Secret Society Logos
  A truly twisted introduction to roleplaying game design. I've never been the same since. My thanks to all who envisioned and brought this game to market. For those who have never heard of this game, it is roughly akin to HAL9000 (from "2001: A Space Oddesey") taking over the world of "Logan's Run", with healthy portions of the "Three Stooges" thrown in for comedic effect.

• Paranoia: "Send in the Clones" -- 1985
  Additional Concepts & Lyrics/Horrible Ideas
  This added the new "Clone Rangers" secret society; I designed the logo.

• Acute Paranoia: "Me and My Shadow Mark IV" -- 1986
  Co-Author, with Steve Gilbert
  I was so proud for "Uncle Kenny" Ralston, Steve, and the rest of the gang when this won an award at the 1986 Origins. This adventure was a rather easy "rock and a hard place" scenario. You are sent to guard a tank the size of a battleship. Of course, the first thought in most people's heads is: "Anything that can even *damage* that monstrosity is going to rip through me like I wasn't even here!" Of course, not being there is only wishful thinking on the Troubleshooters' parts. You are left quite stuck to hunker down and wait for the eventual drubbing at the heart of all Paranoia adventures. Features an attack of actual Commie Mutant Traitors, and a scarier encounter with a group of High Programmers out for a jog. Even has an alternate "Wile E. Coyote" ending. Very silly. Lots of fun.

• Paranoia: "The Computer Always Shoots Twice" -- 1988
  Development
  This was a repackaging of two previous adventures: "Orcbusters", and "Send in the Clones", revised for Paranoia's 2nd Edition rules. My timeless contributions to the canon were lyrics for "Gill-I-GAN's Jungle" and "Vulture Warriors of Dimension X".

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

• The Price of Freedom -- Roleplaying in Occupied America -- 1986 Playtesting
  
  The year was 1986. Ronald Reagan had been reelected by saying "there was a bear in the woods" and calling it the Evil Empire. Two years before, the movie "Red Dawn" had been released to tepid reception (the first movie ever to be rated "PG-13", and the *other* Jennifer Grey/Patrick Swayze vehicle). For whatever national mood this represented, West End decided to publish a game about the Soviet invasion and occupation of the United States. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

• Your Own Private Idaho -- 1986
  Playtesting
  
  The only published adventure for the series. Victory was premised on destroying a large dam with earth movers and explosives and flooding the Soviet garrison out of a valley. This was in the days before the militia movement decided to actually plan destruction of facilities to oust the "occupying" government... the federal government of the United States. What was preposterously tongue-in-cheek then seems startlingly prophetic now.

STAR WARS

• Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game -- 1987
  Playtesting

• Star Wars: Sourcebook -- 1987
  Additional Development

  How many times can a human watch the same three videos without going insane? We really had to watch the movies over and over to get proper interpretations of the Star Wars universe. Which was faster, a TIE fighter or an X-Wing? (TIE fighter) Could we construct a proper deck-plan for the Millenium Falcon? (Yes, but we got to make up a lot ourselves too...) What would an Imperial Base Plan look like? (To see the plans, check out the bottom of this file, converted from my original drawings published in the Sourcebook by Lennert Stock, and now kept in Scarecrow's ASCII art gallery.

Strategy Boardgames

• Shiloh, The Battle of -- Grant vs. Johnson, April 6-7 1862 -- 1982
  (uncredited)
  This was one of the first games I remember helping with at West End. I did a pair of lightboard-traced and Pantone-markered maps for playtest copies. I was happier than a pig in slop to be working at a real game company, even though I was just the stockroom clerk at the time.

• South Mountain -- Prelude to Antietam -- 1984
  Playtesting
  A nice game system; same series as Shiloh, and a later game for Chickamauga. Much better refined under the creative care of Jon Southard. There was also a proposed variant for Vera Cruz, I believe, which we never decided to publish. Years later, Jeff Briggs created a fantastic 2-map game for Gettysburg that never saw print. When I ever get sufficient gumption and disposable money, I'd love to acquire the rights for these games and come out with the deluxe tin-box set Jeff had proposed many moons ago (Gettysburg, Chickamauga and South Mountain together)...

• Imperium Romanum II -- The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire -- 1985
  Development Assistant
  
  I spent the summer of this year drawing map after map of the Roman Empire, and supervising the playtest of 'The Year of Four Emperors' over and over and over. Al Nofi, designer of the original version, spent a lot of time jaw-boning with Nick Quane, the developer of the new edition. Nick spent his time muttering about how he was going to get all the Roman legions, auxiliae and foreign units for dozens of different wars to fit into an 800-counter mix. I was still the young turk, and happy just to be within listening range. It felt truly nice spending all the time researching Roman history for fun and profit. I decided this was where I wanted to get a job when I graduated. "What fools these mortals be," the bard would say...

  Star Trek -- The Adventure Game -- 1985
  Playtesting & Advice

  When a small company landed a big-name title like "Star Trek", there were two things I believed: 1) we had finally made the big time, and and 2) the whole world was up for license. Greg Costikyan, Doug Kaufman, and Steve Gilbert made a nice little game, where if you knew your Star Trek trivia, it really helped.

  Star Trek III -- The Enterprise4 Encounter -- 1985
  Playtesting (uncredited)

  Three games in one, each rather unique: in the Kobayashi Maru test, you get to try your hand winning the unwinnable scenario. In Free Enterpri$e, you get to play in a game, which, for all intents and purposes, was a forerunner of "Merchant of Venus" (see Avalon Hill's 1988 title), where you had to trade apricot snout-silks before their price dropped on Glista. The last game was the campy "Sherwood Syndrome", where you had to correct the situation on a medieval-technology planet where someone has already broken the prime directive.

  Star Trek -- The Enterprise4 Encounter -- 1985
  Playtesting

  This game was loosely based around Trelaine, Squire of Gothos, who splits the Enterprise and its crew into four identical copies. I think that's how many copies we sold too...

• Junta -- 1985
  Interior Illustrations, with Steven Crane
  
  I had a lot of fun redrawing cards for the Junta card deck. My favorites include the "Character Assassin" (taking a flash picture through an open window), and "Students Circulate Petition Condemning Repression" (where a policeman is clubbing the hapless student), and of course, the "Amateur Assassin" (who is holding the grenade and throwing the pin). Another nice game!

• Soldiers -- Man-to-Man Combat in World War II -- 1987
  Playtesting
  A great game about man-to-man fighting in France (between the US and German armies). A very playable simulation. The game cried out for additions. If anyone has rules for Russian, British, or Japanese squads, let me know.

• Desert Steel -- A Tank Leader Series Game: World War II Armored Tactics -- 1989
  Design & Development
  
  My magnum opus in gaming. I did the rules, the counter art, the historical research, the typesetting, the playtest supervision... Kevin Wilkins and Steve Crane did a super job on the art, including getting fantastic photographs from the Imperial War Museum, London. Sam Weiss playtested the heck out of the system. Jeff, master of wargaming at West End, mentored me around all the blocks. The best part for me was writing up the twenty scenario histories, 2 pages of historical notes for the campaign, 4 1/2 pages of unit notes, a page of designer's notes and page-and-a-half list of references. What a year!

• Assault on Hoth -- The Empire Strikes Back: A Star Wars Adventure Boardgame -- 1989
  Playtesting

• Star WarsTM: Battle For Endor -- Solitaire Star Wars Boardgame -- 1989
  Design & Development
  
  Ewoks versus Stormtroopers. Probably the most recognized of the games I've worked on, but not a critical breakthrough in the world of game design. It does have a few moments of fun while trying to figure out the mechanics. After a few playings, you can usually beat the Empire at it's game.

• Star WarsTM: Star Warriors -- Star Wars Boardgame -- 198*?
  Development
  This game covered ship-to-ship combat in the Star Wars universe. I was always surprised it didn't get more attention. It was one of my favorites. Doug Kaufman, designer-genius-god and good office-mate, was the guru on this one. Sadly, I've lost my personal copy at some point...