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is it reprint of 35 year old Avalon Hill game?

The biggest problem with failure to use foreign languages in research is not that the TO&E will have minor errors in it, like you won't know that a particular Dutch brigade at Waterloo had detached two companies to guard the baggage train or something like that. It's that you'll make all the British units elite and all the Dutch units terrible because all you read is sources written in English.

Thank you everyone for the game suggestions! I have alot to look through!

My copy of the core alien rpg book is in the mail. I love the alien cinematic universe so I'm curious as to what is dumb about it? Also, I'm only vaguely familiar with Traveller.

I detest Gettysburg games that straitjacket the players. That's why I start all my Gettysburg games on June 26, when Early's division enters the map.

This is the replay of the live chat play, so responses will be delayed a bit..

Ardy , with your knowledge of War Games , do you know of any regarding the ww2 Shetland Bus , came across the story on a recent trip to The Shetland Islands off Scotland.

The Roger Corman of wargame video. Looking forward to all of that material.

I'll be honest, I just randomly found this short scrolling. But your channel name made me hit the subscribe button. I have never played Rune Quest, but I would like to look for it now!

It's kinda the Brat Pack of Bulge games. 😁

An inspiration for all of us. What a wonderful way to retire!

Nice

This is the version of RuneQuest I was familiar with (having seen it on the shelves of my FLGS). Never bought it or played it (due to price). Many years later stopped by the Chaosium booth at Origins with a buddy and was gobsmacked to learn that RuneQuest's setting was originally a Bronze Age setting. This killed any interest I may have had in the game, since Bronze Age isn't a topic that interests me much (especially for FRPG's). However, this little video has piqued my interest in RQ 3rd edition, given the setting is more of a generic fantasy Europe setting. I may have to try to track down a cheap copy online to satisfy my curiosity about the mechanics.

This new version is an incredible gem and the attention to detail and historical accuracy is superb. Incredible value.

With the Warfighter series, in theory, they are all compatible so you can have an elf and a dwarf fight against a T-34. This means the rulebook for Fantasy covers the entire series, which is why it's so big (that's what she said). I have Modern Warfighter and found the whole cross system rulebook pretty confusing but watched a couple videos and that was good enough to get gaming. It's a pretty solid game but I wish I had gone the WW 2 route as I understand that's where the system shines.

Want to try this so badly!

Pathfinder adventure paths are nothing *but* meta plot. And I absolutely love it. Because as the GM I can use/tweak/ignore as much as I want to give my players an amazing experience. Paizo provides awesome plots, especially stories by the legendary James Jacob's or from Jason Bulmahn, but I am in no way obligated to run their adventures the way they describe. Though, I can always lean on the meta plot if my players need a little push to get a stalled session moving forward again. 🙂

The accompanying Setting book was given to Timothy Zahn when he wrote the Thrawn Trilogy, which is my official sequel trilogy.

In the game I'm developing, I'm trying to keep the world and system work naturally together to make sense but not be invasive to those who want to run their world in whatever way. All the in world fluff, is mostly optional for random/character generation. I love worldbuidling, so its pretty hard to strip back and know to give the players/GM of my game more control of the setting itself.

"Do your own thing" is exactly the thing though. The metaplot is there if you want it, if you don't then just ignore it. It's really not that hard to do, and it's entirely the publisher's right to do whatever they want with their own releases. Once it's in the GM's hands though, it becomes theirs to do with as they please. Also, those "cool moments" can happen anywhere and any time, not just in "your story". It doesn't really matter whether the GM is coming up with the setting, or if it's just there without metaplot, or if there is a heavy metaplot going on - those "cool moments" would still exist around the table and they are still going to be unique to that table because of the people involved. I guess one issue is that an official metaplot may create an expectation among some players that the game they are playing in is following along, and if it doesn't then they may be disappointed (especially if that's not made clear at the beginning). There's a difference between a detailed setting and metaplot too - the setting can be very detailed but just there in the book and then it's left to the GM to play games set against that background and it's entirely their own interpretation going forward, while a metaplot actually changes that setting as new material is released (e.g. an ongoing war or disaster or revolution). But then what about a new supplement that covers a geographic area that a GM is running their own adventures in? Would a GM be justified in railing against the publisher for daring to impinge into "their territory"?

Agree 100%. A well crafted setting can be a great launching pad for your own group's gaming. But when that setting is evolving and changing it makes it very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to run your own personal campaigns in said setting. In some cases it may even totally invalidate events that have already occurred in a group's campaign. I've always thought it was dumb that publishers would start advancing timelines in settings that hadn't even been fully fleshed out. For example, there are still plenty of worlds, systems and sectors in Traveller's Charted Space that remain to be developed. Why advance the timeline, and risk alienating A LOT of your customers, when you could churn out source books for decades and still not run out of material? I believe Robin Crossby and Columbia Games had a falling out over the issue of advancing Harn's timeline by introducing metaplot. They agreed to part ways and divided up publishing rights to the various parts of the Harnworld setting.

All hail BECMI/B-X. Totally with you on this Ardy! May not stand up or age well today but back then it was such a hoot to play.

ILL!! Metaplots are evil for a reason. Especially in its two worst cases. MegaTraveller's Rebellion and Mystara' War of the Immortals in which they were written with and end result, the destination already set and by working backwards it was too easy for Metaplots to toss plausibility or rational realistic actions out with the dishwater.

Anyone else getting an annoying AI-sounding female voice saying the title over the beginning? Is that there in the video or is there some weird setting that's causing it?

Anyone know why this one box is the only one sold out? I have volumes III through XV, but missing this one. Have been looking for 18 months.

If I recall correctly, 'Sinai' by SPI was actually designed and developed while the 1973 war was underway, and modified as that conflict took some unexpected turns. 'October War' is a tactical game that also holds up very well, and was later adapted and made more detailed as part of the Mech War 2 series ('From Suez to Golan').

It seems you skipped part 5 of this (previous one was part 4). Also, I would really like to have these as one longer video, instead of chopped into these shorter clips.

The Dragon Pass board game was previously called White Bear and Red Moon.

I would like to have SPI's War in Europe. I already have SPI War in the West. Can I just buy War in the East (2nd) to turn my War in the West into War in Europe or do I have to have the actual War in the Europe game?

Will add this to my list for games I want in my collection.

BECMI D&D was always my favourite - i loved the extra levels and character growth (first you start in the dungeons (Basic), then you get out into the actual world (Expert), then you can found your own small kingdoms (Companion) then you're epic heroes and rules (Master) and then... you become Immortals! (Immortal). I never really got into AD&D though.

CT's "minimalism" worked the other way for me - it was far too vague about everything for my tastes (both in presentation, actual rules, and adventures). But viewed as a game of the time on its own I don't think MT is that crunchy or complex, at least no more than anything else around then - I certainly appreciated the extra detail at least. As for popularity, I think that because most of CT's fanbase was (and still is) very insular and close-minded, they tend to view everything else that came after as "not as good as CT" and like saying so at every opportunity. Even several editions later there were still a lot of people who complained about whatever the current edition was and how it wasn't CT. There's nothing worse for a game than a fanbase that just refuses to let it evolve, and for me at least that kind of community doesn't make me want to stay involved with the game and I'm sure it put a lot of other people off too (and probably contributed to the reduced popularity of later editions).

Hard Times can catch static from people, but with hindsight, if GDW was going to bother with the Rebellion in the first place, Hard Times or something like it should have been part of the initial presentation.

I remember seeing it advertised, but I could never find it.

it's also why the first 4 dragon quest jrpgs were called dragon warrior in the us

Sorry, DGP. I don't care if my Handheld Densitometer has an Operating Noise of "humming" at TL14 and a "soft hum" at TL15.

The Few the Proud the Megatraveller Fan!

Usually just known as the Batle of Pinkie. The Cleugh is the tricky part. Old Scots word for a cleft or narrow gorge. Heard lots of folk pronounce it Cloo - and others that add a soft gh at the end, with the gh sounding like the ch in Loch (almost like you're clearing your throat!). Take your pick - or your Pinkie! Noteworthy as it's usually put forward as the first land battle to receive naval artillery support.

As a Scot, my best guess on pronunciation would be PINK-ee KLOO.

Didn't Runequest use a hit location system? It's been decades, but it's one reason we liked it (if my memory serves).

It baffles me why people hated the metaplot so much here (other than just because they were grognards, but maybe that's all the reason there is). To me it seems obvious that Traveller's Imperium setting is heavily based on Foundation (there's even an emperor Cleon in both). The Imperium in Foundation tore itself apart and eventually collapsed (and later a new one rose in its place after a dark age). All MT did was emulate the events of one of its big influences, so why this surprised or upset people so much here is beyond me.

I picked up, I think it was 2nd ed, during a summer vacation trip to the UK in 1980. It was a revelation - d100 skill system, and combat where armor reduced damage instead of making the wearer harder to hit. My preferred system to this day.

I have the 3e deluxe set, I picked up a great copy for a good price at garycon. I just need the time to run it! I love reading through it!

Ostrich Riders go, go, go!

Takes me back to getting Melee in a plastic baggie in like 1978. Had to cut out the counters. Good memories, thanks!

According to Josephus, the Great Revolt broke out after non-Jews in Caesarea desecrated synagogues in the city. This led to Jewish riots and eventually culminated in the revolt.

Good Storm of Steel plug. It's one of my fav strategic level WW1 games. And it doesn't take 200 hours to play out the grand campaign.

I will need to get the issue. My father participated in the Berlin Airlift. His story from it, is that he almost fell out of an open hatch in I think a C-47 when the plane suddenly banked. Thank God that didn't happen. If it had, I wouldn't be typing this comment. :) Great content as usual Gary, thank you!

A very interesting looking game, Gary - many thanks for featuring it. The prior Siege of Alesia game (similar system, same designer) in S&T was a lot of fun.

Thick chits, nothing wrong with that.