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30-410: Through the 1970s, SPI had specialized in military history wargames. But the 1977 publication of Metagaming Concepts 's science fiction MicroGame titled OGRE proved enormously popular, and other publishers such as Task Force Games , Operational Studies Group , and Chaosium started to develop their own microgames . SPI also started to develop their own line of science fiction microgames, but went

60-481: A complete fantasy role-playing game, and started working on The Fantasy Trip before Melee was even published. The Fantasy Trip was initially scheduled for release in February 1978, but the design and development required more work than Jackson had anticipated and the game was not released until March 1980. Howard Thompson , owner of Metagaming, decided to release The Fantasy Trip as four separate books instead of

90-706: A futuristic universe that Jackson created. Jackson became interested in Dungeons & Dragons , but did not like the various-sized dice or the combat rules, and bemoaned the lack of tactics, so he designed Melee in response. Jackson joined the SCA to gain a better understanding of combat, but as his interest grew he started fighting in SCA live-action combat as Vargskol, the Viking-Celt. Metagaming also published his game Wizard . Jackson realized that Melee could be expanded into

120-440: A good impression by producing a high quality game in the first issue [of Ares ]. On the contrary, WorldKiller is a dog [...] The game is simple and uninteresting, with no complications introduced to hold one’s interest." Metagaming Concepts Metagaming Concepts , later known simply as Metagaming , was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson , who designed

150-487: A legal dispute, Metagaming conceded that they had also sold Ogre , G.E.V. and an unreleased MicroGame called One-Page Bulge to Jackson. In the early 1980s, Metagaming published a series of modules for TFT in MicroGame format, as well as other MicroGames, some with historical themes, including Hitler's War . The company launched another magazine, Interplay , which was a house organ intended to be published six times

180-458: A more expensive boxed set, and changed his production methods so that Jackson would be unable to check the final proofs of the game. As a result of these actions, Jackson left Metagaming and founded Steve Jackson Games later that year. His game Raid on Iran was an immediate success. Jackson bought The Space Gamer from Metagaming, and sold the rights to The Fantasy Trip to Metagaming. However, Thompson sought legal action against SJG for

210-623: A quarterly house magazine. By its 17th issue, TSG was a full size bimonthly magazine, printed on slick paper and covering games from other publishers, including fantasy games. Thompson and Metagaming pioneered the idea of publishing small, low-cost games in what came to be known as the MicroGame format. For a while, Metagaming dominated this niche wargaming market. Notable MicroGames from Metagaming include WarpWar (designed by Thompson himself), Ogre , G.E.V. , Melee , Wizard (all designed by Steve Jackson ), and Hitler's War . Following

240-446: A step further, creating a new science-fiction magazine titled Ares in 1980 as a bi-monthly science-fiction/fantasy publication to complement their military wargame magazine Strategy & Tactics . Ares , like Strategy & Tactics , included a free game with every issue, complete with a foldout stiff paper map, a set of die-cut counters , and rules. SPI published 11 issues of Ares , and had prepared Issue 12 for publication when

270-519: A year. It ran for eight issues before the company disbanded. The first issue of Interplay was dated May/June 1981, and the eighth was dated September/October 1982. In 1981, the company published A Fistful of Turkeys , which is a game that simulates the struggle between turkeys and a deranged turkey hunter, Billy Jackal. Tom Gordon reviewed A Fistful of Turkeys in The Space Gamer No. 41. Gordon commented that "All in all I feel that this game

300-410: Is not even fit for a beer and pretzel game. It possesses nothing unique or worth [the price]. It is, however, a real 'turkey' game." "Sahm Reviews" thought that the touches of parody were more interesting than the game: a bogus author introduction, an angry letter from a customer, a fictional game list, silly versions of major game company logos, and the manner in which "Some Turkey Games" is printed at

330-525: The University of Texas School of Law , but left to start a game design career. While working at Metagaming Concepts , Jackson developed Monsters! Monsters! ( ca. 1976) based on a design by Ken St. Andre connected to his Tunnels & Trolls role-playing game, and Godsfire (1976), a space conquest game by Lynn Willis . Jackson got his first design for the company published as Ogre (1977), followed by G.E.V. (1978), which were both set in

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360-645: The gaming hobby, leaving most of Metagaming's intellectual property in limbo. On December 26, 2017, Steve Jackson announced that he had re-acquired the rights for the remaining products he authored for Metagaming, specifically Melee, Wizard, Death Test, Death Test 2, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In the Labyrinth, and Tollenkar's Lair . This was accomplished through the provisions of 17 U.S. Code § 203, which allows authors to reclaim works after 35 years. Notable game designers who worked for Metagaming include Jackson, Lynn Willis and Keith Gross. Ben Ostrander, who

390-464: The 2006 Worldcon . On May 11, 2012, Steve Jackson's Kickstarter funding project for the 6th Edition of his Ogre game became the highest grossing boardgame project at Kickstarter, with 5,512 backers pledging a total of $ 923,680. The success of the Ogre Designer's Edition project prompted the launch of a second successful project - running from Nov 29, 2019, through Jan 6, 2020 - to help re-launch

420-565: The SPI RPGs, but instead became a place to talk about TSR's own science-fiction games, such as Gamma World and Star Frontiers ." Michael Anderson of One Small Step Games started a Kickstarter in 2014 to remake the old magazine as a new Ares . The Kickstarter was successful in February 2014. The second issue was released in December 2015. The third issue was released in September 2016. The fourth issue

450-456: The Secret Service agents told him that they believed GURPS Cyberpunk was a "handbook for computer crime", despite his protestations that it was just a game. Through the newly created civil-rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation , SJG filed a lawsuit against the government, which went to trial in early 1993 as Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service . SJG won

480-438: The books did not acknowledge that this was a different 'Steve Jackson'. The United States Secret Service raided the offices of Steve Jackson Games on March 1, 1990 based on suspicion of illegal hacker activity by game designer Loyd Blankenship , and seized (among other materials and media) his manuscript for GURPS Cyberpunk ; when Jackson went to Secret Service headquarters the next day to ask them to return his book drafts,

510-575: The bottom of the cover (copying the style used on the early [Steve Jackson Games] games). On January 1, 1982, Thompson created Games Research Group, Inc., a spin-off from Metagaming. The Games Research Group, Inc. copyright appears on several Metagaming-released products, such as the counters of the MicroGame Dragons of the Underearth . Thompson closed down Metagaming in April 1983 and disappeared from

540-579: The company was suddenly and unexpectedly taken over by TSR in 1982. TSR released the ready-for-print Issue 12, but reduced the magazine's frequency from bi-monthly to quarterly. After Issue 17, TSR stopped printing the magazine as a separate entity; instead, starting with Issue 84 of TSR's house magazine Dragon , a section was titled Ares , and provided support for science fantasy and superhero role-playing game such as Gamma World , Marvel Super Heroes and Star Frontiers . This section last from issue #84 (April 1984) to issue #111 (July 1986), and then

570-492: The company's first game, Stellar Conquest . The company also invented Microgames and published Steve Jackson 's first designs, including Ogre , G.E.V. and The Fantasy Trip . The company's first product, released in 1974, was Stellar Conquest , which had been rejected by Avalon Hill in 1973. Many of Metagaming's notable titles were also science fiction wargames , including Ogre , G.E.V. , and WarpWar . In 1975, Metagaming started The Space Gamer as

600-450: The first issue, calling it "well put together." But overall, he felt the magazine "lacks form, shape and direction [...] rather than being bold, uncompromising and nailing its colours to the mast, Ares has, as it were, crept out into the open with some fiction, some fact and some game." In Fantastic , game designer Greg Costikyan was unimpressed with the first issue of Ares , writing, "One would have thought that SPI would seek to make

630-501: The full GURPS Basic Set appeared the next year in 1986. Sean Punch replaced Jackson in 1995 as the line editor for GURPS . Jackson also designed the strategy card games Munchkin (2001) and Ninja Burger (2003), and the dice games Zombie Dice (2010) and Cthulhu Dice (2010), as well as Zombie Dice variants Trophy Buck (2011) and Dino Hunt Dice (2013). Jackson has exhibited his elaborate Chaos Machine at several science fiction or wargaming conventions, including

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660-496: The lawsuit, receiving $ 50,000 in damages. Jackson is an avid collector of Lego (especially pirate -themed) sets. He has written a miniatures game that uses Pirate sets, Evil Stevie's Pirate Game , and has run it at several conventions. Jackson has combined his fondness for model trains and LEGO through the LEGO train community and has been an active member of several LEGO users groups including TBRR (Texas Brick Railroad) and

690-448: The middle of 1981 for designing and publishing a new detailed and realistic roleplaying system, intending it to be logical and organized well, and wanted it to adaptable for any kind of setting and play level. Jackson announced GURPS in 1983, although his time spent managing magazines delayed development of GURPS until 1984, making the combat system book Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS (1985) available for Origins 1985, and

720-576: The offered price of $ 250,000. Jackson designed or co-designed many of the games published by SJ Games, including minigames such as Car Wars (1981) and Illuminati (1983), Undead (1981), and a published version of an informal game played on college campuses, called Killer . Jackson wanted to get into computer gaming software in the early 1980s, but wound up licensing the rights to Origin Systems instead, which produced games such as Autoduel (1985) and Ogre (1986). Jackson had an idea in

750-630: The popular Car Wars franchise as well. Jackson is often mistaken for Steve Jackson , a British gamebook and video game writer who co-founded Games Workshop . The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that while the UK Jackson was co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, the US Jackson also wrote three books in this series ( Scorpion Swamp , Demons of the Deep , and Robot Commando ), and

780-415: The rights to the short wargame One-Page Bulge , and the lawsuit was settled with an agreement that was reached on November 26, 1981, leaving Jackson with the full rights to One-Page Bulge , and to Ogre and G.E.V. (whose ownership was questioned during the legal proceedings). Jackson wanted to purchase The Fantasy Trip from back Thompson after Metagaming closed down in April 1983, but Thompson declined

810-607: The success of Dungeons & Dragons , Thompson had Steve Jackson design Melee (1977) and Wizard (1978) as the combat and magic systems for a fantasy role-playing game named The Fantasy Trip . TFT was released in 1980 as three books: In the Labyrinth: Game Masters' Campaign and Adventure Guide , Advanced Melee , and Advanced Wizard . Thompson was unhappy with Jackson's work on TFT , which presumably contributed to Jackson's departure from Metagaming later in 1980. Jackson bought The Space Gamer when he left; after

840-589: Was discontinued, bringing the Ares story to an end. As game historian Shannon Appelcline noted, "TSR did very little with SPI's roleplaying games. Ares Magazine #12 (1982), which was prepared by SPI and published by TSR, included a game called Star Traders , which was for use with Universe ; it was the last support for that game system [...] As TSR turned further away from SPI's origins, Ares magazine soon became an Ares section in Dragon magazine. However, it didn't focus on

870-459: Was later the publisher of Mojo Press , served as the art director for most of the company's titles. Steve Jackson (US game designer) Steve Jackson (born 1953) is an American game designer whose creations include the role-playing game GURPS and the card game Munchkin . Steve Jackson was born in 1953, and is a 1974 graduate of Rice University , where he was a resident of Sid Richardson College . Jackson briefly attended

900-455: Was released in January 2017. Jerry Epperson reviewed the first issue of Ares in The Space Gamer No. 28. Epperson commented that the first issue, and its game WorldKiller "was a disappointment. It's uneven. Expect nothing but the best in serious science fiction writing here, and nothing but the worst from the games." In Issue 26 of Phoenix , Hamish Wilson liked the professional look of

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