[Gamma World] Gamma World Survival Horror House Rules!

Like it says on the tin.  Some conversion rules to make Gamma World play more like Resident Evil, Dead Space, System Shock, and Aliens.

These rules are a work in progress so hopefully expect a second part with more stuff.

Edit:  Thanks to Xiw on #tinypewtermen (Irc.synirc.net) for some mistakes I made and some inspiration and opinions that got me to tweak and improve my initial version!

Gamma World House Rules Document

Healing Surges: Once per 24 hours including at least 6 hours of rest outside of combat players may heal all HP damage. In combat once per day PCs may heal ¼ th (rounded up) HP damage as a Standard or Move action. At level 4 and 8 PCs gain 1 extra in Combat ¼ HP surge.

Other Effects: Negative effects that are normally “Save Ends” now stay on the target but may be avoided as normal using a Combat surge or automatically removed via the Full option.

(Note special abilities or items can allow for extra saves or surges as well.)

Combat Stuffs:

Weapon Reloads: Weapons that have ammo now have a “Reload” action. Reloading a weapon is either a Move or Attack action. This does mean you can shoot your guns as much as you want now.

(Optional: weapons with ammo have a condition. Every extra time it is fired roll a D10. If the roll equals or beats the condition points of the weapon it degrades by 1 point. Repair is then needed.)

Weapon Range: Weapons now have a range. At Short the weapon's hit modifier is added to your roll. At Medium it is not. At Long the roll is now -5.

Aimed Shots: Aimed Shots are an extra -5 to hit but if successful are counted as a critical hit (max damage) or if something with a weak point or multiple locations (like a Romero styled zombie say..) that is hit and rolled for damage as appropriate.

Critical Hits: A normally rolled Critical Hit also counts as an Aimed Shot as the firer's choice.

Weapon Special Abilities/Upgrades:

Indirect Fire: Indirect Fire shots are 15 AC if target/target square is visible, 25 if not visible. When the hit is a miss, for every point missed the shot 1 square in a random direction, ½ if going back towards the firer. (Round up) Scatter roll is 1d10 with 1 back towards firer, numbers go clockwise with 10 being a “dud” shot. When a Hit is rolled the shot hits the target square/target but it scatters d4-1 if indirect. (Again, a 10 rolled for direction is a dud even if you scatter 0 range on an Indirect spot.)

Cone Attack: Cone Attacks ignore cover bonuses for Hit rolls. Range is distance weapon fires. Shot is reduced 1 die in damage per square after the second. No Long/Med/Short ranges.

Multifire : May not be used at Long Range. Requires weapon to be held 2 handed. Uses multiple rounds of ammo. (Roll 1d4 shots used) If main target is hit, any adjacent targets take half damage regardless of AC. Target's cover AC is reduced by 1 step. (Partial is cancelled, Full becomes Partial.)

Multifire weapons may be fired on “Single” shot mode but lose all multifire bonuses and penalties. (So you no longer waste multiple shots or have to fire 2 handed unless the weapon itself requires it. And you know, you get Long Range!)  As long as you have 3 rounds in the weapon you can still go Multifire and if you roll a 4 for shots just count it as having been 3.

Antitank (#): Antitank weapons ignore DR equal to the (#) value.

Heavy: Heavy weapons may only be fired if the firer has not moved at all including Shifting. If the firer does move it may be fired at half normal range values and it is -5 to hit.

Melta: Melta weapons are ½ normal weapon type range with Antitank +5 and ½ normal ammunition, rounded up. Stacks with Antitank.

Laser: Laser weapons are +2/4/8 range, +1 To Hit, ½ ammo capacity rounded down.

Flamer: Cone Attack doing Fire damage. No To Hit rolls required but targets evade on a 11+ roll with their Dex bonus added to the roll. Targets hit take 5 Ongoing Fire, Save Ends. No Cone Damage Dice reduction. All targets in a straight line take the hit, adjacent squares to the line take half damage with no Ongoing Fire.

Red Dot Sight: +1 To Hit rolls, target may either use AC or Reflex, whichever is higher.

Sniper Scope: If firer doesn't move, weapon gets +2 to hit and +4/8/16 to range.

2 Handed: Requires 2 hands to fire, otherwise -5 to hit.

Blast (#): Hits target square full on, surrounding squares take ½ damage. (#) is size of the blast.

Armory:

Pistols:

Light: Range: 5/10/20 Damage: 2d4 Ammo/Clip: 9 To Hit Bonus: +3

Medium: Range: 7/14/28 Damage: 2d6 Ammo/Clip: 7 To Hit Bonus: +2

Heavy: Range: 8/16/32 Damage: 3d4+1 Ammo/Clip: 6 To Hit Bonus: +1

Carbines: (ALL 2 HANDED)

Light: Range: 9/18/36 Damage: 2d6 Ammo/Clip: 24 To Hit Bonus: +3

Medium: Range: 11/22/44 Damage: 2d8 Ammo/Clip: 20 To Hit Bonus: +2

Heavy: Range: 13/26/52 Damage: 3d6+1 Ammo/Clip: 16 To Hit Bonus: +1

Rifles: (ALL 2 HANDED)

Light: Range: 15/30/60 Damage: 2d8 Ammo/Clip: 8 To Hit Bonus: +3

Medium: Range: 20/40/80 Damage: 2d10 Ammo/Clip: 6 To Hit Bonus: +2

Heavy: Range: 23/46/92 Damage: 3d8+1 Ammo/Clip: 4 To Hit Bonus: +1

Machine Guns: (ALL 2 HANDED, HEAVY, MULTIFIRE)

Light: Range: 25/50/100 Damage: 2d10 Ammo/Clip: 20 To Hit Bonus: +3; Antitank 2;

Medium: Range: 30/60/120 Damage: 2d12 Ammo/Clip: 16 To Hit Bonus: +2; Antitank 3;

Heavy: Range: 32/64/128 Damage: 3d12+1 Ammo/Clip: 12 To Hit Bonus: +1; Antitank 4;

Shotguns:

Sawed Off: Damage: 4d6 Ammo/Clip: 2 To Hit Bonus: +1; Cone 5

Hunting: Damage: 5d6 Ammo/Clip: 2 To Hit Bonus: +2; Cone 7; 2 Handed

Combat: Damage: 6d6 Ammo/Clip: 8 To Hit Bonus: +3; Cone 9; 2 Handed

Slug Ammo: Shotguns may be fitted with “Slug” rounds that turn the Cone range to Medium, with Double that Long, and NO Short range. Slug rounds fire like normal guns and ignore Cone rules. Slug shots are also -2d damage dice. (So a Combat Shotgun with Slug would have -/9/18 for range, and do 4d6 damage/

Incendiary Ammo: As Slug but damage dice is HALVED from the normal Shotgun damage, and the shot is Fire damage, adjacent targets take half damage. 3 Fire Ongoing, Save Ends.

Flamers:

Light: Damage: 3d6 Ammo/Clip: 10; Flamer Cone 6; 2 Handed

Heavy: Damage: 3d8 Ammo/Clip 6; Flamer Cone 10; 2 Handed

Heavy Weapons: (ALL 2 HANDED, HEAVY)

Grenade Launcher: Range: 10/20/40 Damage: 2d6 Ammo/Clip: 6 To Hit Bonus: +1; Indirect Fire; Blast 2

(ADD SPECIAL GRENADE TYPES)

Bazooka: Range: 18/36/72 Damage: 2d10 Ammo/Clip: 1 To Hit Bonus: +2; Antitank 5

Box Launcher: Range: 20/40/80 Damage: 2d12+2 Ammo/Clip: 4 To Hit Bonus: +1; Antitank 10; 

[Toyniverse] Some Winter Comics Fun!

Nothing game related at all.  But there is a big ol blizzard going on right now:

On my porch circa 6pm.

Down at my mailbox circa 9pm.

So I had my carefully saved "Personal" day ready for the winter wintery-ness as opposed to using it to go to a day of Templecon in Providence Rhode Island.

But what to do with my time?  

GET BACK INTO THE PHOTOCOMICS GAME.

It has been a while.  And it is so much easier on me to save a lot of my work in that format.  So what better time to get practice?

Took out some toys and made some photos.  One of which I got in the mail today!  

"Hotshot" from the Starriors line.  A toyline by Tomy in the mid 80s about sapient mechanoids who became intelligent and self aware while Humanity slept as they were designed to fight mutant monsters and repair the planet after a catastrophe.  One side of course decided to be evil and oppressive and didn't want to bring Humans back with the others discovering Humans were real and searching them out while running from the bad robots.  It didn't do well but the toys were cool and the Marvel Comics miniseries is still a personal favorite.

(And I swear a more recent franchise basically stole the same concept.  I am forgetting which one at the moment but if I remember I will add it in here!)

I did some freezing in the snow and wind and cold.  I slammed my knee hard into a concrete step due to slipping on the snow.  But.. I DID IT FOR COMEDY.  (In quotation comedy.  I am not exactly a comedic genius!)

Got Comic Life 2 working and figured out on my PC instead of my old slow G5 iMac. (Which doesn't work right now.)  And as I owned the old Deluxe edition for said Mac, it was only 10 bucks, which is affordable and fair.

So.. HERE IS THE COMICS:

And the smaller less quality comic but also fun to do:

Thanks for reading and if you are in BLIZZAGEDDONCALPYSE 2013: Dark Nemo: The Darkening ?

BE SAFE!

Games Workshop: I am pretty sure we are through.

This really has been a long time coming but I think it has finally hit the point that finished bringing me over the point of no return.

Ok, this recent news is what was the knife that cut the rope I was hanging on over the cliff.

See I got my first GW product in 1991, a copy of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader that was actually a mistake order from a mail order seller when I had in fact ordered the fantasy RPG Warhammer had.  (Not that I would have had ANY chance of playing it at that time.  Even less than now. :( )

I looked at it and fell in love.  I have always been more a Sci Fi fan than a Swords and Sorcery one.  I read it, loved it, but didn't really have much else to do with GW stuff outside of wanting some of the early computer games until 1993-94 when a friend on the Navy ship I was on (the Puget Sound) said he played which was all I needed to have an excuse to hop in.

Come to find out he had like one squad or two and had played maybe half a game of Rogue Trader but oh well.  I got into GW stuff and HARD.  Built up multiple armies, tried nearly every game they had.

Yet even back then some of the rules and procedures and pricing GW did annoyed me.  But... they got worse.

You see I had the luck to mostly play casual folks and in non GW stores so we were basically allowed to do whatever the damn well we wanted.  Any army size, any house rule we wanted, any proxy minis from other manufacturer.  We never had any of the ridiculousness GW store gamers dealt with.

(One group I played with had a HUGE laugh at GW store rules when I had made a pilgrimage to the one store in my area, nearly an hour away.)

The first big strike came in 1998-99 when 3rd edition 40K came out.  The store we had been playing in had taken a mostly hands off approach with us.  We bought stuff and played how we wanted.  We had a great time.  I had even organized a mega game demo for the opening of their second store.  (Whose manager's actions are mostly to blame on it and the home store closing down.)

But when it came out said second store manager and even the owner of both (to a lesser degree) started coming down hard on painted vs unpainted, what types of games we could play, what rules we were allowed to use.  Hell, even if we were allowed to have an OPINION on the new rules!

A group of people who had been playing for over a year basically all quit playing within 3 months.  I was actually one of the first to just give up on it.  (And then took a LOT of my business away from the store.  They clearly weren't interested in my concerns so the only way I could voice myself was to shut up and cut a good 2/3rds of my purchasing from the store out.)

I found another venue I played 40K for 6 months or less, until everyone switched over to one of the absolute worst miniatures games I ever played, Clan Wars.  (2 of us went back to 40K but one moved out of state and that was pretty much that.)

Until roughly 2006-2007 I didn't play much if ever.  A few games with a friend who turned into such an unbearable powergamer I would have rather punched myself in the junk than played him.  The pain would be a lot faster.

I finally got back in with a local scene roughly around the time this blog started.  GW was still doing their same old thing but stuff cost more now.  And the local crowd over time basically ran themselves out by running everyone else out via douchebaggery.  I quit showing up one day and while I sometimes go down for D&D Encounters that group is a mere shadow of their former selves and they maybe show up one week out of two months.

(Being racist to the predominantly black fighting video game players so they would go somewhere else.  Being rude and hateful.  Outright being so cruel and abusive to one 14 year old kid he broke down in TEARS. )

I realized a couple months back I haven't actually played 40K since May 2010.

The store had a sale going on and I wanted the new Chaos Space Marine army book.  Then I saw how much it cost.  50 dollars MSRP.  Yes it was hardback.  But not a couple months back I got equally full color  Warmachine and Hordes rule and army books for less than that hardback, and with even cheaper softback options.  For a MUCH better game.

That was mostly it.  I even stopped reading the 40K novel I was in the middle of.  What little enthusiasm I had left for this company and its products was GONE.

And now this news:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3532619&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

The company whose rules continue to be poorly written and playtested, whose products cost more than much smaller companies do while usually being of lesser quality, who treat their customers, potential business allies, and essential retail partners like crap are now going after anyone they can.

Why do I want to keep buying anything from a company who constantly raises their prices while making new products that effectively make the old all but USELESS?  A company who really only wants kids of rich parents to drop 200 odd dollars and get the hell out so they won't know or complain about things getting worse in spite of the fact customer retention SPREADS THE GAME AND THUS SALES?

A company who has used independent retailers to get inroads into a region then effectively hung them out to dry?  Who is so authoritarian they do their best to make sure you cannot even sell their product online like every other blasted company does?

Why should I put up with this?  GW makes the "Art Project" the primary goal anyhow.  The game?  SIDE BIT AT BEST.  If you read that linked thread you will see experiences worldwide with these bastards.

I really still like the 40K universe.  But in general?  Unless something changes (aka their business plan finally falls apart and some other company ends up buying them out) I won't be buying much of anything from them, nor promoting their stuff.

With games like AT 43 and Warmachine I don't have to.  And it isn't like my old favorites like Necromunda and Space Hulk still can't be played.  Heck, I even felt some glee selling off 2 Fantasy and 2 40K forces over the last few years.  I liked that I was costing Games Workshop a couple hundred dollars in sales while making most of my money back if not more thanks to my cheapskate buying and their continued price hikes.

Those of you sad and pathetic fools that keep enabling GW's actions though?

Shame on you.

GW isn't the "Big Man on Campus" any more.

And companies like Privateer Press are more than happy to pick up all their business.

Mechwarrior Online: Recent Developments

See these days in Mechwarrior Online we are now due to get our Tuesday patches full of new content, tweaks, and bug fixes every other week, if not once a month depending on when they get things done and tested.  I have been remiss in showing some of the most recent updates, and today was full of things to make MWO look like an actual game to pay money for as opposed to something coded by Ocean Software for the Sinclair Spectrum back in the 80s.

The highlight of recent patches have been more Hero Mechs.  These things provide you with another chassis variant to pilot, bonuses to your C Bill earnings, and come in super nifty custom paint schemes you cannot change.  Last time we got a Commando, this time it is a great Looking Awesome.  Not worth the money.  

But what about this Camo Spec sale?  What is this?  Well, paint and camo patterns have been modified with refunds for existing purchases.

Now you can unlock one of the nice patterns for merely a single mech or for every mech of that type if not all mechs.  (I could find out for sure but buying camo patterns is a stupid use of money.)

But now once one has spent C Bills or MC on a color they made use it for FREE on any mech they own.  Sadly the default freebie colors have become a lot brighter than previously, so my lovely "Eternal Decay" Chaos Marine color scheme my long unplayed 40K army uses can be on my space robots cheaper but it doesn't look right any more.  It is a bit easier to preview your cosmetic stuff now though.

I modified my Atlas D-DC with orange instead of blue.  With the half price color sale I might as well use my C Bills and get em for 600K instead of 1200.  Even the 2 I don't really use or need.  Which makes my Atlas look pretty.  I even upped its loadout while I was at it.

Sadly, the social stuff still isn't too great.  You cannot give "Leader" over to other players, nor can you even see who is Lead if they aren't in your Friends List.  I don't think we can move our mechs around in the open bay slots yet either.  Disappointing.

And a pair of new limited time cockpit goodies have arrived for Chinese New Year.  This snake and some hanging lanterns.

A new BIG improvement is the pre match preparation screen.  Talk with your teammies and the other side, see who is out there, mission map and data, game type info, and now we even know the faction and mech chassis each of our team members is in!  (Faction is now listed in game.)  Great!

A recent patch now added in a voiced and animated startup sequence of your mech.  It really gets you pumped for the match.  Apparently the voice actress is the same one who did the computer voice in Mechwarrior 2!  Classy!  

Even in the in match scoreboard got an overhaul.  Lookin good!

Death now shows you what happened to your mech and a little bit of statistical info.  I have my TALK key mapped to Q since its handy with WASD controls and it sometimes leads me to hitting said key...  You can then sit there and see your mech's corpse get circled around by the camera, or move on to see an ally still in action.  Unless they die then its back to spinning.

In game friendly and enemy colors have changed a bit and the ECM indicators are a bit more visual.  Otherwise its mostly just been bug fixes and performance tweaks.  The game is a lot more playable now than it was for a couple of the middle months I have been playing it for.  Also there is an Override command that is kind of weird and annoying as you have to hit the key, then if you shut down within 5 seconds you won't.  It is kind of odd and not worth worrying about.

 And our nice new post game report!  Again it looks sharp and gives us the chance to talk some post game smack.  Sadly not too many people are using it yet.  

 And now your personal stats have their own page with a nice breakdown of everything.  Many of us playing tonight were hoping for more info such as what we destroyed exactly, more damage info such as who hit us and who we hit (including friends.  I "accidentally" shot a Hunchback in the back with a 70 point Alpha Strike because he said LEEEROY JEEENKINS and that is stupid.  Would be nice to know when your friends hit you and when you hit them!  People sometimes get in each others' way when they want to shoot those nasty enemies!) and the like.

Overall the game continues to get better and better while not screwing over those of us like me who aren't willing to give the developers money hand over fist.

You better look out when we come to town:

Original animated version of this masterpiece was done by someone on the Something Awful forums whose name I forget.  As a retro gamer it is MAGNIFICENT.  Also as a long time Robotech/Macross fan it has extra fun value for me. I HAD TO USE IT.  But I do not want to be a hosting leech so I saved a copy of my own.  Which removed the animation.  Oh well.

The game just keeps getting better folks.  I have played more of this game in play time in the last few months than I have playing tabletop Battletech since I got into the game.  In 1988.

Is it the magic of computers, or just due to Battletech gamers, especially ones here in Connecticut (the most antisocial Aspergers of the 50 Current United States of America) being their usual selves?

Little of both I think.  A little bit of both...

Retrocomputing Why Bother?: Part 6 and a Half: Dosbox as Shown by Thexder 2

Another retrogame update?  Yes.

This time showing Thexder's less abusive little brother, Firehawk: Thexder the Second Conflict

Its a more modern game than Thexder 1 so has things like save games and continues.

Even support for more audio and graphics!

(Protip: Click the pictures for larger.  You REALLY need to do this to see the EGA graphics mode at its' worst.  To see what I saw playing it.)

Let's see if EGA/VGA mode got any nicer:

 Its certainly a PRETTIER game than Thexder but it still has those annoying dithering lines and low color malarkey of its parent.

 Back to Tandy then.  No dithering garbage and whatnot, but.. it still doesn't look that hot, in fact its a wash which version looks nicer.  Lower resolution but no dithering liney-winey gobbledy goo.

And MCGA, IBM's PS/2 PC line of 256 color proto-VGA like graphics.  With.. virtually NO difference.  But its nice that non Tandy 1000 owners can still enjoy some Thexder 2.

But thanks to the miracles of emulation and fan translations, there is another way.  See.. the MSX computers ALSO had Thexder 1 and 2.  As I have mentioned, the original MSX model was effectively a Colecovision and most MSX emulators cover that machine too.

In fact, let's take a look at MSX Thexder.  Given how it has save states maybe I can use it to complete this classic and abusive game:

Well.. its.. something.  The graphics & sound are sort of better AND worse than the Tandy 1K version with a couple tweaks to levels that remove bits.  But the Energy gained and lost seems a bit more lenient to make up for it.

There is also the Apple IIGS with its amazing sound.  And that version's manual gives it a pair of Continue commands, nothing the other versions seem to have too!  (H for highest level completed, L for last level)

Well.. the music and sound are really good but... back to dither-o-rama.  And the Apple IIGS is a capable machine.  Sadly the emulator is a pain in the backside and the keyboard controls are mapped to the numeric keypad.  ARGH.  JoytoKey will get a workout to do this one justice!  Though the level command thing works like a charm.  

Ok.. Let me dirty myself by trying the Famicom.  Maybe Jeremy Parish will like me if I play a game on his beloved Nintendo, a company he writes about in a manner as if he would go A2M for them if they asked him to.  (Don't look it up.  You do NOT want to know.)

Oh sweet Mary Mother of God.. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU, Darlin?

WHAT

HAVE

THEY

DONE?

Level layouts are changed, enemies changed, damage is a tiny number in the corner, shields just form a little bar on the opposite, no score listed...  they just destroyed this game.  No wonder Square of the mid 80s was about to go under if not for Final Fantasy.  THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DESTROY SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL.  Just like the Bronies Square, just like the Bronies.

Like so many amazing 8 bit era computer games, when translated to the NES they become nearly unrecognizable, mangled piles of suck.

Computer to Nintendo Entertainment System(Famicom in Japan) conversions are like using Meth.  It destroys and leaves an ugly, ruined, soulless husk that is willing to do anything just to ease the pain.

Weep for so many beloved 80s classics that Nintendo's world conquering (provided you weren't in Europe or Brazil anyhow..) pile of silicon damaged.

I know I am not gonna like it, but let's see what the MSX version of the sequel looks like, just for laughs:

Wow.  Sounds good, looks good.  With the help of a translation patch and FRS' Enhanced HDD Version which comes with a number of game fixes and will autopatch the game for you Thexder 2 really looks great for its' age and has the cinemas Sierra chopped out of their port.

Sometimes you gotta buy a version of a game, then play a different one to get the best and most fun edition.  Its a bleeding shame we have to go through hoops though.

[Let's Play] Party Like its 1987! Let's Experience the Atari Computer! Part Extra: Ebay Fun Part 2

I am writing this here and there over the time as I have access to a proper typing computer (because try typing on a Kindle Fire screen.  To say nothing of an iPod Touch 2nd gen..) and results come up.

5:55 AM 1 Feb:   With 1 day and 13 hours left my bid on "Raid on Iran", the only hobby game on this little list got outbid.  My max bid: 12.50.

(Final Winning Bid: 33.00.  No way in hell would I pay this much for a mini game.  I like mini games such as this and it would be funny to make late 70s jokes or jokes at Iran in general (protip: Read or watch Perseopolis: The Story of a Childhood.  Its a great first hand account of someone who grew up in Iran during all this.) since they seem to be constantly lead by douchebags but no.  Not 33 dollars.  NOPE.)

4 PM 1 Feb: Broadsides.  Outbid by 50 cents about 5 hours before auction end.  My max bid: 10 bucks.  I love SSI but I know little about the game itself other than its you know, by SSI and is an Age of Sail game.  Money is tight and I was just giving it a shot.  I wanted it, but not super bad.  Oh well.

9 PM 1 Feb: Caverns of Mars.  Outbid by 50 cents with 3 minutes left in the auction.  My max bid: 10 bucks.  Another game I have heard decent things about but was mostly just bidding because it was there.  I don't feel bad again.  Its pretty common, though a sealed copy which I think is cartridge version would have been swell.

4 PM 1 Feb: Atlantis.  Outbid by 50 cents in the last 30 seconds of the auction.  My max bid: 8.50.  I love Imagic.  Next to Activision, they are the best early 80s game publisher.  And they had the best boxes and cartridges EVER.  Sadly many versions of Atlantis don't run on the XL/XE series of computers (I have the 130XE) so I didn't go big.  Plus Atlantis isn't my favorite Imagic game.  (Cosmic Ark or Riddle of the Sphinx are my top loves.)  I shrug.

430 PM 2 Feb: Lords of Conquest.  Outbid by 50 cents 7 hours before auction end.  My max bid: 8.50.  I have kind of wanted this game since I first saw it on a Commodore 64 in 1989 in my Vo Tech High School Electronics shop on one of the last days of the year.  Its sort of like Risk but better I think.  Also its an Electronic Arts game and 80s EA owned before they became evil.  What Activision and Imagic were to early 80s cartridge systems EA was to computer disk games.  I will survive.  Next time Gadget.

6 PM 2 Feb: Galaxian.  Outbid by 50 cents in the last 2 minutes of the auction.  My max bid: 5.50.  It was another "Well it's there" bid.  Galaga is MUCH better than Galaxian but if I could get the boxed cart cheap why not go for that heat? Also I have a couple retro collections with arcade Galaxian too.  I care not.


9 AM 3 Feb:  Popeye.  Outbid by 50 cents 12 hours before auction end.  My max bid: 7.50.  If Activision and Imagic are my early 80s cartridge Alpha and Beta, Parker Brothers is whatever the third place is in fancy talk.  And I kind of have wanted Popeye for years.  But not NEED IT NOOOOWS level of want.  Darnit.

9 AM 3 Feb: Q-Bert.  Outbid by 50 cents 13 hours before auction end.  My max bid: 5.50.  Another Parker Brothers game.  But really I should more want the Playstation Network version since it is you know, the arcade version.  Another one I was just giving a shot.  I also loved their version of it on the 2600 back in the day.  Like the Germans, Parker Brothers makes good stuff.

9 AM 3 Feb: Qix.  Outbid by 50 cents 13 hours before auction end.  My max bid: 6.00.  It was there.  I have the Taito collections with proper arcade version.  Also I am not a big Qix guy.  I've probably played more of the Gals' Panic nudie version of this game by Kaneko on ACTUAL ARCADE CABINETS IN PUBLIC than I have Qix in any form.  We had a lot of arcade games on the Naval Bases I was stationed in during the early 90s..  Next to Galaxian this is the game I care the least about losing on.


650 PM 3 Feb: Moon Patrol.  Outbid by 50 cents 3 and a half hours before auction end.  My max bid: 7.50.  This is a game I quite wanted but.. money be tight and its pretty common so I lowballed as I am wont to do.  Bugger.  :(

What have we seen with the losses?  Other people bidding low who might have wanted them more than me. Not a single item was bid on (besides me anyhow!) more than 48 hours before auction end, most in the last 12 hours.  Outside of two of the auctions no more than two people bid on them.  Myself and someone else.

The modern Ebay situation is one where people generally avoid bidding wars.  Not a ton of bid sniping.  A couple items I probably would have gone 1-7.50 more on had I more money but most of these were not my primary bids anyhow.  Just things I bid on since they were along with the things the seller had I really wanted.

Now to FRAWRESS VICTOLY:

Outside of Flight Simulator 2 which my bid of 3.50 won, all of these I got for the seller's starting price.

Realm of Impossibility and Racing Destruction Set were the reasons I bid on ANY of this and I got both for 5 and 4 dollars respectively, when sellers normally have them up for 30+ individually, and I have lost auctions for each in the 20 dollar range.  And again, they are EA titles from their golden age.  A nfity action puzzler I have always wanted to try, and a fun racing/construction set I played a bit on a friend's C64 as a kid.

Ms Pac Man I got for 6 dollars.  While I already have multiple arcade versions of the game and the remix Genesis cartridge, I REALLY like the Pac Man port on the A8 bit, moreso than the actual arcade game.  So.. why not try for the superior game?

Going back to Flight Simulator 2.  Yes there is a super common cartridge version.  But this is the disk version with the giant manuals and docs and all.  Even if I grab a cart loose later on I can now play it properly.  Or keep trying for Solo Flight which is my preferred flight sim where I cannot shoot down whoever it was Americans had to irrationally hate and fear in the 80s.

I got Dig Dug for 8.  I would MUCH rather play the "Arranged" remake of it on one of the Namco arcade collections but I do like me some Taizo Hori monster popping fun.  Will be nice just to see how they made it work on a 70s tech micro.

Chicken for 6.  Its a lovely transparent red cartridge.  And the game is named Chicken.  I can grab it strongly and say I am choking my Chicken.  For a dollar over the price of a Starbucks' latte I can make endless masturbation jokes.  Plus its a pretty cartridge.  And I just popped over to "Atarimania" to look at the game.  Its a joystick OR paddle game.  With a good score.  I look forward to LPing it and making wank jokes all the while.

Superman for 2.  Apparently its GOD AWFUL.  Like nearly Superman N64 bad.  But 2 bucks?  I spend more than that most weeks on candy from vending machines.

Summer Games for 2.  Yes I have cart versions.  But if EA is to computers what Activision is to early consoles then Epyx is Imagic.  And Epyx has bomb ass boxes to their games.

Super Huey for 6.  I played this a bit as a kid but not a lot.  I owned Gunship which is still the best helicopter combat sim.  But I love helicopter sims where I get to blow up helpless commies from the sky.

I did WELL.  For 2.50 more than a recently released Nintendo 3DS game I want (the newest Fire Emblem) I got 10 new games to play, all boxed and complete.  Not too shabby.  And I still have another bid or two with this seller active and might wait to see what wins and doesn't and get more awesome stuff.

See friends, there is a trick to Ebay:

BE CHEAP, BE PATIENT, KNOW OTHER PEOPLE HAVE MORE MONEY AND LESS SENSE THAN YOU DO.

You don't need any of this.  Its just stuff for fun.  Bills and important stuff comes first.  Know the value of your local currency.  Be willing to wait.  I have gotten things sometimes for HALF their normal going price just by being patient and willing to lose.

My "White Box" edition of 1974 Dungeons & Dragons?  Under 50 bucks.  Normally it runs 100 or more.  You can get deals if you are patient and accept the snipers or gougers who put things up for idiotic prices.

With this knowledge you too can have The Touch, Prism Power Might, Whatever the Hell Those Pastel Ponies Have, The Care Bear Stare, The Wu Tang Secret.

Now let's attack aggressively in.. not spending aggressively and laughing at idiots who pay more than we do for goofy crap we really don't need.

And if you are a seller thank the modern Ebay buyer for ruining your profit margins.