Fred taught me a lot about this game.
The Dotts owned this entire building at Read and St. Paul which is shown here after it was sold and renovated. Entrance to design HQ was on Read St in the far left of this picture, which indeed was a few steps up from the sidewalk. All three buildings were dumps, with Glen Arm (where Rex Martin lived during the week rather than commuting to Gettysburg) being the dumpiest, followed by Read St, and then Hartford Rd.
Did I say that? My recollection is that I first met Fish at the 1987 Origins in Baltimore, which might have included a Wednesday evening play test at Read St prior to the Con.Thanks! I know in the 2 Half Squads interview Fish talked about Reed Street possibly being where he first met Perry while playtesting. Perry agreed that he did playtest at Reed Street but he recalled first meeting Fish when Charlie brought him to the second Oktoberfest.
As I said my recall of the building, as well as that entire trip, is pretty hazy. My misspent youth catching up to me, time for Prevagin or some other memory supplement.
That is what you said in the interview but as you say memory is a funny thing. Origins was held prior Oktoberfest ( if my memory hasn't gone funnyDid I say that? My recollection is that I first met Fish at the 1987 Origins in Baltimore, which might have included a Wednesday evening play test at Read St prior to the Con.
Memory is a funny thing.
) so that's a distinct possibility. Either way quite glad we met you and the other old grognards wbitd.
I didn't post about Fish here as I assumed most people were aware of his passing. Still in my thoughts every day and I am very grateful for the time I was able to spend with him. A remarkable gamer and a great guy. Not without his flaws but who of us doesn't have our flaws, major or minor?
John Dober is truly good people.
I only met him once and played against him once. We played that big Texas... scenario from Fortenberry. It was a very enjoyable experience playing against him for over ten hours. It was a very pleasant way to pass the time. He was an easy going, very likeable man. It was time well spent and is now but a very pleasant memory.
Actually, I would not be to sure about that. Remarkably, the 'most played' scenarios of the last months, year and even of all time feature a surprising number of ASLSK scenarios. Comparing the time SK and ASL have been around, this means that a surprising number of people must play SK. And I believe SK will cause a constant and not insignificant influx of players that make the transition to ASL. I believe - without having access to numbers of SK sales - that its success has exceeded MMP's expectations. At least, reprints of the SKs have been more frequent than for any core module or the ASLRB.
Not sure I understand why. We had our fun with it, why should I care if people are still playing it 20 years from now? We're not curing cancer here, we're killing time and in the end, blowing a bunch of money on ourselves. It's not like it's some noble undertaking that your son should feel obligated to carry on.
Nicely put. Funny too!
I only got to know Fish at the last few ASLOKs before he passed. He took an interest in our Saturday Night Guitar Jam and started bringing his guitar and harmonica. He and I would be the last ones jamming after all the other guys went to bed. We would stroll around the game hall at 3am and he would serenade people. I wish I had written down the words to his ASLOK song. It was so funny. Awesome.
I really like this 'post gaming phase' of tournaments. Of course, ASLOK is a much bigger thing as GRENADIER, but sitting around with the folks talking in the small hours of the night talking 'n' joking and sharing the drinks that everyone has brought has always been held high there. It brings the people together more than the actual playing does IMHO. Every year it feels like a little reunion.
His lyrics I remember were " new world orderly ". Funny stuff.
Our thoughts when originally planning Oktoberfest was that it wasn't to be an event with strict rules, timetables and the need to determine a " champion ". We wanted to get people together to play and revel in the game that meant so much to us. We gave the attendees what we wanted from an event and it seems to have worked pretty well. Fish came up with the idea to call it Oktoberfest and that name exemplifies what it became and thanks to Mark, Bret and Wild Bill what it remains. Well at least until everyone gets too old to party on.
