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A. Mark Ratner
A. Mark Ratner (born November 1948 in New Jersey, United States) is an American game designer, notable for his work on '' Space Marines'' and Space Opera. Early life Ratner lived in New Jersey until he joined the Army in 1972. Dissatisfaction with existing games, such as Star Guard and Traveller, and his military experience led to the creation of Space Marines. FanTac In 1977 Mark formed FanTac Games primarily to market Space Marines. FanTac published 3 titles; Space Marines (a science-fiction wargame), Gi'ac My (a Vietnam wargame), and Orbit War (an interplanetary combat wargame). Mark was the author of Space Marines and he collaborated with Fitzhugh MacCrae and Bruce Lutz on Gi'ac My. He met Scott Bizar, the founder of Fantasy Games Unlimited, at Gen Con in 1977, and that meeting eventually led to the sale of the rights for Space Marines to FGU. Fantasy Games Unlimited After selling rights to FGU, Mark wrote a second edition of Space Marines. Scott Bizar wanted to produce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , ps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on the southwest by Delaware Bay and the state of Delaware. At , New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state in land area; but with close to 9.3 million residents, it ranks 11th in population and first in population density. The state capital is Trenton, and the most populous city is Newark. With the exception of Warren County, all of the state's 21 counties lie within the combined statistical areas of New York City or Philadelphia. New Jersey was first inhabited by Native Americans for at least 2,800 years, with the Lenape being the dominant group when Europeans arrived in the early 17th century. Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state. The British later seized control o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wargames
''WarGames'' is a 1983 American science fiction techno-thriller film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film, which stars Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Ally Sheedy, follows David Lightman (Broderick), a young hacker who unwittingly accesses a United States military supercomputer programmed to simulate, predict and execute nuclear war against the Soviet Union. ''WarGames'' was a critical and box-office success, costing $12 million and grossing $125 million worldwide. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards. Plot During a surprise nuclear attack drill, many United States Air Force Strategic Missile Wing controllers prove unwilling to turn the keys required to launch a missile strike. Such refusals convince John McKittrick and other NORAD systems engineers that missile launch control centers must be automated, without human intervention. Control is given to a NORAD supercomputer known as WOPR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game Designer
Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in the form of gamification. Game designer and developer Robert Zubek defines game design by breaking it down into its elements, which he says are the following: * Gameplay, which is the interaction between the player and the mechanics and systems * Mechanics and systems, which are the rules and objects in the game * Player experience, which is how users feel when they're playing the game Games such as board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, video games, war games, or simulation games benefit from the principles of game design. Academically, game design is part of game studies, while game theory studies strategic decision making (primarily in non-game situations). Games have historically inspired ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Marines (wargame)
Space Marines is a science fiction miniatures wargame created by A. Mark Ratner. Publication history There were two editions. The first was published by FanTac Games (1977) and the second by Fantasy Games Unlimited (1980). Both versions include artwork by David C. Sutherland III. The FanTac version of the game included conversion rules for the original Dungeons & Dragons and Metamorphosis Alpha. These were later removed in the FGU edition. Stan Johansen created a line of 25mm figures for Space Marines, some of which are still in production as of 2011. The Space Marines universe became the background to FGU's Space Opera role-playing game.http://www.space-opera.net/GB/interviews/mark.htm Interview with Mark Ratner Reception Lynn Willis reviewed the Fantac version of ''Space Marines'' in '' The Space Gamer'' No. 13. Willis commented that "''Space Marines'' presents a superior version of what we already have." Mike Hodson-Smith reviewed the Fantac version of ''Space Marines'' fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Opera (role-playing Game)
''Space Opera'' is a science-fiction role-playing game created by Edward E. Simbalist, A. Mark Ratner, and Phil McGregor in 1980 for Fantasy Games Unlimited. While the system applies to the whole genre of science fiction, ''Space Opera'' has a default setting focused on creating space opera themed adventures. Development According to the Scott Bizar, the founder of FGU, "I wanted a SF rpg and I gave the job to Ed Simbalist. During the process I’ve never met Ed, nor Phil McGregor and Mark Ratner, who lived in the Canadian west, Australia and the east of the USA, respectively. The project was completed over more than two years entirely by correspondence." Ed was responsible for all the editing and coordination. Phil McGregor sent some technology and space ship related stuff which Ed liked so much that he incorporated it in the finished product. While the background universe was based on Mark Ratner's '' Space Marines'', Ratner had little input into ''Space Opera'' itself. Part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traveller (role-playing Game)
''Traveller'' is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc Miller designed ''Traveller'' with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Loren Wiseman. Editions were published for GURPS, d20, and other role-playing game systems. From its origin and in the currently published systems, the game relied upon six-sided dice for random elements. ''Traveller'' has been featured in a few novels and at least two video games. Design Traveller is a tabletop role-playing game. Characters journey between star systems, engaging in exploration, ground and space battles, and interstellar trading. One player, the game master or referee, oversees task attempts and guides events as the players explore the setting. Characters are defined not by the need to increase native skill and ability but by achievements, discoveries, wealth, titles, and political power. Influences and inspiration Marc Miller lists a number of books that influenced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Bizar
Scott B. Bizar is the founder of Fantasy Games Unlimited, a game publisher which contracts writers and artists that work primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Bizar, dissatisfied with TSR's ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (1974) and '' Warriors of Mars'' (1974), founded his own company, Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). The company's first two products were Hugh McGowan's ''Gladiators'' (1975), a man-to-man miniatures combat system, and ''Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age'' (1975), a first-of-its kind wargame set in the world of Conan, was co-designed by Bizar's roommate, Lin Carter. At Gen Con IX in 1976, Edward E. Simbalist and Wilf K. Backhaus met Bizar, who was interested in their role-playing game ''Chevalier'' they had brought with them but decided not to sell to TSR; Bizar helped guide the game to print over the next year as '' Chivalry & Sorcery'', the first RPG from FGU. In the late 1970s, Bizar was looking for a new science-fiction roleplaying game to act as one of FGU's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent. History Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York by Scott Bizar, the company's first publications were the wargames ''Gladiators'' and ''Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age''. Upon the appearance and popularity of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' from TSR, the company turned its attentions to role-playing games, seeking and producing systems from amateurs and freelancers, paying them 10% of the gross receipts. FGU also copyrighted their games in the name of the designer so that the designer would receive any additional royalties for licensed figurines and other uses. Rather than focusing on one line and supporting it with supplements, FGU produced a stream of new games. Because of the disparate authors, the rules systems were incompatible. FGU Incorporated published dozens of role-playing games. Fant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gen Con
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2019, Gen Con had nearly 70,000 unique attendees. Established in 1968 as the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention by Gary Gygax, who later co-created ''Dungeons & Dragons'', Gen Con was first held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The convention was moved to various locations in Wisconsin from 1972 to 1984 before becoming fixed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1985, where it remained until moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2003. Other Gen Con conventions have been held sporadically in various locations around the United States, as well as internationally. In 1976, Gen Con became the prop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward E
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard (name), Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ground & Air Equipment
''Ground & Air Equipment'' is a 1981 role-playing game supplement for ''Space Opera (role-playing game), Space Opera'' published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. Contents ''Ground & Air Equipment'' is a supplement which focuses on military hardware and heavy systems, and also includes aircraft and space fighters. Publication history ''Ground & Air Equipment'' is the first supplement to ''Space Opera''. Reception William A. Barton reviewed ''Ground & Air Equipment'' in ''The Space Gamer'' No. 41. Barton commented that "Overall, I would rate ''Ground and Air Equipment'' as an indispensable play aid for military inclined ''Space Opera'' enthusiasts in spite of its flaws. Those who use ''Space Marines (wargame), Space Marines'' rules for their miniature play should find it a useful tool as well." References {{DEFAULTSORT:Ground and Air Equipment Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1981 Space Opera supplements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
