All Tap into my Various Alter - Egos, General, Mayor & Gamesmaster (near - Supreme Being). All involve Strategy in a big way & allow me become total immersed in the Role. So much so that I have often neglected all else around me in the pursuit of Fame & Glory (these are my Territories - Enter at your own Risk ;-)

What draws to these Games, other than the Ego element, is the complexity that each, in its own way, can offer the Player. Like Chess, there are a lot of things to work out & there is always the chance that all my Plans can be turned on their heads by an unforeseen run of the Dice, Earthquake or one of those annoying Player - Characters trying to be clever & becoming inventive.

The award for this goes to an old friend, Karen, who's Character climbed up the side of a castle's turret &, with one hand, tried to fend off the, rightly annoyed, occupiers of said castle with a crossbow! The end result was inevitable, as you may have guessed - a 50 yard drop where she finally got to meet her maker...

...the crossbow bolt missed as well!

The main problem was the Alliances. No one likes being ganged up on, even if they are Winning, & the inevitable Betrayal was never well received. For once, getting a bad run on the Dice was not the may cause of disappointment, although it didn't help. Risk just proved that in the quest for Territorial Advantage there is no mercy given or taken (no Prisoners either ;-)

So the Board was put in the cupboard, gathering dust...

Then Rob (Brother & my nemesis at Risk) showed me the Playstation Version, although the Controls were a bit lengthy it rekindled my interest. When I discovered that there was to be Risk 2 for the Computer in a few months it went straight on to my Birthday List (2000).

Since then I have Played it on a fairly regular basis. The Tournament option is what I Play most often. Although I have not managed to complete all 16 Games (without cheating anyway ;-) I'm determined to do it some day.

The Same - time Play is by far the Best. It takes the Game to new heights & requires a lot more Thought & Strategy. I have taken on the most Experienced (Computer) Generals & have been Most Triumphant. I have yet to Play Online, mainly due to the Time involved & the obvious Phone Costs that this would incur. It's only a matter of Time though - so the Rest of the World be Warned, the Unstoppable Armies of D will soon be Marching through your Territory!!!

Although the Game Play hasn't changed all that much over the years (if it's not broke don't fix it). What has changed is the improvement in the Graphics & a few tweaks here & there. 

I just find this an absorbing Game. I have to be careful because I never manage to Play on it for just a while, once I start I usually end up spending most of the evening, & a large part of the night as well, building the City from it's humble beginnings as a small Town to a sprawling Metropolis (on a side issue I have a little bit on the Film of the same name Here).

Starting up seems to be the most difficult phase as Finances are tight & Resources limited. Then I get into the swing of things &, barring the odd earthquake, alien invasion or tornado, the Population grows quickly. Then it's major rebuilding, restructuring & mass expansion which requires a fairly delicate balance of Taxes, Facilities & juggling around Expenditure to try & keep the Citizens happy (the job would be a lot simpler if they wasn't around - any chance of getting a Sim City for Robots ;-)

I will admit that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, there are times when I spend ages just trying to keep everyone with Power & Water - there's a little glitch in the Game which sometimes causes the Water to stop for no apparent reason??? By the time it corrects itself half the Population has fled to Neighbouring Cities (they are a fickle bunch ;-)

If you would like to see what I have built so far, you'll need Sim City 3000 CD loaded to open it, have a look around City Alpha 3, it is quite a large file so be warned it will take some time to Download.

You can visit the Official Sim City Web Site is Here.

This use of my Imagination, although not all that different from others, seemed to stay way beyond what I would normally accept as a reasonable amount of time & led to RolePlay Games. I had a look at Dungeons & Dragons and didn't really like the 'feel' of it - a little too dependant on Violence / Killing to progress. Whether Dwarf, Elf, Human or other, disposing of people Innocent or otherwise was the Key to Advancement - there is more to Life (even Imaginary Life) than that!

Then I was introduced to Warhammer Fantasy RolePlay (WFRP) which was developed by the Games Workshop, know more for their Model Battle Scenarios. They had expanded the Characteristics to allow for more flexibility (& more work for the Gamesmaster) & allowed the Development of more Careers & Skills.

This alone would not have been enough, what they also did, at least in my view, was to come up with Adventures that had far more scope, interaction & Experience Points (EP's) could be given out based on Interaction & Game Play as well as achieving Goals & vanquishing the Baddies (Violence / Killing).

For a few years I ran a Game which was a lot of hard work & many hours spent trying to anticipate what those damned inventive Characters would try to do. It became clear as time went on that interest was waning, partly due to my working Shifts, making getting people together very difficult, & that some are just not able to step outside themselves & into someone's / something else's shoes. There were also some real - life personal issues as well, I won't go into them though!

The Final Nail in the Coffin was that Games Workshop stopped producing material for the RolePlay & concentrated their efforts on producing Models & War Scenarios - a big shame :-(

I have tried a couple of Computer RolePlay Games, none of them have taken that all - encompassing hold over me that sitting around a table with Family & Friends rolling dice & seeing the faces of who have just realized that they have jumped out of the Frying Pan & into the Fire.