Geek meme

[gridlore]

Snagged from chaoswolf's bag of holding.

List 5 reasons why you are a geek. And make them good reasons. Justify them. Explain them. Be loud & proud about how big of a geek you are!

1. I've been playing RPGs for 28 years. Started on blue box D&D and Traveller, and have played literally hundreds of games in dozens of systems. I bought polyhedrals from Lou Zocchi himself. I played Metamorphis Alpha, Gamma World, 1st Edition C&S, even weirdies like Bunnies and Burrows and Empire of the Petal Throne.

2. I'm a complete Third Imperium geek. I can name, in order, more Emperors than Presidents. I have gotten in screaming flame wars of the rate of expansion of the Imperium into Sol Sector. Hell, I wrote the bloody book on the Imperial Army and Marines. My head is filled with facts and figures about the Imperium, and I want to detail it more!

3. I design planets for fun. I find it relaxing to sit down and start with the stellar data and create an entire star system. Filling in the details, justifying odd results, coming up with plot lines based on unusual conditions. I love it!

4. But away from my SF/RPG obsessions for a moment.. I'm a sports geek. Especially when it comes to my beloved Giants. I can not only tell you who gave up Robby Thompson's home run in the 1951 playoff against the Dodgers (Ralph Branca, in case you were wondering), I also know the count (2-1) and who9 was waiting on deck (21-year-old rookie center fielder Willie Mays). I love stats, strategy, and trying to out-think managers.

5. Then there's the military. I'm a complete military geek. I can't watch most war movies because I spot the errors in uniforms and equipment to quickly. I devour military histories with a passion, and have been war gaming for as long as I've been an RPGer. I played Advanced Squad Leader with all the rules. That should impress anyone.

Comments

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I have gotten in screaming flame wars of the rate of expansion of the Imperium into Sol Sector.

So what was the rate of expansion?

So do you often attack at night in the rain on bicycles with finnish troops carrying molotov cocktails and panzerfausts?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

IMNSHO the Third Imperium, after securing what would become Sol Sector, would have two priorities: Contact Vland and reach Sol. The Imperium based its legitimacy on the fact that for a short time Sylea was home to a claimant to the throne of the Rule of Man. Based on that, finding out if there was still any sort of ROM government near Sol and Dingir would be vital.

So I see a determined push to rimward, with scouts mopving to what the historical records inidcate were the vital worlds of the ROM. Actual recolonization would follow at a slower pace as contact was made with survivng worlds.

I take issue with Scouts reaching Mora/Mora in the Spinward Marches by 60, but not reaching the Solomani Rim until 100. Scouts should have been swarming over the old cores of the previous Imperia looking for remnants of the old orders, not crossing Corridor that early.

So do you often attack at night in the rain on bicycles with finnish troops carrying molotov cocktails and panzerfausts?

Heh. When playing Winter War scenarios, I usually played the Russians.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

I handnt given this a lot of consideration, but I agree about expanding towards Sol first... or if they did hit the marches first, why?

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

you are far geekier than I for gaming, although does being crazy enough to actually spend most of 5 hours on a ladder over a crowded sidewalk to rescue the GDW office sign from destruction count?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Ah, here we get into my Illuminated Traveller setting. The Droyne on Andory managed to restart the Ancients "network", a commincation and information storage device that operates on the Jump 23 dimension. One side effect is that sensistives are drawn towards the general area. The restart happened near the end of the Long Night, bringing the Aslan and (future) Sword Worlders across the Great Rift. The Zhodani detected the emissions, and saw them as a threat, stopping expansion into the Marches because of it.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

I like the way you think.

IIRC, wasn't it the GURPS version of Spinward Marches that included another Grandfather being born among the Droyne?
I would think that anyone with a half clue would be shitting bricks and moving to get him nuked. Frankly, I can't imagine Grandfather being that pleased either.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

That's one of my many issues with Behind the Claw. If I was going to do any sort of "survivng Ancient" plot, it would be either a Drayskin that Grandfather missed (unlikely at best) or have one of the Drayskin uploaded into a massive computer, which is then buried for 200,000 years until MyMines, LIC, accidently digs it up...

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

That's a lot more reasonable than Yaskodray (IIRC) MkII.
Given his (for lack of a better term) proclivity for not tolerating interference, and technological proficiency, engineering a retrovirus that presents any sort of 'uberdroyne' being born again wouldn't be that hard to do.

Yaskoydray and the "new" Grandfather

[(Anonymous)]

I actually liked the idea of another supersport being born. It would change the Imperium, and those governments around it, far to much for most of the canonmongers though, so I don't think it would have gone anywhere, even if followed up on.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Do you think it was because the Mora ones were after information on the Zhodani Empire which was huge at this time versus no news of a similar sized state to the rimward?

Deal with an immediate threat first.

To back you up the first "recorded" contact was in 100, covert ops might have been earlier.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

At the time, the Zhodani were far from the Marches, having had only sporadic contact with the Sword Worlds in the decades before the Imperials reached Mora and Regina. The Vilani and Solomani never knew they were there.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

What are the canon sources for this period?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

The Spinward Marches Campaign (GDW, 1985) contains a good timeline and maps of the region. The early Imperial settlements reached beyond Cronor into Zhodani space. The first two Frontier Wars were launched to expel these "dangerous barbarians" from the homogenous Zho society.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I have seen that map.

But you are right expansion towards the Rim should have been as fast as to the Spinward Marches.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Feeling even geekier now. Of course, when I've been gaming [mainly reffing] longer than many of my gamers have been alive, this is not surprising.

Finding out I've been gaming longer than -you- have is somewhat amusing though.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I read this meme, and my reaction was "'Reasons why' -- would that be contributing factors that made me a geek, or evidence proving that I'm a geek?"

If it's the latter, I think my response is sufficient.

[katster.livejournal.com]

Minor correction.

I don't think the Giants second baseman in the late 80s and early 90s magically got transported back in time to hit the shot heard 'round the town. ;)

(IOW, I think you mean Bobby, but I bow to your superior wisdom on the count and the on-deck circle.) ;)

-kat

D'oh!

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I always do that for some reason.