A to Z 10 Year Update: O is for OGRE

This post has been updated since originally being published on April 17, 2012.

A to Z 2012: Gaming in the 1980s

OGRE

Since the subject of this post is "Ogre" it could be about several things - one of the monsters your character can encounter in many fantasy games, something about Shrek, the big jock from Revenge of the Nerds that goes by that nick name, a super villain from the Champions universe, or any of several other options.  Well, this post is not about any of the things I have named.  This post is about the old war game, OGRE, designed by Steve Jackson.

OGRE was one of my two favorite non-rpg games; both were designed by Steve Jackson.  I have enjoyed several of his designs over the years.  I cannot honestly say that I remember much about the rules of the game - it's been about 20 years since I played - but I do remember how much fun we all had playing OGRE.  It was one of our go to games and was played pretty steadily in our group. 

So, what is so great about the OGRE game?  OGRE has a simple premise for play.  One player controls the OGRE - an almost unstoppable war machine - that is intent on destroying the headquarters of the othe player.  The second player has an assortment of various units at his disposal to stop the OGRE and defend his headquarters. 

There is an immense replay value associated with OGRE due to the selection of units available.  If you take a look at the picture to the left, you will note that the price is $2.95.  This was probably from 1977 or within a year or two but the point is that OGRE was relatively cheap in all of its' microgame or pocket box versions.  There have been other versions available over the years and I owned several of them; I never did buy OGRE Miniatures but I would have liked to have owned the game.  I hear through the grapevine that SJG has a Kickstarter under progress for an updated version expected to be released in November of 2012.  I have also heard that it is estimated that the price may be $100!  That is quite a big difference from the price of the sets I bought over the years.  Who am I kidding?  I've started putting money back now. 

I never did back the kickstarter for the OGRE Designer's Edition because we were putting in so much overtime at work that year that I lost track of time and it completely slipped my mind.  I did, however, buy the co and nice re box of OGRE Sixth Edition during the Black Friday sale at Wizard's Asylum for half price! The old pocket box game had small counters and a paper map while this huge box comes with a fold out cardboard map and nice 3D cardstock playing pieces that must be punched out and easily assembled.  It's a great update to an old classic. If you're interested in more information, you can find it at the OGRE page of Steve Jackson Games.

Wow! It's Been a While....

I finally got a new HP laptop and some really great internet service so I thought I would check out the old blog to see where I need to pick things back up at again.  Yikes!  I had not realized it had been 3 4 years (new year) since I last posted!!!  I really need to get back to blogging again.  I have a goal of easing my way back into the old routine so I will try to post once a week from this point on but that may increase.  Who knows?  So, in an attempt to catch up on some things here are some items that may be of interest.

Latest Gaming Purchases

Over the last few years I have purchased gaming products.  I have the three core D&D 5E books and Tasha's Cauldon of Everything.  I am enjoying these books and will try to get a game together some time soon.  I also have the Pathfinder 2E Core, Bestiary, and Lost Omens manuals.  I really dig the Pathfinder stuff also and I am looking forward to seeing how things develop with each.  I also picked up the Aliens RPG Core, Ogre, and the Dungeon Fantasy boxed set.  The last kickstarter project I backed was The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition by Steve Jackson Games.

New Gaming Interests

My son has gotten really interested in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k that basically means I just got interested in both of them to at least a minimal level. I discovered that I can actually paint to a level that I am satisfied with so I have also begun painting Reaper miniatures to gather a collection of standard encounters; orcs, goblins, minotaurs, mind flayers, mimic, etc.  I may not be the best painter in the world but I am painting for in-game use and representation instead of painting competitions so it all works out in the end.

Other Stuff

I own the first two seasons of TITANS and I am really looking forward to the third season.  I have watched the entire Swamp Thing series twice and it is a shame it did not continue.  I have the first season of Doom Patrol on DVD but I just have not gotten around to watching it yet.

I have Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ so I have seen several other movies and shows.  I got caught up on The Walking Dead.  I am still enjoying the show; even without Carol or Rick.  I am watching all of The Orville at the moment and it is much better than I pictured.  I binged the entirety of The Mandalorian.  That show is amazing and much better than the sequel trilogy. 

On a personal note, I am in the process of house hunting at the current moment.  I am at a point in my life where I need to crap or get off the pot so I am seriously looking.  Fingers crossed on a quick and easy process.

The Future

Expect more posts to come.  I am going to try to maintain once a week for the immediate future. I suspect most of the posts will be about gaming and fandom in general but who knows... 

O is for OGRE

***********Just for the sake of clarity - the theme for my A to Z postings is gaming in the 1980's with my friends.*************

OGRE

Since the subject of this post is "Ogre" it could be about several things - one of the monsters your character can encounter in many fantasy games, something about Shrek, the big jock from Revenge of the Nerds that goes by that nick name, a super villain from the Champions universe, or any of several other options.  Well, this post is not about any of the things I have named.  This post is about the old war game, OGRE, designed by Steve Jackson.

OGRE was one of my two favorite non-rpg games; both were designed by Steve Jackson.  I have enjoyed several of his designs over the years.  I can not honestly say that I remember much about the rules of the game - it's been about 20 years since I played - but I do remember how much fun we all had playing OGRE.  It was one of our go to games and was played pretty steadily in our group. 

So, what is so great about the OGRE game?  OGRE has a simple premise for play.  One player controls the OGRE - an almost unstoppable war machine - that is intent on destroying the headquarters of the othe player.  The second player has an assortment of various units at his disposal to stop the OGRE and defend his headquarters. 

There is an immense replay value associated with OGRE due to the selection of units available.  If you take a look at the picture to the left, you will note that the price is $2.95.  This was probably from 1977 or within a year or two but the point is that OGRE was relatively cheap in all of its' microgame or pocket box versions.  There have been other versions available over the years and I owned several of them; I never did buy OGRE Miniatures but I would have liked to have owned the game.  I hear through the grapevine that SJG has a kickstarter under progress for an updated version expected to be released in November of 2012.  I have also heard that it is estimated that the price may be $100!  That is quite a big difference from the price of the sets I bought over the years.  Who am I kidding?  I've started putting money back now. 

G is for GURPS

***********Just for the sake of clarity - the theme for my A to Z postings is gaming in the 1980's with my friends.*************

GURPS

Several of the products from Steve Jackson Games were played quite frequently by the members of our gaming group.  It all started with Car Wars.  We were thrilled to find a game and play experience that reminded us so much of Death Race 2000.  The price of the game -$3.95 - was enough to lure us quickly into snatching up more of the SJG pocket box games.  Some of our favorites included OGRE, G.E.V., Illuminati and One-Page Bulge.

One of my favorite contents included in the SJG game boxes was the catalog.  It was like a miniature SEARS catalog of gaming goodness with sections devoted to each product.  There are several I would have liked to have tried like Raid on Iran, Kung Fu 2000, and others.  The catalog also included a little blurb about the upcoming products by SJG that were going to be released sometime soon.  I enjoyed reading about the products I did not have and the products that were coming soon and then one day I noticed the product spotlight for an upcoming product that grabbed my attention - GURPS, the Generic Universal Role Playing System.  The announcement promised that this one system was all a group would need to play in any style of game they wanted.  Most companies did not do that and expected you to buy a new game with new rules for fantasy, western, science fiction, supers, or other gaming.  I read the further previews with great interest and waited for the release of the game.    

When the original boxed set of the rules were released I bought them at the game shop I used to frequent as much as possible at the time.  I took it home and started reading through the rules.  The more I read, the more I liked and blazed through them pretty quickly.  I thought it was extremely revolutionary that you actually designed your character from points, used advantages and disadvantages to "balance" your character, and also had a basic combat as well as advanced combat system; there was also tons of GM advice available in the rules.  I played through the included solo adventure - Caravan to Ein Arnis, I think? - and was pretty excited to see more.  In short time I purchased GURPS Man to Man (basically a slimmed down fantasy combat version of the system), GURPS Autoduel (roleplaying in the Car Wars universe), GURPS Cyberpunk, GURPS Fantasy, and GURPS Supers.  With these additional rules volumes it became apparent that not every genre would use the exact same rules - some would be added or changed from the core - but all of these different genres did use a basic starting point that was the same.  Everything else could be figured out or dealt with in a reasonable fashion since the core was intact.  I began jotting down notes and ideas for a campaign that I wanted to run everybody through.  I was next up in the Game Master rotation and I wanted to introduce the rest of the group to this awesome new system I had just learned.

It turned out that GURPS would become my single biggest disappointment in my gaming experience.  No, it wasn't from play experience or any other dissatisfaction with the system.  My gaming group had one simple problem with GURPS - they believed that all of those rulebooks were mandatory and voiced opinions such as "if we're going to need all of those rulebooks then we might as well just keep using D&D, Gamma World, and Star Frontiers".  I tried in vain to convince them otherwise but Jamie was the only one that would listen.  We played around with Man to Man a few times but never did get a GURPS campaign going.  I would occasionally pick up future GURPS supplements - they are generally so informative that they can be used for other games - and even bought GURPS 3rd Edition even though I knew that none of my gaming buddies would give it a shot.  It remains a system I am highly interested in using.  Perhaps I will get the chance someday?