7


You follow the right-hand tunnel, which winds upward for a while before leveling out and finally emerging into a large chamber. In addition to the faint amber glow of the walls, a shaft of bright sunlight angles down from the ceiling to shine on a huge flat-topped boulder. Smaller rocks have been placed around this makeshift table to act as seats.

Sitting on top of the table are several books and a computer, which is turned on.

COMPUTER GAMES:

I tend to go for turn-based strategy games (like X-COM, any of the MASTER OF games, or the immortal CIVILIZATION series, all by Microprose), starfighter sims (both Origin's WING COMMANDER and LucasArts' X-wing Trilogy; see below) and the occasional adventure (mostly graphic adventures by Sierra or LucasArts, though I've also been known to enjoy the old Infocoms; alas, none of these companies seem to be in the business of making such games anymore).

  • Gamespy, Gamespot and the GIA are excellent all-around sites.

  • For hints and solutions, try The Spoiler Centre or Games Domain.

  • For CIVILIZATION fans, there's just one place to go: Apolyton's Civilization Site.

  • Space combat fans, take your pick: the Wing Commander CIC, or my very own X-wing squadron, Red Squadron. I'll also take this opportunity to plug the XW Alliance Upgrade.

  • The Unofficial Master of Magic Homepage isn't being updated anymore, but is still a good site.

  • The MOO Webring has links to many pages for Master of Orion II (and sometimes I). The official MoO3 site can be found here.

  • Ah, STAR CONTROL. SC2 was the best, I think. Consult The Pages of Now and Forever to learn more.

  • I'm a big fan of System Shock, a more cerebral and very atmospheric action game that was literally years ahead of its time in the first-person shooter genre. (Many of the same elements appeared later in HALF-LIFE's single-player game.) Through the Looking Glass is a site devoted to SS and other fine products of the late, lamented Looking Glass Studios.

  • The Admiral's Command Chamber is my favorite JEDI KNIGHT site, followed by its host, the Massassi Temple (which is more focused on multi-player).

  • Creatures and Black and White: Tamagotchi, eat your heart out.

  • Marathon may be the best game I've never played (as it's a Mac game, not PC).

  • When it comes to old games (pre-1995 or so), I can't recommend The Underdogs highly enough. It's quite simply THE "abandonware" site on the net.

  • I've always been interested in STARFLEET BATTLES, but hated the number-crunching and the energy allocation. In Starfleet Command, the computer takes care of all of that behind the scenes, so I can just play. I'm a regular at the Taldren Forums, the developer's site.

  • Furious George and Bejeweled are great ways to relieve stress and/or waste time on-line, though the award probably goes to Perpetual Bubblewrap.

    EMULATORS:

    Another facet of my love of computer games is my love of old games. Thanks to the magic of emulators, I can play them all on my PC - from the Atari 2600 to the Super Nintendo. At present I have emulators for these consoles as well as the Apple II, Commodore 64, Sega Genesis, NES and Gameboy, Atari Lynx, and even Speak and Spell.

  • Retrogames is a great all-around emulation site with daily news updates.

  • For arcade emulation, MAME is the only way to go. There's even a PinMAME plugin for Visual Pinball. (For CPS-2 games, though, I use Final Burn Alpha.)

  • ShivaSite and its subsites IR Pinball and AJ's Table Downloads are the heart of the new and exciting pinball emulation community.

  • For console emulation, go to Retrogames (above), ClassicGaming, Zophar's Domain, or DeathMage's Emulator Dungeon (tacky name, great link site). My preferred console emulators are ZSNES (SNES), GENS (Genesis/Sega CD), Visual Boy (Gameboy), and Z26 (Atari 2600).

  • RPGamer and RPGFan are both good sites for fans of console RPGs. I've played several of the FINAL FANTASY series, as well as LUNAR 1 and 2, CHRONO TRIGGER and CHRONO CROSS, SKIES OF ARCADIA for the Dreamcast, and others.

  • The Apple II Emulator Resources Guide is just what it says. Ditto the Ultimate Amiga Emulator, available for various platforms. Just about everything else for the (emulated) Amiga can be found at Back to the Roots.

    ROLE PLAYING GAMES:

    I started with Basic D&D back in 1981 (the box with the red dragon on the front), though it wasn't until college or later that I found a steady group to play with. I tend to collect games I'll never play or run - often to use for ideas, but sometimes just for historical interest (like my 1st Ed. copy of BUNNIES & BURROWS - don't laugh).

  • ARS MAGICA, originally a Lion Rampant/White Wolf game, is now in the hands of Atlas Games. Atlas has also produced or acquired several other abandoned and innovative games such as EVERWAY and ONCE UPON A TIME. Project Redcap is a collection of ArsM links.

  • Mark Hughes's RPG Page and CHIMERA Links are both good sites that I've found for links to other RPG pages.

  • Spelljammer is one of TSR's orphaned AD&D settings that I'm rather fond of. Same with STAR FRONTIERS.

  • TRAVELLER, Science Fiction Adventure in the Far Future. The first and perhaps best SF-RPG has been through a lot since 1977, including a GURPS release. I was once part of a now-comatose TML PBeM, but prospects for its revival now seem rather dim. Freelance Traveller is a fan resource with links to others.

  • Those with a taste for High Adventure in the Victorian Age, on the other hand, should direct their Babbage Calculation Engines to the Official Castle Falkenstein page.

  • Lately I've become a fan of Big Eyes Small Mouth, the anime RPG by Guardians of Order.

  • PYRAMID Magazine is, in my opinion, well worth the paltry $15 for a year's subscription (which also grants access to the message boards/newsgroups, and to the playtest files.)

  • Irony Games has lots of little game-aids and web tools associated with RPGs. In a similar vein, Stuart Ferris has written a few programs of use to TRAVELLER and STAR WARS RPG players and/or GMs.

  • Dragon's Trove Used Games and Crazy Egor's are where to look for old, used, and/or out-of-print stuff.

  • Bryant Durrell's Feng Shui page has links to several others. No, it's not about interior decorating.

  • FUDGE is a simple, generic game that gets a big Thumbs Up from me.

  • VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES, the early super-hero RPG, returns as Living Legends.

  • Action! Romance! Giant Robot Combat! Yes, it's MEKTON. The Mekton Bastion is offline at the moment. In the meantime, check out Mecha.Com and the Virtual Mekton website.

  • The Unofficial Full Thrust Home Page tells all about this little-known set of starship miniatures rules.

  • Thrash is what the Street Fighter RPG should have been (and it covers other fighting-game concepts too).

    When you finally stop reading, you realize that the light from above has gone out. Looking through the hole in the rock ceiling, you see only blackness and a few faint stars.

    You wonder how long you've been here. You don't feel hungry or tired, yet many hours must have passed. Looking at your watch, you find that it has stopped! You decide to leave immediately.


    Go on to the next page.