Telegrammatically Speaking

Simulacrum -- great job! Congratulations!

Many of you will know of Tom as Mr. Anzio, but beware, he has discovered Columbia’s games and can now be called a true blockhead. Tom and I see eye-to-eye on very little in this world, which is why I cherish these comments. -ed

So what's next for Simulacrum? The issue was pretty good.

The latest note sent out along with expiring Simulacrum subscriptions. -ed

Dear Lord John:

Yes, I need more Simulacrum. No, I don’t want that Observation Corps on my case. Keep up the good work. Sincerely.

The Simulacrum Observer Corps monitors the progress of an expiring subscription.

Speaking of House Organs

Hi John, I got my first issue and was pleasantly surprised at the size and scope. It was more than I expected and looks great. A side note is that Jim DiCrocco has a half dozen reviews, letter, etc. Jim and I are buddies and it’s good to see him in print now that he is hanging his hat on the other side of the pond for a few years.

Dyslexia Minor

Joe Scoleri took me to task regarding the Second Russian Revolution in issue 11:

“Are you sure AK-74 was a typo? That’s also a Russian automatic weapon: http://izhmash.udm.ru/arms/ak74.html”

Formidable

Mes respects, votre Honneur, Seigneur de Samizdat,

Je finis à l’instant le dernier numéro de votre merveilleux magazine Simulacrum. Bien camouflé dans un recoin d’un paragraphe obscur, pratiquement illisible, du chapitre relatif à la constitution d’une bonne bibliothèque du joueur de jeu d’histoire, j’ai vu votre offre de don d’un exemplaire du rarissime ouvrage de Steve Jackson : Game Design - Theory and Practice.

Naturellement, par la présente, je postule à cette offre merveilleuse autant qu’inattendue. Je collectionne tous les ouvrages relatifs aux jeux d’histoire, et malheureusement je ne possède pas cet extraordinaire document aussi j’en sollicite la possession. Je suis prêt à l’échanger contre un exemplaire de the Complete Book of War Games of Freeman ou à vous abonner à vie à Vieille Garde, le Bulletin Officiel de l’Académie du Wargame ou encore (mais ce serait mesquin) à l’acheter contre espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes.

Voilà Messire, j’espère que mon offre recevra bon accueil auprès de votre auguste personne. D’avance je vous en tire ma révérance et vous remercie.

Luc wins the contest for the copy of Game Design - Theory and Practice -ed

H is for Help

Simulacrum Caption Profile (for games so bad that they don’t even merit a capsule description). Hostage is a “parody” role-playing game, and a poor one at that. While the game Macho Women With Guns showed that a role-playing parody could be both funny and playable, Hostage is neither. You have been warned...

The non-parodic Capsule Profiles begin on page 44. -ed