This happened almost one year ago but haven't seen an announcement on any major game sites.
Jason B. McAllister, co-designer of the epic fantasy board game
Titan, passed away suddenly at his home on May 21, 2016. He was 62 years of age.
Obituary:
https://www.friedrichjones.com/obituaries/Jason-B-McAllister?obId=2802704#/obituaryInfo
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| Titan, original Gorgonstar printing |
Titan is a legend. I've posted about the game
several times in the past but it is worth mentioning again. This is a true designer's game - most every professional board game and RPG designer I know loves this game and has been influenced by it. It has several amazing innovations (unit recruitment, board movement, different game scales (masterboard vs. battleland)) that are still rarely or never reproduced in modern games. The game was first independently published under "Gorgonstar Publications" in 1980, then republished by Avalon Hill in 1982 and by Valley Games in 2008.
McAllister self-published a few more games after creating his Titan masterpiece.
Ant Wars debuted in 1982. This board wargame simulates the titular war between different colonies of ants as they battle for control of a theater of war of several back yards and empty lots. A family creation, the game was designed by Jason and illustrated by his brother, Barry. The unit counters are reminiscent of Titan's (if Titan was all about battling ants).
Magical Battlions (sp) is a set of fantasy miniature skirmish rules designed for battles with from 10 to 200 figures at a time. Designed for use with hex or square grid maps and is compact enough that a 50-figure battle should take up only the space of a card table. Players are encouraged to measure their miniatures to determine what their stats should be.
McAllister was not the most prolific of game designers but his work on Titan ensures that he will long be remembered. He is missed.
[EDIT 6/21/2019]: Updated link to obituary page.
Thanks Tony, I hadn't heard this either.
ReplyDeleteThe obit mentions that Jason was a poet; do we know anything about his poetry?
Allan.
I haven't seen any of his poetry. I don't know if it was ever published.
DeleteI found out that Jason self-published two books of poetry: Word Dancing (2007) and Phrase Rays (2008).
Delete