WG Tournament

Back in the early days of gaming some friends decided to run a game company (WG - unnamed to protect the innocent). It was dedicated to producing high quality 'system-less' aids. Scale designs for four different ships (multiple deck maps printed on heavy stock in hex grid and 1" square grid) as well as several packs of carded items were produced and hit limited distribution. In 1982 a generic design was way ahead of the curve as most supplemental materials were very system specific.

I participated as a designer and was considering joining full time if we were successful in reaching a deal to buy Grimoire Games. They (WG) even had a stroke of luck and picked up a 4 color press for cheap. Things were looking good.

Success didn't happen, perhaps for the best, as one of the founders (the company president) left town in the dead of night with the company funds later in the year. He was certain the company wasn't going to generate revenue fast enough to cover the bills. So he hid a bunch of the mail and didn't open it. Ironic, as WG already had passed that break-even point if the checks had been deposited. Instead, without cash flow the company cratered, as many did. The company owned press was lost along with a lot of resources as the surviving partner scrambled to shut down the wreck. The rest of us scattered to the winds with a bitter taste of human stupidity.

Kenny, you're still an ass.

The WG Tournament

I'd taken on a commission to draw a poster sized chunk of a world map. We were planning to launch a game convention in Northern California (Redding), to be sponsored by the company. The idea was to design a multi-site tournament with multiple DM's and have a double elimination style ranking. Prizes, etc for placing entries. Ambitious, but we might have pulled it off.

The main map was designed as a series of standard page sketches. This is the base map we settled on and a copy of the overlay designed to provide DM info. Convention members would have the color map as the back cover page of the program book and a black & white copy for game notes.

The central city of Tors design sketch.

Details of Tors and a damaged Tors map idea. One of the surprises planned was that the city would be ravaged by the Dragon (Boss for the final encounter) while the contestants fought the last qualifying rounds. The final round players would not get to re-equip before the showdown. I wasn't sold on the concept, but most of the DM pool was leaning that way. Then again, I would be playing the dragon in the final round with co-DM's, so I wanted the players to have all the help they could get. My dragons tend to be very lethal.

One of these days I'll dig out the poster sized map as it was 75% done. Should be able to get a decent jpg. Most of the notes and encounter design ideas are long gone. The design sketches were rolled up in a tube with the uncompleted tournament map when I found out the company had imploded. That kept them intact over the years.

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