Shellshock Combat System The Creators
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See our brief biographies...

Glenn
Justin

Glenn:   I was first taught Battletech at 21.  I was turned off by Battletech at 21.  When I first saw Battletech I thought I had finally found my game, fast playing, easy to run, realistic, and I could make my own units.  I was so naive.  I knew what I wanted.  I wanted to find a game that looked like one of those old military strategy maps, with the boxes and the arrows, but replaced with miniatures.  I searched and searched, nothing to be found.  I said screw it, I've been dreaming about commanding armies, I wound up falling a sleep from boredom.  Then I realized that if you want something done right you've got to do it yourself.  I immediately called Justin, because I knew I couldn't do it by myself.

Justin:   We started this project about five years ago.  I had moved from Chicago out to California at the time.  I was out there for about six months when Glenn got ahold of me and asked if I wanted to help him with this idea he had.  It took no time for me to decide to move back to Chicago and work on this game.

Glenn:   I needed someone who was just as frustrated as I.  I also needed a person that was just as, if not more, creative than I.  I had the initial idea, I knew what end result I wanted, I just needed someone to help fill in everything else.

Justin:   Glenn and I are a perfect match to work on this kind of stuff.  I tend to be a little more chaotic, whereas Glenn is a lot more linear.  Whenever we needed numbers or formulas I would just come up with what sounded right to me, while Glenn would spend about two or three days working on formulas.  Usually, we'd either end up at the same place, or find that the real answer was in the middle of our two results.

Glenn:   That always pissed me off.  But it was also the litmus test.  You would be amazed at how completely different Justin and I approach the same problem, but even then 75% of the time we came to the same conclusion.

Justin:   I still remember our first official playtest.  It was at Glenn's house (where I was living at the time).  There was a storm and the lights went out.  We were playing at night in the dark using flashlights and glow in the dark dice.  It was great because we had no rules for physical combat and so our walkers and tanks were pretty much out of the game when they were out of ammo or had lost their weapons.

Glenn:   Now he's bringing up memories, okay I remember when we tried our first "miniature rules" game.  I had my tanks all moving in a tight formation, he had his units in broken up goups, and it looked obvious that as my tanks took more and more ground, their concentration of force was going to be unstoppable. 

Justin:   Heh heh.  Isn't that the way it always goes in battle?  Listen carefully kids, and you'll see why you should never give up even against overwhelming odds...

Glenn:   The game was working.  Real life strategy was kicking the butt of typical wargame strategy...  Then I turned the corner.  One of my tanks got hung up on a hill and fell out of formation.  This particular tank was covering the rear flank.

Justin:   That was the opening I had been waiting for.  My choppers came in the back and took out tank after tank.  Kinda like real life, you fall out of formation, and lose your cover fire, and whammo, you're screwed.  This game, which I thought was going to end in a horrible rout against me, ended up being the only game we ever played in which the victor side (mine, by the way) did not lose a single unit.

Glenn:   This began the long tradition of me always losing at my own game.  But this is cool, because the idea was to create a game that was fun for everyone, not just a power trip for me.  And let's face it, what is more fun than beating one of the creators of the game?  I thank Justin for all that he has done and all the rules and ideas he has given to the game.  Without him the game wouldn't be half as great as it is.  I have a business partner and a friend I can rely and trust.

Justin:   I'm just glad Glenn asked me to join on.  We've had a lot of fun designing this game, and we both hope you will have as much or more fun playing it.



Copyright 1996-2016 by Glenn V. Domingo & Justin W. Gramm
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