Frequently Asked Questions

What is MicroTactix Games?

MicroTactix Games (incorporated as MicroTactix Inc.) is a company formed by an alliance of creators to design, produce, and market next-generation adventure gaming products. Our aims are:

• To keep the fun in adventure gaming with products that are easy to learn and use, and that enhance the gaming experience.
• To add new dimensions to adventure gaming by exploring new methods of presentation, marketing, and delivery of products.
• To open our doors for creators of quality, and provide a source for useful and exciting products, even if they do not fit into the normal marketing niches associated with the adventure game industry.
• To offer customers remarkable value, unprecedented access and responsiveness, and outstanding customer service.

Who is MicroTactix Games?

The core members and co-owners of the MicroTactix Games team are experienced creators and long-time adventure games enthusiasts:

• Guy McLimore (Chief Executive Officer, Executive Editor) came to adventure gaming early as a wargamer, and moved into role playing with the release of the first products of the genre. His earliest professional credits include publication during the first year of Dragon magazine. He is most well known for his service as Line Editor of The Fantasy Trip game system for Metagaming (succeeding Steve Jackson), co-designer of Star Trek: the Role Playing Game for FASA, co-designer of Mekton Empire for R. Talsorian Games, and past work for TSR including presentation of the annual Solid Gold Gamemasters seminars at GenCon. He is co-designer of Simply Roleplaying!™ and Compact Combat™ for MicroTactix, and is a contributor to many other MicroTactix products.
  
• Greg Poehlein (Chief Financial Officer, Budget Battlefield Designer/Line Editor) began gaming with early editions of Dungeons & Dragons before teaming with McLimore at Metagaming, on Mekton Empire and the Solid Gold Gamemasters seminars, and with McLimore and David Tepool for the bulk of the releases in the Star Trek line for FASA. He is the creator of the PlainLabel Game System™ which is at the heart of most MicroTactix Games core products, and designer or co-designer of many of the products based on it. He is also the designer of the Dirt Cheep Dungeons™ core product.
  
• Gary M. Williams (Art Director) is a science fiction and fantasy artist whose work and presence is well-known at southern and midwestern science fiction conventions, and to fans of his Bloodmoose comic strip during the time it appeared in the RPGA's Polyhedron magazine. He was co-director (with his wife, Liz) of the GenCon Art Show for many years, and his work has often appeared in Dragon magazine. He directs all illustrative and artistic development at MicroTactix Games, and is the incredibly prolific designer and illustrator of many of the core products of the Cardstock Creations™ line including the very popular Vyllage-on-the-Cheep™ and Dirt Cheep Starships™
  
• Bob Portnell (PlainLabel Line Editor) is a long-time gamer, best known among GURPS fans and superhero gamers for his writings in Herozine, Comic Book Life, and his SUPERAction column at RPGaction.com. A crusader for simplicity in gaming, he is the Line Editor for the PlainLabel Game System™, and is co-author of the Simply Roleplaying! and Compact Combat core rules. On his website, he maintains an archive of "heretical" PlainLabel variant rules, as well as rants, resources and links regarding adventure games.
  
  Many other independent designers, writers, editors, artists, and programmers contribute to Microtactix Games product lines as freelance creators. Some of them will be profiled here in the near future.

 

Can I find MicroTactix Games products in local stores?

Many of our products are available at most local hobby/game stores in CD-ROM format through our marketing partner, The CaBil. You can get also these online at Warehouse 23. Our entire line is always available for instant download delivery at our website and at RPGNow.

 

Why electronic publishing?

We pioneered e-publishing in the Adventure Gaming industry, and we believe it will be the fastest-growing segment of that industry within the next five years. E-publishing allows creators to bring finely-tuned specialty products to the gaming audience that otherwise would not be practical to publish. It also allows much shorter development and publication cycles, bringing products out quickly to respond to the changing desires of gaming consumers. And, of course, it reduces the entry cost for purchasers, allowing gamers to try new things and expand their gaming without spending tons of money.

Further, we believe that e-published products many times can offer features that standard print products cannot:

• E-published products often allow the purchaser to produce many multiple copies of components (such as our standup figures, building kits, and scenic accessories) for a fraction of the cost of traditionally printed and distributed products. Some e-published products can be easily enhanced or modified by the purchaser as well.
  
• E-published products need not be simply files to be printed. They can also feature interactive materials that allow the purchaser to use the computer as a gamer's tool and adjunct to preparation and operation of adventure games.
  
• E-published products can be easily enhanced and upgraded, allowing the publisher to offer free or very low-cost upgrades and enhancements instead of offering to sell you expensive "revised" materials every year or two.
  
• E-published products can be delivered instantly via download. No lost mail, no backorders, no shipping charges, no waiting.

Why do you use Portable Document Format (PDF)?

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a technology developed by Adobe Systems and making use of their Acrobat products. It is based on Postscript, the accepted page description standard for professional document publishing, and is widely used by most home computer users and throughout the publishing industry.

 

Unlike many other e-publishing formats, PDF does not bind the user to a single e-book reader or a single computer operating system or hardware platform. PDF pages can be viewed on almost any computer screen and reproduced with excellent quality on virtually any sort of document printer from inexpensive inkjet printers to business-quality laser printers and professional imagesetters.

 

PDF perfectly preserves the intended look of a document -- graphics, typography, page size, and pagination. It is the most versatile format available, allowing for on-screen fill-in forms, embedded Javascript programming, and the greatest variety of typographical and graphics formats -- all usable with almost any equipment and software you use.

 

Best of all, the reading and printing software for PDF files is free, available from Adobe Systems via instant download or already loaded on most home and business computers sold today.

 

We are also experimenting with products featuring other document formats for special purposes, including easily-customized and colorized bitmap images and interactive HTML-based products. We will expand the use of such formats as it is appropriate.

 

What is the PlainLabel Game System™?

The PlainLabel Game System™ is a versatile, easy-to-learn and internally consistent gaming engine that is easily adapted for all varieties of adventure game experiences. Created over a period of seven years by Greg Poehlein, the PlainLabel Game System™ (often informally referred to as just "PlainLabel") was developed to fill the need for a flexible and expandable set of rules for describing. measuring and judging adventure experiences on the tabletop -- oriented toward easy entry, fast play, and an emphasis on adventure instead of rules. To date: MicroTactix Games has released three core product lines based on the PlainLabel Game System:

• Simply Roleplaying!™
  A full-fledged gamemastered roleplaying system, extendable for any genre, any time period, and any adventure experience.
  
• Compact Combat™
  Detailed yet fast and fun board-based tactical combat rules that can be played competitively or folded in as a supertactical combat module for Simply Roleplaying!
  
• Budget Battlefield™
  An application of a simplified PlainLabel description system to free-form 3D miniatures battles on the tabletop, which allows the use in balanced scenarios of combatants, weapons and vehicles of any era. Simply Roleplaying!/Compact Combat characters can be featured in mass battle actions (or small unit skirmish battles) without complicated conversions.

These three systems tie together the three most popular forms of adventure gaming in a totally seamless way for the first time. Thus, we refer to the PlainLabel Game System as the first "Total Adventure Environment".

 

Anyone can create and publish adventures, game worlds and expansions for the PlainLabel Game System™ under the PlainLabel Limited Trademark License. See the PlainLabel Game System page for details!

 

Plans are being developed for further expansion of the PlainLabel Game System™ concepts and structure into such areas as air, sea and space combat board and miniatures gaming, interactive computer gaming, live-action roleplaying, and multi-player online gaming.

 

What are Cardstock Creations™?

Cardstock Creations™ are adventure game accessories you build from simple cardstock kits. The line was built upon Gary M. Williams' pioneering efforts with the Vyllage-on-the-Cheep™ line of cardboard structure kits for heroic fantasy. Since then, it has grown to include cardstock standup figures (an inexpensive alternative to plastic or metal miniatures), structure kits, and scenic environments for a wide variety of adventure game settings and genres. Kit components are purchased in electronic format, allowing the buyer to print, cut out, build and use as many of each component as desired. Huge armies of figures, large towns and installations, massive modular dungeons and starship interiors, and vast scenic dioramas can be built for very little cost. Cardstock Creations™ are attractive, versatile, customizable, expandable, and most of all inexpensive. Most current sets are produced in black and white, allowing end users to color and customize after printing. Some new products are available in full color and/or in formats that can easily be customized and colorized by simple paint programs in your computer before printing.

 

What are Dirt Cheep Scenics™?

Dirt Cheep Scenics™ are a unique approach to 3D scenic accessories which allows the user to create endless attractive terrain accessories for pennies. Simply print as many modular terrain pieces as you want and customize them to your liking. Dirt Cheep Terrain™ gives you modular hills, plains, roads, and stream beds for use with miniature figures. Dirt Cheep Dungeons™ provides the walls, rooms, corridors, doors, etc. to make castles, dungeons and labyrinths. Dirt Cheep Starships™ allows you to build all sorts of modular interiors for starships, space stations, or any other sort of high-tech installations. Dirt Cheep Interiors™ allows you to build modular interiors for other types of buildings. Others in the line include Dirt Cheep Caverns™ and Dirt Cheep Sewers™ for specialized environments, Dirt Cheep Cityscapes™ for modern day settings, plus Dirt Cheep Keeps™ and Dirt Cheep Strongholds™ for construction of castles and fortifications. All the Dirt Cheep Scenics™ are intercompatible, so you can create entire adventure settings as large as you want -- for much less cost than with foam or resin scenic accessories!

What are MicroTactix Impulse Games™?

MicroTactix Impulse Games™ are fun and fast "print 'n' play"™ games in various types and genres, designed with unique play styles, interesting printable components and their own matched bookcase-style storage boxes.