Nit-picking

[ffutures]

I very rarely take exception with posts from sjgames but I'm afraid that today is something of an exception...

SJ's off to Chattacon this week, to show off new releases, playtest some designs, and generally wave the company flag. He'll also be speaking at a couple of panels, including one with David Weber, on the topic of tanks.

That's right, the author of Bolo! and the designer of Ogre in one room, talking about giant armored war machines. Does it get any better?

As any fule kno, while Steve Jackson wrote the game Ogre, David Weber did not originate the concept of the Bolo robotic tank. That honour belongs to the late great Keith Laumer. Bolo! is a book set against the background that Laumer originated, but as far as I can tell on a cursory look doesn't add much that's new to the setting.

I'm prepared to concede that Weber probably knows a lot more about this setting than I do - but the implication of sjgames post is that Weber invented the idea, and that simply isn't true.