Hi, Slip, and thanks! Well, I don't have much to moderate right now while the forum's pretty quiet; will be until the game comes out) but something tells me this summer it's going to be a lulu! (or a Luau, maybe!)
Yes, I used to play the old Gold Box SSI games. I knew there was some I was forgetting! I still have a lot of the collection on CD-ROM now. Ought to dig them out sometimes just for
auld lang syne.
And, yes, I was big into P&P role playing as well. I didn't mind stingy DM's, just fair ones. I was a stingy but fair DM. The ones I hated were the demonic ones who seemed to take infernal joy at your characters' demise. I hated killing off any characters and would sometimes
deux ex machina them if I felt something had gone terribly wrong by accident. I only knew one DM of the "demonic" variety, but he was a geek

. He soon didn't have anyone that would play with him. That's when I started DM'ing; pulled all his long-suffering gamers over. One thing I learned about successful DM'ing...it's just like successful teaching. "Explain things carefully, and check your Ego at the door!"
You sound like the kind of person I would have enjoyed table-top gaming with. Actually, there's a lot here who would fit that bill.
Talk to you soon!
-Sazerac