Jon Southard

Jonathan Southard is a game designer from Santa Barbara, California.

"Even the simplest games produced today are far more complicated then the old Avalon Hill classics many of us got started on. This is very shortsighted on the part of game companies, about on a par with a lumber company cutting trees without planting any more for the future. ...historical miniatures is a hobby we should emulate. It is a hobby that grows by mentorship. Hardly anyone just gets excited about miniatures on his own and runs out to invest the time and money to create his own army. ... Mentoring demands good judgement and creativity. There are lots of ways to go about it. You can use a complicated game and strip away lots of the rules or handle the more complicated procedures yourself. You can have the newcomer participate as part of a team..." -- Jon Southard

Hey folks -- Just wanted to note that while the above quote is correct, I said it in about 1990, not 2017! A lot has changed and I wouldn't make that same statement about "even the simplest games" today. However, I'll stand by the statement about the importance of mentorship -- although I should have offered up fantasy role playing (FRP) as an even better example of a hobby that grows this way. Have fun!

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