From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

So what IS it about? Well, it is a video history of a rather infamous
poster whose rants in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy are a thing of
legend... and who, upon the merest mention of his name, was known to
appear suddenly and aggressively defend his products and reputation.
So much so I am hesitant to even mention the name of the person the
video is all about.

If you're a long-time Usenet reader, you may already know who I mean.
If you need a bit more of a hint, he developed a spaceship simulator
back in the 90s.

Yeah, THAT guy.

Anyway, the above is a video about him... and not just his activities
in the 90s, but all the way through recent days. The latter of which I
had little awareness of. I mean, I was here for those famous
thousand-post-long threads/flamewars that he was involved in back when
Usenet was still the dominant Internet forum platform, but after that?
I really didn't pay attention to him anymore.

[Actually, even when he was active in c.s.i.p.games.* I didn't
pay much attention to him, but just avoided the threads all
together. They were extremely high noise/low signal threads
and there was enough activity on Usenet back then that you
could skip thousands of posts and still have more than
enough to read every day]

But apparently that don't-ever-mention-his-name person kept at his
usual antics in the intervening three decades, albeit on other
platforms. And if the video is accurate, he hasn't become any less
agreeable in all that time. He's continued to pick fights over
nonsense, and has managed to bait people into giving him the attention
he so desperately craves. He's also continued developing games (none
of which saw any real success)... or at least promoting games he
promises will one day be released (including an NFT/blockchain game he
started developing in 2025).

Anyway, the video was a bit of a blast-from-the-past and if there are
any old-timers left from that era, maybe you'll enjoy seeing it too.

Just don't say the name. ;-);-);-);-);-);-)








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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:56:52 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

So what IS it about? Well, it is a video history of a rather infamous
poster whose rants in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy are a thing of
legend... and who, upon the merest mention of his name, was known to
appear suddenly and aggressively defend his products and reputation.
So much so I am hesitant to even mention the name of the person the
video is all about.

If you're a long-time Usenet reader, you may already know who I mean.
If you need a bit more of a hint, he developed a spaceship simulator
back in the 90s.

Yeah, THAT guy.

Anyway, the above is a video about him... and not just his activities
in the 90s, but all the way through recent days. The latter of which I
had little awareness of. I mean, I was here for those famous >thousand-post-long threads/flamewars that he was involved in back when
Usenet was still the dominant Internet forum platform, but after that?
I really didn't pay attention to him anymore.

[Actually, even when he was active in c.s.i.p.games.* I didn't
pay much attention to him, but just avoided the threads all
together. They were extremely high noise/low signal threads
and there was enough activity on Usenet back then that you
could skip thousands of posts and still have more than
enough to read every day]

But apparently that don't-ever-mention-his-name person kept at his
usual antics in the intervening three decades, albeit on other
platforms. And if the video is accurate, he hasn't become any less
agreeable in all that time. He's continued to pick fights over
nonsense, and has managed to bait people into giving him the attention
he so desperately craves. He's also continued developing games (none
of which saw any real success)... or at least promoting games he
promises will one day be released (including an NFT/blockchain game he >started developing in 2025).

Anyway, the video was a bit of a blast-from-the-past and if there are
any old-timers left from that era, maybe you'll enjoy seeing it too.

Just don't say the name. ;-);-);-);-);-);-)

You mean Derk Schamtas? or was it Derek Smart? or Dirck Schpurtz?

It escapes me... I mean the Phd guy from an educational instution so
valid and prestigious, that he refused to reveal the name of it out of
respect for other graduates of the diploma mill?... errr.. I mean fine
alma mater?

That dood was a hoot.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/11/2026 4:56 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

So what IS it about? Well, it is a video history of a rather infamous
poster whose rants in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy are a thing of
legend... and who, upon the merest mention of his name, was known to
appear suddenly and aggressively defend his products and reputation.
So much so I am hesitant to even mention the name of the person the
video is all about.

If you're a long-time Usenet reader, you may already know who I mean.
If you need a bit more of a hint, he developed a spaceship simulator
back in the 90s.

Yeah, THAT guy.

Anyway, the above is a video about him... and not just his activities
in the 90s, but all the way through recent days. The latter of which I
had little awareness of. I mean, I was here for those famous thousand-post-long threads/flamewars that he was involved in back when
Usenet was still the dominant Internet forum platform, but after that?
I really didn't pay attention to him anymore.

[Actually, even when he was active in c.s.i.p.games.* I didn't
pay much attention to him, but just avoided the threads all
together. They were extremely high noise/low signal threads
and there was enough activity on Usenet back then that you
could skip thousands of posts and still have more than
enough to read every day]

But apparently that don't-ever-mention-his-name person kept at his
usual antics in the intervening three decades, albeit on other
platforms. And if the video is accurate, he hasn't become any less
agreeable in all that time. He's continued to pick fights over
nonsense, and has managed to bait people into giving him the attention
he so desperately craves. He's also continued developing games (none
of which saw any real success)... or at least promoting games he
promises will one day be released (including an NFT/blockchain game he started developing in 2025).

Anyway, the video was a bit of a blast-from-the-past and if there are
any old-timers left from that era, maybe you'll enjoy seeing it too.

Just don't say the name. ;-);-);-);-);-);-)

I had forgotten about Dip Shit. Quite content to re-forget Dip Shit so
I will pass on the video.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:56:52 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Just don't say the name. ;-);-);-);-);-);-)

I wasn't sure if you were referring to Derek Smart or Cleve Blakemore
until I clicked your link.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:47:37 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> said
this thing:

I wasn't sure if you were referring to Derek Smart or Cleve Blakemore
until I clicked your link.

I have to admit, Cleve Blakemore didn't automatically ring a bell for
me. There's relatively little information about him on the Internet;
apparently he was a former programmer for the Wizardry series who
tried to develop his own dungeon-crawler. If he made a mark on Usenet,
I don't remember it... but it's quite possible I just ignore his
threads as I did Derek's.

But I think it's safe to say Cleve didn't leave as big a mark as DS
did. Only the one of them has a wikipedia page dedicated to their
exploits ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Yeah, THAT guy.

Interesting! I'll take a look

rms
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 12/04/2026 00:56, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

So what IS it about? Well, it is a video history of a rather infamous
poster whose rants in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy are a thing of
legend... and who, upon the merest mention of his name, was known to
appear suddenly and aggressively defend his products and reputation.
So much so I am hesitant to even mention the name of the person the
video is all about.

Can't say I remember him then again I can't remember when I started
using NGs. One character I do remember was over on the PC wargames
group. Just completely obnoxious (think any disagreement is taken as a personal insult) and constantly brought his politics into threads at the slightest chance.


--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/11/2026 4:56 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

Didn't you just post a video about him? (For some value of 'just'
within the last decade at least?) Maybe even this one?
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:17:52 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
said this thing:

Didn't you just post a video about him? (For some value of 'just'
within the last decade at least?) Maybe even this one?

Not me. And certainly not this video, which only released a few weeks
ago. I /did/ post an article about him two years ago where I learned
he was into Web3 (e.g., NFT/crypto shit)... and then (as this most
recent article proves) promptly forgot that fact. I was just as
surprised back in 2024 that he was still around as I was when I
started this thread a few days ago.

A little research indicates that Werner P posted a link to a different
YouTube video last August; that's probably the one you are
remembering. But his video is only 38 minutes; mine is much longer.
;-)

All of which goes to show that this still-not-gonna-name-him gentleman
doesn't live rent-free in my head. In two years somebody will probably
post something new about him, and I'll be just as surprised to learn
he's still knocking about as I was in April 2026, August 2025, and
January 2024 ;-)


In fact... who were we talking about again?


--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:08:23 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I have to admit, Cleve Blakemore didn't automatically ring a bell for
me. There's relatively little information about him on the Internet; >apparently he was a former programmer for the Wizardry series who
tried to develop his own dungeon-crawler. If he made a mark on Usenet,
I don't remember it... but it's quite possible I just ignore his
threads as I did Derek's.

But I think it's safe to say Cleve didn't leave as big a mark as DS
did. Only the one of them has a wikipedia page dedicated to their
exploits ;-)

Derek Smart was an asshole. But Cleve Blakemore was clinically insane
if he truly believed the stories he told here on Usenet about
Sir-Tech. I found his posts far more entertaining than Derek's which
is why I remember him more.

He did eventually release his dungeon crawler. It is called Grimoire:
Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. It has mixed reviews on Steam.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:11:17 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> said
this thing:

But Cleve Blakemore was clinically insane
if he truly believed the stories he told here on Usenet about
Sir-Tech. I found his posts far more entertaining than Derek's which
is why I remember him more.

Again, I wasn't familiar with him before your mention, so I bet a lot
of people here weren't either. But I bumped into a few of his claims
while reading up about him.

Some of these include that other Sir-Tech employees wanted to include
a number of weirdly sexual monsters and acts (including a
penis-monster and fuckable furries), and that he found a number of
sex-toys scattered about the office. Some of these claims have been
supposedly confirmed, others may just be trolling. He also has claimed
he is a different species of human being, having descended directly
from Homo neanderthalensis. And, apparently much like
The-Unmentionable-One who prompted this thread, Blakemore is
acerbically defensive of any criticism against his games.

But at least Blakemore doesn't use Google Alert to scan the Internet
for mentions of his name so he can disrupt any conversation that
mentions him. ;-)

He did eventually release his dungeon crawler. It is called Grimoire:
Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. It has mixed reviews on Steam.

I saw that. The criticisms in the reviews seem to be mostly about how old-school the game is in design and philosophy, though. If you like
80s- and 90s-era dungeon crawlers, it might not be too bad, but I can
see why it doesn't appeal to modern gamers who have come --rightly--
to expect certain quality-of-life features from their games. Still, if
I'd stumbled across it before I knew about Blakemore's involvement, I
might have picked it up just out of curiosity and nostalgia. And I'm
not really even a fan of the genre.

As it is, I gave it a pass.

[Also, what's up with that Australia Day thing on the
game's store page? Does Blakemore have a hate-on for the Down
Undah? Or does he live in the upside down himself and is
just poking fun at his own culture? It seems weirdly out
of place and there's no context for it at all.]


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:56:52 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, I'm hesitant to post the following link, but I'm doing it anyway.
Once you learn what it's about, you'll understand why I'm so chary of
doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW70hfHonLg

So what IS it about? Well, it is a video history of a rather infamous
poster whose rants in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy are a thing of
legend... and who, upon the merest mention of his name, was known to
appear suddenly and aggressively defend his products and reputation.
So much so I am hesitant to even mention the name of the person the
video is all about.

I watched the whole thing. My family was like "Is that an AI voice?" and
I said, "No. He just has a weird accent." They asked, "Why are you
watching it?" and I said, "Sometimes watching a train wreck is fun!"

God damn that guy was/is a dumpster fire. I can't believe for how long he continued with it. I thought he faded into the woodwork around the early aughties.

But more than that, I can't believe someone compiled a 2 hour video on
him. It was like watching a Ken Burns documentary, but a wasted effort
that it wasn't about the Iraq war or something actually important.
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/13/2026 11:11 AM, Mike S. wrote:

On Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:08:23 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I have to admit, Cleve Blakemore didn't automatically ring a bell for
me. There's relatively little information about him on the Internet;
apparently he was a former programmer for the Wizardry series who
tried to develop his own dungeon-crawler. If he made a mark on Usenet,
I don't remember it... but it's quite possible I just ignore his
threads as I did Derek's.

But I think it's safe to say Cleve didn't leave as big a mark as DS
did. Only the one of them has a wikipedia page dedicated to their
exploits ;-)

Derek Smart was an asshole. But Cleve Blakemore was clinically insane
if he truly believed the stories he told here on Usenet about
Sir-Tech. I found his posts far more entertaining than Derek's which
is why I remember him more.

He did eventually release his dungeon crawler. It is called Grimoire:
Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. It has mixed reviews on Steam.

I actually played it. Didn't get too far, it needed more work on the
balance.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 06:24:16 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 4/13/2026 11:11 AM, Mike S. wrote:

He did eventually release his dungeon crawler. It is called Grimoire:
Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. It has mixed reviews on Steam.

I actually played it. Didn't get too far, it needed more work on the >balance.

So... pretty much like most old-school dungeon-crawlers. Which is what
it Blakemore seems to have wanted to make. I can't say I'm a fan for
those sort of games, but there are some people who really love that
sort of gameplay.




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/14/2026 8:29 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 06:24:16 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 4/13/2026 11:11 AM, Mike S. wrote:

He did eventually release his dungeon crawler. It is called Grimoire:
Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. It has mixed reviews on Steam.

I actually played it. Didn't get too far, it needed more work on the
balance.

So... pretty much like most old-school dungeon-crawlers. Which is what
it Blakemore seems to have wanted to make. I can't say I'm a fan for
those sort of games, but there are some people who really love that
sort of gameplay.

The kind of game the "Get gud newb!" crowd love.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:11:01 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 4/14/2026 8:29 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So... pretty much like most old-school dungeon-crawlers. Which is what
it Blakemore seems to have wanted to make. I can't say I'm a fan for
those sort of games, but there are some people who really love that
sort of gameplay.

The kind of game the "Get gud newb!" crowd love.

I dunno if it's even that, since a lot of the old dungeon crawlers
were just torturous in their design, and it wasn't so much mastering
skills ('git gud') as just 'endure and grind until you survive'.

Souls-like games have an implied (if not always realized) fairness to
their systems where if you taken the time to learn the mechanics, you
can get through the game much easier. E.g., learn to block, don't rush
forward, figure out which weapons work best against which enemy types,
etc.

But a lot of the older dungeon crawlers, the main tactic was 'create a
party, pool the gold and starter gear to one guy, delete the other
characters, create new characters, repeat. Then sell all the extra
gear to get enough weapons that your one guy has a chance of surviving
combat with the first few goblins, and then do it all over again until
the rest of the party is similarly equipped.' That's not mastering the mechanics; that's working around them.

And that's what "Grimoire" seems to be emulating

[I say, not having played it and only read a variety
of reviews on Steam and elsewhere]

Which is... okay, if that's what you're into. If you want that
old-school feel but with slightly improved visuals, I guess "Grimoire"
is for you. I'm hesitant to say it's a BAD game because this seems to
be what Blakemore was intending to make. But it's not a vision that
appeals to a lot of gamers... myself included.


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

the main tactic was 'create a
party, pool the gold and starter gear to one guy, delete the other characters, create new characters, repeat. Then sell all the extra
gear to get enough weapons that your one guy has a chance of surviving
combat with the first few goblins, and then do it all over again until
the rest of the party is similarly equipped.' That's not mastering the mechanics; that's working around them.

This is a very big problem for RPGs. Phantasie suffers from this and so
does Wizardry: the five ordeals. It's possible, but frankly, I consider
it cheating and abstain. However, since I run a number of parties in
Wizardry: the five ordeals, I consider it reasonable to restock the
power items such as padded leather and sword of striking to the shop via
the available options in the setting from time to time for new incoming parties. Otherwise, my power items would just be sitting somewhere near
the bottom of the dungeon possessed by an immobile and irrelevant party,
or even in some cases vaporized when one of these irrelevant parties is
purged during a roster sweep.

I think they should fix the problem, at least acknowledge that it
exists. Maybe it's a difficult thing to deal with, I guess. The problem
seems to be is that old parties lose their relevance and all the gold
spent on them is now wasted, so there has to be some kind of influx of
new gold. However, I know I've seen at least one model RPG where new characters start without gold.
--
Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a
sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.
The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath,
whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There
Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children.
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