#don lowry

[oldschoolfrp]

Chainmail rules for medieval miniatures by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren, 3rd ed printing by TSR, 1975 (first published by Don Lowry's Guidon Games in 1971), with Lowry's illustrations plus photos of early sand table games which originally used 40mm scale Elastolin and Starlux toy soldiers.

Combat in Dungeons & Dragons was developed around the d6 Chainmail rules, but the first 1974 D&D set also included an optional d20 system that became the more popular choice.

[smbhax]

From "Inside the Black Box" in Strange Tales #51, October 1956. Carl Wessler script, Herb Familton pencils & inks. Photoshop color reduction.

Info from Grand Comics Database.

[oldschoolfrp]

Ahoy, mateys

Don't Give up the Ship by Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, and Mike Carr, TSR, 2nd ed 1975; Don Lowry cover art; based on rules originally developed in Arneson's Minneapolis-St Paul area gaming group (1e was published by Guidon Games, 1972)

Action Under Sail 1756-1815 by Steve Birnie, Tabletop Games, 3rd ed 1984; Roger Heaton cover art; developed in the Halifax Wargames Society (1e was dated 1977)

Age of Sail, Mod Games, Sheffield, 1984; no individual author credits; includes 4 short rulesets: Ancient, Renaissance (also titled "Galleass"), Napoleonic, and Ironclads

Tradition of Victory, consisting of the Heart of Oak naval wargaming rules and the Promotions and Prizes RPG of rising in the ranks of the Royal Navy, Walter Williams, Erisian Games, 1978

[oldschoolfrp]

Another Don Lowry illustration from the “Fantasy Supplement” section of Chainmail (Guidon Games, 1971-72, and Tactical Studies Rules/TSR 1975-85), taking inspiration from a Pauline Baynes illustration in a 1949 edition of Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham:

[oldschoolfrp]

Knight vs dragon (Don Lowry, Chainmail wargame rules, Guidon Games 1971/TSR 1975; partially inspired by a Pauline Baynes illustration in Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham)

[oldschoolfrp]

The Chainmail miniature wargame rules by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games, 1971) assumed a 1:20 scale of figures to men for historical mass battles, but included two pages on “Man-to-Man Combat” in which one figure represented one warrior, a table for one-on-one jousting, and the “Fantasy Supplement” which was a third of the rulebook.  The games played with these rules helped inspire the creation of Dungeons & Dragons.  (Don Lowry illustration from Chainmail 3rd ed, TSR, 1975)

[truecolors24]

Wellness & Engagement

I am pleased to share with you that the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Center for Organizational Excellence has chosen a client, Team Horner, for a 2015 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award. Team Horner, the largest private pool-supply manufacturer and distributor in the world created and implemented a company–wide. True Colors health and wellness program called “Color Me Healthy” The APA award is given to an organization whose workplace fosters employee health and well-being, while enhancing organizational performance and productivity. It is for employers who are creating workplace that do more than just improve productivity- they build a strong, vibrant organizational culture that supports the company itself.

Color Me Healthy is an integrated, systemic approach that improves community engagement, communication, emotional and physical health, while also creating a culture where employees feel valued and cared for. All of these factors work together to contribute to an employees’ well-being.

According to Kim Kent, Team Horners’ True Colors Certified Trainer and Wellness Coach who implemented Color Me Healthy. “The first Step was offering the True Colors personality assessment, a fun, interactive and practical tool used to foster healthy, productive relationships. People discovered their shades of blue, green, gold and orange, They learned more about themselves and how to better communicate with other personality types. Mixed –Color groups were asked to come up with wellness programs to  appeal to each of the personality types.  This process created a strong and sustainable foundation to encourage good communication among teammates on an ongoing basis.

“Volunteers became the Color Me Healthy team, the group responsible for choosing which programs to implement . Color Me Healthy teams were formed (in our various offices).”…  “Each team represents very different populations and is able to create programs, communication methods and schedules that best suit the teammates they represent.”

They used a method of mine called “ the ideal process” to develop the framework to build and implement the initiative. This process is used to enable an organization to create and implement an initiative that is perfectly tailored the organizations own population.

As the APA reports : “the genius of Color Me Healthy is that it is bottom-up- teammates themselves brainstorms the types of well-being programs they want. Volunteers come together and form teams in different areas of the company of focus on the kinds of initiatives that are best-suited to different populations .  For instance, programs appealing to workers at the company’s manufacturing plant are not necessarily the same as those desired by its national sales team.”

Kim states,” One of the most successful programs offered team-wide is one to-one wellness coaching….

Coaches use True Colors to tie in that knowledge to help their Horner clients. Participants have shared testimonials about their successes including less stress, weight loss, more energy, improved fitness and better communication.”  

Kim summarizes, “Color Me Healthy is the driving force behind creating a culture of well –being in Team Horner. This initiative has certainly helped to foster a Psychologically healthy workplace for all.”

This punctuates my premise that for an organization to improve all the psychological factors that contribute to its success, and organization must engage its employees through their intrinsic personality differences. In other words disengagement from any organizational initiative is the result of a lack of understanding of what people need to contribute to deliver their very best

~ Don Lowry - Creator, True Colors

[truecolors24]

Team Horner received the American Psychological Association's (APA) 2015 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on March 14

Most teammates participate in a "True Colors™" personality workshop where they learn how to better understand themselves and others, as well as learn how to more effectively communicate with those least like them. True Colors is kept alive in the company culture with ongoing workshops and activities.