In 1977, while studying linguistics as a grad student at University of Texas at Austin, Ladyman began playtesting games for Metagaming Concepts, especially those designed by Steve Jackson.
[2] By the mid-1980s, Ladyman was working for SJG, overseeing development of Car Wars and GURPS, as well as editing the first issues of Autoduel Quarterly.
In 2017, Ladyman revived the old SJG board game Star Traders, successfully using Kickstarter to publish a new edition.
However, Swan admitted that "Ladyman manages to ferret out the best concepts, sweep away the debris, and patch it all together with his own imaginative touches."
Swan concluded by giving the book an above average rating of 4 out of 5 stars, saying "The Prisoner provides all the raw material a creative referee needs to put together a campaign rife with psychological terror, sort of like the Paranoia game without the laughs.