Spelunking My Library

Making a post over on COTI, I had to dig through the online copies of my Traveller collection to find Lee's Guide as I wanted to make sure it was what I remembered: a series of adventure vignettes basically that had a range of places you could put the adventure. Then realized I have most of the Far Future CDs and have a GIANT library that I rarely go through. Yet I get more stuff thinking it will be the next great thing to run or play.

And by online, really OneDrive so it is both local and saved off on-line. Makes updating computers pretty easy. And that electronic option also makes searching a lot easier sometimes as, though not a great search engine, the on-line search in OneDrive sometimes finds what I want. It is a lot easier than digging out that plastic box 4 feet in front of my but behind the printer cart. Though I really, really do love to dig through the old physical media - something so much more satisfying. And some of that is not on-line that I've found: my terrorist came from an odd magazine I picked up in college and still have.

And yet I buy more stuff, read it once, and then stick it on the shelf if it is a physical book and never get back to it. I've seen more than 1 blog going over their existing books, basically re-reading things after years of not even looking at them. And here I am thinking to do the same thing. And dig into that box on the floor to remind myself of the journey I've taken, which all started with the original Traveller Deluxe Box Set.

after 40 years, the box is a bit bedraggled.

Way back in high school, I loved board games, especially tactical games. I was just very, very bad at them. I played my neighbor who was several years younger, and he always beat me. I decided that role playing games may be a better fit. This was the early 80s, and despite actually being invited to play by some fellow schoolmates for D&D, I was not a social person in high school. Or particularly social now but I just hide it better! Not sure how I found it, but I think I actually ordered the box from GDW itself. I picked that one from the few I was looking at - think Runequest was there, bit for some reason I had no interest in the actual D&D game system for some reason. Probably because I was much more into SF than fantasy, and the chance to create my own SF universe seemed a dream. 

It showed up and I spent a lot of time reading through it and pouring over the 2 maps it had. The Imperium was huge, and, coming from a failed wargame background, I loved the hex map of the Spinward Marches. Sadly, not being social, and never actually having played an RPG, I did not understand it as well as I wanted. I do know that Book 0 was a great introduction to RPGs in general and Traveller in specific. And I lived in that Scout ship from the introductory adventure in my dreams.  But I still thought in wargame modes so did not really understand RPGs. 

I devoured all 5 books in that box: read and re-read Book 0, tried to understand character generation, and did spend a lot of time building ships with Book 2, and creating worlds with Book 3. And read the intro adventure and tried to play by myself. And for those of you who have read my solo gaming attempts, well, they have gotten a bit better but really for me, a RPG needs others' imaginations to let us fly even further in our own imagination. Red Bull may give you wings or whatever, but fellow RPG players give you the universe. Though I do a lot of world building, they are empty edifices until characters can live in them. 

It was not until college when someone told me there was a guy down the hall with the same box. Yes - I had brought the box with me to college. In fact - that box, which slowly kept accumulating more books, followed me wherever I went. I finally go into an actual RPG group and played. Not just Traveller, but D&D and other RPGs that were around in the early 80s. I kept getting more game material (which I'll try and cover) but the best part was I had 2 other friends who were deep in the Traveller game. We'd play Friday nights until early Saturday morning. I'll admit things were not exactly clear about 3am, but it helped that a nearby bakery opened their back door when making donuts. We could get a bag for $2 I think. Fresh out of the oil, no chewing required as the sugary goodness simply melted in your mouth. And the bag did not fair well...

I am really nostalgic and hold on to things that meant a lot. 1984 membership card from the Old Dominion University Role Gamers Club! As battered as the deluxe box. And yes, I still have it.

Traveller is my first love in RPGs, and though I stopped gaming when I discovered girls (as mentioned, I was not social and that included the whole dating thing), years later I found the Traveller reprint books and COTI. And the local Asheville Gaming Club. But that is a story for another time.

Note - one of the things that got me started looking at what I had was from this blog post from Alegis Downport.