Tuesday, April 4, 2017

In which I wallow in nostalgia

I'd give my right leg to have not sold the 2e material I sold. And frankly, I wouldn't mind having the 3e material either. PDF is just not the same. I had shelves and shelves and shelves.  I understand why I sold it, and it still makes sense, but doggone it....

I'm (re)reading the Dragonlance Nexus's Adlatum gazetteer, a 300-page work detailing Krynn's 3rd continent. It's probably the most impressive fan-work I've ever seen, matching up to TSR & WotC in quality and readability, and ADDING new material to the setting, not simply rehashing old things.

I strongly and sincerely miss the setting-development TSR did back in the '80s and '90s. Nowadays it seems like it's all mechanics and systems, with page after page on the various internet sites filled with optimal builds and other crunchy tastelessness. OR, it's sniping at "modern" game systems and extolling the virtues of minimalism. Don't get me wrong; I love me some classic Greyhawk gold box, but sometimes it's nice to have meat on the bones. I'm a heretic - Carl Sargent's work was the high point of GH for me.

I guess I'm a grognard. :/

6 comments:

  1. I know the feeling. When I fell into my current situation and had to hit the road, I had to forfeit some 1000 publications -- not all gaming material -- and it still "hurts." Just not right.

    And I agree about the current gaming systems; less world building, more min/maxing type nonsense. Hell, I have players that keep bring the game to an end, just because they "learned" something useful and want to build another character.

    Ridiculous nonsense. That's not gaming. And there's always another publication to give them another idea.

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  2. What 2e and 3e stuff are you looking for, Nathan---perhaps we can arrange a trade? :D

    Allan.

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    1. Probably the Known World/Mystara gazetteers and select same from Forgotten Realms, plus some of those 96-page perfect bound FR books like the Seven Sisters; Harpers; and etc. That said, I don't think I really have anything to trade anymore and I'm a few paychecks away from having real currency. Also, I have a terrible suspicion that you'd just send me my old books back!!! :)

      (To be clear, I have absolutely no complaints about selling my stuff - I know why I did it and it made sense at the time. I just wish I'd kept a few more things.)

      I did keep all my GH and Birthright material, so I wasn't totally foolish. ;)

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  3. I don't have too many duplicates of the KW Gazetteers, but I probably have some of the other FR books you're looking for. I have a decent number of 3.x books that are definitely going on the chopping block this summer, so if you're still looking by mid-June, feel free to ping me.

    LOL, I don't think I bought any books from you BITD, but I would think that getting your own personal copy back would be quite the find/boon! :D

    Allan.

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    1. Actually, you bought most of my 2e collection and at least some part of my 3e stuff 10 years later. :)

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    2. I did a better job of keeping the 3e stuff that I was most interested in, and it's really the setting stuff that I'm nostalgic for. Not a lot of that in 3e.

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