2021 collecting goals

 So, a new year has dawned, with more of the same to look forward to it seems.

Nothing huge to say really, just continuing on my  quest to buy back all the stuff I sold a few years ago. 

10 years ago my goal was - every standard Forgotten Realms RPG item, every Traveller LBB era item and a complete OD&D collection.

I gave it a good go and was almost there but for 'reasons' it all had to go.

So now I'm back to it, and of course the price of most of this stuff has increased pretty much exponentially. Never mind, I'm in no hurry and don't really have a plan of any kind except hoping for the best. 

The OD&D is an issue- I have had 3 white boxes over the years and all the supplements but the prices on these are now ridiculous. I have 3 of the supplements that cost me around 25-30 quid each but I fear the box set may be my white whale. Hey ho, the rules are a bit crap anyway! I have just read a little of my Gods Demigods and Heroes book and it is truly awful. Layout and formatting are a joke and the foreword concerning Monty Hall games has to be read to be believed, truly a book of its time.

Anyway that's it for now, 

Later

E - the alphabet grinds on!

I have been remiss, real life gets in the way as always, so this post is on the fly because I saw the MM and decided to go for it. 

This means that E is going to be as much of a surprise to me as it is to you!!

Without further ado;

Eagle, giant - if you ever needed confirmation that Gygax was influenced by Tolkien then this is it - carrying stuff ability, friendship with elves and dwarves as well as a penchant to attack evil creatures, what can I say?

Ear seekers - a player f*** you monster, you can just imagine what the original campaigns were like when a beastie like this was a staple element. Avoid.

Eel - three different types (none screaming unfortunately). Why am I doing this, it’s a freaking skinny fish!!

Efreeti - now we’re talking real fantasy. Actually not a brilliant description as it goes, a fairly tough foe and a better servant, though how you get it to grant those three wishes without it coming back later with a friend simply to mess you up is a bit of a mystery. 

Elemental - just read through and got a bit bored, basically a bunch of hit points, though of course a good DM could ramp up the role playing. 

Next up is the elephant, why are we giving out experience points for this?

Elf - okay I admit I am defeated. First mention of the drow then on to Ettin, floating eye and eye of the deep, this has been an ill-conceived idea I feel. Never mind, F next and who knows what fun that will bring?!

( actually I can’t leave it there.  Wow, eyes of the deep are weird, and potentially nasty and of course every DM has had the original idea to have the two heads of an ettin have an argument (tell me I’m wrong, I dare you!)

Until later

Be safe

Carl

My complete published works in White Dwarf

A quick post, actually a rather nice callback to some of my recent missives.

Here it is, the one and only time I made it into print in a gaming

So, one mystery solved, this was issue 89 from May 87 which was actually a bit later than I had thought. That been said I did send this ad in a lot earlier because I was completely unaware that my mum was going to be selling our house, and by the time this got published we had moved. So clearly no luck with me swapping my stuff. This is also strange because I had assumed I was trying to sell up but it turns out I was just trying to get different stuff - also clears up for me what White Dwarfs I need to collect as this tells me I owned 40 onwards - again I could have sworn I had started collecting earlier than this but clearly not. 

Reading through ads in other issues this week I actually saw the request of an Internet buddy in issue 91. It turns out he had rather more luck in his searches than I did, talk about born under a lucky star.

And briefly, concerning issue 89. It had this

That’s right, a review of Heroes for Wargames!! This must be the place I found out about this book, again, I was buying stuff much later than I thought. The review is quite similar to mine, so I know I’m not a complete idiot after all.

The  issue is okay, good CoC item on phobias by Carl Sargent (a genius), the Paranoia Electric Sheep scenario (fun) and Eavy Metal featuring the legendary Phil Lewis - good times. 

Again, a stream of consciousness, hope you liked it 

Carl