I’ve been going over past games and remembering the old systems I used to play and I’ve came to realise that I really miss playing some of them. It could be the rose tinted spectacles but I do really miss them.

• Runequest
  This was the second system I bought. It took me about 2 years to actually work out how to run a game and it took a good 6 months for me to understand how to draw up a character. I loved the look and style of the system though. In fact any game that has giant ducks as a monster becomes a must buy! To this day I have no idea what actually happened to my rule books as all have left is the Griffin Island adventure.
• Ars Majica
  This was a game that I’ve never actually owned. One of our regular group and my brother split the buying of the books to ease the cost but they have long since parted way as best friends. This has left me to inherit half of the books needed to run the system which other than giving me something to read doesn’t actually let me run any games. I really enjoyed the medieval style of the world and gameplay but we never played it for long enough to explore much further that our initial starting areas.

  Mechwarrior
  I’ve played this game a grand total of once. I’ve never been much of a mech fan but when I got my hands on a Battletech game for my computer many moons ago I loved it. In fact I think I have a copy for one of my emulators kicking about. I think it’s because of the fascination I had with that game that I loved Mechwarrior so much. I could take or leave Battletech though.

• Cyberpunk 2020
  Now heres a game I was facinated with throughout my teenage years. I still think I’ve only ever racked up two or three games mind you with the system. It hasn’t stopped me trying to merge the setting with WOD against my groups will for the last seven or eight years though. I love tech stuff and combining that with my favourite hobby means even when I’m playing a D&D game I’m wondering how I can get a gnome inventor to come up with a decent robotic arm or to fit a targetter to my bow. to this day it’s my favourite setting.
• Rolemaster
  This one is sort of a cheat. I ran this one not that long ago but I get the feeling my players really did begin to appreciate why it ended up being called Rollmaster by it’s critics. I loved the level of detail you could get with your characters and coming from computer geek stock the fact you have so many charts and tables made my heart all fluttery.

I think it’s time to fire up the ebay-mobile and see just how many of my missing books I can track down.

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I love reading rule books and I love reading campaign settings even more. I’ve went on before about how I write campaign settings just for myself even if no one else will ever actually play them so it comes as no surprise that I’ve got a little fed up rereading the D&D 4e books and that I’m looking for something ‘new’.

Coming home from my dyslexia testing on Monday I stopped by one of the larger book store chains in Glasgow to see if there was anything worth picking up. Usually I head in there just to see if they have a specific book but this day I decided just to have a look around the fiction areas as well. They have a small section for RPG books these days and it’s never really been stocked that well. They have the usual D&D books as well as the occasional TV related system such as the Firefly or Battlestar Galactica books but apart from the occasion WoD or Cthulu book thats it.

What they did have though was a few of the Scion books. I’d heard a little about them before and to be honest what I had heard didn’t tickle my fancy but after a quick flick through it is very similar to a setting I tried to write about 10 years ago using the old WoD system. I stood for a good 20 minutes reading the fluff that goes along with the Hero book. Why can’t games be released with a backstory this rich all the time? Needless to say I’ll be picking up the books on my next trip to the gaming store even if it is only to read them and never actually get my players into a game.

What other systems are there out there that go into the backstory in this much detail in the main rulebooks?

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You have a shelf full of rulebooks and you have spent hundreds of pounds/dollars over the years keeping it that way but just how much of what fills your shelf would you honestly buy if you were given the chance to read through it all those years ago? Sure you’ll have the systems and the settings that you’ll have played before as a player or picked up for a quick look while at a friends house but how many have you bought either off your own back or after barely reading a review online or in a magazine?

I’m looking at my shelf at the moment and a lot of it is obscured by the detritus beside my bed but at least 50% of what I can see is settings that I’ve barely used.

• Dragon Mountain – To this day I still have no idea why I bought it. The books have been flicked through maybe twice and then discarded to the bookshelf never to be opened again. In fact I think it was bought at the urging of a few of my players who quickly changed their minds after I’d handed over my hard earned cash and they’d got their grubby mitts of the books for themselves.
• Karameikos – I know why I bought this and I know why it still sits on my shelf and not in a landfill somewhere. For many years I played D&D using the Rules Cyclopedia and was sitting on the edge of my seat when I found out they were releasing the setting for AD&D. Again this setting has never been touched except for the occasional flick through to remind me of what mistakes TSR could make. I think it was still TSR at the time. It’s a lesson in how something right can become so wrong when no thought goes into the process.
• Birthright – This looked very promising when I first got a hold of it. And do you know just how much of the setting and rules I’ve used over the years? I’ve used the map. That’s it. I spent £20 and used a map that I could have made for pennies. This one I have no idea why I keep it on the shelf though. It must be the logo on the side of th ebox as it looks quite impressive.

In fact now I think about it I’m convinced that I keep them just to beef up my collection and make it look more impressive. Does anyone else do this or am I the only one thats so insecure about the size of his collection that I have to buy guff just to make myself feel better?

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