Today's Mail

I got a couple of things in the mail today.

First is Star Fleet Battles volume III. I previously have never owned this so I am looking forward to checking it out, despite the fact that many SFB fans consider this to be the straw that broke the camel's back rules-wise. I bought it opened but unpunched really cheap on Ebay. It also inexplicably contained the map for the 1981 edition of Federation Space, a game I never owned or played, but I am familiar with it's successor game Federation and Empire, although I never played it either. I'll be perusing the SFB v. III rules tonight if I finish last book of the Soldier's Son trilogy as quick as I think I will.

The other thing that came in the mail was a package containing 2 AD&D books I won cheap on Ebay. One was a copy of the Fiend Folio. I didn't need another copy of the Fiend Folio, but it was in a package deal with the Wilderness Survival Guide. I have never owned or read the Wilderness Survival Guide, or it's counterpart the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide for that matter. By the time TSR was pumping them out I was pretty much done with TSR, first edition anyway; when second edition came along I jumped back on board briefly.

I have heard some bad things about the WSG (and the DSG), but I am looking forward to reading a first edition AD&D book that will be new to me. Plus, both of those books and the SFB boxed set are in absolutely pristine condition. It's like for less than $20.00 (including shipping!) I got a time machine to a mid-1980's gaming experience.

Curiously, now that I am in my forties, I am starting to rebuild and expand upon the gaming library that I had when I was a teenager. I'd like to blame the loss of so much stuff solely on my mom, but I know I had a hand in this too. My nomadic ways in my twenties lost stuff along the way, I sold a bunch of it because I either needed the money, needed the space or just figured I'd never play again. That was short sighted, I knew I'd eventually have kids and those kids would most likely share at least some of the geeky interests of their parents.