pyat

A long time ago (well, 10 years or so) I became a member of that curious society of hobbyists who buy tabletop RPG books simply as a collector, or to read. It really is a collection, in the same way other people have a collection of rocks, or stamps, or ships in bottles. Before age 25, I was buying games I intended to play, or supplements I intended to use. Not anymore. Now I buy things to read them, if that.

There is simply no way I could do justice to every single one of the RPGs I own and actually play the things, nevermind the various supplement books, etc. It's taken me seven and a half years to get through most of the Adventure Path series of modules for D&D 3.0.

That's nearly as long as the entirety of the personal "golden age" of gaming that most gamers experience and remember fondly. Which is to say, that period of our lives between junior high/high school and the end of college, when we had time to play, time to prepare and a limitless supply of government-provided pencils and notebooks.

If I were to return to the sort of gaming schedule I had in those days - 2 sessions a week in the school year, 5 sessions a week in summer - I could chip my way through some of the odd or strange games I have. Even on that schedule, it would take literally years to even run a short campaign for each of my games.

And there are some I simply have no interest in playing, even though I own them! Stuff like Cooperation or Dragon Raid or Fifth Cycle - gaming oddities with quirky systems and settings that interest me without appealing to me. Space Opera may be the king of these games.

I suppose one day I may box them all up and put them on eBay or bring them to a game swap.

Tomorrow is the Great Canadian Bayshore Game Sale, a nearly annual tradition that has been recounted in this very journal lo, these many years past. I've gone almost every year since 1990. Tomorrow morning, bright and nerdy, myself and a collection of local luminaries will gather at Bayshore Hobbies. Schedule as follows!

07:00 AM: Rendevous at Bayshore Hobbies in Hamilton's west end.
08:00 AM: Receive golden tickets, which determine your place in line for the sale.
08:15 AM: Greasy spoon breakfast.
09:45 AM: Return to Bayshore, stand in line.
10:00 AM: The Vaults of Wonder are opened.

Anyone reading this is welcome to join us if they can!

Over lunch hour I ran over to Bayshore to drop off some of my unused, unwanted games. Prior entry to the contrary, it seems I am capable of doing this. I'm selling some GURPS supplements, an old boxed Card Wars set, and a handful of Judge Dredd books and supplements. While there, I chatted with Rose, who has been running Bayshore Hobbies since 1980. She suddenly remembered a stack of photos she'd found, and we looked through some pictures of past events. She let me take some home, as there were a few familiar faces.

These photos were taken at the Hamilton Mountain location of Bayshore, which has since closed down. At this point in time, I didn't know either