Pyat and the Time Portal

[pyat]

It occurs to me that I should not have been so pleased and surprised by the reemergence of the old gaming materials at Hamilton Hobby Specialities. You see, Hamilton actually has a dedicated gaming store that always has ancient stuff on display. I've written about it before. J&F Hobbies in the west end is like a dusty photograph of a game store, circa 1992. I went there today and picked up three "Monstrous Compendium" packs for $15. The owner, John, has mint condition 2nd ed corebooks and supplements on the shelves, gathering dust. Lots of dust.


He has a little alley filled with lead minis.


The store has moved into progressively smaller digs three times in the eleven years I've known of its existence. In 1998 he was in a very expansive (and cluttered) storefront, and seemed to be doing a fairly brisk business in Warhammer minis. I don't think that's true anymore, as all the minis seem to be a closed off little aisle and don't seem to move. Still, there has been some improvement. He's sharing the space with a model airplane seller now, and he sold all his stacks of used books to a woman who runs a bookstore, so the place is looking much less shabby and crowded than it did last time I visited.

It occurs to me that J&F Hobbies has everything I need to start an AD&D game in any setting. While I was thinking of using Greyhawk, J&F seems to have the needed books for any of the other AD&D settings, with the exception of Maztica.

So, tell me, Internet, if you were silly enough as to go back and run an AD&D game...

[Poll #1366176]

Comments

[halfelf.livejournal.com]

I really wish I could run Planescape again. I love that setting so much.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

I picked the top three, mostly because I've never played in these settings and know nothing about them other than that they read pretty cool.

::B::

P.S. You were in our (relative) neighborhood today?

[relee.livejournal.com]

The first two he listed are actually the same setting. It's just, one is the outside of the planet, and one is the inside. The inside is full of ancient lost civilizations preserved by the gods and immortals of that setting. During the timeline of the setting, one of the major continents on the outside gets wiped out by a magical nuke and gets teleported into the inside world, where it becomes a floating continent.

Spelljammer... Well...



Actually some of the books I have mention Spelljammer in regards to Mystarra. The planet is roughly Torus shaped, and has holes at the poles. If you have a spelljamming vessel you can see the holes from space, and though it's dangerous you can also fly through them.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I was indeed!

[relee.livejournal.com]

Hey the image I linked is gone. XD

I guess they didn't let me keep it. Let me find it again and give you the url.

http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/spelljammer.html

[dronon.livejournal.com]

Candyland! :)

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Oh no! A Giant Wobbling Trifle attacks your party! Roll for Insulin Resistance!

[paka.livejournal.com]

Al-Qadim?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I should add that, though they didn't have the core stuff for that game at J&F - just a few supplements.

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

I remember Dark Sun as being a really underrated but cool game world, like Road Warrior mixed with AD&D. And spelljammer had potential but was poorly designed, I can't remember why that was though.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Spelljammer always struck me as rather muddled and silly. I mean, you know, more so than default D&D.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Which makes it bad when it was new, but fantastic as retro.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Wow...this store doesn't have 3rd ed books, does it? My PHB 3.5 has gotten bedraggled, and I made the mistake of not replacing it right after 4th ed came out.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

They have some 3.5 stuff, but I'm not sure about the corebooks. I was not specifically looking. Next time I'm there I'll photograph the RPG display.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise I could pick multiple ticky-boxes. Well. Bah!

I'd need more information anyway...

[pyat.livejournal.com]

:) I am a font of information!

[relee.livejournal.com]

Mystarra and Hollow Earth are the same planet, you know? It's the hollow inside of Mystarra.

I know Mystarra really well, because it was the setting for Basic Dungeons and Dragons, and I have a ton of old Basic D&D books. You remember Basic D&D right? Back when Elf was a class?


But then, it was never really THAT good. I'd have to vote for Planescape, which seems to be winning along with Spelljammer. So, maybe you should get yourself a Spelljammer that can travel through different planes? <3

[relee.livejournal.com]

Oh! One more thing. I guess they don't have it there, but I have an old 2nd edition campaign setting that you might enjoy. It was called Council of Wyrms and it was a ruleset for an all dragons campaign. I mean, the players are all dragons. ^.^

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know it is. Similarly, Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, and Maztica are all part of the "Forgotten Realms" world, but are nonetheless different settings.

[relee.livejournal.com]

I knew Kara-Tur and Maztica were part of the Forgotten Realms but not Al-Qadim. Is Al-Qadim based in Calimshan or is it somewhere else? I mean, Calimshan is all about arabian nights, so it would be odd for them to have a second arabian nights region somewhere else.

I really like the Forgotten Realms. It has this rich history of being several very awesome places, so there's lots of ancient ruins and ancienter ruins and even ancienter ruins. They've got every culture that was ever on earth and a bunch of fantasy ones and even a few original ones.

Though as was complaining a month or so ago, they ruined that with the latest version. ^.^;;

You could base an entire campaign in a single country on that world and it would still be awesome. <3

[feywild.livejournal.com]

My first pick is none of the above. I would do Al-Qadim, though technically it's a part of the Realms.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I should have had it on the list.

[wggthegnoll.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I miss Dark Sun, I think that would be my top vote. I loved its re-imagining of elves.

Planescape was fun too, but horribly difficult to write campaigns for.

[madmanofprague.livejournal.com]

eye heart planescape, even though I've played exactly one session of AD&D.