twofalls
DM Beadle
When I was 9 I fell in love with role-playing. There wasn't much to choose from then, there was D&D and... well there was D&D. As I grew up more and more games were introduced into the market and I found myself in the position of being a lower income bracket child in a slowly expanding universe, which just happened to also include these fascinatingly addictive RPG's. I could just barely keep up with D&D by scraping my allowance together with my weekend lawn mowing money, and had to watch (and play) as my friends purchased manner of neat games that were coming out. A lot of my friends at that time in my life were from uptown due to the nature of the school I went to, and my parents couldn't afford the plentiful luxuries their parents could (like a storefront's worth of RPG books). Instead all they gave me lots of love and attention... sigh, some guys have all the luck. 
After school my pocketbook expanded while my love of RPG's remained. I was married at 19 and started a family just three years later, so throughout my 20's my collection grew at a lower priority than I'd have liked, but still much faster than before. I exhibited a trait that has followed me only in my RPG collecting; that of NEVER getting rid of anything related to gaming. I still have the first RPG book I ever purchased sitting on my bookshelf collecting little other than dust (but doing it proudly damnit)
Now, a professional in my mid 30's I have a huge collection of RPG's of all stripes. I still love collecting games and I run two D&D games, one every other week (so I get to game every weekend). For people in my age/economic category I get to play far more than most, but still my game collection outpaces my time. I have a couple hundred books that are on my shelves yet unread, only thumbed through with a mental note on them to read them soon. My boyhood fantasy of catching up with my rich friends subconsciously satiated I still have this yearning to play more games. "Sigh". I wish GM's would be paid for their labors. My wife (20 years together now… she is incredible) has endured my collecting and playing over the years with a sweet smile. Lord I love that lady.
I'm not rich, and please don't turn this thread into a "haves vs. have nots" conversation, though I joked at it early on, that's not why I wrote this. It's just a bit of a self indulgent and honest evaluation of my game addiction and were it's taken me. I’m wondering if I'm alone in the way my bizarre world of fantasy and cybershooters collecting has developed. I’m very curious about other people’s stories.
BTW, if Teflon Billy reads this post, I purchased the book "Ex Machina" based soley on your Enworld review and my love of the genre. This book rocks on toast with jam! Excellent review!
After school my pocketbook expanded while my love of RPG's remained. I was married at 19 and started a family just three years later, so throughout my 20's my collection grew at a lower priority than I'd have liked, but still much faster than before. I exhibited a trait that has followed me only in my RPG collecting; that of NEVER getting rid of anything related to gaming. I still have the first RPG book I ever purchased sitting on my bookshelf collecting little other than dust (but doing it proudly damnit)
Now, a professional in my mid 30's I have a huge collection of RPG's of all stripes. I still love collecting games and I run two D&D games, one every other week (so I get to game every weekend). For people in my age/economic category I get to play far more than most, but still my game collection outpaces my time. I have a couple hundred books that are on my shelves yet unread, only thumbed through with a mental note on them to read them soon. My boyhood fantasy of catching up with my rich friends subconsciously satiated I still have this yearning to play more games. "Sigh". I wish GM's would be paid for their labors. My wife (20 years together now… she is incredible) has endured my collecting and playing over the years with a sweet smile. Lord I love that lady.
I'm not rich, and please don't turn this thread into a "haves vs. have nots" conversation, though I joked at it early on, that's not why I wrote this. It's just a bit of a self indulgent and honest evaluation of my game addiction and were it's taken me. I’m wondering if I'm alone in the way my bizarre world of fantasy and cybershooters collecting has developed. I’m very curious about other people’s stories.
BTW, if Teflon Billy reads this post, I purchased the book "Ex Machina" based soley on your Enworld review and my love of the genre. This book rocks on toast with jam! Excellent review!
