Score at the Vintage Store: Endless Quest Books!

So the male offspring and I went to The House of Fun in Oaklyn, NJ yesterday. It had been a while since we'd been there, and I've written before about their stash of D&D and other tabletop gaming material.

As the boy, as usual, drooled over the wall-to-wall press of old and new action figures and other stuff, I headed for the book shelves in the back. There was the usual stockpile of games including D&D modules and particularly a lot of Ravenloft stuff. 

But lo and behold, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a small selection of random Endless Quest books! I also spotted something I'd never heard of: a Sagard the Barbarian adventure book. According to the Wiki entry, St. Gygax collaborated with Flint Dille, screenwriter for Transformers: The Movie and game designer/writer for games like Dead to Rights.

I figured I should grab a couple of the books for nostalgia's sake (you know how that goes). The store owner said they were $8 a pop, so I settled on two:

I was particularly glad to snag a copy of Return to Brookmere, being a fan of the cover illo by Larry Elmore. The interior art by Tim Truman is no slouch either (his stuff has a definite similarity to Elmore's work...perhaps that's why they were teamed up for this book?):

I picked up the other book, Duel of the Masters, mostly because of the artists: Clyde Caldwell for the cover and the late, great Keith Parkinson for the interior illos. I've honestly never seen anything done in black and white by Parkinson. I've always associated him with the incredible cover art he's done for gaming books and novels. 

Anyway, I'm happy with these small scores! Have you picked up anything you're excited about that has fueled some nostalgia?

Unboxing: Lone Wolf Adventure Game

This is my first-ever unboxing/review video posted on this here blog (okay, I'm not exactly doing a full-on, in-depth review here but this is still a first for me)! 

I welcome your comments, please be gentle! Seriously, I'm a bit of an amateur so feedback, hints, and tips are welcome. I hope you like the video, please comment and let me know what you think! Also, let me know your thoughts about the game itself.

Lone Wolf - The Board Game Kickstarter

 

I'm really excited about this Kickstarter! I didn't experience the Lone Wolf game books in their original heyday (I did get some Fighting Fantasy books, though), but I've gotten into them in recent years. I love Gary Chalk's artwork, and the world of Magnamund has that "British fantasy feel" to it that I really like.

 

If you like Lone Wolf, get in on this opportunity!

Awesome Aquisition: Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

The branch of the county library near my house has a perpetual book sale. There's shelves and shelves of donated books for sale in one corner of the library (they also sell books that have been removed from circulation because they haven't been checked out for a few years).  

 

Every time I'm in the library, I take a tour through the books for sale. And once in a while, there's something really good waiting for me. This time around, it was a goodly number of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks! Freakin' SWEET score, right?!

 

Now, the only FF gamebook I've ever played was Forest of Doom, when I was a teen. For some reason, it seemed like it was hard for me to get a hold of the books back then, and anyway I was focused on playing D&D. But I remember having a lot of fun with Forest of Doom when I was alone, and the art was like nothing I'd ever seen...very different from what was in my D&D books, that's for sure.

 

I don't have a full list of the specific books I grabbed, but as you can see from the shot I took, I got Citadel of Chaos...and there's a copy of Forest of Doom, Starship Traveller, and City of Thieves, among others. No Warlock of Firetop Mountain, unfortunately. 

 

Oh, and there's a couple SORCERY! books in the bunch as well.

 

Anyway, I'll post the full list of books sometime soon, when I have a chance to go through them. Can't wait!

End-of-Week Jenkins (11/22/13)

Cover art by Kevin Jenkins

So, in my self-imposed exile from gaming, I've turned once again to an old love from back in my youth: gamebooks. I didn't have many of them, and most of them were more like Choose Your Own Adventure rather than actual gamebooks where you had a character sheet, dice, etc. But those few I did have, mostly Fighting Fantasy, are a treasured part of my development as a gamer.

 

So, I got my hands on some Fabled Lands books, and I can't wait to find some spare time to delve into them and make a return to some gamebook action! It's going to be a bit lonely, as I won't be at a table roleplaying with other gamers. But at least I'll be transported to a fantasy world for a time.

 

The world of Fabled Lands is one of those British fantasy artifacts that I find so different and appealing. The artwork and the world seem satisfyingly alien, in their own way.

 

The cover art for the original Fabled Lands gamebooks was done by Kevin Jenkins, and an example of his work is shown above.

 

Anyway, that's all from me for now. I'll see you in the Fabled Lands!