I Adventerer

In 1982 I picked up my first ever Fighting Fantasy book at Tilbury library. I was not sure what it was or what it was about but it was about goblins, rhino men, apes with dogs heads and dogs with ape heads. Three names stuck in my memory "Warlock of Fire Top Mountain", "Citadel of Chaos" and "Forest of Doom". I flicked through them but only been 9 at the time I was not sure how to play them so i just read them like a normal book of followed the paths but did not really use dice or create characters. In any case we had no dice at home and at the age of 9 I could tell a good story but not write one. Then in 1983 in Mr Simpkins class (4th year senior school) Mr Simpkins said we where going to play "Citadel of Chaos" my teacher Mr Simpkin explained the rules and we started playing but did not get to far as the class was mostly confused about having to vote to make important plot choices and really did not get the dice and thought combat was a back door to teaching maths. I was sold. I went back to the library and actually started to play the game.

 

Thats same year Dungeons & Dragons the Cartoon came out and I finally found something I truly resinated with I always liked Hank the ranger but was very fond of Sheila the thief. I felt we had a lot in common been shy on the outside but been quite strong deep down. Now I met Orcs and Bullywugs  in colour and alive on the small screen. I was hooked so in 1985 when i was given a chance to join the schools D&D club as promoted by the History/R.E teacher Russell Tomlinson. 

Now I was able to really get into RPG and become an adventurer in my own right. Thanks to Chadwell Library I also had a chance to read the AD&D Players Hand Book and more importantly the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. What impressed me about it was the fact it had assassination tables, the magical properties of gems and the stats and abilities of various monsters.

 

Then in 1986 my Uncle David from New Zealand came to visit and he bought me FR0 The Forgotten Realms Box set and also the Grey Hawk Box Set, this was followed on my 13 birthday getting the Red Basic D&D Box set then that christmas I got my on copies of the Players Hand Book and the Dungeon Masters Guide.

In the mean time I had been running my own games based on my own system which I called Goblin Quest and which was set upon the Realm of Questar a planet on which a long time ago a space craft called the space ark had crashed. The ships computer then terraformed the world and started releasing the various races according to its manifest. I used Britain Knights, Battle Beasts and plastic Dinosaurs as miniatures.

These books and games allowed me to transfer the imaginary characters  I had role-played as a small child based on the characters I had read about in my dads old annuals and books into characters on paper with recorded adventures and written abilities. I no longer had to keep them stored in my head I could begin to keep a record of them.

So it came to past that the ages of 12 and 13 was a big turning point for me and saw the creation of the rather famous Goraxe Meridian who unlike Yar'rag Setab who had existed since I was 10 soon became far more fleshed out in my mind and because he carried out regular adventures he also seemed more real to me.

So it came to pass that I had finally discovered Role-Playing. With the help of G.M. magazine which started in 1988 and covered multiple aspects of gaming including Play By Mail, RPG and something I wanted to try immediately but would not get around to for real until 1991 LARP I began to understand the hobby I had stumbled onto almost by accident. 

Between RPG and 2000AD stories such as Summer Magic which sold the story of Luke Kirby a young child mage which led to the equally call series The Journal of Luke Kirby which expanded his world and told his story I finally discovered my place in the world. I was Gary Bates Armchair Adventurer!