Yesterday Pat came over for a few hours. We shot the breeze about games like we usually do. He brought over, among other stuff, a run of Challenge magazines he had found in a quarter bin somewhere. I'm not into any of the games GDW was hawking back in the early nineties, but Challenge still had some pretty good stuff. Issue 66 had a short article on conference games, things like faux UN assemblies and such. There's also a handful of Call of Cthulhu and FASATrek stuff peppered throughout the issues he had found.

We also rolled up some first edition Gamma World characters as a first step toward a campaign. We each made one of each type: mutant animal, pure strain human, and humanoid. The PSH's were pretty boring to make compared to all the fun to be had rolling on the mutation charts. Once I get a copy of the 2nd edition rules we'll have to add some mutant plants to the party.

Pat also talked about wanting to finally start a campaign for that old Palladium rpg The Mechanoids. I suggested that I could make a large cast of PCs from the Palladium books I had handy. Using Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness and the Palladium FRPG to make characters for a sci-fi campaign may not make much sense, but it sure infuses the project with a gonzo sense of fun.

I finished reading Queen Victoria's Little Wars last night. I'm tempted to hunt down a book on the Crimean War as a follow-up, but I'm also starting to wonder if maybe I should read a book that isn't about war or murder. You know, just for a change of pace from my current routine.

The last couple of days has been a challenge for me on the eBay front. Just before I vowed to clean up my act I found a game that I wanted and I put it on my watch list. It was in new condition, going for less than half cover price (including shipping), and being sold by a reputable dealer whom I have donw business with in the past. But it wasn't from the Gamma World line. As per my new self-imposed eBaying limits I'm only buying items for one line at a time. I really wanted that game, but I allowed the action to end without bidding on it. A small victory for financial responsibility, perhaps, but I'm happy to have passed the test.