A Pilgrimage with Game Diversions

 “The Road goes ever on and on / Out from the door where it began. / Now far ahead the Road has gone, / Let others follow it who can!”

— Bilbo Baggins, The Return of the King

This past week I made a pilgrimage from my home in Virginia to Indianapolis, IN, to attend the funeral of a beloved uncle...and to spend time with family members mourning his passing and celebrating his extraordinary life and the inspirational impact he had on so many lives. Along the way I distracted myself stopping at two game stores to pick up a few small diversions to feed my and my family’s gaming interests. Now that I’m back home I’m busy unpacking, doing laundry, resuming tasks I left off last week, taking a break to examine my gaming goodies, and getting back into some sense of routine...and spending a little time to reflect on a long four-day trip.

The drive to Indianapolis from the medieval frontier of Virginia takes about 10 hours straight. As I’m getting older and prefer to err on the side of caution, I decided to make the outbound trip over two days. I was also wary of driving 10 hours, arriving in time for the first family function, and not showing up completely dazed and road weary. I decided to book a hotel just east of Columbus, OH, a little beyond the halfway point of the entire drive. I’d have a little time between that point and arriving to meet family in Indianapolis, so I scouted out a game store on the west side of Columbus and one in Indy only a short drive to our hotel.

I was very glad to discover The Guardtower West in Columbus (which has a sister store aptly named The Guardtower East), which opened at 10 a.m., unlike most stores near me in Virginia that open at 11 or even noon most days. It was perfect timing for a leisurely morning, later hotel departure, and drive across Columbus, with easy access on and off the highway, to arrive shortly after it opened. Friendly staff greeted me when I walked through the door, asked if I was looking for anything in particular, and left me to wander the well-stocked shelves. It offered an amazing inventory of board games of all kinds, with an aisle of roleplaying games, tons of dice, a slew of Star Wars Legion and Flashpoint miniatures, and the obligatory Warhammer fare. Plenty of open gaming and event space beyond the main store area. A large TV on the wall also displayed what looked like a healthily busy calendar of events.

After a three-hour drive across the rest of Ohio and half of Indiana, I found myself in the Fashion Mall Commons shopping center with one of three Game Preserves in the greater Indy area. Another wonderfully well-stocked game store with a large open play events area. Being mid-afternoon on a Friday, it saw a good stream of gamers (including families) coming and going, weighing their options, and buying games. I lost myself wandering around examining primarily board game fare, with a solid selection of puzzles, and some Warhammer-type games.

Both stores provided plenty of room between aisles of shelves for people to comfortably wander. Staff was friendly and offered to sign me up for their loyalty programs, though I declined as I was “not from around here.” While I expect to pay full retail prices in such stores — and I’d budgeted some spare cash to both treat myself and support small gaming businesses — most items I spotted in The Guardtower had some degree of discount. Both stores had a great variety of games across a huge spread of price points, ideal especially at The Game Preserve to cater to families and smaller children seeking the satisfaction of picking out game goodies for themselves.

I found a few small gaming treats for myself. Nothing to paint (which was my major self-restriction), but a few diversions to feed our family’s gaming interests:

Nuln Oil: I rely on this Games Workshop product as one of the best washes I’ve used. I can’t always find it when I drop into my Friendly Local Game Stores (FLGS), so when I do see it, I pick up a container. (I almost bought the last two, but decided to leave one for the next person who relied on it.) I’m hoping it motivates me to do more painting after dinner to help calm my nerves and work on finishing the infinite pile of unpainted miniatures,....

Star Trek: Attack Wing Val Jean: We’ve dabbled with the Star Trek: Attack Wing game for years at home and at an occasional convention. I’ve assembled a collection of ships that cater to my own interest in that sci-fi universe, Federation ships, Klingon vessels, and some Cardassian and Maquis ships to play out various conflicts. I already had two Maquis raiders, so a third would work well against the three Cardassian cruisers (and maybe a Klingon mercenary...). My son recently found a Deep Space Nine DVD collection at the used book store and expressed an interest in watching them (though I recommended some Next Generation Ensign Ro episodes for context). So I’m hoping to clear off some of the wargaming table and run a few starship engagements as we binge-watch DS9.

Trash Pandas: I’ve never met a Gamewright game I didn’t like. Ages ago I got Quests of the Round Table and Honor of the Samurai. As a parent I’ve enjoyed Rat-A-Tat Cat as a quick but rousing game and Sushi Go for some intense set collection. And Matt Leacock’s Forbidden Island stands as an excellent pillar of the cooperative game movement. I just love the term “trash panda,” so I was happy to see it as one of those easier games you can quickly play a few times in one game night or introduce to non-gamers for a fun afternoon’s diversion. I was also sold on the back cover illustrations that indicated it included the “MMM Pie!” card (with an icky piece of garbage pizza) and the “Kitten” card for our cat-loving family. Looking forward to trying this out on game night soon.

Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies: My son and I love the original game. I’m drawn to its World War II-themed artwork as well as the idea of managing attacks over multiple theaters. I’m also glad it’s a game my son can play and not only hold his own, but often beat his father quite handily. When I spotted Spies, Lies, & Supplies I had no question of purchasing it. Somehow it works as both a sequel to the original game and a kind of expansion for the original game to “unlock new match-ups and game modes.” This will provide some incentive to break out the original game, try the new one on its own, and combine the two for even more excruciating tactics (no doubt also resulting in my defeat). The theme and artwork also draw on that World War II style, another draw for me even if it focuses more on gameplay than any sense of historical realism. I’m not sure how long this has been out (probably a few years), but it was a welcome “new-to-me” game to add to my collection and our enjoyment of the original.

Paper App Dungeon: I was about to take my purchase to the register at The Game Preserve when I happened upon an end-cap display with some odd little boxes. At first I was attracted to the “p6,” a pencil packaged in the box with the numbers 1-6 listed on its six sides so it could function as a d6. I picked up the box and realized it was part of a portable notebook dungeon crawl roll-and-write game. It’s a nifty little pocket-sized dungeon diversion by Tom Brinton; if you’re interested, the company includes the rules and the first few levels as PDFs on its website, so you can download, read, and play to see if it’s right for you. I’ll admit I was also encouraged to purchase it because its publisher, Lucky Duck Games, is in Krakow, Poland; I’ve recently enjoyed reading about the diverse adventure game industry in Poland and even ordered some game bits from Cube4Me.

My stops along the pilgrimage route gave me some much-needed respite from the road, some time to divert myself in preparation for more weighty duties, and some gaming goodies to bring home to help relieve the anxieties we’re managing on multiple fronts. These stops provided some respite and recharging before a weekend of family gatherings, viewing, funeral, and committal service. At these times of loss it helps for family and friends to gather, reconnect, and forge new bonds and memories. Before I drove back home, I had a chance at one of these gatherings to sit down for an hour with my cousin (technically first cousin once removed) to talk about the game she’s developing for her college course run by a well-known serious game scholar; I found it invigorating to talk “shop” with someone about various aspects of a game and what her team might try to better model the simulation subject, provide more varied choices in tactics, and consider some rules implementations to better hone the experience. I’m sure it would have made my uncle happy to see his family members intelligently geeking out over a common interest in games.

My Uncle Gary Story

We spent much of our weekend sharing stories of our time with my uncle. Aside from all the other memories of fun family gatherings playing with our cousins, sight-seeing excursions, and holiday meals at the kids’ table, I have one that stands out, a story I was encouraged to retell during one of our family gatherings celebrating Gary’s life and his playfully joyous presence. Especially because it instilled in me my love of Star Wars, which led to my interests in the adventure gaming hobby, writing, and game design and publishing.

In the summer of 1977, when I was turning nine, my uncle’s family visited us in Connecticut, one of numerous childhood treks to one or the other’s home for summers and holidays. He gathered my brother and me as well as our cousins and asked who wanted to go with him to watch him get his hair cut...a humorous irony given the top of his head remained bald throughout much of his adult life. As excitable young kids we all jumped for joy and agreed, then piled into the car. We were not, in fact, going to see my uncle get what was left of his hair trimmed; instead we went to the local theater to see some sci-fi movie he’d heard about. We were, inevitably, running late (as one does with a horde of excitable boys). He bought tickets, then ordered up a feast at the concession stand: one absolutely huge bucket of popcorn for each kid plus sodas. By the time we settled into our seats, the film had already started. I had no idea what was going on: there was this golden robot complaining as he wandered through some desert, then spotted and hailed a transport on a distant dune. Of course, the film was Star Wars, and, despite our late start, we all loved it beyond anything we’d ever experienced before. Unlike so many fans — whose first visual impression was the massive Imperial Star Destroyer chasing the vulnerable Rebel blockade runner — my first impression was of C-3PO, who became one of my favorite characters, muddling along, grumbling, across Tatooine’s desert. (Afterwards, as we left the theater, we actually came upon a barber shop, and my uncle joked he should stop in to fulfill his intent to get his hair cut....)

My uncle “tricking” us into seeing Star Wars led to a lifelong interest in the films, further exploration of fantasy and science fiction literature, my extensive adventure gaming hobby, game design, work on Star Wars for a game company, and even to meeting my wife, a fellow Star Wars fan. As a Lutheran minister, my uncle honored us by presiding over our wedding (where he also mentioned the Star Wars incident...). While this is a significant story in my own life, it’s only a very small part of the many things my uncle was to so many people. His joyful presence, insightful intelligence, and patient guidance inspired many across different facets of his life. Those who pass from this life remain with us in our fond memories and their affect on our lives...and in this way just even a little part of their presence lives on through us. Many thanks, Uncle Gary, and clear skies.

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”

— Marcel Proust