Keepsakes

So, I was cleaning my apartment yesterday when I stumbled upon this.

It's the final character sheet for my old PC Lt. Hornsby from John Higgins' Engines & Empires Game. It's been over three years since that campaign ended and I am still holding on to this thing.

It's amazing what it is about role-playing games that turns a normal person into a hoarder. The chances that I will ever get to play Reg again is slim to none, but I still hold on to this character sheet, along with many others from numerous games that I have played in, ran or wrote but never got a chance to run. And then there's the old mud-dice, cardboard tokens and half-scribbled notes from games past. I think part of it is the nostalgia. Not only of the adventure itself, but of those times when friends gathered together to game. At the same time I discovered this sheet, I also found a slew of character sheets my brother used from the old Shadowrun 2e/3e games I used to run and the times we would gather in the living room with our friends and play. I remember each session not only for the game, but for the stuff we went through just to get things going. My fondest gaming memory is not about slinging dice, but me and three of my friends piling into my Dodge Neon and hitting every McDonald's within ten minutes of my apartment in order to get around the 'limit five per customer' stipulation on 49 cent cheeseburger day. Dinner was more of an adventure that night.

I guess that in the end, it's not too crazy to hold on to keepsakes from gaming. At least in my case, it's because it's more than just about that time my fighter got his first +1 sword.

Though to be honest, that was a good day too.