The following note was found inside a recently acquired copy of Ready Ref Sheets, an old Judges Guild book that's probably one of the most useful things ever published for OD&D. I've used it for several other editions of D&D as well. Anyway, here's the note:
I love finding stuff like this in old game books. It just warms my heart to see evidence of unknown people having some fun God knows how long ago.
One of my friends has an old, much-loved copy of the 2nd ed. player's handbook that he got second-hand from a used bookstore. The previous owner -- almost certainly a precocious 13-year-old kid -- drew a series of complex schematics of various magic items on the white pages just inside the cover. One inscription, a sword hilt with a sizzling, jagged blade extending outward, was described as a "Lazar Sword," and a handwritten message noted that it "cuts through anything." The Lazar Sword has become a cult phenomenon in our local gaming group...anytime anything awesome or crazy happens, we invoke the legend of the Lazar Sword. It's become so sublime that we really ought to get t-shirts printed up.
I frequently buy copies of old RPG books in used bookstores - even when I already have a copy, even when I've already had a copy and tossed it in the garbage because I know I'll never play it again - when it's filled with personal notes. They are ambrosia.
Last time I was in Newfoundland, I found a copy of an early Call of Cthulhu boxed set overflowing with personal campaign scribbles. Snapped it up immediately; took me days to get through reading it, never once bothering with the actual text printed on the page (which I already know pretty much by heart, anyway).
I remembered there was someone over at ENWorld who mentioned that he found a character sheet in a OD&D boxed set with the player's name written as Aaron Williams.
Heh. I also love finding those old adolescent notes in second hand games. Its almost as much fun as I had when I went back home (moved out 20 years ago) to hunt through my old box sets. Nothing like finding a few old Gamma World characters & a copy of Gangbusters I forgot I had. Its interesting how some old characters still have the smack of the emotion you may have attached to them even if its been decades since you last thought of them.
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One of my friends has an old, much-loved copy of the 2nd ed. player's handbook that he got second-hand from a used bookstore. The previous owner -- almost certainly a precocious 13-year-old kid -- drew a series of complex schematics of various magic items on the white pages just inside the cover. One inscription, a sword hilt with a sizzling, jagged blade extending outward, was described as a "Lazar Sword," and a handwritten message noted that it "cuts through anything." The Lazar Sword has become a cult phenomenon in our local gaming group...anytime anything awesome or crazy happens, we invoke the legend of the Lazar Sword. It's become so sublime that we really ought to get t-shirts printed up.
ReplyDeleteYes! I think there should be a book of these, collected via an open call for submissions.
ReplyDeleteI still have and treasure a note we passed to our GM many, many years ago: "That last demon sucked! Give us a REAL challenge!"
This is maybe old news, but I recently came across this phenomenal screed found in an old PHB. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI frequently buy copies of old RPG books in used bookstores - even when I already have a copy, even when I've already had a copy and tossed it in the garbage because I know I'll never play it again - when it's filled with personal notes. They are ambrosia.
ReplyDeleteLast time I was in Newfoundland, I found a copy of an early Call of Cthulhu boxed set overflowing with personal campaign scribbles. Snapped it up immediately; took me days to get through reading it, never once bothering with the actual text printed on the page (which I already know pretty much by heart, anyway).
I remembered there was someone over at ENWorld who mentioned that he found a character sheet in a OD&D boxed set with the player's name written as Aaron Williams.
ReplyDeleteCan't find the link now
A friend of mine has a second-hand DMG with the note "squared = times itsef[sic]" scrawled in a margin.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I also love finding those old adolescent notes in second hand games. Its almost as much fun as I had when I went back home (moved out 20 years ago) to hunt through my old box sets. Nothing like finding a few old Gamma World characters & a copy of Gangbusters I forgot I had. Its interesting how some old characters still have the smack of the emotion you may have attached to them even if its been decades since you last thought of them.
ReplyDeleteNow the question is, were they going to use an alignment-changing sword on Randy, or change the alignment of Randy's sword?
ReplyDeleteEither way, sounds like trouble.
How cool would the Randy statement be silkscreened on a shirt, with the notebook lines and everything!? ha...
ReplyDelete