#RPGaDay2023 - Day 16 - Game You Wish You Owned

Day 16 of #RPGaDay2023 and I feel like I need to pull out an old Chessex catalog, back when they were game distributors, on top of dice makers.

For each day I'll be answering the question provided, and for fun, review how I answered a similar question during #RPGaDay a decade ago.  Scout's Honor, I have not peeked at the older answer.

Day 16's prompt is "Game You Wish You Owned" 

My last major gaming purge was 20 years ago.  All the old books, original Dwarven Forge, Geo-Hex, and a pile of miniatures I can't remember, much less attempt to reassemble these days.   Over the last two decades it's been a slower, methodical, budget-driven growth in my RPG library, and a far more reckless acquisition of historical, pulp, and sci-fi minis versus getting to use them, or even paint them for that matter.  There have been a handful of mini-purges, usually to the Mepacon auctions or, most recently, the flea market at Fall-In!

Despite going through the gaming solicitations for monthly new releases, there hasn't been much that's tickled my interest in years.  Even Kickstarters for new games, or relaunches of old classic, rarely tickle my fancy the way I expected them to, and to me, the accompanying PDF is just an afterthought that pops up in my memories from time to time, but nothing serious.  

So what do I really, really, really wish I had a hardcopy of? 

First thought was ALIEN by Free League Publishing.  It's highly regarded in the sci-fi and horror communities, you can base things off of either of the original two movies, both, or the whole gamut of the ALIEN universe.  I could enjoy this... which is something I said about Tales from the Loop and Twilight: 2000.  I invested in the sets, enjoyed the goodies during the unboxing, but in the end, I'm left with the pdfs and zero chance to play.  It will remain at my FLGS so someone else can better appreciate it.

As a humorous second, I did fall upon a complete line of Blacksburg Tactical Research's Macho Women with Guns.  Yes, kids, this was a real thing.   The books were as mint as they possibly could be, and I didn't necessarily wince at the price tag (over $100 for the whole series of staple-bound pamphlets).  But even for a guy like me, who does play wacky stuff, and even owns some of the minis, in the end, I don't want them. 

Which leaves me the predicament I've had for years: a copy of Atlantis: The Second Age full blown hardcover in all its glory, sitting in my FLGS.    

And I just can't pull the trigger. 

Here's the thing -  With my ongoing work with my (A)D&D/Hackmaster World of Georic Campaign, this could be a huge boon for areas of the world I have limited data on, specifically my Atlantis knock-off, the Senzar Empire.  

But the more I think, the more I think I just want of a hardcopy of the Atlantis: The Lost World softcover from Bard Games, circa 1988.  

It's not as detailed as Second Age, it's not as nice, but the nostalgic vagueness calls to me.  

Perhaps the best case scenario, I find a copy on eBay, fall in love with it again, grab the cheap copy of the Atlantis: The Second Age from Khepera Publishing, and slowly acquiring the digital catalog, then grabbing Hellas, and maybe Godsend: Agenda. 

But time will tell.  Eventually I have to pull the trigger on something.

UPDATE (8/23):  I did pull the trigger and picked up the Khepera copy of Atlantis from my FLGS.  They gave me an offer on a deal I hadn't look to haggle with and it was almost free.  I've only gotten to peruse the first few chapters, but it's exactly what I was looking for.  

Ten Years Ago Today:  When the kids were 3 and 5, the RPG I most wanted was a hardcopy of Dagger for Kids!   The pdf was available cheap, but I wanted physical copies that weren't off of my printer.  

I also mentioned wanting new copies of old favorites: Space: 1889, Recon, and Castle Falkenstein.  I've found copies of 1889 and Falkenstein, and have already rehomed them long ago.