The question today is:
Best Secondhand RPG Purchase
A lot of my RPG collection is secondhand.
So, I’m struggling to come up with just one answer. I’ll try…
Not too long ago, I got hold of a copy of FreeMarket.
The game is co-written by Luke Crane, who also wrote the likes of Burning Wheel, Torchbearer, and Mouse Guard.
A game set in the future, in a transhuman post-need society with a reputation-based economy onboard a toroidal space habit, this fascinated me the first time I heard about it. You’re in a community where what you know and recall matters more than anything else. Everyone is functionally immortal, and the only really want, on this space station, is for space, because it’s crammed beyond capacity.
So, I heard about it around the time of release, and it was a chunky, weighty boxed set with decks of cards and counters. I remember seeing it at Dragonmeet—when that was still at Kensington Town Hall—on the Leisure Games stand. I was helping out on the Arion Games stand, I think. It feels like it would have been 2011, perhaps, when I would have been riding the wave of success in the release of the Maelstrom Beggars’ Companion (LOL).
Anyway, it was £50. I’m pretty certain. And that likely felt like a big ask from my pocket at that point in time. So, I skipped it. And then it got harder and harder to find.
Skip ahead ten years ago, and I stumbled on a friend, Neil, playing it on Discord with other folks. I still didn’t have a copy, but reading about another group playing was nice. And I tried to get more involved, but the world wasn’t freeing up the time or opportunity.
And then, one day, I saw it on Facebook. And someone had already claimed it. Private messages have already been sent. Sad face. I got in touch with Neil to ask about the acquisition, to which his response was, “It’s all yours, mate.”
It was such a kind act to bookmark the purchase for me, and I automatically jumped at the opportunity. Oddly enough, the seller was Chris Birch, of Modiphius fame.
And now I have it, and it’s being digested—a slow, careful read, a bit like I imagine the Sarlacc handles most books—with the aim to get around to running it one day. One day.
RPGaDay is a prompt-driven experience in tabletop roleplaying, initiated by Dave Chapman of Autocratik and powered by you and me.
The prompts for this year are as follows — and you can find out more on Dave’s website.
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