What do you collect?

[zippypinhead]

They're making a GI Joe/Transformers crossover movie, and they've recently issued these:



Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

(I already bought the HISS Megatron, and I NEEEEEEED that Thunder Machine Megatron.)

 

[LilyLaughing]

My newest collection is bookmarks! My paper book collection is mostly art books, poetry books, and kids storybooks/short story collections. I realized I love pretty bookmarks and by collecting them I can enjoy re-reading all the books in my library on a loooong timeline. They are quite fun to pick up at different bookstores and events too.

 

[Maxi]

It’s a cliché but I collect books by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I’ve read everything he’s ever published and can’t help buying new editions in the bookshop when they come out.

The artwork by Random House has lately been uber cool.

 

[CamBB]

Credit cards. I currently have a few dozen of them. Still missing a few of the nice ones, but with time all things are possible.

 

[freenessie]

I collect books, oddities, and mugs. Anytime I see a cute mug, i HAVE to buy it even though I can barely close my kitchen cabinet lol.

 

[Dan N]

wonderful experiences

 

[devionguard]

Social rejects. My collection is almost complete.

 

[LilyLaughing]

Forgot to post my snarky answer...
Broken hearts.

 

[Lover31660]

I collect concert posters, but only from shows I've attended. Most are framed and on the walls.

 

[Violet Dawn]

Socks. I have quite the sock collection

 

[zippypinhead]

Out of nowhere, this has suddenly become the Summer I Got Obsessed With Gamebooks.

 

[LilyLaughing]

Out of nowhere, this has suddenly become the Summer I Got Obsessed With Gamebooks.

View attachment 100638

Oooh where can I learn more about this? I love Choose Your Own Adventure books and I've got a few 'coloring adventure' and other art puzzle books, but some of these look quite different? Is there one you recommend as a starter?

 

[zippypinhead]

Oooh where can I learn more about this? I love Choose Your Own Adventure books and I've got a few 'coloring adventure' and other art puzzle books, but some of these look quite different? Is there one you recommend as a starter?

Aside from the Choose Your Own Adventures, all the other gamebooks are essentially CYOA with extra rpg-lite mechanics -- you write up a simple character sheet, and you do some dice rolling, along with choosing your way through a branching narrative.

The stack on the left is Fighting Fantasy, which are standalone adventures, each book containing a single narrative you navigate. Currently, Scholastic is publishing reprints of FF, and they can be had for a pretty fair price.

The stack on the right is Lone Wolf, which is a series that forms a long narrative, and you progress from book to book. A very cool thing about Lone Wolf is that there is an author-sanctioned fan page, Project Aon, which has made pretty much everything from the series available to download or read online for free! If you want to try your hand at a gamebook, that's an excellent place to start.

I'm fully immersed in Fabled Lands right now. That's the large format books that are front and center. Fabled Lands is a sandbox series of seven books, where you can jump back and forth from book to book, exploring and picking up things to do. I've literally spent all weekend playing it, and I'm super hooked. It's essentially an open world solo roleplaying campaign in CYOA format, and it's amazing. Also, the books are shockingly affordable, and the oversized editions are great for flipping back and forth through the pages.

Those three, and Choose Your Own Adventure, are the big classics. Aside from the proper Choose Your Own Adventures, most gamebooks have roots closely tied to fantasy tabletop roleplaying games, so it's a very fantasy-heavy field. There are some other genres, like sci-fi, horror, and romance. Also, gamebooks are seeming to be going through a bit of a renaissance these days. I have as many books in my wishlist and shopping cart right now as I have already bought, and they're all series I hadn't heard of a month ago. Now that I have all the nostalgia buys out of the way, other series that are on my radar are Destinyquest, Steam Highwayman, Vulcanverse, and Legendary Kingdoms. Also, if you start to poke around, there are scans of out of print books from the gamebook's more popular heyday on certain archive sites. Tolkien/Middle Earth Quest, Blood Sword, and Car Wars look pretty great to me!

It's been a huge and fun rabbit hole for me to climb into! I do hope you find something you enjoy, and if you do, let me know! Also, I would love to hear about coloring adventure and art puzzle books.

 

[KingMarti]

Aside from the Choose Your Own Adventures, all the other gamebooks are essentially CYOA with extra rpg-lite mechanics -- you write up a simple character sheet, and you do some dice rolling, along with choosing your way through a branching narrative.

The stack on the left is Fighting Fantasy, which are standalone adventures, each book containing a single narrative you navigate. Currently, Scholastic is publishing reprints of FF, and they can be had for a pretty fair price.

The stack on the right is Lone Wolf, which is a series that forms a long narrative, and you progress from book to book. A very cool thing about Lone Wolf is that there is an author-sanctioned fan page, Project Aon, which has made pretty much everything from the series available to download or read online for free! If you want to try your hand at a gamebook, that's an excellent place to start.

I'm fully immersed in Fabled Lands right now. That's the large format books that are front and center. Fabled Lands is a sandbox series of seven books, where you can jump back and forth from book to book, exploring and picking up things to do. I've literally spent all weekend playing it, and I'm super hooked. It's essentially an open world solo roleplaying campaign in CYOA format, and it's amazing. Also, the books are shockingly affordable, and the oversized editions are great for flipping back and forth through the pages.

Those three, and Choose Your Own Adventure, are the big classics. Aside from the proper Choose Your Own Adventures, most gamebooks have roots closely tied to fantasy tabletop roleplaying games, so it's a very fantasy-heavy field. There are some other genres, like sci-fi, horror, and romance. Also, gamebooks are seeming to be going through a bit of a renaissance these days. I have as many books in my wishlist and shopping cart right now as I have already bought, and they're all series I hadn't heard of a month ago. Now that I have all the nostalgia buys out of the way, other series that are on my radar are Destinyquest, Steam Highwayman, Vulcanverse, and Legendary Kingdoms. Also, if you start to poke around, there are scans of out of print books from the gamebook's more popular heyday on certain archive sites. Tolkien/Middle Earth Quest, Blood Sword, and Car Wars look pretty great to me!

It's been a huge and fun rabbit hole for me to climb into! I do hope you find something you enjoy, and if you do, let me know! Also, I would love to hear about coloring adventure and art puzzle books.

Fighting Fantasy also has an app for android (and I would imagine IOS) and they have (or did at least) have a couple of the books free in the app. Not a fan of reading from a screen but they hyperlink to the right sections when you need to find the next part which is nice.

There is also Ironsworn it's a solo play TTRPG, not quite a game book but thought it's worth a mention since they are pretty similar imo, that you can pick up the digital copy for free

Ironsworn - Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Explore the Ironsworn family of tabletop roleplaying games and supplements. RPGs of perilous quests for solo, co-op and guided play.

www.ironswornrpg.com

 

[ElGato]

Was cleaning out some desk drawers and apparently I collect empty lighters

 

[Lover31660]

Was cleaning out some desk drawers and apparently I collect empty lighters

Because there might be one flame left!

 

[zippypinhead]

Fighting Fantasy also has an app for android (and I would imagine IOS) and they have (or did at least) have a couple of the books free in the app. Not a fan of reading from a screen but they hyperlink to the right sections when you need to find the next part which is nice.

There is also Ironsworn it's a solo play TTRPG, not quite a game book but thought it's worth a mention since they are pretty similar imo, that you can pick up the digital copy for free

Ironsworn - Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Explore the Ironsworn family of tabletop roleplaying games and supplements. RPGs of perilous quests for solo, co-op and guided play.

www.ironswornrpg.com

I haven't played much Ironsworn, but the premise is great, and it gets high praise from a lot of folks in the solo gaming hobby. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're looking for something with a bit more complex and free-form mechanics and narrative potential than what gamebooks can provide. Great suggestion.

Not to be too dramatic about it, but getting heavy into solo gaming over the last few years has honestly changed my life. It's reignited a lot of my creative drive.

 

[LilyLaughing]

Aside from the Choose Your Own Adventures, all the other gamebooks are essentially CYOA with extra rpg-lite mechanics -- you write up a simple character sheet, and you do some dice rolling, along with choosing your way through a branching narrative.

The stack on the left is Fighting Fantasy, which are standalone adventures, each book containing a single narrative you navigate. Currently, Scholastic is publishing reprints of FF, and they can be had for a pretty fair price.

The stack on the right is Lone Wolf, which is a series that forms a long narrative, and you progress from book to book. A very cool thing about Lone Wolf is that there is an author-sanctioned fan page, Project Aon, which has made pretty much everything from the series available to download or read online for free! If you want to try your hand at a gamebook, that's an excellent place to start.

I'm fully immersed in Fabled Lands right now. That's the large format books that are front and center. Fabled Lands is a sandbox series of seven books, where you can jump back and forth from book to book, exploring and picking up things to do. I've literally spent all weekend playing it, and I'm super hooked. It's essentially an open world solo roleplaying campaign in CYOA format, and it's amazing. Also, the books are shockingly affordable, and the oversized editions are great for flipping back and forth through the pages.

Those three, and Choose Your Own Adventure, are the big classics. Aside from the proper Choose Your Own Adventures, most gamebooks have roots closely tied to fantasy tabletop roleplaying games, so it's a very fantasy-heavy field. There are some other genres, like sci-fi, horror, and romance. Also, gamebooks are seeming to be going through a bit of a renaissance these days. I have as many books in my wishlist and shopping cart right now as I have already bought, and they're all series I hadn't heard of a month ago. Now that I have all the nostalgia buys out of the way, other series that are on my radar are Destinyquest, Steam Highwayman, Vulcanverse, and Legendary Kingdoms. Also, if you start to poke around, there are scans of out of print books from the gamebook's more popular heyday on certain archive sites. Tolkien/Middle Earth Quest, Blood Sword, and Car Wars look pretty great to me!

It's been a huge and fun rabbit hole for me to climb into! I do hope you find something you enjoy, and if you do, let me know! Also, I would love to hear about coloring adventure and art puzzle books.

Wow thank you, this is so much more info than I would have hoped for an honestly a better summary than what I read on Wikipedia yesterday! Adjusting my glasses and my nerdly attitude to look for some!

 

[LilyLaughing]

Was cleaning out some desk drawers and apparently I collect empty lighters

Nothing upsets me more than a dead lighter, I'm pretty sure that's the one thing I'm actually good at throwing out!

 

[Marceline]

And of course, I’m replaying Dying Light.

 

[ElGato]

Because there might be one flame left!

Or "Maybe I can light one with the spark of another one" LOL

 

[harpoonthr0wer]

Manga, Records, Tears (for fears) ^^

 

[Brit]

Graphic novels. I love art and I love stories and graphic novels give both at once!

Light Projectors. Stars, galaxies, auroras, waves, laser shows - all the kinds! I used to host lots of LSD/MDMA get togethers and was always searching for a new or better type of mood lighting. I have 20+ different projectors, but only ever use 6 or 7. Should definitely do a purge.

-----

For lovers of CYOA, maybe a new site for your enjoyment: https://chooseyourstory.com/ Many years ago I was obsessed with this site and yet had completely forgotten about it until this thread so thanks for the reminder and your suggestions for similar content.

 

[zippypinhead]

Graphic novels. I love art and I love stories and graphic novels give both at once!

Light Projectors. Stars, galaxies, auroras, waves, laser shows - all the kinds! I used to host lots of LSD/MDMA get togethers and was always searching for a new or better type of mood lighting. I have 20+ different projectors, but only ever use 6 or 7. Should definitely do a purge.

-----

For lovers of CYOA, maybe a new site for your enjoyment: https://chooseyourstory.com/ Many years ago I was obsessed with this site and yet had completely forgotten about it until this thread so thanks for the reminder and your suggestions for similar content.

I love graphic novels. Comics are my "original" collection. I don't really do superheroes these days, but I love indies, alts, and comics cultures from different parts of the world. Lately, my focus has been on collections of old comic strips. My current grail is volume 8 of Fantagraphics' most recent reprints of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, which is mysteriously out of print, and wildly expensive.

Thanks for the CYOA site link! Just goes to show, once again, to find the really good stuff on the internet, you gotta dig into sites that have been around for twenty+ years, and avoid whatever weird take social media has invented.

 

[Brit]

I love graphic novels. Comics are my "original" collection. I don't really do superheroes these days, but I love indies, alts, and comics cultures from different parts of the world.

I'm also not into superhero stuff. Fatale is probably my favorite series. I think I've mentioned it here before. It was one of the first graphic novels I read so I suppose it's extra special for that reason alone, and well, it just really resonated with me. Currently really loving Monstress. Have you read either? As far as non series goes, Daytripper is probably the best I've read and is usually the first book I lend out to people who are interested in dipping their toes into graphic novels. Do you have a book like that?

Lately, my focus has been on collections of old comic strips. My current grail is volume 8 of Fantagraphics' most recent reprints of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, which is mysteriously out of print, and wildly expensive.

Super cool that! I had never heard of that series and have now put it on my ever growing list since it seems like something I'd be into.

I do have these, which aren't necessarily expensive or rare, but I think they're pretty uncommon, or at least unusual to find in someone's bookcase. I love how even the cover is included in the collections. Fifteen cents is a steal.

Thanks for the CYOA site link! Just goes to show, once again, to find the really good stuff on the internet, you gotta dig into sites that have been around for twenty+ years, and avoid whatever weird take social media has invented.

Discord and Reddit are slowly killing interesting sites and forums, and I say this as an early adopter and current user of both. I suppose that's how I ended up forgetting about that site. How many other places have I forgotten? That's the way it goes though - instant gratification, short form content - why spend time searching for and reading about things when you can get instant info? But all that is beyond the scope of this thread and I think we discussed it a couple of years ago anyway.

 

[BuyMeBreakfast]

Sad experiences