#RPGaDAY 28 2016 – Every Gamer Must Have Read This Book
There is one book that I believe is at the foundation of all gamer’s pasts, or if it’s not, it should be. It’s a classic tale of a hero’s quest, but one told in an ancient, different world, but one that’s not so different that we can’t see ourselves in it. The group comes together soon in the beginning and go on to face many different threats, but overcome them together. At one point, they are divided up and forced to rely on their own wits. The lead character gains a powerful artifact that will help in his future adventures and ultimately they all go up against an insurmountable threat, only to succeed. Their success though isn’t the end of the journey, but rather leads to a new battle, one which brings the forces of the world together to battle.
This could be many books, featuring the heroes’ journey, and is a plot that many our adventures follow, but it is beautifully told and again, is often the yardstick against which we, consciously or not, judge our own games.
It is none other than, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Justin Schmid
Justin started tabletop gaming in 1983 with Basic D&D (red box) and never looked back. He runs and plays in a wide variety of games, including Savage Worlds, Dungeon World, Trail of Cthulhu and many, many more.
He also writes professionally for role-playing games, including writing and creating Night's Edge an Alternate Reality Universe for Cyberpunk 2020. He went on to write eight more adventures and sourcebooks in the Night's Edge line, adding vampires and other supernatural perils to the already dangerous world of Cyberpunk.
As a freelance writer, he wrote The Bermuda Triangle for Call of Cthulhu, Shadows of the Mind, and Psi Wars for Conspiracy X and contributed to Last Unicorn's Star Trek RPG, as well as to Cybergeneration sourcebooks, and many other games.
When he's not creating imaginary worlds for his daughter, he's running games for his friends and writing new adventures or designing new game systems. He currently lives in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.