I’ve been collecting quite a few new books in recent weeks, building a specific collection for a game that I recognise as being both entirely in my wheel-house and also qualitatively under-rated. But the question of why I collect – and seek to complete such a collection – is a good one.

For me, it’s about exploration. Collecting helps to discover the totality of a related group of ideas or objects. Gaming books are filled with ideas and are beautiful (usually) objects in their own right, so I am drawn to wanting to explore them. As the collection comes together, there is a gestalt effect upon the collector.

There’s an element of ownership involved, of course. It’s not enough to borrow and read the text. It goes on the shelf with the rest of the collection and it’s identified as being my own. Completing a set has it’s own dopamine reward chain. There is an aesthetic to the quality of extending ourselves to include some objects.

But, honestly, this particular collection is about connecting myself back to something that is otherwise unreachable: the past. I didn’t play this game back in the beginning and it feels like placing my hands on the artefacts of that time connects me to them. As I explore the contents, I bring those ideas into myself and into my experience of play.

For years, I was unable to penetrate this game system. I had no starting point. But the journey back to the beginning in recent months – especially the journey into Roleplayer – has helped me find a doorway through which I have entered. The experience is transforming my hobby in ways that are hard to express or explain.

The key for me is to not just gather the collection but to absorb it and use it. To bring it into play, to inhabit it, and to make the most of it. And maybe, along the way, find a way to share what I discover and learn with others at the table. The best thing about this collection is that it’s still largely accessible through the original publisher.

For now, I am off to go and read some more.

Game on!