My Gaming Memoirs Part 5 - 1987

'What? Star Wars? A Star Wars roleplaying game?'

I was incredulous but there it was, the bright pictures taunting me from the back of the magazine. It was going to happen - there was going to be a Star Wars roleplaying game and I would have the players, players that would not only game with me but they loved the Star Wars universe. What could be better?

But it would be a long, long wait. My home life had improved somewhat - my father had finally left - and things were much more quiet. I would have to wait until the end of the year before I could get hold of the rulebooks and it was a long, long summer. I dabbled in D&D, ran some more Fighting Fantasy RPGs and basically bided my time. Me and my friend Mark had been creating a huge Star Wars setting with our stories and cassette dramas. It was called the Setnin Sector, and we already had dozens of characters, worlds and stories under our belts. So, we already had a campaign setting designed, fleshed out and mapped. All we need was the game.

It wasn't until the November of that year that I was able to walk into Game and hand over the cash. A week later, a trip to the Virgin Megastore got me the Sourcebook.

I was ready. I was ready and able and confident to run Star Wars games. The system was easy and fluid, the atmosphere was amazing. The game captured the movies wonderfully - remember, it had only been about three years since Return of the Jedi had been released - and I was ready.

A fellow gamer named Paul joined the mix and we began. The game that would dominate my RPG hobby for the next seven years had started, and the players had to find out what had happened to a Rebel outpost that had been destroyed by unknown assailants...

The erratic nature of my roleplaying was coming to an end. With Star Wars I had a small group of dedicated players with whom I gamed regularly. Nothing could stop us.

It took a few months for the problems to start.