I still fuckin’ love that cover.
Tried to run it for my buddy. Didn’t go so well. Never found a Traveller group (my gaming friends were mostly into AD&D, Star Frontiers, then transitioned to Rolemaster and related games).
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You know that Rob Grant also solo-authored a Red Dwarf novel, yes? “Backwards”. It’s been ages, but my recollection is that all four books are really great. (I think with each of the solo efforts I started out feeling that something was missing, and ending up loving it.)
I replaced my copies of the first two books with the “Omnibus” edition, as it also contains the scripts for the TV pilot and (much shorter) one of the “Dave Hollins: Space Cadet” radio episodes.
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Clouds of Xeen was a revelation at its time
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I haven’t seen this format before, but it’s created a lot of curiosity in me about what actually influenced young pillbox. I really should know (because I was there at the time), but it was a long time ago. My best guesses :
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Blimey, this does take some paring down to just four, doesn’t it?!
In what I believe is chronological order:
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Star Wars. Seeing the original film in the cinema on my fifth birthday really opened my imagination to other worlds and places, followed by several years of playing with the original Kenner/Parker figures and vehicles.
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Think of a Number. There were several amazing educational shows on UK television in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and most of them seemed to be hosted by the incredible Johnny Ball. Although I was lucky to go to great state schools, Johnny’s many TV shows and several of the same ilk were foundational in inspiring a wider interest in mathematics and science generally.
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Scouting for Boys. I joined the Cub Scouts after my eight birthday and progressed through the Sea Scouts and Venture Scouts, learning a lot of useful skills, having great experiences and developing many interpersonal skills. I only read parts of the original book later in my teens, but without its principles and the Scout Movement as a whole, I would have been a totally different teenager and adult.
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Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set. I received the 1981 version for my tenth birthday as a gift from my godfather and future Sea Scout Leader, and so my adventure began. Cue many early hours playing Dwarves and Clerics through the Keep on the Borderlands, and then starting to DM the scenario to my brother and various school friends. Many years and many RPG systems later, and although I haven’t played any RPGs with others for years, it was a delight to find the revised Heroes of the Borderlands adventure in the 2024 starter set.
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That Star Wars poster and that D&D cover are such striking images on their own
also love here for Keep on the Borderlands
I found a copy at a used bookstore with a copy of Isle of Dread around age 12 and was immediately in love
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It was very hard not to include Star Wars. If I went with the very first list that came to mind it would be
Star Wars, Nirvana, The Cuckoo’s Egg and Diablo II
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Very hard to choose between Diablo 2, Baldur’s Gate 2, Eye of The Beholder 1+2 and Neverwinter Nights 1.
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Since the thread title is “Four-ish” I need to add one more thing.
First anime I really followed, since it was on Toonami on Cartoon Network while I was in college. Really introduced me to the world of anime, and I started renting DVD’s from a comic/game store near campus that had a sizeable collection. Years later, this hobby saw me going to an anime convention, through which I met my wife. So yeah, definitely life changing.
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Gods yes. I still have my flimsy purple version… wait, wait, I can take a picture!
I was just going to talk about Bloodstone Pass! It came with little cardboard army chits and 3d folding terrain… man, to be young again and be able to read these with the same joy I had 40 years ago…
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I regretfully don’t still have copies of them but stole this from someone else on the net. Can remember where I was when I read them all and had read “backwards” also.
Hadn’t heard of the omnibus but I’m awful for not re-reading books.
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Lots of choices here that I very nearly picked, or maybe should have picked, which I guess is the point - nice sense of community.
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I’ve been agonising over this since the topic was posted, in a good way I might add - it’s been an interesting thought excerise thinking back on the journey that has made me me.
I’ve whittled it down to these four:
This represents all Lego, but my brothers did have this set and I like it for showing what you can make without specialist bricks - just look at those horses! Destruction is easy, construction is hard but rewarding and your imagination is the only limit… at least it was for me given my brothers’ sizeable collection, usually kept in broken down form for making whatever took pur fancy next.
Sadly Joss Whedon turned out to be a poor exemplar of what his shows taught, but I do think he was a master of creating character-driven series, entertaining dialogue and thought-provoking television. It’s not about the destination, maybe it’s not even about the journey, but about who you share the journey with.
I love stories and music connects with me in a way that seems to heighten my emotions. At least some of the credit surely goes to Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, two musical storytellers who poured their heart and soul into everything they did, to try to make you feel like they were feeling.
There are so many more I could add. The fact that there isn’t a video game on here is astonishing but I’m not sure any single video game has influenced me in quite the same way as the above, or perhaps even some other books that I could have included.
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