Worth it for nostalgia...?

[AE986E7C]

TL;DR: Would you pay $450 for the whole Car Wars digital archive?

Hi Warriors!

First an introduction, then a question...

I started playing Car Wars when it was first released in 1980. I loved it! I still love it. It's the reason I've mounted weaponry on my daily driver. Wait. That part's not true. Freeway traffic was the reason I mounted the weapons. Wait! That's not right either. I just thought about mounting weapons... Anyway, I digress. Time passed, I got older, I lost all my CW pocket boxes, but I never(!) forgot about Car Wars.

The other day I found myself with my kid in a game store at a mall (I haven't been to a mall in over a decade). Gleaming amongst the noise was a Car Wars 6E Red & Yellow starter set. "Whoa! SJ Games still makes Car Wars!?" I proclaimed. "Weren't they shut down by the CIA in '90s because they knew too much? Oh. No? Yeah, they're still making and selling games. Cool."

Anyway, I looked online and found Warehouse23. I bought the Pocket Box bundles. Then I saw all the original Car Wars stuff there in digital format. The foggy dreamland of nostalgia set in quick! I added every digital Car Wars product to my cart (like 101 things). It came to almost $450! I emailed SJGames. "Hey man, any discounts?" I asked. "Nope," they said. "A sale once in a while though." "OK," I thought.

I didn't pull the trigger. I couldn't! I mean almost half-a-K for PDFs!? I can't afford it but, maybe, I could... I could sell some of my kid's toys. Maybe slip a few bills from my spouse. Auction off my oldest comics?

All those AutoDuel Quarterlies I had... The expansions... Uncle Albert's catalogs... I mean hell, I just plopped down some cold hard cash for all the Pocket Box bundles. But... All that CW goodness; the fantasies and fun times; my youth...

So, friendly driven drivers, is it worth it? $450 for all the digital OG Car Wars goodies SJGames has to offer? It would be so fun. My laser printer would hate me. Could I? Would I?

Would you?

I don't think I'd even be able to find someone to play with these days. Oh the suffering!

[ak_aramis]

For me, no.
I got the needed items from a bundle deal... not that I needed another legit PDF of compendium 2rev... but other things were worthy.

What you need is Compendium 2e. That gives you rules for operating everything released except planes and tanks. It doesn't give you all the toys, tho'. Given your pocketboxes, C2 Revised (the current Compendium on e23) will probably give you the best play experience.

For the Toys, you want to add Uncle Al's Catalogue From Hell. It also includes the tanks and aircraft construction rules. Even if you don't get the Compendium, UACFH is mostly usable with the earlier rules.

The rules for operation of Aircraft are in Aeroduel, and for operation of tanks in Car Wars: Tanks.
The rules from Boat Wars are in C2, so not needed, but the counters are not.

Certain older products have certain elements that didn't get into C2, either...

Autoduel Champions adds superpowers and "attributes" - a handful of specific skills which function as modifiers to several other skills. (It also provides car wars cars for Hero System 3rd ed...) Most of the non-supers skills were also in DCW, and hence into C2.

Dueltrack has the Chassis & Crossbow setting... everything else made it into C1, and hence on to C2 and C2 Rev.

C2 design sequences: Cars, Cycles, Trikes, racing cars, 10-wheelers, Tractor-trailer rigs, busses/RVs, trailers, hovercraft, boats, aquabikes, helicopters.

UACFH design sequences: Cars, Cycles, Trikes, Racing Cars, car trailers, 10-wheelers, Tractor-Trailer Rigs, Busses/RV's, Boats, Aquabikes, Hovercraft, Fixed Wing planes, Helicopters, AIrships, Autogyros, Carplanes, Hoverplanes, Balloons, Gliders, Rocket Packs, Tanks.

UACFH also has the tacnukes.

So, unless you're really gonzo into CW as RPG, enjoy your pocket-boxes, maybe grab C2 and/or UACFH, and generate some new folks to have nostalgia for it.

[penneyft]

I had a somewhat similar story. A few years ago I went to help clear out old stuff before my mom moved. I still had a few boxes tucked away from when I was in high school, including Car Wars items from the 80s.

I got nostalgic about it and ended up getting all the ADQ and Car Wars PDFs over a relatively short time frame. Fortunately I managed to hit a few of those sales which helped.

I enjoyed skimming through the old rule sets and the old magazines. I knew up front I was very unlikely to play the games again but enjoyed strolling through memory lane.

I had missed the first pocket box Kickstarter, but ended up getting a few of the core pocket boxes (I skipped the expansions, etc). Those have remained unopened but maybe I’ll play a few games years from now when my son gets older…

I didn’t add up how much I paid for the PDFs. It was not a wise financial move, but I enjoyed it and don’t regret it. I didn’t have to sell any valuables though.

[HeatDeath]

I wouldn't buy $450 in PDFs in one shot just for nostalgia.

The drive to collect - completionism - is an entirely different drive than nostalgia. I think that's what you're really fighting here.

Nostalgia will be perfectly satisfied with reading one PDF at a time, and will likely satiate well before you reread the entire CWC library.

The PDFs aren't going anywhere, and it's not like you save on shipping by buying them all at once.

If you're planning to play, buy the Compendium, and Uncle Al's. That's all you /really/ need, particularly since those two contain and supercede almost all of the previous rules documents. [Studying how the rules evolved over time is an interesting academic exercise in and of itself, but is arguably distinct both from nostalgia and from playing.]

If you're not really planning to put it on the table, just buy and read one PDF at a time, as fancy presents itself. You'll probably end up spending significantly less than $450, and if you do end up spending that much, you'll have loved every second of it.

[AE986E7C]

Thank you for the responses! The replies so far have been very thoughtful. You guys are great!

@ak_aramis thank you for the exceptionally comprehensive answer! You navigated decades of change for me in the course of a single reply. Whereas I would use a bludgeon (a lot like I played back in the day), you used a scalpel. I appreciate you and thank you for the time and effort you took to answer my question.

@penneyft thanks for your story. I agree. I think I would very much enjoy a lot of it too; especially the old mags. I missed the Kickstarter as well but I backed the current one for the 6e companion. I think I'll enjoy that too even though 6e is, from what I've read, quite different.

@HeatDeath you've got me dead to rights! What started out as nostalgia turned to completionism and, for some of my interests, is a common metamorphosis for me. I appreciate you and your suggestions and admonition to go piecemeal. In the end, I expect that'll likely be the most satisfying (and frugal) way to enjoy things again. I'll leave the study of rules evolution to the Car Wars intelligentsia!

[2097]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

So, unless you're really gonzo into CW as RPG, enjoy your pocket-boxes, maybe grab C2 and/or UACFH, and generate some new folks to have nostalgia for it.

What are some good pickups for the RPG side of things?

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by 2097

What are some good pickups for the RPG side of things?

Blue-cover _Car Wars Compendium_. Has most of the non-combat skills, as well as the combat skills.

There was never a "proper" RPG system; what's in _CWC_ is workable, but not exactly brilliant.

[swordtart]

Or as it is a 2d6 based system you can use one of the free Traveller clones and get a "proper" rpg that is compatible. Just ignore the skills in CW as they all use different mechanics and often make no sense at all.

I use CW for the vehicle movement and something like Cepheus for all the skill stuff. Very little modification is required and you have a bonus that you can then use all the scenarios and equipment written for dirtside Cepheus games in CW. The only major exception would be the HP of pedestrians and weapon damage. For simplicity 1 hit damage in CW = 1d6 damage in Cepheus.

Unnecessary but also possible...
You could even spring it on players as the "end of season" surprise ending that the world "gone to hell in a handbasket" isn't the only world in the universe. It also provides a good explanation of the juxtaposition of dirt-poor people who can barely manage the resources to feed themselves but still have access to consumer laser weaponry and cloning.

Imagine...
Cape Canaveral is actually a Class E starport. "Earth" (because we just assumed that) is a Red Zone, off-world contact is prohibited (but smugglers...) and knowing the truth is a death sentence for dirtsiders. Uncle Al sources from off-world (you always knew he was dodgy didn't you?). Covert "government" agents are actually agents of the empire making sure the secret stays that way, trying to close down the imports, the plundering of a naïve society and preventing the psychotic locals from finding out there is an alternative out there and infecting the galaxy. To get off planet onto something better (whatever that is) the players will need to convert those $ to Cr at an eyewatering exchange rate and deal with very shady off-worlders... Or maybe they can do favours for the Empire to make sure men in black don't come and shut them up permanently with the eventual promise they can work their way up to citizenship and be permitted to leave.

Even if the players never leave the CW world something like that under the bonnet (as it were) can keep the referees creative juices flowing. The players may never realise (because, players...) but it can provide a harness for some logical but seemingly random occurrences that are a staple of CW existence.

There is a Cepheus scenario called Death Race that would work well with CW. It goes both ways :)

[2097]

The roleplaying rules in Car Wars Classic are awesome! And since it's 2d6+adds it means it's compatible with Fate (aspects&invokes slot just in with no change in math), Apocalypse World, Other Dust, the aforementioned Traveller and many others. Feng Shui even.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by 2097

What are some good pickups for the RPG side of things?

Essential
Compendium

Highly Useful
UACFH
City Blocks (any)
AADA Road Atlas & Survival Guide (any)
A road atlas. As in, Rand-McNalley or equivalent.
AADA Vehicle Guides 1 &/or 2.

If you're aiming merchantile, a copy of Classic Traveller or Mongoose Traveller

Not essential but still useful at times
Autoduel Champions - adds attributes and superpowers, but Compendium includes a number of the then new non-supers skills.
ADQ 5-4 - covers road encounters, advice on road duels.

Aeroduel: it's a great set of rules... but isn't always appropriate for duels. But it can be quite useful in RPG mode... Agressors, or even as a means of getting the duel rigs from place to place

Silly, but sometimes fun
Issues 51, 55 and 60 of The Space Gamer have a magic system
ADQ 6-1 Dragons in Car Wars