Tourism in Worlds Without End

 The first 'adult' fiction, I suppose, that I read was at the suggestion of my father.  At a young age I liked reading nonfiction primarily (my copy of a youth audience edit of a Civil War history a favorite) but I mentioned being bored one day, and my father gave me his battered paperback copy of "The Hobbit". 

The first thing I noticed, of course, was there was a map.

While this sparked my interest in fantasy and sci-fi, at that point I had already played Dungeons & Dragons, and seen Star Wars by this time, so the foundation had already been laid.  

I enjoyed the novel, but my thoughts at the time were "Where does the River Running go?  What about the lands where Hobbiton lie?  What was that business about Gondolin?"  And I never stopped.

The irony was that I wasn't even aware that the Lord of the Rings existed (even more amusing, when I saw a friend with the Fellowship of the Ring and learned it was a sequel, I excitedly borrowed it but did realize it was actually part one of a trilogy).   Soon after, though, I began scouring the libraries for more novels like this.  Maps on the inside cover were always a plus.

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy standalone stories, and there were plenty of novels that had a complicated world yet a dull plot.  However, I loved the idea of being able to explore this fictional worlds and expanded this more and more - TV, movies, TTRPGs, video games, and so forth... sometimes (like Star Wars, for instance) all intertwined.  This extended to a love of writing where I could explore the worlds that I created myself.

Some of them fell by the wayside (some because I no longer was interested, some because the authors were somewhat problematic).  Others remained from the beginning.  

What does this involve?  Always reading initially for the story (and usually multiple times afterwards).  Then, a more in depth reading - taking notes, from general bits of information I find interesting, to specific categories like locations and timelines - and for certain story universes, special categories like ships and corporations.  

There's a certain pleasure in finding little obscure details, or finding inspiration to engage in a bit of psuedoscholarship.  My prime example, here on this blog, is the supposition that the little-mentioned city of Tharbad in Middle-Earth was, technically, the joint capital of the two kingdoms.  There's also that quite often you come across contradictions (especially when multiple authors are involved) but I find that also more enjoyable; engaging in a literal critical thinking to try and sort out the possibilities.

With video games in the past 25 years, virtual exploration takes on a new meaning; walking around a future NYC or a fantasy world and going everywhere.  Really, though, this began in more primitive form 25 years before that, going through 'interactive fiction' like Zork, Trinity and A Mind Forever Voyaging.

Lastly, I am always a sucker for guides, encyclopedias, atlas and so forth for fictional worlds - preferably in-universe, certainly with 'new information'.

What are my biggest 'explorations'?

Star Wars - I have old Word docs going back 30 years in one form or another.  Not only do I have a timeline and gazetteer for the galaxy, but there's also documents for the various corporations, the starship classes (and individual starships), and a miscellaneous document that covers topics from senators to fictional minerals.

Star Trek - The advent of "Star Charts" started this; the focus is on the galactic map, which is helped by the recent series using the old "Star Charts" book as actual canon.

Call of Cthulhu - Specifically, the TTRPG.  Their description of the fictional Miskatonic Valley across many of the books is immense.

What am I working on?  Short answer: too many things at once.

Cyberpunk - The TTRPG turned video game.  I've finished going through the original RPG material and running through the game itself (Night City is a huge place to explore and I'm always finding something new).  After that, the Witcher trilogy and the STALKER series...

Appendix N - Shorthand for the list of source material in the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide, subtly altered by my own personal preferences.  Having just finished reading the original unadulterated Robert E Howard's Conan for the first time, I've just finished reading the six original Elric novels today; I will continue with the three later ones, and then on to the Witcher novels (since a new one is dropping next month).

Star Wars - I had stopped for about a decade, but with Jason Fry - author the Essential Atlas - dropping an updated list of worlds, I've chosen to go back and finally go through the books I had gotten and never really gone through.  Currently on the Rogue One Visual Guide.

And so, my journeys continue...