"Hang on Travellers"

 A line from the great science fiction TV series Firefly.  It's often taken as a clue that Josh Whedon the creator of the series had based the show on the SF RPG Traveller, although he has never directly confirmed this.  A quick dig around on the internet came up with this link Is Joss Whedon's Firefly based on the Traveller RPG he played? - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange .  The comments strongly suggest it was.  Certainly the mix of weapons and technologies in the show mirrors that available in the game and the stories are the sort of thing that came up in games I played.  Even down to the prior military careers of some of the crew.  You see, in Traveller you rolled up a character who had already had a career, and gained useful skills, before becoming a freelancer, and sometimes they died during character creation,  yes Traveller had some interesting quirks folks (for a given value of interesting).  

I still have my original box set of rules on the shelf behind me as I sit typing this post but haven't played in years as I don't have a group of locals who are interested.  More to the point though for this post are the figures I still have.  These are mostly early Citadel from a range which was, I think, called Spacefarers with a couple of Minifigs and a Ral Partha casting added for variety.  The Citadel sculpts are true 25mm and for their age simply stunning castings, from the talented Perry twins.  The range was launched in 1979 and a full listing appeared in a catalogue in 1980 (it's amazing how erudite you can appear with the help of Google search)!

As nefarious a bunch as any role player could wish for

From left to right Marvin the Paranoid Android manufacturer unknown although as of a couple of years ago the range was still available on line, then two Minifigs followed by seven of the Citadel offerings and finally a lone Ral Partha figure.

I should perhaps have called this post "In the lead pile no one can hear you scream!" as I also found these un and part painted castings lurking in it's depths.

These guys would like the chance to be nefarious if only someone would paint them

A quick trawl through ebay shows prices ranging from £10 or more for an individual figure to £7 for a full set.  I suppose I should at least prime the unpainted chaps to prevent any risk of lead rot, although they have survived in an old OXO cubes presentation tin for 35 years or more so they may be safe.

So why Elenderil

I have a number of aliases from role playing games.  There is Del Gethlin the sneaky Scout and Intelligence Operative from playing Traveller back in the 1980s,  El Cid or more commonly Cid a real world nick name from my teens and of course Elenderil himself.

Elenderil was a 'fighter magic user' class character firstly in Tunnels and Trolls,who then migrated into Dungeons and Dragons gaming when that became popular in my university days.  He first sprang to life in 1973 and after I gave up on DnD and moved onto historical gaming was put out to grass, although he occasionally came out of retirement in odd games with my children.

The original 1973 little lead Elenderil

Apologies for the photo quality, its from my phone.  I found the original Elenderil figure when sorting through some boxes last weekend.  That pose looks a bit uncomfortable and the casting is a bit lumpen (Mrs E says its not unlike the real me - lumpen and uncomfortable!).  I have no idea who the maker was possibly a very early Citadel or GW fantasy figure.  Even by the standards of the day it's not a great figure but it has a certain sentimental value to me. 

In 1999 a new and exciting style of computer game burst onto the scene in the shape of a game called Everquest one of the early MMORPGs (that's a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game!).  It was (and for that matter still is) a kind of computer moderated DnD set in a world called Norrath.

I was very interested in the interaction between real people via their computer avatars and having seen a couple of friends playing took the plunge myself.  I needed a character and essentially resurrected my old pen and paper persona as an online avatar.  The nearest thing to a fighter-magic user in EQ was a Ranger so that's what he became.  I still play him in EQ from time to time 20 years later (on the Antonius Bayle server if anyone wants to pop by and say Hi, or blow raspberries!).

The electronic Elenderil

I don't recall whether I did any research on his name or just took a name from Tolkein and changed it a bit.  Some years ago I did check it against a data base of the components of elven names from Tolkein's world and found to my surprise that it actually worked within the naming rules of his Sindaran language.  It roughly translates as a light shining brightly in the darkness with darkness having the connotation of a bad or evil place.  As I have always played him as having a similar set of ethics to myself (with the exception of killing anyone or anything he doesn't like the morals of - I restrain myself there) he really sort of represent my alter-ego.

So there you have it my guilty pleasure or possible dirty little secret!  From time to time I pretend I'm a four hundred year old wood elf who likes walks in the woods and killing stuff.  Or possibly it's that I play on-line role playing games?