Why I Can't Have Nice Things

As part of my moving away from friends and gaming group (these things are mutually inclusive, mind you), I've had to re-think what I hang on to in order to meet my gaming needs. I haven't had a whole lot of opportunities lately to GM a game, but over the years I've picked up odd little bits and bobbles here and there. Things like pre-painted miniatures, little plastic trees, and map tiles have been snatched from the jaws of clearance sales, and like everyone in our hobby, all this cool stuff piles up over time.

Now the time has come to sort the good stuff from the junk, and I found myself throwing away lots of old character sheets, power cards from D&D 4th edition, and lots of other pretty useless things that I don't know why I kept. It actually felt really productive and positive, but then it got me thinking about the stuff I'm choosing to hang on to and move with me to another state. At this time, I can't separate myself from my Flipmats, for instance. I have four of them at this point, and they are just my favorite thing for depicting a space for an encounter at the tabletop. I feel pretty good hanging onto them though because they are light and extremely easy to store (two things that attracted me to them in the first place in fact). It does make me wonder though - will I have an opportunity to actually use them in the near future? What happens when I see a new one coming out that just looks so awesome - how can I justify buying it in the future?

So this puts me at an impasse with similar game aids. While I am very excited to dive into duet games with the Gamer Wife, and she's been a fan of what she's seen in the Pathfinder Beginner's Box (which is basically made to show off cool bits and bobbles), I still feel like I should focus on down-sizing my stuff which just will take up room. It should be noted that The Gamer Wife is in full support of me keeping all my crap, but damnit, I want to just as good a spouse for her as she is for me.

So anyway, outside of a couple of big one-shots I want to do when I'm back at the hometown with the friends, I really need to avoid buying, planning, and building big things. Ah well, maybe it'll help me focus more on those few games a year I run.