Comments on: Shippensburg Archives

By: Mr, X

Mr, X — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:12:53 +0000

Yes, it’s the ring quest adventure. I assume you have all these adventures in the archives and don’t need me to scan it in?

And, no, I have no clue who my DM was, pictures won’t help. I always had my photo, and wouldn’t have even remembered in 1985.

I only know who my roommate was, but even then, I don’t remember his name. (I might if I saw a list.)

By: ben robbins

ben robbins — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:40:30 +0000

@Mr X — Is that the Ring-Quest adventure?

You may be able to pick out your GM if you take a close look at the pictures. The councilors are along the back in most pictures, except the lower right 1985 picture where they are beneath the stairs.

By: Mr, X

Mr, X — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:49:11 +0000

Okay so I found the adventure we played… set in the world of Ar …

26 pages. (only some of which are numbered.. the maps and what I might call ‘appendixes’ arn’t numbered.)

By: Mr, X

Mr, X — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:43:19 +0000

I was an attendee too. In 1985. I was sooooo looking forward to attending the next year and playing Champions. I was a fan of the way the Hero Systems/Champions character creation system was set up. I had a boxed set, but never had a chance to play, and still to this day haven’t. Somewhere I have my group photo, and I believe I even have the game unit we had played. One of the best DMs I’ve ever had, he was really good at storytelling. I have no clue of names, however. I don’t remember much, except that there was next to nothing to do besides the camp activity. Oh, and my roommate still owes me some dice. (He borrowed, and then subsequently lost them..)

I’ve been looking for stuff on the net related to this camp for a while.. always surprised there wasn’t something out there.. well, finally.

How about someone start a facebook group or something? I don’t personally utilize any of these gaming oriented sites.. and I’d assume a number of other folks don’t either.

By: ben robbins

ben robbins — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:45:16 +0000

Nathan's Shippensburg memories are up too. We intentionally schemed for him to write all his recollections before reading my or the other accounts, just to see how all our memories of the camp lined up. Really interesting read.

By: Todd

Todd — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:57:20 +0000

Wow, how many times did you move the box that held all that great 25 yr old material! Regarding the quote, it really doesn’t sound that bad – considering. However, given that we all had more than our fair share of jocks beating us up emotionally if not physically, I can see how we took his comments as more pointed than they were probably intended. I think I was able to track down Dr. Kraus’ current phone number and perhaps Larry’s too. I haven’t confirmed that they are accurate – but it would be really interesting to interview them to get their perspective on the camp.

By: MJ Harnish

MJ Harnish — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:23:58 +0000

That’s an interesting quote because while it’s insensitive it doesn’t give me the impression that he meant to be as mean as it came across given his comment about Ivy League schools and be important behind the scenes.

By: ben robbins

ben robbins — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:31:20 +0000

I dug up another gold mine of Shippensburg stuff, including the lists of all attendees (from the weeks I was there anyway), my DM notes and player character sheets, the works.

I also found a complete scan of the article covering the camp, the one where Dr. Kraus stuck his foot in his mouth. Some cross-checking makes me think the article really came out in 1984, not in 1985 as I first believed. So maybe it didn’t lead to the downfall of the camp after all. There was definitely a lot of anger from the campers, but Dr. Kraus kept running the camp for another year.

Here’s the quote that caused the furor. In hindsight it seems entirely fair and accurate (but politically unwise), but that’s hindsight and maturity for you:

“These are the wimps, the kids who are probably the outcasts in a high school class, the last kids picked in a group,” says Kraus, a tanned, tousled 50-year-old who also runs a tennis camp at Shippensburg. “But they’re the ones who are going to go to Ivy League schools and will end up running things, or at least be important behind the scenes. They’re very bright.

“But if you’ll notice, they’re pretty pale. I’ve got to chase them outside.”

By: Shippensburg Archives | The RPG Hub

Shippensburg Archives | The RPG Hub — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:42:00 +0000

[...] at ars ludi, they’ve recently posted some pictures from the Shippensburg Adventure Game Camp. If you guessed that it was basically summer camp for [...]

By: News Roundup « TARGA

News Roundup « TARGA — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:25:10 +0000

[...] summer camp held annually in the early 1980s. The subject of the interview, Ben Robbins, has released more pictures on his site from the camp. Imagine what would have been said if this camp had been in the public’s attention during the [...]

By: One Time at D&D Camp… « Held Action

One Time at D&D Camp… « Held Action — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:42:58 +0000

[...] Ars Ludi is collecting photos from each session of the camp. It’s a fine, upstanding lot of young gamers. The neat part is former campers are coming out [...]

By: Christopher Weeks

Christopher Weeks — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:55:47 +0000

Yeah, the blond hair with the part in the middle.