Care Package for AMC CROO

GoFundMe has been set up to make this project see the light of day, please read on what and why this is for.

 

I was back in the White Mountains of New Hampshire three weeks ago and on the many miles I hiked I passed once again through the Greenleaf and Zealand Falls huts. The AMC hut system is a real treat along this eastern mountain chain and allows those who can pay hotel rates to grab bed and board along this northern section of the Appalachian Trail.

The heart and soul of a hut system is the army of young volunteers which work the huts during the winter and summer. Maintaining the individual huts and servicing the guests, these seasonal kids are energetic boot campers having a unique wilderness experience which... (insert early 20’s shenanigans here).

Point is, year in and year out all the groups who have spent their time working and living out there, smoking cigs, drinking some wine round the fire, the Croo has played games. Cribbage, Chess, Yahtzee. Settlers of Catan has been the only new game in rotation and that came out in the late 90’s? 

These kids need some god damn DnD!

So at the Zealand Falls hut I purchased the obligatory endless cup of coffee and the homemade carrot cake just out of the oven and looked over the row of guest books stretching back to the 70’s and the game shelf with the Croo’s worn out Settlers, etc. How cool would it be after the work is done to bust out a ttrpg instead of fucking Yahtzee. Just think of the friendships you crafted with strangers when you were young. More to the point, didn’t you get to know the people you gamed with regularly just a little more deeply than you did over a game of cribbage? These kids are stuck with each other anywhere from 3 to 6 months and getting along with your fellows is a pretty big deal. They share a bunk house, they hall out the feces from the pit toilets and the supplies get packed in on their backs twice a week. 

The young woman in the kitchen broke my reverie asking if I new how to light the pilot on a commercial range (the thing is old as shit). I said certainly (because I do) and asked what the problem was. You’ve been lighting the thing all summer, haven’t you? Yeah, she said, but one side is not going, and she had to get started on the evening dinner spread. This does not sound good you know I said, flashing my daisy of a smile. So, I busted out my head lamp (never go into the backcountry without a headlamp) and went down on the greasy pig. No, the stove you leches. I think it was a Dixie. I performed the rubrics and gave my verdict. No gas is coming in. You either have no pressure or, well you have no gas pressure so a valve on the stove or the tank is shot and needs replacement. 

By the way, if I wanted to mail something to the hut how would I do that? Here eyes lit up, who are you trying to reach? No one in particular, I just want to gift some games to the huts here. She gave me the PO Box for the Pinkham Notch AMC HQ. Everything goes through there and from this location mail for the Croo is dispatched to the high, remote peaks. 8 huts, all spread out along the Presidential Range. Mount Washington is such a beast it actually has two, Madison on the north shoulder and Lake of the Clouds on the south. 

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is by far the cheapest hard-back rules set by far. Their line of modules is not available hard-back, but at least four of them are saddle-stitched. AA03 Purging Woth Nrld Oakwyn’s Muddy Hole should be in the mix to. Each separate kit will need a set of dice and these days a bag of 100 random dice mix is available online for twenty – twenty five bucks. I was really stuck on packaging, what kind of box is available to keep a kit together and survive an active back country life? My Google Fen-Shui found a Youtube video on how to make custom slip cases. The main ingredient is old hardback book covers. I have an unlimited supply of these nearby at the landfill. There are container cars to receive old books, carpet, and clothes.

 

Carter Notch Hut – Fortress, Tomb and Tower $6.50 SS / $18 HC RB                                                          

Greenleaf Hut – Morgansfort $6.50 SS / $18.00 HC RB

Galehead Hut – Fortress, Tomb and Tower $6.50 SS / $18.00 HC RB

Lake of the Clouds Hut – The Chaotic Caves $6.50 SS / $18.00 HC RB

Lonesome Lake Hut – Adventure Anthology 1 $6.50 PP / $18.00 HC RB

Madison Spring Hut – Adventure Anthology 2 $6.50 PP / $18.00

Zealand Falls Hut – The Black Apple Brough $6.50 / $18.00 HC RB

Mizpah Spring Hut – Monkey Island and The Laughing Dragon $8.00 / $18.00 HC RB                                                          

$ 144.00 Book Costs BFRPG RB HC (8)

$ 56.00 Module Costs BFRPG PB (9)

$ 60.00 AA03 Cost (8)

$ 25.00  Big Bunch O' Dice

$ 30.00  Shipping to AMC

$ 20.00  Sticker Paper (for the slip case)

$ 30.00 Shipping Books to me for packaging

$ 25.00 Big Bunch o’ Dice

$ 365 minimum, $400 total to cover shipping costs and anything else I get wrong.

 And this is why I’ve setup a GoFundMe page because while I have the time, ability and interest to do all this I do not have the $365.00 to pay for it.

 I can’t use Kickstarter because there is no actual product going to backers, so GoFundMe is the most sensible option to campaign for support.

 That is it. If you have stayed with me so far you must be intrigued by this idea. It is a novel way of introducing new young people to the hobby as well as bring OSR play to the wilderness. Any guest passing through who are gamers will notice immediately what the Croo is up to when they gather around the evening game table and start talking hit points so another possible dynamic between guests and staff. 

 If this doesn’t sell you on the idea, how about the scaled back winter Croo who stays out there when the place is closed to visitors. Winter nights are long in the North Country and the weather can get life-threatening nuts. Mount Washington still holds the worlds recorded wind speed record and getting a gig at the weather station on the summit is a meteorologist’s wet dream. What would you give to be in a place like this with some friends, hooch, and a game of DnD nightly for a month or more? 

 So please kick down a few bucks and if this mad scheme funds I’ll post updates on the production of the goods much more regularly than LotFP and that fucking ref book.