I am Colm Lundberg, Director of MoGI – thank you for taking the time to visit the site!
I am a civil servant by day, but I also seem to have become a games designer and a writer, to my own constant surprise. Designer of Love2Hate: A Party Game for Inappropriate People, contributor to The Munchkin Book, Pathfinder Bestiary 2, (2nd edition), Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide (2nd edition), Several scenarios for the truly amazing Shadow of the Demon Lord, and regular writer for the Ghost Press Transgressive Series on movies (4 volumes and growing!). In all these books, I am shocking beside actual real writers, designers, and true talents. I suspect one day I’ll be found out.
I’ve been on the Irish gaming scene for over 25 years and managed not to alienate most people. I fled to Kerry in the SW of Ireland 18 years ago and am still alive. Almost 2 years ago a games store called The Guild Hall opened by Rob, an incredibly generous hobbyist and retailer. I am not addicted to buying things, but I feel I am due to be given a key to his store at some point.
Anyway, Rob has some space in the store. I suggested displaying some old games from the 1970s and 1980s that I had in my collection as a point of interest. This miraculously coincided with me needing more shelf space for incoming Kickstarters. We started jokingly calling it a museum.
The idea seemed to catch. I mentioned it to Steve Jackson (USA), who has been a boss for several years, and a friend for many more. Steve’s archive had been notably water damaged and he liked the idea of sending it somewhere to be preserved and displayed. He sent it to me. All of it. I opened boxes, shaking, to pencil notes that became Ogre, original Fantasy Trip material, original Fighting Fantasy drafts and maps. (Steve Jackson wrote several, while Steve Jackson UK wrote more. They are not the same person. Though I have never seen them both in the same room.)
So, I thought to myself that I had better take this museum thing seriously. Steve’s archive has been painstakingly preserved and digitised. Copies of material are on display. Then donations happened. A lot of them. And some acquisitions which I have had to stop as my credit card combusted.
And here we are. With an official Museum of Games Ireland, where I promise to collect, preserve, digitise where possible, and display things from the modern tabletop hobby.
I am in the process of setting up as a charity, and a Patreon might be happening soon (or has already happened as you read this, for what is time?). So, I may have set up a museum almost by accident, but I am dedicated to making something of it, with your help, of course. Nothing ever came from nothing, with the possible exception of everything, so let’s see where this goes. Thanks for joining me for this part of the journey and I hope you drop by frequently through my various presences!
Colm Lundberg
Director
MoGI