Out of the Suitcase #55: Rick the Scout, and Rick the Chaosium guy

Chaosium President Rick Meints shares stories from a life-time as a collector of all things Chaosium

Sometimes I feel my life has two distinct aspects that only occasionally intertwine: Rick the Scout, and Rick the Chaosium guy. In general, the overlap has always been there, as I am a Game Design merit badge counselor and I discuss my day job and gaming in general with a variety of scouts. Also, some fellow gamers know I am a scoutmaster and Eagle Scout (1983) who, amonst other things at the company, heads up the Nostalgia Department at Chaosium.

My start down both these paths happened at almost the same time. I was a cub scout in the 1970s and started playing RPGs just a few years later. I fell in love with Chaosium's games in 1979, and I joined a scout troop (Troop 205 Kalamazoo) in 1980. I became Troop 4's scoutmaster in 2014 and joined The Chaosium as its President in 2015.

When I learned that Chaosium was producing a scouting themed sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu I immediately started reading the manuscript. I took great honor in being asked to write the foreword for the book as well. After all, many of the skills you learn as a scout are also useful investigator skills in the game.

Back just after Halloween Chaosium announced that the Call of Cthulhu: Campfire Tales book will debut in 2026. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it is received by the world scouting community, many of whom are gamers like me. The Venn diagram for my gaming career and my scouting career now has a bit more overlap...