Started with the old Basic D&D box, I think it was 1981, then onto AD&D for a couple years. A friend introduced our group to Gamma World (first and second edtions) some Top Secret, some Twilight 2000, Psi-World, and V&V (our brief FGU period). DragonQuest was a favorite too. By 1984 we finally tried CoC, Runequest second edition, and Stormbringer. Loved the BRP system, and even played a bit of Ringworld.
Stalking the Night Fantastic I think came next, as muddled as the system was, the wound charts were endlessly horrific/amusing. There were a number of other games/sytems over the years too, like Ysgarth and Paranoia, and I think we gave most games a chance if someone could be bothered to run them.
By 1990 I had moved onto a new group of players (as people scattered after High School) and I had gotten my hands on WoW, so I ran a Superworld campaign for a couple years. BTW, never liked the full boxed version of Superworld as I felt they complicated the very simple and flexible supers game in WoW. The WoW Superworld, along with the designers notes from Different Worlds magazine #23 and some house rules made for much better gaming for us. Finally got burned out on that, so...
We went from that to a Multiverse campaign (inspired by an article in Different Worlds #29 about time travel/dimensional adventuring) using customized BRP rules and a created character sheet. The basic premise was each character had "died" on their home timeline/dimension and were now put to work altering events in other times/places. We started with a 13th century German Knight, a Post Holocaust survivalist (circa the mid 90s), a French muskateer type (female, no less) and a psionic powered freedom fighter from an alien virus ravaged earth circa 2005.
My idea was to be able to use about ANY sci-fi/western/horror published scenario I wanted, besides my own creations, and BRP rules made it a breeze to create NPCs on the spot when needed. Eventually they landed in a "Supers" world and teamed up with their old Superworld characters to defeat a pack of Dimensional Hound types who had allied with a villian group called Lunatic Fringe. Good times.
By 1994 the group changed a bit more, and we moved onto Prime Directive, the "alternate Star Trek universe" RPG by Task Force Games. I used a ton of the old FASA Star Trek game modules and some of the events of Deep Space Nine. The basic premise of Prime Directive is being part of a team of "trouble shooters" used by the Federation as needed. Players are immediately familiar with the setting, Star Trek, yet it's an alternate universe, so you have more freedom and some different elements.
Other than a bit of Mutants & Masterminds a couple years back (and I've never got into the D20 stuff anyway), life and family have kept me from having anything like real gaming group. I have played a lot of videogames though, starting with the Playstation, then Dreamcast, Xbox and Xbox 360. Online football is a favorite, along with a few other games. I guess those have filled the "RPG void".
Anyway, good to see Chaosium wake up a bit and present the BRP rules as the multi-genre gaming system I know it can be. I'm sure Mr. Durall has done an inspired job putting this together -or he'll hear about it from all of us!
