I've been somewhat lurking on these forums since nearly the start of them, and only just realised I haven't posted an intro. Since I have far too much work to do, hey, why not waste some time here?!
I started roleplaying in 1977 when I was an early teenager. All we had was someone's older brother's description of what role playing was, a set of dice and the Judge's Guild Ready Ref Sheets. AD&D was yet to be published. We had a great time drawing up random dungeons on graph paper and then hacking and slashing our way through monsters we knew nothing about other than their names and stats. Still, it was all-consuming.
I progressed to Traveller when it first came out and soon became the resident sci-fi expert. Gaming continued with AD&D and Traveller when I went to university. I progressed to Megatraveller and played a few scenarios of James Bond and Twilight2000. But apart from that, I kept away from most other RPGs, although I was aware of them, as I couldn't justify the time or mental energy. Largely it was just my freind as GM and myself as "Az the Thief" slogging my way through the "Descent" adventures and the first Drangonlance ported over to the Harn background.
Roleplaying then stopped completely somewhere around 1989 or 1990 when my PhD just got too much. Real life had to kick in at some time I suppose. After that, a globe trotting career as a postdoc left me with no time/mental energy yet again. Finally I settled down with wife, child, mortgage and tenured position.
My mind then took a 40-something nostallgia trip back to RPGs. I decided to start a Traveller campaign using Megatraveller and find some players in my local area. Luckily it turned out that one of my neighbours is an inveterate roleplayer and wargamer and so I soon found myself with a group. Even a colleague at work was a closet roleplayer!
Well the Traveller group hasn't met for a year due to time commitments, but I have been playing a relatively regular bimonthly Tekumel campaign, a brief CoC campaign and now a weekly Conan campaign. The prodigal son has returned.
And wow! what a change in all those years. Point buying systems. Feats. Advantages. Disadvantages. etc. Although it's still a niche market, RPGs are a huge and diverse area compared to my last involvement.
By trawling through forums, reading reviews, buying Megatravellr, GURPS and now Edition 0 BRP, I think I'm getting back into the 'culture'. From what I've seen (especially the crunch in GURPS and the expanse of d20), I'm really pleased BRP is coming out in such a form and now. It's elegant and will serve my purposes from now on. Having said that, I have a lot of disposible income, compared to the old days, so I feel the "collector's creep" starting as I eye up Hollow Earth, Ars Magica, Harn, etc.......