The World of Old-School RPG's is Entering Its Twilight

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by Ars Mysteriorum

Begin Childish Whinery:

Fine. RPG's coming back from the dead? Would a Developer-Necromancer be kind enough to throw some Ju-ju powder at Warhammer? Even in zombie form, I can still love it. That's love man. Necrobibliophilia. Dead Book Love, baby.

And while they're at it, how about making a supreme system for Talislanta? Something capable of emulating the RIDICULOUS number of races and career-types that populate this game with minimal headache. And monsters in ONE section. And get rid of that stupid add/subtract modifier crap. It makes me cross-eyed.

End Childish Whinery.

You have a point. I just had been spoiled by the idea of constant supplement support by playing D&D. Even that game betrayed me with it's 4th Edition shenanigans. Sigh.

I worked my magic, but I'm a little low on POW right now. So don't expect to see results for about two years.


Hey, just look at BRP. For all practical purposes this line has been dead for decades. CoC wasn't doing to bad, but RQ, various editions of SB, Pendragon, and all the other games were long gone. A good chunk of the people here are RQ players and that game was dead a long time. Some would say it still is.

Now all are back in some form. I'll admit that I don't like the MRQ line, but it does keep the name on the shelf and thus alive. Pendragon still rocks.


You still in shell shock. We all go through it the first time we see an RPG that we like go up in a puff of smoke. I felt a pang a few months back when FASA went belly up, and I haven't bought anything from them since their Star Trek line died off in the 80s. You'll get used to it. You still have what you have bought already, and can still run to you heart's content.

[Ars Mysteriorum]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

I worked my magic, but I'm a little low on POW right now. So don't expect to see results for about two years.

Two years?! I said Necromancy. Not Necroeunuchcy. Pah! Two years indeed.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Hey, just look at BRP. For all practical purposes this line has been dead for decades. CoC wasn't doing to bad, but RQ, various editions of SB, Pendragon, and all the other games were long gone. A good chunk of the people here are RQ players and that game was dead a long time. Some would say it still is.

Now all are back in some form. I'll admit that I don't like the MRQ line, but it does keep the name on the shelf and thus alive. Pendragon still rocks.

Someday I'd like to try Runequest. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Man-Ducks with Death Magic... but I get your point.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

You still in shell shock. We all go through it the first time we see an RPG that we like go up in a puff of smoke. I felt a pang a few months back when FASA went belly up, and I haven't bought anything from them since their Star Trek line died off in the 80s. You'll get used to it. You still have what you have bought already, and can still run to you heart's content.

Of COURSE I'm in shock. I was betrayed by two games in short order (D&D 4e and Warhammer). As far as the books I have... well... that would be every single book Black Industries has printed to this date. Because I'm bat$h!t crazy and I convinced myself for about 1 week that money is candy that also grows freely from cracks in the pavement and couch cushions.

Yeah... I was surprised FASA bit it. I was also suprised how quickly their licenses went back into distribution. I wish GW wasn't so snare-drummed about Warhammer...

As far as running it, you're right. Bit I don't run games often. I READ them far more than I ever run them. Game books for me are superior to novels, and I eat them up with a spoon. No more happy books makes me Mr. Killstabbydeathkins.

[punc_e]

I'm 20 years old. I GM for a group ranging in age from 19 to 22. All of them have become fervent fans of BRP, and some have even begun proselytizing for the system.

[rust]

Originally Posted by punc_e

I'm 20 years old. I GM for a group ranging in age from 19 to 22. All of them have become fervent fans of BRP, and some have even begun proselytizing for the system.

Thank you for these good news, it was a pleasure to read this - keep going !

[Ars Mysteriorum]

Originally Posted by punc_e

I'm 20 years old. I GM for a group ranging in age from 19 to 22. All of them have become fervent fans of BRP, and some have even begun proselytizing for the system.

Then the Seven Gods of Gaming (D'i Twunn Ti, D'i T'Wellvv, D'i Pur Sen Taj, D'i Taenn, D'i Ayt, D'i Sykks, and D'i Fo Irr) have provided a generous bounty in a new youthful and splendiferous generation of gamers, blessed with wisdom beyond their years.

May the power of the Critical Success be with you all.

[seneschal]

It's good that we got some newer players in their 20s, but what we really need to snag to keep the hobby alive is the 8-11 year olds. These are the folks being lured away by collectible card and electronic games. We need a new generation of imagination junkies.

The original gamers were readers. They could handle a 300-400 page rulebook because their love for RPGs was fuelled by their love of the fictional genre a particular game was based on. Our potential crop of younger players don't necessarily have that foundation, and there are a lot more competitors for their time and money.

I ran into role-playing late in high school, then kept it up during and after college. Today's card and miniatures games could possibly lead to role-playing, if a kid is willing to read like I was and become the referee for his friends. But the easier and more seductive route is to sign up for Runescape at the local public library's computer bays. My first attempt to introduce my kids to role-playing, using Teenagers From Outer Space, was a failure. My son said he didn't like "imagination games." On the other hand, my kids like more miniatures oriented games such as Monster Island or Hero Clix. A second attempt with toys as props using the Buck Rogers High Adventure Cliffhangers game was more successful.

[Ars Mysteriorum]

Originally Posted by seneschal

Stuff about kids.

I can say I would rather have high schoolers and university targeted for this kind of game. Mostly because I have to play it too and kids like the k3wl p0w4z I hate.

[rust]

Over here you could run into lots of trouble if you would try to introduce
8 - 11 year olds to a game which includes any kind of semi-realistic com-
bat. If you would openly target an age group under 14 years you could
well run afoul of the child protection laws.

We recently had a discussion about this subject on a forum over here, and
we agreed that the best age to introduce youngsters to roleplaying games
would be somewhere between 14 and 16 years of age.

[seneschal]

Child protection laws, huh? What kind of games are you guys playing, anyhow?

I cut my role-playing teeth on tactical board games such as Metagaming's Melee and Wizard, in which the loser "died" in supposedly grisly ways when his sword-weilding character ran out of hit points. Traveller combat could be pretty lethal as well. All those nasty laser rifle holes. Champions (the 3rd edition box said it was for ages 8 and up) combat was less fatal but quite violent, with fists and energy blasts flying. And Toon, well, if you've seen any of the old Warner Brothers or MGM shorts, you know how brutal those can be. Yet I played and enjoyed all these games with my younger siblings with few qualms from my parents, who would have freaked if we'd been playing a fantasy game that included pretend magic.

Of course any such "recruiting" group would require parent knowledge, approval, and possibly supervision. That'd be true whether the kids were 8 or 16. At local game shops, parents routinely come with their children to watch them play whatever it is, Pokemon or Hero Clix or whatever. In a role-playing situation, you'd have an age appropriate storyline and theme. All my games are G- or PG-rated anyway, regardless of age group.

[rust]

Well, we are still suffering from a very aggressive "killer games" debate after
a school "massacre" and some incidents, and many politicians (including some
important ones) demanded that all games where one plays to kill another hu-
man should be declared illegal, not only certain computer games.

This revived an older debate about "war toys" (plastic guns and thelike), and
meanwhile both sides of the debate are well "entrenched" and quite willing to
ignore any facts - and certain news from the US of A do not exactly improve
the situation, as you may guess.

Therefore roleplaying supporters over here at least currently do well to stay
away from children ...