Monday, August 3, 2020

RPGADAY 2020 DAY 2: Change



I've been in our hobby since 1991 and my tastes, I'm sure like many, have changed drastically. First, I was looking for the perfect super-hero game. I went through Champions, Heroes Unlimited, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes, and GURPS Supers/Wild Cards. Most people, from my experience, find a game and then stick with it, but not me, I wanted to play all of those games. 

Next, I was looking for the perfect system. It wasn't ADnD 2E, Talislanta, TORG, Feng Shui, The Storytelling System, West End Game's Star Wars, Mekton, Call of Cthulhu, Unisystem, Rifts, or Legend of the Five Rings.

The third stage was looking to create the perfect game. I'd work alone or with a few of my friends and we'd work, sometimes, for months, but whenever I was working with someone else I'd come to the realization that we didn't have the same goals and I wasn't willing to compromise.

The fourth phase was the Story Game era, those years where I sought out games like Sorcerer, Dogs In the Vineyard, Spirit of the Century, and anything John Wick wrote. I made the mistake of treating RPGs as an art form instead of a hobby and it was at this time that I realized that I didn't really enjoy RPGs anymore. So I took a break and I wasn't sure how long it would last because I didn't miss playing or running.

I honestly thought that I was done with playing RPGs. I did read forums and news sites though and on one of them, I discovered Grognardia. From there I was introduced to blogs run by Jeff Rients, Tim Brannan, Trey Causey, and so many others. I began to dig into this thing called the OSR and I downloaded Basic Fantasy and Swords, Swords and Wizardry, OSRIC, and Labyrinth Lord. I realized that I had never played DnD like these guys had and I wanted to give it a try. 

As I began to think about starting this blog I was also contemplating an invitation to a new group playing Pathfinder that would bring me back to playing and eventually running a game. Additionally, within a few days of starting Cross Planes, I was accepted into the internal DnD Next playtest at WotC.

And the rest, to one degree or another, has played out on this blog.





2 comments:

Dunromin University Press said...

OSRIC and OSR are the True Way - only by sacrificing your soul to the immortal Gygaxians can you hope to... Nah. It's whatever you fancy, but I love Osric's clean lines and clarity of old, ambiguous 1st ed propositions...
Simon Miles
Dunromin University Press

Cross Planes said...

I've always tried to promote the blog and in the early days I ran afoul with the keeper of OSRIC on Dragonsfoot and I'm sad to say it has kept me away from it. I freely admit its stupid, but its the truth.

After discovering I loved the D&D Rules Cyclopedia more than AD&D 2E I think that has always kept me focused on B/X and derivations over Advanced. Its something I've been contemplating lately.

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