non-nostalgic D&D

[Callan S.]

Hi Julia,

Is that the first thing that comes to mind? It sounds like your finished with something that's the whole game for you. From what I read here, beyond the colour/trimmings of the game, it's like chess or a seduku. So it'd be like being finished with chess or seduku, which doesn't sound right to me. How did you see it?

[greyorm]

It was written before I was born!

MAN, you kids is young!
(I cut my teeth on that stuff.)

[Parthenia]

Is that the first thing that comes to mind? It sounds like your finished with something that's the whole game for you.

Yes, that's the first thing that comes to mind, but in reference to your comment, no, that's not what I meant at all. I don't feel "done" with D&D, and I'd totally play it again.

When I was in junior high and high school, I was really fascinated with D&D and wanted to play it, but never found anyone to play with, until last week at GenCon. I've been out of my teens for almost 18 years.

Julia

[TwoCrows]

It's good to see people having fun with DnD, especially an older version.

As we all know DnD seems to take its knocks from some quarters, sometimes very emotionally so. I think this is true because DnD seems to push the Social Contract aspect to its limits in a greater number than average instances...and thus probably the reason for the difficulty in finding groups that satisfy everyone around the table.

Yes, System Matters, and as an organic outgrowth of Tabletop Wargaming DnD definitely has some quirky rules. I think this is true for two primary reasons: 1) the system came in stages from the very early '70s onward, and they aren't finished with it yet, and 2) GMs were encouraged from the AD&D DMG onwards to create rules for anything not covered in the official rulebooks. Designers did the same through a variety of Dragon Columns. It's no wonder that the vector is to try to have rules for everything.

MAN, you kids is young!
(I cut my teeth on that stuff.)

Those kids are young?

I cut my teeth on the first Basic Set, which some refer to as the "Blue Box." Among the AD&D Hardbounds only the MM was available at the time. In those days, besides having to walk uphill both ways to go to a game, there was no such thing as Dice. We used Chits. Couple that with a need to go low on some "picks," and high on others and it made for much longer Conflict Resolution than most people are used to these days.

While I think that the v3ish game has definite advantages to those early versions of the game, eg. Skills & Feats, d20 standardized rules, it definitely has what I feel are some drawbacks. The 13.3 encounters per PC LvL is one sore point for me. I prefer extremely long campaigns, ie. around the decade mark, and this rule is nothing less than Monty Haul in my book.

In my opinion DnD has the richest field of House Rules, what kidz today call "Homebrew." It seems to me that the best, or at least best selling games in the early history of RPGs were in fact Homebrew, and that Homebrew is the "Nostalgia" that draws me to Indie Gaming. Not since Gygax & Arneson put their game together in the garage until today have so many creative gamers brought so much to the gaming table under their own auspices.

One of the accusations I repeatedly see online is something to the effect that hardcore DnDers are unwilling to play, or try other games. This really hasn't been my experience in what is approaching a 30-year "career" of playing the game. From the start my group tried almost everything they could get their hands on, beginning with Gama World, and Boot Hill. We've played more games than I can remember, and a few of them for good long time, and we're still ready to try new games.

Just this past Friday I showed them the spread of Indie Games, and Ashcans I picked up at GenCon. They're stoked to try them all, most especially Elfs, and Dust Devils. The group made over Acts of Evil, You Brought This On Yourself, and Psi Run.

I'm sorry to report that I'm having some trouble selling them on Sorcerer, Mortal Coil, and Galactic, but hey I guess I just haven't had enough time to pitch it to them right. I have an ace in the hole though, I've been the primary GM/DM/Storyteller/Referee since the beginning, and if I play it right they're a captive audience.

Maybe before the next Con I go to I'll test the waters online to see if anyone would be interested to play an after hours game with me in my campaign setting.

Regards, Brad

[Callan S.]

Hi Julia,

Ah yeah, I think I get you. It kind of completes a desire to explore the concept/that RPG. I'm not sure I've really completely tried out an RPG like you have here. Where you've sort of wrapped up a loose end/facination from teenagerdom then moved on to deciding an over all opinion - rather than never getting a complete experience of the game and just continuing on the initial passion to explore the thing fully.

Though I think that might be a feature for many - a friend of mine who'd stopped playing table top and just plays world of warcraft now, couldn't understand having goals for the game when I said I'd met mine in getting to level sixty in it (the old max level). Perhaps it can be considered a feature to never be able to form an over all opinion on the game. Heh, just meandering in my thoughts, it's a requirement for D&D threads don't you know!

[GB Steve]

The funny thing is I played D&D red box at SteveCon two months ago. It was totally a nostalgia trip for me and pretty much the same experience as you had with your game.