I'm kissing D&D good-bye: here's why

[Cowpie Zombie]

Because D&D is obviously Satanic, I simply can't play it anymore. So I'm kissing it good-bye.

Just kidding.

Here's the real reason. Oh, where to begin? Well, I'll give you the short version: I've been playing RPGs since 1981, when, as a 10-year-old schmuck in Grade 6 (or "Sixth Grade" as the Americans like to say ) I did my very first Basic D&D dungeon crawl. Ahhhh, those were the days...(wipes tears from eyes, continues typing)...over the intervening years I've played tons of RPGs, too many to list. I've played PBP, PBEM, face-to-face, computer, free-form, you name it (but no LARP, thank heavens).

But times change, and I now find myself a 33-year-old high school teacher, happily married with a precious little 1-year-old daughter. And very limited time. And, unlike when I was in grade 6 or high school or even university, I have many other interests in my life besides games. (My life in university consisted of four things: classes, video games, RPGs, and the Internet).

Now I love D&D 3.0/3.5, but I've decided that I would rather pour all my limited RPG time and energy into a single game, rather than dabble in various games. To put it another way, I'd rather be a master of one game than a student of many. And for my one game, I've chosen d20 Modern. The reasons are largely unimportant; suffice it to say that they are mere preferences. So although I love D&D, I love Modern more, and I've decided that Modern will be my focus from now on.

So I'm going to sell off all my D&D stuff (including my rather sizable collection of miniatures) and focus on becoming a true zen master of d20 Modern.

I'm curious to know if I'm the only person here who is finding it necessary to "downsize" his RPG life because of the pressures and joys of the "adult world". Has anyone else here decided to focus on a single game due to (a) lack of time and (b) a desire to master *one* thing?

Anyway, this has been Cowpie Zombie, who you will find most often on the d20 Modern forum from now on.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Good to see you're at least moving to a good game.

 

[Aeolius]

Offline I am married, have 3 kids, work full time, and have a houseful of animals and a plethora of hobbies. As some of my interests include writing, D&D, and saltwater aquariums, I decided to run a play-by-post campaign set underwater. The message-based format is infinitely more suited to my hectic schedule.

 

[ShadowX]

I fail to see why you need to quit a game to become a "zen master" of another. I consider myself well versed in Modern and D&D, and it does not require any exorbitant amount of time to do so. This is not an academic profession where one must keep up to date with recent studies and information. You have the core rulebook, and any additional material you choose to use. I can see leaving a D&D game to increase time, but to swear it off and sell all your books seems peremptory.

 

[Harlock]

Awesome, so we'll still see you in d20 general, I hope! D20 Modern is groovy. Enjoy it and check out the stuff RPG Objects is putting out!

 

[Cowpie Zombie]

I fail to see why you need to quit a game to become a "zen master" of another. I consider myself well versed in Modern and D&D, and it does not require any exorbitant amount of time to do so. This is not an academic profession where one must keep up to date with recent studies and information. You have the core rulebook, and any additional material you choose to use. I can see leaving a D&D game to increase time, but to swear it off and sell all your books seems peremptory.

Well, there's a difference between being "well versed" and being a "zen master." I too am well-versed in D&D, but I simply lack the time to master both it AND d20 Modern. As far as the comparison with academic studies goes, if you think about it, this actually *is* what D&D is like...if you want to be a master. New releases every month, new adventures, new articles in Dragon and Dungeon...yikes! Who's got the time?

But as I said, it's largely a matter of wanting to focus on a single system, due to time, and then choosing d20 Modern to be that system, due to preference.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to meditate on d20 Modern.

 

[Nellisir]

Whatever makes you have fun! I'd be lying if I hadn't thought about hanging up the dice bag for a few years myself -- a step beyond you, I know.

 

[Geoff]

My circumstances are very similar to yours CZ. I'm 35 and married with two young daughters (2 and 5), I play in a regular Friday night game (okay, about 3 weeks out of 4 anyway), am involved in blossoming d20 creation house, Dog House Rules, plus have all the other outside stuff that takes time.

After playing 3.0 since it came out and diving into d20 Modern when it was released, our gaming group has decided to switch over to d20 Modern for all of our roleplaying pleasures. Now, we aren't abandoning fantasy games, in fact, I doubt we'll be playing a game in the modern era except for the occassional one-shot.

What we are doing is morphing d20 Modern to fit into the genres we want to play in, all of them are what we call "pre-Modern," but containing low-key magic if there is magic at all. Sidewinder: Recoiled was the beginning of that process and after we saw how well it works for a "pre-modern" type game, we decided to bore full steam ahead.

Good luck to ya.

 

[DMO]

I've gone through the same thing, along with the rest of my group. We've played all kinds of RPGs over the years. (Anyone else here ever try out Lords of Creation? Not so obscure? Okay then, how about Teenagers from Outer Space?)

Like Cowpie Zombie, we're all frustratingly busy now, with successful careers, ever-increasing family commitments, and outside hobbies. There was a time, back when most of us were in middle and high school, when we might play several times a week (or more!). We could afford to experiment with various systems and switch between games. Time was plentiful; it was novelty that was scarce.

Times change. We'd all like to give Star Wars d20 a whirl, but we only get to game together a dozen or so times a year and we can't stomach fragmenting that between multiple games. In the end, it's not so difficult. You pick the things that matter to you, and you do those. If you have any regret, it's just that there's not enough time to do it all.

Oh, and a cautionary tale. When I first went through this swearing off thing, I backed the Rolemaster horse. It was a pain in the butt putting my old TSR collection back together. It might be worth hanging on to those D&D books for a while ... just in case.

 

[Piratecat]

If I could offer one bit of advice, it would be to not sell all of your D&D stuff. Trust me... you'll eventually want it again, if only for ideas.