Why don't I get warm-tingly feelings when I buy a 3E product like in 1E/2E/Basic D&D?

[Crothian]

it's not just an age thing, but an expoeriecne thing. After 25 years in the hobby there are a lot of ideas I have seen before. THere are still great games being made today but lots of times I read them and it reminds me of something else from gaming years past.

 

[Psion]

Because you're older and more jaded. See also "Why don't the Star Wars Prequels reach me on the same level as the original trilogy did when I was eight years old?"

Some would argue... scratch that. I would argue that there is an authentic difference in value there.

But I don't think the same can be said about the situation at hand, so I suppose your point stands.

 

[MerricB]

And some of us haven't lost it yet. Heck, I get a warm tingly feeling out of my new Special Edition Player's Handbook... and I've seen everything in it already except for the binding!

I bought Races of the Wild (and the PHB SE) on Friday. On Sunday, I played a character using options from RotW. I was having fun.

Cheers!

 

[Virel]

I don't think it's an age issue. Over exposure and playing RPG's years on end will make most people some what jaded about new RPG products. Yet I think high quality ideas which are able to shatter this and return the "warm fuzzy feeling"

After taking nine years away from gaming, I started playing AD&D again, later I joined a 3e group as well. None of the core 3e books struck me as inspiring or fun to read. In fact I disliked about as much as I liked about them. However, when I stumbled across Relics & Rituals, I was like I have to this book now! Very similar to when I first sawy UA back the heyday of 1st ed. There was just so much material in Relics & Rituals that had that 1st ed feel and a near perfect fit for my old 1st ed AD&D campaign.

I had a big stupid grin on my face when I bought RR new. All of my other 3e stuff is used. RR has been the best addition to my 1st ed AD&D game since the orginal UA. The part I liked best? Additional spells for Paladins and Rangers. Ritual Magic. Tatoo Magic. More spells etc.

Part of what makes a new product an exciting product is when you skimp over it for the first time and can see it will add to the current game with minimal disruption and introduce new ideas without hurting game balance.

 

[Raesene Andu]

I am uninspired by most of the rules books (race of, complete whatever), but I was very excited by the Eberron Campaign Setting, which I thought was rather good. I've always been that way though, the only products that interest me are new campaign books or settings.

 

[Breakdaddy]

I can only speak for my personal experiences, but I feel that a lot of what you are feeling comes from the knowledge that most new 3.x books you are buying will be written in a sterile, monotone voice with tons of crunch and little inspirational material. This is not true for ALL of this material, but I find it to be most true for the WOTC releases and it carries over quite a bit to the D20 stuff out there as well. I, too, started losing this "warm fuzzy" feeling towards the end of 2e's life. The players option books were also quite crunch heavy and uninspiring on the whole, which really dissapointed me. I have recently begun a game of C&C and some of this feeling has returned to me, which was pretty damn cool. Sadly, I suspect the feeling will never come back altogether and in the doses it once came in. So I suspect, as some others have suggested, that at least a bit of this comes from having so much experience with the game. It is truly difficult to surprise us "old school" gamers anymore.

 

[dead]

Because you're older and more jaded. See also "Why don't the Star Wars Prequels reach me on the same level as the original trilogy did when I was eight years old?"

This is different. The new Star Wars films are clearly inferior and even a new comer would recoil in disgust.

They are tacky, they use CGI gimmicks, they have bad acting, they are submissive to PG ratings.

In other words, they compromised the Star Wars mythos to make mega bucks.

I don't think 3E has gone low or debased itself. Certainly they've opened themselves up to more popular culture references to be more "trendy" but they get away with it; ie. the "cinematic" experience; monks and kung-fu cinema; etc.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

This is different. The new Star Wars films are clearly inferior and even a new comer would recoil in disgust.

They are tacky, they use CGI gimmicks, they have bad acting, they are submissive to PG ratings.

In other words, they compromised the Star Wars mythos to make mega bucks.

I don't think 3E has gone low or debased itself. Certainly they've opened themselves up to more popular culture references to be more "trendy" but they get away with it; ie. the "cinematic" experience; monks and kung-fu cinema; etc.

Ugh.

The whole Star Wars debate is probably the only thing that gets to the point of annoying me MORE than edition wars.

 

[dead]

Ugh.

The whole Star Wars debate is probably the only thing that gets to the point of annoying me MORE than edition wars.

Sorry about the Star Wars comments. I take them back.

But this thread is NOT an edition war. Not at all.

 

[ivocaliban]

I tend to think it's age. Being jaded about things that were once exciting and new. It works with all sorts of things, not just roleplaying. Some of the movies I thought were great when I was a kid have turned out to be great because I was a kid. Furthermore, I'm far more jaded when it comes to new things, as of late. For instance, if I was ten I'd probably be moderately excited about Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Episode III). As it stands, I could care less.

Still, I'd rather go into something pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised, than to go in optimistic and be let down. I guess maybe we've just learned our lesson from past experience.

EDIT: To be honest, I hadn't even read the rest of the thread, just the first post. I guess my Star Wars comments come out of being a fan of the genre and slightly intoxicated.