14 Year old You vs The Today You

[Scribble]

Ok so I saw a tweet the other day where someone said people should write adventures as if they were 14. I made me think, how much different is my gaming perspective now, vs how it was when I was 14 (18 years ago...)

So what kinds of gaming and gaming related things do you guys do differently now vs when you were 14?

Is there anything you do now, that 14 year old you would look at in disdain?

Is there anything you did then that the now you is slightly "ashamed" of doing?

Admittedly it's not super easy to remember everything about 14 year old me...


If you're 14 now- or around 14 this is probably not the thread for you.

 

[pawsplay]

Mostly, I write adventures about the same as I did when I was 14, except they don't suck as much now.

 

[ggroy]

Is there anything you did then that the now you is slightly "ashamed" of doing?

Monty Haul. (Unless the players specifically ask for it).

 

[Diamond Cross]

When we first started playing, we thought xp awards went to the person who killed the creature. So we often had situations where the fighter would do a lot of damage, reducing the monster to one or two hit points, then the magic user would hit the monster with a sling bullet or a magic missile doing one or two points of damage and kill the monster and get the xp. Eventually we learned to take turns killing the monsters. Until we found out that xp was to be shared equally for all characters.

 

[Storminator]

If my 14 year old self were writing a module, you can bet your boots there would be giant heaps of fantastic treasure, and it would require 12 PCs to enter, and somewhere between 4 and 6 would leave alive. You would also probably have to fight a group of mercenary NPCs sent in to loot the treasure as well.

And it's entirely possible you'd have to roll on a random table when you cast spells in a certain room. At least one of the random possibilities would be helpful to you.

PS

 

[nedjer]

Not much, apart from the business with the politician's daughter - we were playing D&D, it was a tropical island, wtf?

 

[Fifth Element]

With respect to designing adventures, I don't think there's a whole lot of difference in style between me now and me twenty years ago, but the quality is much higher now.

And there's less boobs. Still a lot of boobs, but less boobs.

 

[awesomeocalypse]

When I was 14, I basically played murderous, power hungry guys who were "heroes" in name only, and spent all my time killing monsters, taking their stuff, and feeling like a badass.

10 years later, I do the exact same thing.

The main difference is that my 14 year old self thought this was somehow "deep" and "intellectual", like playing football was for morons but only smart folks could play d&d.

Now I see it for the shallow escapism it is, and recognize that, if playing sports isn't "smarter" per se, it at least keeps you in decent shape, which is more than I can say for my d&d games (as my stick-thin nerd physique can attest). Certainly, I no longer have any illusions that memorizing the Monster Manual somehow makes me superior to my peers.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Well, I didn't start to game until I was 19 (late bloomer), so I wouldn't want to game like I was 14. Then I wouldn't be gaming at all!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Total Monty Haul adventuring. I cannot remember if at 14 we were still working our way through the Deities and Demigods killing gods for their weapons, of if we were done by then.

Nope, please don't write adventures as if we were 14 years old again. I prefer some depth, plot and consistency in my adventures.