A moment of thankful reflection (RPG context)

[Sacrosanct]

There's a lot of stressful things going on. It's tough for a whole heck of a lot of people. It's easy to focus on all these bad things going on. So I decided to look at one thing I'm super grateful for from my favorite hobby. What is that?

I'm thankful for being a grognard.

Ok, well maybe not the actual word, but rather from one thing that represents. I started playing D&D in 1981. During that time, everything was new. There is no way I can adequately describe or express just how wonderful it was to be part of this new game where everything was brand new. Yeah, it had been around for a few years, but unless you lived in a big city, you really didn't meet anyone who played the game until 1980 or so, when the game finally began to take off. There were no preconceived notions of how to play the game. There was no giant history of the game to use as references or guides going forward. There were not "one true wayism" of playing RPGs in general. You truly made the game your own because you didn't have anyone else. Most of us who played D&D back then also created our own RPGs because there weren't many available or accessible. There was no internet. If you wanted to bounce ideas off of someone, you waited a month and hoped DRAGON published your letter. Or you went to the FLGS (the only one in a 50 mile radius) and hoped there were enough people there to talk to. It truly was an age of discovery, and it was epic. And awesome.

I am so grateful I got to experience that. So what is one thing, rpg related, that you're really grateful for?

 

[atanakar]

I'm 55, don't consider myself a grognard despite me age and not nostalgic of the Old School time at all.

I'm glad there is internet so I can keep playing D&D online with my group despite Covid-19. I'm glad there are PDF so I can buy and store games for a fraction of the price. I'm glad I can ask rules questions on forums or FB and get answers very quickly. I'm glad there is amazon to buy hard copy books when the local store refuses or cannot get the book I want. I'm glad there are kickstarters that help new designers bring to life their ideas.

I'm grateful to be playing D&D 5e and other modern RPGs in 2020 with players 20 years younger than me.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm not grateful that I'm a grognard.

Instead, I'm grateful that I'm not some young whippersnapper. And that I've accumulated the land and the capital to maintain a yard to keep people off of.

 

[R_J_K75]

I'm not grateful that I'm a grognard.

Instead, I'm grateful that I'm not some young whippersnapper. And that I've accumulated the land and the capital to maintain a yard to keep people off of.

I know I hate those people.

 

[R_J_K75]

I'm glad there is amazon to buy hard copy books when the local store refuses or cannot get the book I want.

I've found that to be the attitude/problem in my area too. Seems like they cant be bothered so I buy from Amazon $20-$30 cheaper.

I see it as a double edged sword. Yeah there are some good things to come from the advancements in the game as well as technology but it seems to have diminished the experience of the game for me, I do miss the days when the only place you could get D&D books where from a FLGS, hobby shop or Walden Books. Theres definitely something to be said for browsing the cover art and the ideas it inspired. I would go to the mall and go to Cavages, Walden Books and B. Dalton just to look at the album covers and books. The game has evolved which I believe for the better and is what youd expect as the natural progression but again in my experiences it has changed the game play from what Ive seen since 3E and the internet became more prevalent. I agree with what the OP is getting at. I believe that people who played the game then were part of a zeitgeist that newer gamers will never be able to know. For good or ill its just fact. Im not advocating for one or the other just saying that I have seen a shift in the way the game is played.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I agree with what the OP is getting at. I believe that people who played the game then were part of a zeitgeist that newer gamers will never be able to know. For good or ill its just fact. Im not advocating for one or the other just saying that I have seen a shift in the way the game is played.

Oh, c'mon, advocate!

Those people will never have what had.
I’m old! And I’m grumpy! And I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress — phooey! In my day, we didn’t have this Amazon Internet Thingy that would send you a D&D book when you needed it. No!

There was only one game store in each state — and that store was open only one hour a year. And you’d get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people– fornicators and thieves, mutant children, circus freaks and grizzled wargamers that hadn't showered since the 50s — and you waited for years and by the time you got to the front to buy your copy of the Monster Manual, you were already senile and arthritic and you couldn’t remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died before you even got to roll a single d20!


Life was simpler then. There wasn’t all this concern about hygiene and communicable diseases and playing "remotely" and on "Roll20". When I started playing D&D, we didn’t even have Kleenex. When the eldest male child in the family turned seventeen, he was given the family handkerchief. It had never been washed and was filled with diseases and swarming with flies. If you tried to blow your nose or even looked at that Kleenex wrong-like, you’d get an infection and your head would swell up and turn green and small children would turn and scream and run in fear just at the sight of you! We didn't need no ZOOM to scare those children.

Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn’t need to get together a "group" to "play" "D&D." No, in my day, there was only one show in town - it was called, "Play the BECMI module by yourself, over and over again, and watch Aleena die." And you thought, “Oh,no! Maybe I should have tried something else this time! But it was too late! You were responsible for Aleena dying again.

Kids today don't even know. And one day, they will be complaining about those youngsters zipping by on their hoverboards and playing holo-D&D, and how wizards get d100 hit points, and have "always on" 9th level spells now. HA! You just wait.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to play and shop in a FLGS, where everything was weird and there were unusual discoveries around every corner. I'm glad that there are still a couple nearby-ish, so my 6yo can experience at least a little bit of that.

I am worried that, by the time we are able to go to them again in any meaningful way, they will no longer be there.

 

[the Jester]

I'm grateful for the amazing groups I have, and for the number of games I get to run or play these days- I've run 3 sessions in the last 7 days and have another scheduled for tonight.

 

[Sacrosanct]

For the record, I'm not saying things were better then, they suck now, etc, etc. There are a lot of things I really like now, access being top of the list. I was only saying that the experience playing in those early days can't ever be repeated. And to be part of that experience was something I'm lucky for.

 

[R_J_K75]

Oh, c'mon, advocate!

Those people will never have what had.
I’m old! And I’m grumpy! And I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress — phooey! In my day, we didn’t have this Amazon Internet Thingy that would send you a D&D book when you needed it. No!

There was only one game store in each state — and that store was open only one hour a year. And you’d get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people– fornicators and thieves, mutant children, circus freaks and grizzled wargamers that hadn't showered since the 50s — and you waited for years and by the time you got to the front to buy your copy of the Monster Manual, you were already senile and arthritic and you couldn’t remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died before you even got to roll a single d20!


Life was simpler then. There wasn’t all this concern about hygiene and communicable diseases and playing "remotely" and on "Roll20". When I started playing D&D, we didn’t even have Kleenex. When the eldest male child in the family turned seventeen, he was given the family handkerchief. It had never been washed and was filled with diseases and swarming with flies. If you tried to blow your nose or even looked at that Kleenex wrong-like, you’d get an infection and your head would swell up and turn green and small children would turn and scream and run in fear just at the sight of you! We didn't need no ZOOM to scare those children.

Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn’t need to get together a "group" to "play" "D&D." No, in my day, there was only one show in town - it was called, "Play the BECMI module by yourself, over and over again, and watch Aleena die." And you thought, “Oh,no! Maybe I should have tried something else this time! But it was too late! You were responsible for Aleena dying again.

Kids today don't even know. And one day, they will be complaining about those youngsters zipping by on their hoverboards and playing holo-D&D, and how wizards get d100 hit points, and have "always on" 9th level spells now. HA! You just wait.