A stick in the mud, a dinosaur?

[Vonlok The Bold]

I've been wondering if I am a stick in the mud or a dinosaur for preferring more traditional Tolkienesque/Greyhawk type settings.

I don't know why, but I have a really hard time getting into settings like Eberron, or even Iron Kingdoms with it's steam power. Things like floating cities all over the place, with flying ships, rail connections don't inspire me to play middle age type fighters, clerics, or Merlinesque Wizards etc.

Yet these settings seem to be all the rage. It might all come down to low magic vs. high fantasy type settings, but it might also just be a traditionalist(when it comes to gaming) mindset.

I say that because I like playing other settings like Traveler or Sidewinder, which have things like that, but it's in what I feel appropriate settings. I don't like undead or Wizards in Old West settings, or airships in D&D settings. I understand there are a lot of people who seem to love these things, and I don't have a problem with it. I'm just surprised that I seem to be in the minority. That makes me a little scared that support for the types of gaming I like will evaporate.

With all the hype around Iron Kingdoms, and Eberron I am wondering if I'm just being a stick in the mud, or if the types of gamers who like the more traditional settings are the dinosaurs of the gaming world.

 

[Nifft]

There's a feeling of "been there, done that" regarding traditional settings.
Eberron and such are explorations.
There's nothing right or wrong about sticking with tradition.

Castles & Crusades seems to be popular exactly because it's so traditional.

-- N

 

[Captain Tagon]

I would say you aren't a stick in the mud or a dinosaur. Just different people have different tastes and in a hobby where the point is to have fun, don't let other people tell you what kind of settings you enjoy. Play in games and settings you like and don't worry about the ones you don't.

 

[jgbrowning]

Naw, different tastes for different people. As long as you're having fun and they're having fun, no need to worry about what setting the fun's taking place within.

joe b.

 

[Wormwood]

I would never call you a stick-in-the-mud or dinosaur.

To your face.

All kidding aside, recently I've been exposed to some very young gamers (my 11-year old nephew and his friends), and they have absolutely no idea who Ivanhoe, the Grey Mouser, or Elric are. At all. And they have no interest in learning, either.

Greyhawk would bore them to death. For them, fantasy is a weird blend of Peter Jackson, Anime, and Warcraft.

To be honest, even Eberron is a little staid and old-fashioned.

But they have fun (and so do I when I play with them) even though I occasionally feel like a fossil.

 

[Buttercup]

I'm just surprised that I seem to be in the minority. That makes me a little scared that support for the types of gaming I like will evaporate.

But how much more support do you really need? You can play a lifetime's worth of games with just the SRD. If you already have Greyhawk books, and the map that came out with the Greyhawk Gazetteer back when 3.0 was new, you're really all set, yes?

Besides, I think you'll find lots of people who don't like the monorai-floating-city-dinosaur-steam-power-warforged-airship type of setting. Me, for instance. So if you're a stick in the mud, so am I. We can play a Greyhawk or Kalamar game in the old folks home together.

 

[Turjan]

Besides, I think you'll find lots of people who don't like the monorai-floating-city-dinosaur-steam-power-warforged-airship type of setting. Me, for instance. So if you're a stick in the mud, so am I. We can play a Greyhawk or Kalamar game in the old folks home together.

Hehe, that's true . The settings will get old with us, and maybe they will disappear with us, who knows . That's not a big deal, though, as long as we still find players with the same preferences.

All kidding aside, recently I've been exposed to some very young gamers (my 11-year old nephew and his friends), and they have absolutely no idea who Ivanhoe, the Grey Mouser, or Elric are. At all. And they have no interest in learning, either.

If you take the example of Jack Vance, then you will find that he has already been lost track of in the generation of the twentysomethings, at least in the U.S. Oh, and from him I got the idea for a railway in my homebrew; just switch out the balloons for sails .

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Of course you're a dinosaur!
What's wrong with being a dinosaur?
I like being a dinosaur!

The Auld Grump, having a stegosaurus moment...

 

[Dragonhelm]

I've seen a lot of this in Dragonlance too. In Dragonlance, there is one crowd who continues to play in the War of the Lance, another that won't go beyond the Chaos War, and yet another that likes the changes in the modern day. That's the simplified version, of course.

Point is, there's always going to be people who like the "classic" material, and that's okay. There's also going to be those who like the latest, and those who like points in between.

Just go with what you like, and be sure to have fun. That's what it's all about, after all.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

*waves his stubby forearms in a tyrannosaurus moment*

Mark me down as a dinosaur, then, too, 'cause that's the kind of setting & game I prefer.