Any old timers out there willing to help with a Master's thesis?

[MNblockhead]

I get it, they can be a beast. Luckily for me, the history department at my university makes us do 3 smaller theses rather than one large one and this is the 3rd for me, so I have some experience from the first two to draw on.


On another note, I have a supplementary question. This one is even for folks who don't use house rules.

Have you borrowed anything from another player or GM's style that changed the way you or your group plays: a way they do initiative, a phrase or gesture they use to signal when they are speaking out of character, a way of voicing a certain type of character, or anything else along these lines?

All the time. Back in the 80s, we were always experimenting and making group house rules, many would only last a few sessions, some would last only one or two applications before we realized that it was a better idea in theory than in practice, and a few became used and borrowed and we would latter be surprised to learn or remember that it wasn't an official rule.

Recently, most of the ideas I've borrowed come from blog posts and discussion threads. I just don't get to play enough with enough different groups to get many ideas from playing in other games. When I do get to be a player it is often at a convention or an organized-play event where the DMs tend to stick to the RAW.

One idea I have borrowed from a local DM who ran an organized play event I joined was to have each player introduce his or her character using an opening action cut scene. Think of the style of many TV shows from the 80s, like the A-team. It was a great way to briefly give the DM and other players a good idea of what your character was like and how you saw your character and role in the group.

 

[The Monster]

I started in high school, 1975, when my brother's friend brought D&D back from boot camp – he didn't have the complete rules, just some copied tables & notes. We bought the little box of booklets, and introduced the game to our friends – we had been wargamers for years, so it was an easy shift. Also introduced D&D to my college dorm floor two years later, where a few had heard of it but none had played it (there was at least one other game on another floor).

D&D (and the other games that we sampled early on) was an easy way to make friends and spur discussion of a wide range of topics that weren't politics or lecture notes. Even the people who didn't play bought into the game talk to some extent, as it was all new to everyone.

I've been playing and running RPGs ever since, with very few breaks. There are a couple of friends I made back in college that I still game with today; our table has been remarkably constant, with husbands, wives, and children joining and dropping out. My experience with RPGs has always been a way to connect with people and stay grounded, as well as an outlet for creativity and exploration.

Demographic info: white male, middle-class American, married, Bachelor's degree.

Houserules? We did some experimentation early on but rarely use them; rather, we are flexible when using printed rules. I was one of the many who tried coming up with my own game system back in the late '70s, but it was a hot mess, of course, and quickly abandoned.

Almost everyone in my regular group has run games, and we share/steal ideas so much, we hardly remember which of us we learned this or that trick from. We've used just about every form of multi-GM framework we could think of at one time or another. We host a big multi-table event at the local game con, and the process of creating the intertwined scenarios is as much or more fun than actually running the game.

 

[Sadras]

Finally a thread for the Antediluvians

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Finally a thread for the Antediluvians

You know my Auntie DelÚvian?

 

[aramis erak]

I started in 1981, late summer. (between gr 6 and 7.)
Started GMing later that year.

House Rules: Yes, usually few, but significant.
Homebrews: only for adventures, not for PCs.
Note, this discounts my several experiments in game design.

I've 3 games web published, two of which published by someone other than me, both of those were part of contests on RPGGeek.com.

I've a couple conversions I've posted on my websites over the years.
I've edited a web-published supplement for Traveller - it's available in the moot as a member perk. I get no royalties.

I've had people ask for some of my adventures from time to time.

Several characters from my Traveller campaigns wound up in others' games...

 

[GreyLord]

1. On that note, I have some new questions if folks are willing to answer. These can be by any player or GM who is willing.

2. Do you use house rules or homebrews? Why or why not?

3. Have you ever had any rules, characters, etc. that you wrote or modified for any RPG, published, shared with a group you don't play with, or posted in any format? If so, are you aware of anyone using these rules or suggestions?

Thanks again, everyone. This is all super helpful.

1. Started as a Player, now I am normally the DM/GM.

2. It depends on the game system. I normally do not use that many house rules with 3e or 4e, however with OD&D and AD&D I use houserules or what some would consider houserules. A prime example is with AD&D I actually prefer the more concise 2e form of THAC0 and combat (including initiative) but I also include things from 1e (normally on the PHB/UA side of things, so classes and races as per 1e). OD&D is bizarre and I use multiple houserules.

I also play AD&D (1e and 2e) as much or as close to BtB as possible, so it depends on my mood and what type of game I want to run whether I am using a lot of houserules or not.

I also normally use homebrew campaigns though I have occasionally used Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and Dark Sun.

3. I have several rules systems that I have made for RPGs as well as adventures and other items. As people bought them there may be some using them, but I don't monitor people or groups personally.

0 - Overall, I started playing OD&D with a group of guys at school who were playing at the time. I didn't have the rules and didn't really own a set until later. Later on I got the AD&D rulebooks and the Basic rules. By the 80s I was playing AD&D and BX and BECMI later. Loved BECMI at the time, though many prefer BX instead.

I began because it sounded fun and they seemed to be having fun. It sparked my imagination (and at the time created my own game from what I knew as I didn't have the rules of my own) and creativity.
I kept playing as there was something about it that hooked me. I'm not quite sure what it was, but something about being able to play wizards and warriors fighting dragons and skeletons and other fantastic creatures was fascinating to me. It still is. So I keep playing.

 

[wdk_dave]

I started gaming in '77, I was 13. A friends brother introduced us to the blue book while he was home from college. I was immediately hooked. I had been reading SF and fantasy for a few years prior and was interested in computers. Scott Adams first text adventure and the AD &D players handbook came out the next year. The convergence of early computer adventure games and AD&D books really engaged me. I was either drawing dungeons or writing basic programs for them. Within a few years the groups I gamed with had become frustrated with some of the limitations of AD&D for narrative gaming as opposed to strategic gaming and we began free-form gaming Where outcomes were determined more by mutual arbitration than by rules and dice rolls. Most of my gaming from about '82 was very much house rules melded with character and setting ideas lifted from multiple games. At one point we had a campaign that included characters from Ringworld, top secret, and AD&D. I think the story telling and world building is what has kept me interested - being able to see what else could happen in in a fictional setting from a favorite novel or movie. I have not had anything from tabletop gaming published, but I did have part of an online essay about the design of interactive narratives quoted in a graduate thesis.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I started war gaming in 1974. That led to my joining a college wargaming group in '78. The group allowed RPG'ers to share their space , and my first introduction to RPGs was asking one of the players 'where's the map' and 'what are the victory conditions?'

Eventually I tried black-box Traveller, then white-box D&D, and first-edition Gamma world. And have been gaming ever since.

I still player war games, but only via electronic media.

 

[hawknsparrow]

Sure. Started in 1978. Lemme know how I can help.

 

[Fireball36]

I was introduced to role-playing games back in early 1978 when someone showed me Chivalry & Sorcery (by Fantasy Games Unlimited). Wow, now I could design fantasy characters that previously I had only read about! I loved drawing maps – drew a 4’ x 4’ dungeon on some large grid paper and ran my friends through it. We played that game for a couple of years until I finished high school and went off to college. I was too busy at college to do role-playing games but I remember watching some guys play Starfleet Battles on tabletop. I played some Call of Cthulhu in 1984 and then HERO games (super heroes or powerful anime-influenced police) from 1987 – 1995. Later I ran D & D 3, FantasyCraft and Pathfinder for three friends in the 2000 – 2009 period.

I’m an introvert who doesn’t do much small talk so I saw gaming as a good way to be social. I enjoyed being a game master and bringing my imagination to life – and seeing how my friends would act in the situations that I put them through. I work in Accounting so playing “crunchy” games was not a problem for me. Unfortunately I haven’t played any tabletop RPGs in the past decade but I still collect books – yes, I still have my original Chivalry & Sorcery stuff.

I generally use the game rules as provided in the books but of course, HERO system lets you design your own world and power level so there’s a tremendous amount of flexibility in that.

I haven’t borrowed much from others as far as game mastering goes but I was heavily influenced by the anime “Ghost in the Shell”, “Akira” and “Ghost Sweeper Mikami” when I ran a HERO game where the characters were ESWAT police having to deal with serious challenges such as rampaging cyborgs, phantoms, drugged up thugs, etc.

I wasn’t drafted but I did join the military in 1984 and served for five years.

Demographic: Single White American male, age 59.