Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 5195056" data-attributes="member: 317">Yep, I went through several "phases" too.Age 10-14 (1983-1987)- I actually started with MERP (Middle-Earth Role Playing), and moved on to D&D after about a year.  My experience with MERP heavily influenced my gaming style though- I was very detail-oriented and thought there needed to be a rule for everything.  I played more than ran games during this period, although any adventures I ran tended to be published (MERP had a TON of excellent sourcebooks and adventures which I still have and draw inspiration from).  We also tended to have some pretty munchkinny, power fantasy moments, which while it was fun at the time, I wouldn't be able to tolerate it now.Age 15-18 (1988-1992)- Mostly playing D&D at this point in afternoons and evenings after high school.  I usually ran games, tended to homebrew stuff, and they tended towards powergaming and dungeon crawls.  I also ran a Dragonlance game during this period for about three years which went completely wahoo and totally against canon for the world, but we didn't care- it was fun.Age 19-23 (1992-1997)- When I started college, I recruited some new players and retained some old players who stayed in town for college, and we started a new campaign in a homebrew world based loosely on a combination of medieval earth and Howard's Hyborea (the world of Conan).  This was a darker fantasy, simulationist, sword & sorcery style 2e AD&D game that focused on worldbuilding, history, and integrating the characters into it.  By this point the group had progressed past powergaming, and everyone voluntarily and enthusiastically developed involved background stories that tied their characters to the campaign setting.  I still went by RAW mostly, bending rules where needed- we did what was fun and made the most interesting story within certain limits.  It was probably the best gaming and my first "golden age" of gaming- we'd game every Saturday from noon to whenever we collapsed from fatigue, and the players were really into the game and seemed to love every minute of it.  We still get together 2-3 times a year for a weekend and continue that campaign.Age 23-30 (1997-2003)- During this time I was in medical and graduate school, so I didn't get as much time to game, and I was in a new city.  I made a few abortive attempts at starting groups, but due to time factors and group personality conflicts between some players, the games never really went anywhere.  I also had a friend who worked at a FLGS there, and I played with some new groups in very short (5-10 adventure) campaigns in a variety of systems.  However, I learned a LOT during this time about what I do and don't like in gaming, was exposed to new ideas and playstyles, and got exposed to a lot of new games, either by reading them, or trying to play them.  I ran and played quite a bit of 3e during this time, but eventually gave up on it and went to other systems (2e, Classic Deadlands, Fading Suns, and eventually Savage Worlds) since it didn't scratch the gaming itch and preferences I established in my college days.Age 30-34 (2003-2008)- I moved back to my home city, and got a job as a professor at a university.  All of a sudden I had all kinds of time free to game, but most of my old friends now had families and career pressures, and weren't able to game as much as we would have liked.  We played some WHFRP2 and 2e during this time, but things didn't really get going like we hoped they would due to real-world pressures.Age 35-36 (2008-2010)- Ah, the second "golden age" of gaming!  When D&D 4e came out, I read it and loved it- it almost perfectly fit my gaming style and preferences, and what few flaws it had I could tweak into what I did want.  I hadn't been this excited to run or play a game in many, many years.  I was determined to get a weekly group going, and was lucky enough to meet a great group of guys and gals through the FLGS who were willing to play.  We still have a weekly game going, although we alternate between D&D 4e and Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader.  I also recruited some former students I had become friends with after they graduated for a weekly 4e game- all of them were new to gaming, and let me tell you its so exciting and refreshing to see them experiencing the feelings I had back when I started gaming! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Now, I tend to still prefer dark fantasy, simulationist, PoL-type games with a lot of backstory and character motivations, but I look at rules as simply guidelines, and nothing rigid or that must be adhered to.  I updated the old homebrew world for 4e, and never looked back.  I also recently moved into a new house, bought a Sultan gaming table, and got a bunch of my Dwarven Forge stuff out of storage for weekly use- its gaming Nirvanna now!  it simply doesn't get better than this!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

Verification