Do you still feel the wonder you had in your childhood games?

[Andre]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think the main problem is that things are supposed to make sense now. How many of us began playing in the standard dungeon full of monsters that had no reason to be there, with tricks and traps designed solely to thwart adventurers, with scads of treasure just waiting to be found? Heck, I played in one campaign where the ruler was guarded by Cylons, ala Battlestar Galactica!

Now we expect a more sophisticated, more "mature" gaming experience. Which often means simply that the world should make sense. The physical laws of the world shouldn't be too far out of whack from our own. Opponents have motivations we can understand. "Dungeons" have to have a reason for existing, and need more backstory than just because... A GM who doesn't follow this prescription leaves himself open to criticism. The inexplicable has somehow come to mean bad GMing. But wondrous implies having elements beyond our normal experience, beyond our knowledge.

A friend of mine GM'd for the first time a couple years ago. He had very little grasp of the rules for 3E. He couldn't balance an encounter to save his soul. But he had imagination galore. We fought giant shape-shifting robots (transformers), Doc Octopus, care bears (!), and a city full of skeletons who were quite civilized, if a bit bloodthirsty. We found absurd items such as leather armor of +10 Charisma, +5 swords, darts that healed whoever they hit, and so on. It was silly, stupid, and fun.

Now I'm not suggesting that all campaigns should be so silly. But maybe if we loosened up a bit, added a few "Harry Potter" elements to our games, instead of "Game of Thrones", maybe we'd find a bit more wonder in our games. Just a thought.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I gotta agree with many here that everything is supposed to make sense now. I often think about things like how filmmakers did the special effects in movies to the implausibility in some game settings. Then I sit back and relax and just enjoy the ride. While I still have those thoughts, they don't intrude on my ability to have fun with the movie or the game.

All in all, it's one of those things where maturity and more intelligence than when we were first gaming as kids kinda sucks.

Kane

 

[EricNoah]

It's sometimes hard for me to accept the fact that I can never be young again, I can never have a "first time" again w/regards to D&D, and I can't erase what I know now and "discover" D&D again. I did have a bit of that feeling when D&D3 was released, and a little again at the start of my current AU campaign. Maybe that's why people like starting new campaigns. Maybe that's why some people (not me, but some) like to learn new games -- that "it's all new again" experience.

I do get a charge out of reading through older D&D stuff -- not because it's better, but because it's all there, in my brain, waiting to be dredged up out of the murky depths. It tickles my brain unlike anything else. But I know that trying to actually *play* with that material would only lead to disappointment. Reading it and reliving it is enough to cure my nostalgia needs. The important thing now, in my current games, is to have a good time and make some *new* memories that I'll cherish down the road.

 

[Psion]

David Hartwell said of the genre that "the Golden Age of SF was Twelve". I think the same holds true for RPGs.

That said, I get the impression sometimes that my gaming experience now is closer to my gaming experience then than it is for most folks with a similar time in gaming. I don't get great joy out of drawing dungeon maps or statting out a traveller ship like I once did. But I still love it when a good game comes together.

I'd call the kickass 3e game I ran 2 years ago was just as cool as the ones I ran in JHS.

 

[BryonD]

I'd have to say no.

But it isn't a bad thing.
"Wonder" would be a very good word for the game when I was young.
Now it is more a creative thing.
A very different kind of fun. But just as fun and more rewarding.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Wolf, I can totally see playing Ravenloft in a spooky trailer during a thunderstorm.

As for me, my best moments were when I first learn D&D and would play with my friends by Willow Creek. About a year ago, my friend and I were talking about that sense of wonder. We decided to try three experiments in an attempt to regain it:

Experiment #1: Starve
Both of us were busy, so this experiment was easy. We starved ourself of role-playing for several months. Though we were a bit rusty, coming back to the game was quite a joy. Only later did I find out my friend had been sneaking games in! Curses!

- Everyone is quiet and closes their eyes when GM sets the opening scene

I find that my SoW is greater if I am starved for gaming and anticipate the session. But the rest of the table must be getting into the game for me to have it. It is really dependent on the mood of everyone.

I want to try that last, but never have the guts to. I am afraid my players will be too jaded (though my current ones are not as jaded as some I have had) and be silly about it. Thanksfully, my current group all act like a bunch of teens (circa 1980's or so) anyway (self included).

DM

 

[Mythmere1]

In December of last year, I was right where you are. Probably worse; it was causing a real crisis for me as a DM. I had tried getting lots of Necromancer Games stuff, and that worked out well but it was still missing something. Some of it was certainly just nostalgia in my case, but some of it was that I turned out to be having a problem with the 3e ruleset itself. There's been huge attention to the whole rules-lite thing, and I won't go into it, but my problem turned out to be that I was yearning for a simpler ruleset. I've never internalized the 3e rules very well (switching from 3e to 3.5 unfortunately turned it all into an undifferentiated memory hairball, too).

I switched to C&C, which caused some serious angst with my players, who are 3e fans. We're still negotiating the shoal waters of that switchover by getting house rules that meet their desire for 3e character-tailoring and mini-rules with my desire to play D&D along a slightly different model than what 3e offers.

You might take a look at C&C in your FLGS. Warning: it's not for everyone; lots of people (including most of my own players) prefer the more comprehensive rules of 3e. But if your feeling of weird "something's off" happens to be from the same source mine was, look at C&C. For me, it really did restore that SOW.

If that's too radical, I'd check out the Necromancer Games Tomes of Horror - that was my last step before actually switching game systems, and it did help a little. Necromancer really has the "feel" of older D&D down to an art form.

 

[The Human Target]

Never played as a kid actually.

 

[arwink]

You know, these days I run the kind of games I dreamed of running when I was a kid.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

You know, these days I run the kind of games I dreamed of running when I was a kid.

Me too.

Tonight I actually managed to have a realistically recurring villain manipulate 2 different groups to attack the party in different ways, i.e. I managed to avoid monolithic evil & yet generate a worthy villain. One pc assassinated an enemy & is running around trying to throw off the possibility of an inquisitor being assigned to investigate. Another pc was saved during an ambush by a childhood friend recognizing her & switching sides, to be later saved by the said pc when the victorious party gathered around the friend looking for more blood.

Enemies, friends & neutrals actually seem to be acting appropriately in a dynamic manner within their capability - and the players are responding in character to really create a worthy campaign.

The wonder of the early years was often marred by flawed campaigns, metagaming, immaturity, the lot. Always there was that promise of a great game & flashes of brilliance but never did it last.

I am very thankful that I am able to game with decent friends & we all agree to a particular style. The wonder was nice but it is no match for the proficiency that has been hard earned by experience.