The shift in gaming as we get older
- Thread starter der_kluge
- Start date
There have been some changes as we have grown older. Our group of three players and the DM have been playing together for over 20 years now and are like a comfortable pair of jeans. 
Two of us being old actors from school, we have always roleplayed and enjoyed plots and arcs as well as the very occasional dungeon crawl. Main changes are in the length of time we play and when. We have always met on Saturdays. We use to play from around 2 or 3 pm until midnight or later when we were in our 20s and 30s. Now we are in our 40s and 50s and just don't have the stamina anymore. We get together now at 2pm and play until 7pm, once a week. Campaigns generally run for six to twelve months with characters getting around 10th or 11th level at most.
-KenSeg
gaming since 1978
Two of us being old actors from school, we have always roleplayed and enjoyed plots and arcs as well as the very occasional dungeon crawl. Main changes are in the length of time we play and when. We have always met on Saturdays. We use to play from around 2 or 3 pm until midnight or later when we were in our 20s and 30s. Now we are in our 40s and 50s and just don't have the stamina anymore. We get together now at 2pm and play until 7pm, once a week. Campaigns generally run for six to twelve months with characters getting around 10th or 11th level at most.
-KenSeg
gaming since 1978
CharlesRyan
Adventurer
There seem to be a lot of people saying "as I get older, I want richer storylines, more sophisticated encounters, and better-developed characters." Put me down in that camp.
There also seem to be a lot of people saying "as I get older, with kids and work commitments hitting all of the players at the table, it's harder to keep a campaign going." Put me down in that camp, too.
One of the many paradoxes of middle age. Part of that whole "youth is wasted on the young" thing, I guess. . . .
There also seem to be a lot of people saying "as I get older, with kids and work commitments hitting all of the players at the table, it's harder to keep a campaign going." Put me down in that camp, too.
One of the many paradoxes of middle age. Part of that whole "youth is wasted on the young" thing, I guess. . . .
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
Ya. Though the "more serious gaming" part came first for me (actually over 10 years ago, how time flies), at a time when it was convenient to spend that time.
Now, I want serious and involved enough. But not more so. And I would never want a game session that was like any meeting I have for work. That would defeat the whole purpose.
Now, I want serious and involved enough. But not more so. And I would never want a game session that was like any meeting I have for work. That would defeat the whole purpose.
Peni Griffin
First Post
Rycanada, is there a bulletin board at your local FLGS? A youth group you can volunteer at in order corrupt new souls? A community college offering nonsense continuing education courses?
Creativity solves problems outside of the game, too.
Creativity solves problems outside of the game, too.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
Was that a cyber-vasectomy?Originally Posted by Emirikol
My words of advice to all you kids out there:
1. Stay in college forever (but get a good degree)
2. DON'T have kids
3. Delay marriage (but get a nice chic to settle down with)
4. GAME WHILE YOU CAN
jhsniffles said:FIFY
Roadkill101
Explorer
I've been playing for 26 year now. Campaigns have become more episodic in nature. Less emphasis is placed on RAW, winging it by the seat of the pants is the norm. More emphasis is placed on things working more like the real world than a bunch of fantastic things placed together all slap-dash with little rhyme or reason (especially dungeon ecology).
Kheti sa-Menik
First Post
When I used to play in junoir high school, we played hardcore sessions, 12 hours in length or more, battles upon battles, ignored rules, built small fiefdoms that made no political, social, or economic sense, and globetrotted from campaign setting to campaign setting...from the Temple of Elemental Evil in Greyhawk to battling gnome things in Kara-Tur, to taking to SpellJammer to Bral. We liked stories that were simple. There was also few people who played, my group was three, maybe two.
Things got more complex through high school, especially at the end when colleges were looked at, serious girl involvement, and a falling out betwixt my gamer friends and I.
By the time I started college, I had gotten out of gaming (and missed most of 2nd edition D&D entirely).
Five years and a B.A. later, I'm working at a local ISP and meet some folks who are just starting 3rd edition and I began to play again.
Now, 7 years later, here I am, fully immersed in the hobby again. Going to Gencons, playing multiple systems, talking about it as a hobby instead of as a cool thing to do on Saturday.
I think 17 years has given a breadth of experience that has fed into my gaming...
I don't want black and white stories. I want much gray. In the games I run, no matter what system, there's rarely a happy ending. There's doubt and questions unanswered...black humor, flawed good guys, redeemable bad guys, and people who are just in it to win it. I couldn't imagine playing games like Toon, where faniciful silliness reigns. Dark, disturbed, provocative, slightly realistic are how I like my stories.
I ran a D20 Modern game months ago that's on hiatus. The PCs beat the killers, rescued some people, uncovered a buried secret that brought the truth to bear.
But the PCs didn't feel victorious: they looked at what they lost...as much as they had gained. Men and women corrupted or dead, careers in flames, family members lying in the hospital dying, one PC dead, another emotionally and psychologically scarred, and a mother forever plagued by the hideous murder of her child.
Yeah, that's how I like my stories.
But form wise, I tend to run campaigns like Joss Whedon TV shows. A campaign arc (tv season) of connected adventures (episodes), culminating in big event (season finale). The beginning of the next arc has to finish up the big event and/or deals with the fallout from the previous arc's events.
Flavor-wise, my campaigns tend to be more like 6th-7th season Buffy the Vampire Slayer....a bit hopeless, bleak, characters at odds with the world around them, etc.
I'll say more age breeds more complexity and more grittiness, more character and less in your face POW.
Things got more complex through high school, especially at the end when colleges were looked at, serious girl involvement, and a falling out betwixt my gamer friends and I.
By the time I started college, I had gotten out of gaming (and missed most of 2nd edition D&D entirely).
Five years and a B.A. later, I'm working at a local ISP and meet some folks who are just starting 3rd edition and I began to play again.
Now, 7 years later, here I am, fully immersed in the hobby again. Going to Gencons, playing multiple systems, talking about it as a hobby instead of as a cool thing to do on Saturday.
I think 17 years has given a breadth of experience that has fed into my gaming...
I don't want black and white stories. I want much gray. In the games I run, no matter what system, there's rarely a happy ending. There's doubt and questions unanswered...black humor, flawed good guys, redeemable bad guys, and people who are just in it to win it. I couldn't imagine playing games like Toon, where faniciful silliness reigns. Dark, disturbed, provocative, slightly realistic are how I like my stories.
I ran a D20 Modern game months ago that's on hiatus. The PCs beat the killers, rescued some people, uncovered a buried secret that brought the truth to bear.
But the PCs didn't feel victorious: they looked at what they lost...as much as they had gained. Men and women corrupted or dead, careers in flames, family members lying in the hospital dying, one PC dead, another emotionally and psychologically scarred, and a mother forever plagued by the hideous murder of her child.
Yeah, that's how I like my stories.
But form wise, I tend to run campaigns like Joss Whedon TV shows. A campaign arc (tv season) of connected adventures (episodes), culminating in big event (season finale). The beginning of the next arc has to finish up the big event and/or deals with the fallout from the previous arc's events.
Flavor-wise, my campaigns tend to be more like 6th-7th season Buffy the Vampire Slayer....a bit hopeless, bleak, characters at odds with the world around them, etc.
I'll say more age breeds more complexity and more grittiness, more character and less in your face POW.
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