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Which decade would you choose?

Morrus

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
If you had to be trapped in a decade from the 20th century, and live there, which would you choose? You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage; you have to live the decade as it was but you’re your current age (you don’t get to be younger again!)

And - importantly - why?
 

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Sacrosanct

Sacrosanct

Legend
The 80s. Even at my current age. Everything went in the 80s, and it was OK. From fashion to music, every couple months fads changed, resulting in it being OK to dress or listen to anything. Fantasy and Sci Fi were also anything goes. Looking back a lot of 80s stuff seems so ridiculous, but that's what made it so great. Same with gaming. New RPGs were being created everywhere, and since it was still a new hobby, the creativity was off the hook. Imagination ran supreme. When you didn't have access to all the information at your fingertips (internet), you came up with your own rulings and interpretations based on what you wanted; you didn't wait for some official tweet and did what they said. Nearly everyone homebrewed and created their own campaigns and adventures. And adventures weren't these huge slogs that took months; the vast majority were modules that were completed in a couple days at best and you could move on to different PC or different adventures before returning to the other campaigns.
 

monsmord

monsmord

Explorer
Morrus said:
Nope, you’re your current age!
Click to expand...
Ugh! Fine! The 60s. Mostly for the music, art, home styling, and food. As I write this, I'm digging on some lounge music courtesy of YouTube - in the 60s I could get my hi-fi going, sit by the fireplace in the middle of my plushly-appointed sunken living room, sip my third pickletini, nibble on hors d'ouevres, and chat with the well-dressed folks at my every-Saturday-night cocktail party.
 

MarkB

MarkB

Legend
Morrus said:
You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage
Click to expand...
On a bit of a tangent, this had me picturing going back to the 90s, rewriting D&D 5e from memory, and unleashing it upon my local gaming groups. But I had to wonder whether it would even have been popular back then, or if we needed to go from there to here in order to appreciate it.
 

Mercurius

Mercurius

Legend
It is hard to answer this question without touching upon politics, as that would be a significant factor. Either way, I'd probably choose the 70s. I find the late 60s to mid-70s to be one of the most fertile periods artistically, musically, and culturally. I love the mixing of genres, funk, some prog rock, etc, as well as New Hollywood film, New Wave sf and Ace SF classics, the blossoming of fantasy fiction during the Ballantine Adult Fantasy run (1969-74) and the Daw line, and of course D&D in 1974.

There was a sense of hope in the 70s. The cultural revolutions of the 60s, the end of the Vietnam war, and a still thriving American economy and middle class. Yes, there was the hanging cloud of the Cold War, but a higher percentage of Americans could live some semblance or version of the "American Dream."

Or to put an image to it:

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R

R_J_K75

Hero
Morrus said:
You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage; you have to live the decade as it was but you’re your current age (you don’t get to be younger again!)
Click to expand...
90s! The reason I would choose them is because of the age I was at then and lack of any real responsibility. It was a lot of fun. If I had to be my current age, and cant use any of my current knowledge then Id expect it to be pretty lame; work, stress, aches and pains so it doesn't seem like it'd be much different than today so I'll stay where I am. I wouldn't want to croak on the couch drinking a Budweiser and watching an episode of Rosanne. Although I suspect that if I somehow gained the ability to time travel then something else is cosmically amiss and the events that played out in the "New 90s" would be different than the history we know. George H.W. Bush puking on Japans Prime Minister starts WWIII, Ross Perot is the US president and Kurt Cobain lives to the ripe old age of 28. If that's the case I'll go back in a second.
 

R

R_J_K75

Hero
MarkB said:
But I had to wonder whether it would even have been popular back then, or if we needed to go from there to here in order to appreciate it.
Click to expand...
I 100% believe that there needed to be the natural progression of editions. 3E definitely paved the way, so without it there wouldn't be 5E.
 

Henry

Henry

Autoexreginated
Morrus said:
If you had to be trapped in a decade from the 20th century, and live there, which would you choose? You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage; you have to live the decade as it was but you’re your current age (you don’t get to be younger again!)

And - importantly - why?
Click to expand...
1980s. A lot of my reasons are influenced by me living in the U.S. Making assumptions that (1) I am still living where I lived, and (2) I could have skillsets I have now that also exist in the decade, then:
  1. U.S. Economy was doing phenomenally, and the U.S. still had a pretty healthy middle class.
  2. U.S. was not involved in any major conflicts, other than the last remnants of the Cold War.
  3. Both computers and Unix were things in the 80s -- I could have made a very comfortable living working for a larger university or corporation, even using the skills I have today. (Here, I'm being a little interpretive with "can't use your future knowledge to your advantage" - if I had the EXACT skills I had in the 80s, I'd be a kid and not know jack :):):):)! So I'm assuming skill sets that would have been available in the 80s )
  4. TV had some of the most awesome shows ever produced running. Heck, everything from Dukes of Hazzard to MacGyver to Airwolf to Golden Girls were on. :D
  5. I could even still play D&D, and possibly with some of the same people I played with back then (my D&D groups from back then was a mix of teens and twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings.)
Now, 80s weren't all wine and roses, I'm not ignorant - plenty of racial injustice and profiling, totally hidden because of no phone cameras yet or camcorders (camcorders existed, but not common), the AIDS epidemic, unrest all over the globe, still threat of nuclear war (even though we know in hindsight it didn't happen), but based on where I lived at the time, it was a relatively privileged life for me and my family, and I'm pretty sure I could have recreated such for myself and a wife and kids at the time as a university sysadmin or corporate drone.
 

Ryujin

Ryujin

Adventurer
The 1990s. Music was OK, if not great overall. Most of the medical advances we currently have, that have an effect on my life at my current age, already existed. And maybe, just maybe my employer (a computer manufacturer) would listen to me this time when I said, "You really need to look into this World Wide Web thing. It's growing quickly and could be a great advertising medium." They could have been another Dell. Instead they no longer exist.
 



O

opacitizen

Explorer
What do you mean trapped in a decade? Like they would last forever, repeating from 0-9? After 1999, I'd be back in 1990? Also, what does "live there" mean? For how long? Would I be aging as the decade loops over and over and over, or would I also be rolling back? Would I be forgetting the past 10 years with each reset?
 

Maxperson

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
opacitizen said:
What do you mean trapped in a decade? Like they would last forever, repeating from 0-9? After 1999, I'd be back in 1990? Also, what does "live there" mean? For how long? Would I be aging as the decade loops over and over and over, or would I also be rolling back? Would I be forgetting the past 10 years with each reset?
Click to expand...
Inquiring minds want to know!
 


billd91

billd91

Hobbit on Quest
1990s. I think people forget that there was a lot of optimism floating around. The Cold War seemed to be over. Iraq was contained. NATO worked together.
 

cbwjm

cbwjm

Hero
1980s, 1990s. Diabetes medicine is still good and I'd likely be able to afford to buy my own home. Nobody looks good (seriously, why all the shoulder pads and big hair?) But since I don't know what I know now I'll be none the wiser. Since I'm 41 I'll likely end up being overwhelmed by the technological advances of the next couples decades, hopefully I'll have kids to annoy who grew up with it and can solve my IT issues.
 

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