I've suddenly had an epiphany: I am a middle-aged guy with a very busy, demanding job, child (late in life) and family that consumes a lot of time. In the last eighteen months I have purchased a lot of games, among which include all sorts of giant, lavishly illustrated tomes, laden with rules, mechanics and fluff. And then there's all that OSR stuff I've actually read, and could actually run. Hmmmm.
As a result, I'm eyeballing Magic World again. Weird, because of the whole "abandoned by Chaosium" deal, but it' really about the level of detail I actually want out of a BRP engine right now. RQ6 is awesome.....but maybe not for a guy like me with a serious time budget.
Actually, I kinda just feel like talking the group into playing White Lies or Swords & Wizardry. Hmmm.
TL;DR: getting old sucks.
EDIT: Actually I know what I need to do: convince the group to try out either Mutant Future or Other Dust. Been dying to run both for eons now but never have.
EDIT #2: Although Other Dust is now on the menu, I am DETERMINED to run RQ/Mythras! But I had to set some limits...thank goodness this game is basically "modular." So we're using Runequest Essentials instead of the main book for char gen, limiting magic to folk magic and theism. Then I'm letting everyone pick from the racial options only in Classic Fantasy. I'll introduce sorcery through play, which gives me the extra time to re-read the rules....which, despite basically just being from RQII, added a lot of subtle complexity to the process that I totally don't remember from my RQII days. Orrrrrr maybe it's just been a while. Either way, I am staying committed; I really want to run RQ again....it has been too long.
I feel you. I think that is what has me looking so hard at Savage Worlds again. I already understand it and it (fairly easily) handles multiple genres.
ReplyDeleteTotally...Savage Worlds is a very easy multigenre system, and has pretty much replaced GURPS for me in that regard.
DeleteSame boat here. Fortunately, I don't have to run things very often. My wife is running Dragon Age right now, and after that is a 5E game based on Pre-Columbian North America run by a friend. However, I do have a pick-up game to fill gaps, and I chose 5E for that.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah. I have to stop myself from buying new stuff all the time.
Why can't there be an easy to run and play RPG that's suitable for a mainstream audience and hardcore gamers? If only some company that was good at making family and party games got together with some RPG guys and made such a game. We can only dream.
ReplyDeletehttp://jdh417.blogspot.com/2013/06/retro-post-mainstream.html
The market has a need.....but no reputable publisher is trying to market for this (except maybe WotC)....which is a real missed opportunity!
DeleteHasbro owns WotC. I think those guys know how to make family and party games. This drives me crazy! Oh, well. Thanks for taking my suggestion seriously. Most gamers laugh at it.
DeleteThe problem is hardcore gamers see these games a certain way....but the principle of role-playing is actually fairly well understood when it is not confused by obscure numbers and odd math. If people can understand the idea of improv, they can get in to RP, they just need a game which makes it "not scary" and they'll be more than happy to try it out. If video games and Euro board games could somehow become mainstream, so could paper and pencil gaming.
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