Tenkar's Tavern: I Was a Teenage Gamer

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I Was a Teenage Gamer

Hey, I made the big time! ;)

Anyhow, last nite my son (soon to be 17... oh those teenage years) was looking over my shoulder as I was blogging / reading blogs. He says to me "people are still playing those games?" and later asked "how many people play those games?". These questions are leaps and bounds past the usual "You call Fantasy Grounds graphical?"

That and he's looking to read novels based on the TV series The Unit. My kid HATES reading. I think I might turn him in to a gamer yet. At least, he's thinking about it... in that of so frustrating teenage way. Me, I was so taken in my Lord of the Rings I was ready to get my gaming feet wet in 8th grade.

In the meantime we still have Star Trek Online together... and he's outleveling my ass in that game.. god bless him ;) Oh, and its very graphical... heh

3 comments:

ChristianMarch 30, 2010 at 10:19 PM
Well, even if he never picks up the dice at least you guys get to blow stuff up via Star Trek. :)
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TenkarMarch 30, 2010 at 10:24 PM
We've been gaming together via MMORPGs since EQ2. It aint cheap, but he's my boy.

If I can get him into pen n paper rpgs i'll be skating for free ;)
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ZzarchovApril 1, 2010 at 10:38 PM
Man, it is wierd to think of being 17, and up until I thought about it just now it didn't seem like that long ago I was 17.

Time is a funny thing.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I Was a Teenage Gamer

3 comments:

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