Wil Wheaton is probably about my age (35) because when I read his recent post about going through his gaming library, I couldn’t help thinking that we loved the same freaking games! (I checked, he’s 36).
As I read his stuff online, I see he’d have made a great gaming buddy. We could have ribbed him with his Star Trek McJob while we worked in grocery stores and University labs to help pay our college tuition.
When I go through my collection, I see the following (from oldest to earliest):
AD&D Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manual
Not originally mine but stand ins for the books that I use to have. I won’t play that game again, but it has sentimental value. If someone wants to give me a PHB to complete my core book collection, I’m taking donation.
Car Wars
I have a bankers box full of Car Wars stuff. Arena maps, City Maps, 3 editions of rulebooks and compendium. Man I LOVED this game… It’s such a pity it aged so badly. I’ve been told by several industry type that reviving this game and adapting it to modern mechanics is not worth it. Come one Steve Jackson, at least give me an Autoduelling Munckin Game!
Gurps:
I bought, sold and re-bought my entire Gurps collection. Until my wife said I could no longer sell books that ‘I’d never play again’. From Compendium, Magic, Grimoire, Undead, Wizards, Vehicles, Supers and several less playable books, I have been a rabid Gurps fan throughout the late 80’s and all the 90’s.
D&D 3.x
The number of 3.x D&D books I bought is freaking indecent. I gave a ton of them away and I still have a Banker’s box full. I also have battle boxes, Piles of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, 2 Full Pathfinder Adventure Paths, scads of adventure (including a heavily penciled-in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil) and more dice than a Vegas Casino.
D&D 4e: 3 Core Books, DM’S screen, the H1 and H2 adventures as well as Goodman Games’ Dragora’s Dungeon. I’m waiting for Adventurer’s Vault like all the loyal 4e fans and I’ll probably spend a fortune on 4e. That will teach me to go to college and marry another Urban professional.
Gen Con buys
Mutant and Masterminds. I’m reading it and so far I like it a lot.
Nostalgia induced gaming
Would I play any of the games I bought before D&D 4e? No. Mostly because I’m not the nostalgic type anymore, but I do understand the feeling.
Looking over my collection, I can recall the feeling of discovery and thrill that I felt when playing each game. I also understand why many adult gaming groups try to reconnect with that feeling, thinking that older games were better.
Chances are, they weren’t, you just enjoyed them more because you were at a different point in your life. You were less jaded, had less issues to worry about, had way more free time and were easier to impress.
I’m not nostalgic anymore because I’m once again having the time of my life with RPGs. Much like 20 years ago, I’m making new friends because of these games and I am eagerly awaiting my next game session whenever I’m not playing.
I recently made peace with myself and the games I play. I stopped taking things so damn seriously and I accepted that my bi-monthly D&D game is nothing more than Poker Night with friends or Golf (at least it sure costs about the same).
Oddly enough, I never had so much fun doing it since. I’m starting to believe that the system I currently play has little to do with the feeling, although the newness helped start fresh on virgin grounds.
Nostalgia is not always your friend, it’s actually one of those inner demons I keep talking about, holding you back, making you feel disappointed or unsatisfied. It’s particularly insidious because nostalgia is made up of emotional memories. Those are the worse to get rid of and deal with rationally.
Geek Nostalgia Aside: “The original Star Wars trilogy was JUST better dammit!!!” Well, while they were original, they weren’t all that good (acting sucked and Lucas’ insanity shows in places). We were just kids then and the movies left a deep emotional mark in our psyche! My 6 year old prefers the prequels and I also kinda like them when I see them with the eyes of my inner kid…. well except Phantom, I’m still a geek!
You should therefore seek to understand the internal motivations that made you feel that good about an older game/older gaming group and try to achieve it again in the now. Its not the games that you played, it was the state of mind you were in.
I’m just sayin’ =)
What about you? What gaming stuff do you still cling to and what do you long to re-connect to in your RPG experience.
Have a great weekend.
You know, I don’t think I’m particularly nostalgic either. Sure, I’m still playing 3.5, but that’s because 4e won’t support some of the things I want it to support just now. When the PHB II comes out, I’ll revisit 4e and see. It’s not a nostalgia thing though, more like choosing to play White Wolf instead of D&D…at least that’s how I view it.
That said, somewhere I still have all my second edition stuff, and all my old White Wolf stuff as well. I don’t play any of it, and don’t really want to, but it’s nice to just have it and remember that first session. “I roll a what?” “What the hell is THAC0?” “What do you mean his fireball gets me?”
Good times 😉
Tomcat1066s last blog post..The Alpha and the Omega
By the same token, though, new games aren’t intrinsically better just because they’re new. Novelty is something that can wear off, just as nostalgia is something that can alter one’s perceptions. People should have fun playing what they’re playing. I have the most fun with Rules Cyclopedia D&D and 2nd edition AD&D, so that’s what I play; it isn’t nostalgia – those are my favourite iterations of the game.
That said, I still have all my old Cyberpunk 2020 stuff, even though I recognised at the time that the system was among the stupidest ever!
noismss last blog post..Where’s the Innovation? Or, Forget the Realms
Yes, there are no perfect, better games, just preferences. This stupid litany needs to go the way of the Dodo… but I might as well just poison the Mountain Dew of all geeks. (This is a joke… just making sure)
I agree that old games are not just played for nostalgia. The Old School revival is, to me, a very legitimate response to the recent game design philosophies that emerged recently.
Yes playing games is the definitive Carpe Diem concept. Have fun with friends… in the present!
@noisms: Hey now! I loved Cyberpunk 2020 😉
I just hated that I didn’t get to play it after I got out of the Navy.
Tomcat1066s last blog post..The Alpha and the Omega
I think my interest in old school gaming is fueled by two things: 1. Older games often had less rules, or at least back then it had many useless rules that we ignored (weapon speed, weapon vs. armor tables), while D&D 3E had lots of rules that seemed relevant so we keep using them. 2. Older games made less sense in terms of monsters, spells, dungeon maps, and rules, thus actually increasing my sense of wonder. Yes, when I was younger I was pining for more realism. But now that I have it, I want to go back to a big bunch of henchmen, sex changing belts, save vs. poison or die, etc.
Alex Schröders last blog post..Corporate Wikis
All of my rpg nostalgia is invested in video games. Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, Anachronox, etc. I was introduced to RPGs through video games, and never tried a “table top version” of these games until a few years ago.
Patriarch917s last blog post..Killing Minions with Style
Car Wars *rocked*. On the surface, you were racing little deathmobiles with machineguns, oil slicks and flamethrowers. I couldn’t balance a checkbook to save my life but there I was comparison shopping for carframes, balancing my budgetary needs (speed or firepower?) and prudently navigating those cool arenas.
Thanks for the nostalgia-trip!
DocBadwrenchs last blog post..3 Settlements & a New Map
When you young-uns reminisce, I really feel old. We were playing the blue-cover edition of D&D (basic) when I was introduced to AD&D by some kids at summer day camp. I never bothered with 2nd Edition. But I was also keen on Traveller, Gamma World, and Top Secret. I think I still have my copy of Boot Hill.
For me, nostalgia, though, is not about the games, it’s about recalling a time when I could spend all day with my friends without worrying about paying the mortgage or getting the kids to school on time in the morning.
Davids last blog post..FEMA For Kids Board Game
@Alex: Your analysis is rational and great. You returned to older games because of things you identified as important (and fun) to you. I don’t think someone can argue much against such a stance without coming off as a jerk.
Kudos mon ami.
@Patriarch: The games you name were the last CRPGs I played before abandoning computer games for a few years (until World of Warcrack). They were some good. Computer games nostalgia is also strong, just look at Shamus Young’s recent post over his blog.
@DocBadwrench: Oh man, I’ve played whole seasons of League Car Wars with friends. I spent hours building cars, Trikes, Motorcycles, Boats and Hovercrafts (I still have a binder full of them).
I miss my recoiless rifles and Triple-linked Heavy Rocket Ramcar concept.
Sigh… Come one, a Car Wars Clicky game anyone?
@David: I’ve met you at Gen Con man, you ain’t all that much older than I am (or if you are, you are blessed with eternal youth genes). I learned initially with the Red Box but I had a teenager friend with a copy of the 1st Ed PHB, we never looked back.
Thanks for the comments, I still enjoy them a lot!
Hero Quest: Played the hell out of that game when we were around 12-13. About a year ago we dug the game out and played another short game. All the old quests were new again and I used my last 18 years of gaming experience to make the adventure seem more RP then rolling dice board game.
After a bit of rule hacking I made the weakling monsters really nasty with mummy rot curses, Liches and a *gasp* beholder. Most of the heroes died that game except the barbarian who eventually took out the beholder with a swift sword to the eye.
I really understand wat do mean. Im too spend so many money in books in my life that i think i can have another life ( ou a continue ) with i have not spend that money.
In thruth me and some friends have calculate that i can have buyed a car…but i prefeer a Book…so what…lol
But this first edition AD&D…im wanting too!
Byes
leandropugs last blog post..Novo Monstro da Web ::: Aranea
I’ve been thinking about nostalgia a lot lately, so I appreciate this post. I’d just add that I think most of “geek culture” is built on nostalgia. Comics, gaming, movies — most of them seem to depend on our attempt to recapture our childhood. Look at all the remakes, reboots, or film properties built on 1980’s children’s toys or television. I am also not sure that this is a healthy thing.
Professor Popes last blog post..True stories that did not, in fact, actually happen
Professor,
Interesting thoughts you’ve got there about geek culture’s interest in nostalgia. I’m not sure I agree, but I’m not sure I disagree either 😉
Sometimes an older game does something that you can’t really find anymore. I was really a fan of Trinity, White Wolf’s scifi-psionics game. What I liked most was the way the envisioned our world in the future, shaking things up a little bit by putting china and africa out at the fore. Lots of great little details that made the setting, for me, a pleasure to romp around in.
I’ve never really been a big fan of the White Wolf dice system, though, but whatever. It doesn’t take much work these days to find the system you want and put it under the setting you want.
Setting-nostalgia is well and good. Sometimes you have something that scratches a particular itch, and whether it’s from your past or your present, when your itching needs scratching, that’s what you’ve got to do.
System nostalgia, though, gets you into trouble. Someone mentioned Cyberpunk. I used to think that I loved Cyberpunk’s system…only recently do I realize that I didn’t like Cyberpunk’s system at all, but it’s setting. The setting is great, but if I wanted to do Cpunk2020 I could port it to d20 Modern or Mutants and MasterMinds or any one of dozen strong systems out there. It wouldn’t take significantly longer and I’d be happier in the long term.
@Darvin: Many of my friends were introduced to tabletop fantasy gaming through Milton Bradley’s Liscence of Games Workshop Heroquest. (Or Talisman too). In fact hacking Heroquest seems to have been a rite of passage for my crunchy friends!
@leandropug: Bon Dia my Sao Paulo friend and welcome on the blog. (That’s the Extent of my Portuguese). I estimated that I spent about 40 000$ in gaming gear in the last 25 years…. and I’m not going to stop, so that’s why I’m more critical of the quality of Wizards’ products lately.
@Professor: My favorite line from the TVtropes.org wiki goes like this:
Everything geek experimented as a teenager leaves a profound mark… at least it did for me. That’s why I keep returning to D&D when there’s so many other good RPGs I could play right now.
@Gamefiend: It’s a bit funny that the two systems I never liked/touched (A D&D 2e and WW) are the 2 systems that readers mention a lot in comments. But I think they are representative of a play style/ethos I had no palate for then.
I’d play a Planscape game now! Just not with 2e.
Excellent analysis of nostalgia. I have also been thinking a lot about the interaction between current choices and nostalgia, so it was great to read your post.
The games I am nostalgic for:
Dark Sun. This was a horribly complicated setting for 2nd edition AD&D that my one attempt to play crashed and burned horribly, but I had the mads of Dark Sun maps on my walls for 5-6 years and when life was more than usually horrid, I could look up at that desert landscape and be transported to somewhere pleasant. A little weird but there it is.
Shadowrun. Or more accurately my one shadowrun group that played weekends in middle school by playing all night.
It is funny to think that during this time that I reminisce about the good old days, my children will soon be nostalgic about this time that I am wasting on my memories of the good times.
I’m guilty of keeping all of my old games. I have an entire bookshelf full of old Dragon magazines, a couple of binders of old campaign materials, and the games themselves: the Marvel Super Heroes RPG, the OD&D boxed sets, Boot Hill, Top Secret, HERO, GURPS, White Wolf, and more. And dozens upon dozens of AD&D books and modules spanning 4 editions.
Easily 80% of this is stuff I’ll most likely never use. I think I keep it mostly so I won’t be tempted to re-buy it at a later time (and then most likely never use it).
Great post, as ever.
Loved Car Wars. Still planning to convince my players to let me run my “D&D meets Car Wars” uber-campaign sometime………..
Love GURPS too. 3e has that nostalgic feel right to a tee, though we’ve moved to GURPS 4e for our non-d20 realistic WWII era gaming needs. It works, very well.
Favourite nostalgic game of mine? All of ’em dude. All of ’em.
greywulfs last blog post..Character du Jour: Attan
I never had HeroQuest, only an expansion for it (pity, that). I did build some rules to play the expansion with.
Tommis last blog post..How does roleplaying work again?
My ultimate piece of Gaming Nostalgia is a Metamorphosis Alpha from circa 1977. It was the precursor of Gamma World and took place inside a generation STL starship, that had suffered a radiation disaster. The game is really hard to play because of its unstructured contents, but I ran some funny sessions with it in the late 1970s. Last time I played must have been 1978, before I became a Traveller fan.
I also have an enormous amount of stuff related to Traveller (the original black box). I ran a campaign from 1978 till 1982, haven’t played it since then, but cannot get rid of the books and magazines. too close to my heart
(I also have lot of Swedish games from the 1980s that I designed, but I won’t bother you with details.)
Phil Google’s Anders Blixt and lo and behold, the shock of seeing a long time RPG designer pop in my little blog of geekiness hits.
Yay! A warm welcome, I hope you’ll enjoy your stay…