I wanted to note, because I think I hadn't till now, that I've looked at GURPS 4e "Banestorm" and found it REALLY well done.

I was particularly stunned, because I had seen the Yrth books for earlier editions of GURPS, and had always been deeply unimpressed, underwhelmed.  But now, its like the setting has finally gelled and been presented in a format that made it worthwhile.

Have any of you had any similar experiences with either games or settings? I'm not talking about getting to like a game or setting after a while, but rather where one edition of a game or setting is definitely unappealing to you, only to have a later edition/version of the same game/world end up really jiving with you?

RPGPundit

Exalted, but I can't work out what system to translate it to.

Quote from: RPGPunditHave any of you had any similar experiences with either games or settings? I'm not talking about getting to like a game or setting after a while, but rather where one edition of a game or setting is definitely unappealing to you, only to have a later edition/version of the same game/world end up really jiving with you?

nWoD/nMage - sort of for differing/nesting reasons.

OWoD was mechanically a mess. NWoD is still a binomial dice pool system (not my favorite), but at least it is written as if the authors have a clue about probability.

OMage has this "slippery consensus reality" theory that set me ill at ease. NMage has a theory of reality that I find much more accomodating to my suspension of disbeleif.

I did not like Eberron at all since before it even hit the shelves. I had my mind made up and when I looked through the setting book, I wasn't impressed. Fast forward a year, two of my players have the setting book and basically harrangue me to within an inch of my life to run something Eberron. I finally cave and ask to borrow the damn thing so I can run the adventure in the ECS and have done with it to just shut them the hell up. So, I'm reading this built in adventure and I think yeah I can run this. Then I start asking questions, I begin to start reading the setting book to answer them and thinking to myself yeah, this shit is pretty damn good. The more I read the more I like until I'm on the internet soaking up as much as I can and ordering a ECS book for myself. That campaign ran itself up to about level 6, I plan on starting another one this Saturday.

Dark Sun, when it first came out I had no interest in a non-pseudo medieval D&D setting. I eventually picked it up and read it thoroughly--still no interest.

However a couple years later, jaded by the YAPM (Yet another pseudo medieval) setting I decided what I wanted was different--and Dark Sun was that. Albeit at the point that I began to love Dark Sun, my dislike of D&D had grown so much that I looked for other games to run it in.


I like Dark Sun now, and I like some "pseudo" medieval worlds a great deal like Birthright--the issue is the more medieval in feel (or Dark Ages) the more I like it--Pendragon, Ars Magica, Birthright, all get a lot of love from me. (I have been fond of alien worlds--Skyrealms of Jorune, Talislanta, Tekumel in vaious forms but at that particular time, Id felt Dark Sun was too much colum A, and not enough column B)

It's Eberron for me as well.  I had zero interest during all the early hype.  But now I've got the first book and I plan to use it.  I think the enthusiasm of some of my players was infectious.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadOMage has this "slippery consensus reality" theory that set me ill at ease. NMage has a theory of reality that I find much more accomodating to my suspension of disbeleif.

  OMage was a car wreck philosophically speaking and for all it owed to Ars Mag, the differences were pretty obvious.

  Ars Mag : Reality in magical and magic breaks down into these simple verbs and nouns.  Now, go forth and create your spells.

  OMage : Reality is magical and reality breaks down into combinations of these incredibly complex counter intuitive qualities.  Now, go forth and create your own spells.

Eberron here as well. I had no interest in it and it seemed kinda lame.

Then one of the players in my home game started raving about playing Mark of Heroes, so I thought I'd try it out. Unfortunately it's pretty much all almost over. Instead we got into the new RPGA campaign, Xend'rik Expeditions just as it started, and I've really started to love this campaign world. It's a semi-competitive campaign between four factions that every once in a while have to work together, which is a great twist on organized play. I just bought the campaign setting and one of the sourcebooks (Secrets of Xend'rik).

Has Eberron already gone to another edition I hadn't heard of?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditHas Eberron already gone to another edition I hadn't heard of?

No.  But for me it took a second look at the book to get it.

Quote from: jrientsNo.  But for me it took a second look at the book to get it.

You're not the first person I've heard say that.  Of course, when any major new setting or game comes out, there's going to be a hate-on for a while from folks who haven't seen it--I imagine once the hype wears down, some of those folks come back to it and find it isn't The End of the System/Hobby/Universe.

(I'm not saying this is what you did, just something I think happened elsewhere).

Quote from: Zachary The First(I'm not saying this is what you did, just something I think happened elsewhere).

Actually, my first reaction was "Hey, Wizards!  Anyone over there remember the World of Greyhawk?  I need another setting like I need another hole in my head!"

Quote from: jrientsActually, my first reaction was "Hey, Wizards!  Anyone over there remember the World of Greyhawk?  I need another setting like I need another hole in my head!"

(sniff) Greyhawk...

I seriously doubt that looking at Eberron again would alter my opinion on it.


RPGPundit

I don't have any examples of likeing a new edition better than the old one (though, thanks for the Banestorm heads up, because I really found Yrth boring). The closest for me would be that I felt almost hostile to Talislanta when I saw it on the racks back in the 80's, but now I feel really enthusiastic toward it now that I've picked up a copy of the second edition rulebook. But that was all about me changing, not the game.