Quote from: CRKrueger;548638When you went away from the "Monster of the Week" episodes to the "Alien Conspiracy" episodes, it became clear that Chris Carter had no clue how the conspiracy was going to end.

X-Files inocculated me against Lost, Game of Thrones, Sopranos, Firefly etc. ad nauseam.
Rome was only good because the plot twists are predecided upon by history...

Thanks to X-Files, I can smell TV authors with a handbasket full of ideas and delusions of grandeur but no ability to wrap it up or make decisions twenty miles against the wind.

I do want to bring up Babylon 5 and Space: Above and Beyond as fantastic counterexamples from the 90ies.

My favorite 90ies design trope:

pre-storygamified cinematic systems:

WEG Star Wars stands out the most, in a way Cyberpunk and Shadowrun tried it from a different angle. Taking the setting very seriously but still providing cinematic action-adventure WITHOUT the collapse of all sanity as the fundamentalist readings of "story" and "cinematic" would later lead to. That line was probably first crossed by Guardians of Order, if anyone remembers them.

Quote from: Settembrini;548776I do want to bring up Babylon 5 and Space: Above and Beyond as fantastic counterexamples from the 90ies.

Space Above and Beyond taught me that there is no point getting invested in American TV, because even if it is any good, they will cancel the fucking thing before any resolution.

A trend that continues to this day. The Cape, The Firm, Terra Nova...

Saying that, some of those were average at best, but probably better than some of the shit that survives the cut every year on US tv.

Off the top of my head:

Most:

Lifepaths! Cyberpunk 2020, Mekton, Cybergen used the.

Mechwarrior 2nd Edition was a thing and it was awesome.

Cross over products like Battletech/Mechwarrior that didn't bloat up with FFG style chad.

Books were printed but dense. Look at those R. Talsorian books. So info packed crunchy goodness.

Actual setting books that were dense and useful. Nightcity, Waterdeep boxset, Azlan sourcebook.

Edgy did not equal gloomy pity fests.

You were PROFESSIONALS. PC's had a bit more...tact and vim about them. Post 2000 they were either Epic Heroes or Traumatised fools. I miss the Ninja & Superspies days.

There was more to do than dungeon crawling.

Naked violence in the settings. Glamoized but not worshiped.

Books with STUFF. Chromebook 1-4, Shadowrun gear books, just stuff, stuff, stuff.

GURPS 3rd Edition WAS GODLY.

Least:

Horrid binding.

Balkainzation of FASA products.

"Ending" of lines pre 2000. TORG, oWoD shutting down Wraith, etc.

No clear direction for post TSR world.

Masterbook era (ie. Pre death of WEG 1st time.)

Everyone was only playing WOD games at LGS.

If I had to put a nametag on the 90ies gaming we did, it would be:

"Decade of the Sci-Fi complex"

We explored, blasted, invaded, defended, sneaked into, spied upon, fought in, fought on, fought under, planned about ...etc. trillions of power stations, mainframe housings, corporate HQs, mech assembly lines, shield generators, AI driven supermalls, space stations, (star)port storagehouses etc... it is pretty defining in retrospect.

Different from Dungeons as far as location based gaming goes.
ADD: And after my fair share of dungeoneering, I must say I prefer the Sci Fi complex. I am still looking for a dungeon that has the same form/function ratio and inner logic. A grand fantasy riddle to be explored & conquered. The redone Castle Greyhawk did that for me, but I read it that way. We made it into a god-machine driven, Obelisk powered time machine.

Quote from: Settembrini;548936If I had to put a nametag on the 90ies gaming we did, it would be:

"Decade of the Sci-Fi complex"

We explored, blasted, invaded, defended, sneaked into, spied upon, fought in, fought on, fought under, planned about ...etc. trillions of power stations, mainframe housings, corporate HQs, mech assembly lines, shield generators, AI driven supermalls, space stations, (star)port storagehouses etc... it is pretty defining in retrospect.

Different from Dungeons as far as location based gaming goes.

Sounds like someone spent the 90s playing Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun.

Quote from: Settembrini;548936ADD: And after my fair share of dungeoneering, I must say I prefer the Sci Fi complex. I am still looking for a dungeon that has the same form/function ratio and inner logic. A grand fantasy riddle to be explored & conquered. The redone Castle Greyhawk did that for me, but I read it that way. We made it into a god-machine driven, Obelisk powered time machine.

Having been introduced to RPGs in the heyday of AD&D 2e, this is a big part of my fascination with OSR stuff: both the bledning of SF with fantasy (from the surreptitious to the balls-out) and the idea of the dungeon as an intellectual challenge of its own. Old news for real grogs, maybe, but novel enough for me.