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Games You Used to Enjoy

Started by RPGPundit, May 16, 2018, 03:36:10 AM

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WillInNewHaven

Quote from: RPGPundit;1039359Do you have any games that you used to like playing, but that for one reason or another you've soured on? If so, why?

I liked playing AD&D1 but did not feel  that it was an improvement, except in a few details, over OD&D. I played in a long but infrequently-run campaign from the mid-eighties until the GM stopped running it a couple of years ago. Looking at the rules, I don't know if I would play it again. I feel nostalgia for Simon's kitchen table and the players but not for the game.

I thought I loved Shadowrun but I've since seen that the GM wasn't using the rules as written, not at all close. I'd play in that campaign again but it really isn't Shadowrun. The game looks like a shapeless kluge.

Ted

For me it is more genre, I'm burned out on superheros, Star Wars and grimdark likely because of being inundated by these in other forms of entertainment . . . movies mostly, I expect.

Teodrik

#62
BRP in a general sense. I was introduced to the ttrpg hobby by this family of games, so I have a special soft spot for them. But I just can't bring myself to play games based on this engine anymore. Not even Call of Cthulhu. It only ends up in endless tinkering and I can't stop myself. It got a realistic tone and feel, but I just don't want that anymore. And maybe I never really did. One of the main reasons I started to favor D&D(TSR) was that is was more abstract and it was ok being just that. While I think BRP is more about simulating a world  while D&D felt like it just simulating adventuring. I also started to detest long and very detailed skill lists. In theory I still think BRP is better than D&D in the  sense of being a mutation from D&D aimed to solve the abstract nature of Class, Level, Armor Class, Saving Throws, Skills etc. It did produce a platonically better game, Runequst, that made more sense. But when it made more sence it was not as fun anymore.

But I do hope to buy and run Pendragon some day.

Trond

I agree, to a degree, with those who said Rolemaster. I can still use it if I house-rule it heavily (and then it is quite fun, actually). But as written, I just can't handle it anymore. I suppose that this is also true for most (or all) versions of D&D, but I was always just a player, I never ran that as DM.

Malleustein

Ars Magica doesn't hold any appeal anymore, nor does DC Heroes, though I would referee the latter if my players were genuinely interested, and I use the World At War sourcebook whenever I have an excuse to.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten has been replaced by Dead Reign.

I have not considered refereeing Call of Cthulhu since the bad joke that is 7th Edition was published.  I think this more to do with having other games to referee and play since I have earlier editions.

I doubt I could put up with all the mechanical moving parts of the rules to the Warhammer 40,000 role-playing games.  I am hopeful for Wrath & Glory.

I am unlikely to play Green Ronin's A Song of Ice & Fire again.  It is just a very uninteresting system.  I haven't looked at the Guardians of Order A Game of Thrones book in a long time, so I don't know how I would feel about using that one.
"The Point is Good Deeds Were Done and We Were Nearby!"

Madprofessor

Quote from: Trond;1039986I agree, to a degree, with those who said Rolemaster. I can still use it if I house-rule it heavily (and then it is quite fun, actually). But as written, I just can't handle it anymore. I suppose that this is also true for most (or all) versions of D&D, but I was always just a player, I never ran that as DM.

I would run MERP or Rolemaster again with the right people - that is people who know the system and/or people who are competent at the 2 and 3 digit maths.  It is just not likely to find a group like that.  RM is just not a good casual RPG.  You need some dedicated nerds.

Lynn

Quote from: RPGPundit;1039359Do you have any games that you used to like playing, but that for one reason or another you've soured on? If so, why?

Pathfinder. I went to and enjoyed three of the PaizoCons. But some of their choices related to their products and the culture of their forums sort of put me off them. The wave of OSR games turned me on to simpler systems that seemed to be produced more for fun rather than demonstrating how diversity sensitive the company is.
Lynn Fredricks
Entrepreneurial Hat Collector

Madprofessor

Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1039936I liked playing AD&D1 but did not feel  that it was an improvement, except in a few details, over OD&D. I played in a long but infrequently-run campaign from the mid-eighties until the GM stopped running it a couple of years ago. Looking at the rules, I don't know if I would play it again. I feel nostalgia for Simon's kitchen table and the players but not for the game.


I love D&D.  It's like a freakin family member.  I grew up with it, I fought with it, and formed my best memories with it, but I can't hardly stand it as a rules system anymore.  Twice a year I get worked up about it and run a session in anticipation of a new campaign, and it just leaves me flat and annoyed.

Trond

Quote from: Madprofessor;1040074I would run MERP or Rolemaster again with the right people - that is people who know the system and/or people who are competent at the 2 and 3 digit maths.  It is just not likely to find a group like that.  RM is just not a good casual RPG.  You need some dedicated nerds.

As far as the Rolemaster math goes, we just used a calculator. Sometimes we would also program in a D100 on the calc, but rolling actual dice was usually more fun.
By using calculators and post-it notes on the various charts, I found that RM ran as quickly as almost any other RPG, so that was never the problem for me. It was more the fact that the game makes things unnecessarily difficult for low level characters, and it was almost as if the rules had a fetish for penalties.

Mike the Mage

Quote from: Trond;1040086As far as the Rolemaster math goes, we just used a calculator. Sometimes we would also program in a D100 on the calc, but rolling actual dice was usually more fun.
By using calculators and post-it notes on the various charts, I found that RM ran as quickly as almost any other RPG, so that was never the problem for me. It was more the fact that the game makes things unnecessarily difficult for low level characters, and it was almost as if the rules had a fetish for penalties.

It certainly did. 1d100 plus a skill+attribute at 1st level from around 10 to 25 with difficulty mods from +30 to -70. And you usually had to roll above 100. Moreover, almost all printed source material from ICE was -20 and harder.
When change threatens to rule, then the rules are changed

antiochcow

Quote from: RPGPundit;1039359Do you have any games that you used to like playing, but that for one reason or another you've soured on? If so, why?

Dungeon World, mostly. I think I only enjoyed it all because I was suffering from d20 burnout at the time.

I still write stuff for it, and I'll still play and run it if someone really wants to run/play it, but if I'm feeling like going dungeon crawling I prefer d20 stuff because I'll get the same tone, plus it's faster and easier.

For example, in D&D if you attack an ogre you either hit and deal damage or miss, and then on its turn the ogre tries to hit you. Quick and easy.

In DW you can hit the ogre and deal damage (10 or higher), hit the ogre and then the ogre does something to you (7-9), or miss (6 or less) and then the GM can just come up with whatever they feel makes sense at that point in time. Could be damage, could be damage and you get knocked back, could be damage and your shield is shattered, could be damage, you're knocked back, your shield is shattered, and your arm is broken. Could be something else entirely (you're knocked over a cliff, into lava, weapon flies out of your hand). It just depends, and it can be a lot to juggle (especially for new GMs).

Some things also don't make any sense, like adventuring gear, which just so happens to contain whatever five items you happen to need at a point in time (could be all torches, could be torches and rope, could be torches, rope, and pitons, you'll never know until you look inside), but it will always have a weight of 1, just like elven bread. Or like leather armor, which weighs just as much as chainmail and provides identical protection. Or going from a known location for some reason requires only one person to watch the entire party's food supply, only one person to look out for danger, and only one person to make sure everyone's going the right way.

Abraxus

Rifts Chaos Earth was one that I had high hopes for.

Between PB claiming it was a "complete" rpg. Then removing the magic, psionic and creatures from core and selling them separately. Not a deal breaker as they are not the first company to do something along those lines. The original background for the rpg was that while their was a nuclear exchange between countries it was to a smaller degree so many countries and their governments and infrastructure survived fairly intact. Except for poor Mexico they always get screwed over. Humanity has a chance a slim chance to turn back the tide. Instead as usual Kevin could not leave well enough alone so he just had to change it suit his vision. We are left with a rpg where no matter what happens the humanity loses. Your characters can put up the good fight yet it's all for nothing. No one in my gaming group wants to play the PB they would love to play the original version of the rpg. At least in Rifts their is hope for humanity. The only reason I would buy the rpg is to mine it for new occs/rcc. power armor and robots.

RPGPundit

I did have a brief period where I thought GURPS was cool, back in my teens.
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Trond

Quote from: RPGPundit;1040327I did have a brief period where I thought GURPS was cool, back in my teens.

I sort of liked GURPS 3rd ed. although I thought weapon damage was unnecessarily complex. I guess I could have gotten used to it, but they completely lost me with 4th edition. I didn't like the massive rules books, I didn't like the art, and I think I didn't like the rules changes either (as far as I remember).

Skarg

Quote from: Trond;1040399I sort of liked GURPS 3rd ed. although I thought weapon damage was unnecessarily complex. I guess I could have gotten used to it, but they completely lost me with 4th edition. I didn't like the massive rules books, I didn't like the art, and I think I didn't like the rules changes either (as far as I remember).

As someone who's only ever really been happy with TFT and GURPS, and is still happy with GURPS, even I find the GURPS 4th edition Basic Set cumbersome and overwhelming. But it turns out that the game buried in there isn't really much different or any more complex than 3rd edition. It's just that they threw practically every character trait and skill from almost all previous world books into the Basic Set, and made the point-cost calculations for several types of advantages and things into more generic forms... which even I find to be overkill unless/until someone wants to use it, which for most of that content, I don't. In fact, I started mostly not caring about character points. So sadly the 4e Basic Set seems like an obstacle to new players (or even old players) instead of an invitation to something immediately playable. It's still a good resource for expert players and GMs wanting a toolkit to build a new setting, if they can sift through/out what they don't need.