Out of curiosity...what are some games you really used to love, but don't care for anymore? And, if you feel so inclined...why did the love affair end?
I have a few:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition - This (along with Marvel Classic) are the games I started with. I have STILLED probably played this more than I have any other single game...but despite the fantasy coolness and the GREAT settings, I want epic heroism and the game is very much designed to kill things and take its stuff (even if they did try to veer away from that a bit compared to earlier versions). I do still have the moments where I want to go back, but I think that's just because I haven't found my fantasy replacement yet...(REALLY waiting on Shaintar: Legends Unleashed, as well as trying out High Valor).
Marvel Classic: The first RPG I ever owned and the second RPG I ever ran. I would probably still be playing it today if Marvel SAGA hadn't come along and completely changed how I look at Supers gaming. Still very awesome...and I still have my books.
Star Wars D6: I was a HUGE fan of this game...then, as I played more and more game, I found D6 to be bland, and not really anything I wanted to mess with. Star Wars Saga Edition being so awesome kinda sealed the deal for me. I still have a ton of books, but they are now reference material and nothing more.
Deadlands Classic: This, like Marvel Classic, is a game that I would still be hardcore about if something hadn't come along that just did it BETTER (Deadlands Reloaded). Just a crazy awesome game that my group only tried because I browbeat them into it (the guy GMing it owned some of the books but had never played or ran it and I practically forced him to run it, and everyone else to give it a shot...EVERYONE became hooked on it). I own every Deadlands Classic book and am actually slowly tweaking Reloaded so it's a bit more of a hybrid between the two games.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness: Another game I loved back in the day...I rounded up most of the books real cheap a few years ago...and found that the Palladium system had aged badly.
Classic Unisystem: I lump these together rather than individually because it's all the same...I was gung ho about Witchcraft, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Armageddon and even Terra Primate. The first nail in the coffin was Cinematic Unisystem - powers without essence! Drama Points! Awesome licenses that I liked way better than the WitchCraft/Armageddon setting! Smaller skill lists! Savage Worlds was probably the final nail. Between those two games, I have no reason to crack another Classic Unisystem book. Well, that's not true...I had a great time running one of the Fistful o' Zombies settings as a Deadlands Classic game.
Any other games you all loved and then grew apart from?
Earthdawn, Torg, and DC Heroes. Hey! All of those were at least partially designed by the same guy, Greg Gorden.
Haven't picked up Palladium anything since about 1998 or so. Palladium Fantasy was tons better than AD&D2e. I used it for everything. Beyond the Supernatural, Heroes Unlimited, Rifts.. TMNT. I bought Nightspawn the week it came out. Those were all great.
The only other two games I really liked other AD&D and Basic in the 80s were SPI's Dragonquest and Universe.
I can only think of three.
Gurps. I used to love GURPS (2E-3E) it was awesome and simple at its heart. However, I've gotten older and I just don't want to spend that much time making characters. It's a solid system, but not for me.
BESM. For much the same reason as GURPS, only it seemed that no matter what they were dedicated to becoming more and more complex with each edition. BESM3E was more GURPS than I wanted. Despite being BESM. Plus the inclusion oF SAS's detail adjustment rules (whatever they called it.) Completely spoiled it.
Mutants & Masterminds: Edition bloat just like BESM.
If I loved it though, usually I still love it. I'm not into ditching a game that works for me usually. Sure there are sometimes better options for when to use a given game, but I keep pretty much using what I like.
Hi!
Yeah, this has definitely happened to me:
Top Secret - I LOVED this game, in fact, I got it again on eBay after I lost it during the move. It does not stand up to the test of time...
AD&D (1e) - This is another ame I have fond memories of, but when I go back and loo at the books, my eyes glaze over quickly...
Exalted 1e - This was fun when I played it, but when te idea to go back to Exalted, it made me hesitate. Mostly because iof "ping" damage. The worst is, the setting is pretty cool, but the mechanics can be real gobbledy goop. I considered running it with Solar System or FATE.
Cortex - The more I play it, the less I lie it. Because the mechanics are SO random, it works good for comedy games, but not much else...
What about you guys?
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394330Star Wars D6: I was a HUGE fan of this game...then, as I played more and more game, I found D6 to be bland, and not really anything I wanted to mess with. Star Wars Saga Edition being so awesome kinda sealed the deal for me. I still have a ton of books, but they are now reference material and nothing more.
This one for me. And I never saw it coming. I hated the first two d20 versions with the heat of Tatooine's twin suns, especially the entire spend your health (vitality) in order to use the Force. WTF? But Saga Edition did the Force and everything else so well that I've been selling off most of my D6 stuff for the past couple of years.
I loved Twilight 2000. Still love the concept and I would run a T2k campaign in a heartbeat...with a different system. I looked at my copy a few months ago and I can't believe we hacked through that system for years. Really goes to show that cool concept + cool players > system.
Runequest is another one. We played it like cultists. Lots of fun, but then we discovered Stormbringer. Moorcock's Law vs. Chaos and his world was so much cooler for us than Glorantha.
GURPS stands out the most for me here. Although my relationship with it is more complicated than that. When I first read about GURPS I ignorantly thought it was going to be my silver bullet to all gaming needs. After absorbing the core book I was underwhelmed, but fell into this odd delusion that maybe this next supplement is going to patch it into the game I wanted... Of course that never happened. I still played the game an awful lot, but when my eyes finally opened it was more like a violent break up than just growing apart.
Everything Palladium. I especially used to enjoy mashing up the games.. TMNT in RIFTs was one of my favorite campaigns. I discovered early that I really never enjoyed anything but their core books so I stopped keeping up with the products. d20 system dealt the death blow because, to me at least, it proved unified mechanics can be a good thing, especially with the emergent "casual gamers" in our circles.
Quote from: Silverlion;394341Gurps. I used to love GURPS (2E-3E) it was awesome and simple at its heart. However, I've gotten older and I just don't want to spend that much time making characters. It's a solid system, but not for me.
Yeah, this is the only game I can think of that I used to love and now don't. It's perfectly workable and all, but it's just too much work for too little payoff. Everything it can do I can find a system that does better and with less work.
D&D all previous versions to 4e, which I never liked as well as True 20 and any other system based on D20ogl.
Earthdawn, though some of the source books I still like.
Shadowrun, while I can't say that I hate it I don't love it like I once did. I'd still play it gladly though.
TMNT it'll have a fond place in my heart because it brought so much fun but I have no desire to play it and kill that fondness. A similar, though lesser feeling goes towards everything else Palladium. They system just sucks all the fun out of every setting it's tacked onto.
Original Vampire/Werewolf/Mage. I don't really hate the mechanics but it was a game we played because it was cool a the time. It's just no longer cool. NWoD on the other hand I like as a core setting/mechanic and really love Changeling for it.
And though I'm surprised to see myself say it CoC. Love the setting, love the theme, but just don't care for the game itself. I know, I know hand in my geek card.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394330Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition - This (along with Marvel Classic) are the games I started with. I have STILLED probably played this more than I have any other single game...but despite the fantasy coolness and the GREAT settings, I want epic heroism and the game is very much designed to kill things and take its stuff (even if they did try to veer away from that a bit compared to earlier versions).
Same here. What you've outlined is the key problem I see in AD&D 2e; the play style emphasized by the system is at odds with the one it nominally identifies with. It's admittedly not a big deal, but it does kind of bug me.
Had AD&D 2e hewed closer to the pulp fantasy literary roots of D&D (like AD&D 1e and BECMI D&D/D&D RC), or changed the system radically to accomodate high fantasy play (like D&D 3e and 4e), this would not be an issue.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394330I do still have the moments where I want to go back, but I think that's just because I haven't found my fantasy replacement yet...(REALLY waiting on Shaintar: Legends Unleashed, as well as trying out High Valor).
Currently I have no go-to fantasy system. I've run a very successful Conan/Hyborian Age game using Savage Worlds, and I've often considered running a steampunk fantasy game with it.
Right now I'm a bit occupied with Traveller, but I do intend to pick up a copy of Mongoose Runequest 2 (hate the wonky numbering scheme, why not call it RQ 5e, and its predecessor RQ 4e?) as soon as I catch a break. What little I've heard seems to jive very well with my play style.
But of course, when I want to run the old "kitchen-sink fantasy" with elf rangers, halfling rogues, marauding orcs and musty old ruins filled with traps and valuables, I dust off the trusty D&D RC, or choose whatever retro-clone catches my fancy at the time. I'm of the opinion that the best system for D&D, is still D&D.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394330Any other games you all loved and then grew apart from?
Rifts. I have some 20 Rifts books (complete collection with everything published up to and including 1997) which I still thumb, sighing in nostalgia -- I still
love the setting. Then I decide I'll run a Rifts game. I start rolling up a character... and 15 minutes later I'm throwing my hands to the air. The Palladium system isn't really bad at the core, but it does need a massive clean-up (Pundit's skill fix is a good start, but more is necessary). Conversions don't thrill me because they generally use point-buy systems, and I feel the game loses a lot of its flavor when the party becomes "balanced" on a given point total (i.e. no Vagabonds and Rogue Scholars rubbing shoulders with Dragons and Glitter Boys, a dealbreaker for me). A real pity; I still love that game.
I think I could still manage a "lighter" Palladium game like Ninjas & Superspies, or Palladium Fantasy; but my copy of N&SS is gone, and in Palladium Fantasy's case, why bother? (see remarks on fantasy, above)
GURPS. Plays well enough, actually, but it's character creation that fucking kills me. Especially as we only had one copy for 4 players. Now there's a game that
needs chargen software.
DC Heroes 3e. Great system if you want a supers game with plenty of detail and number-crunching. Do we really need to know that Superman is Str 25 and Captain Marvel is Str 23? Like I've posted elsewhere, if the comic book writers can't be arsed to get into this level of detail, why should I? Lately, I've preferred my four-color supers games to be painted in broad strokes. I find BASH UE, or even the Savage Worlds Superpowers Companion, very acceptable substitutes.
D&D3e/d20. Burned out in 2006 after a tanked game. The system looks so smooth at first glance, generating a 1st-level character is so easy... and then begins the nightmare of balancing encounters, and new feats, and remembering what every feat does, etc. And I used to think Palladium had too many situational modifiers...
Quote from: Silverlion;394341I can only think of three.
Gurps. I used to love GURPS (2E-3E) it was awesome and simple at its heart. However, I've gotten older and I just don't want to spend that much time making characters. It's a solid system, but not for me.
.
While I'd rather not encourage people to play gurps, in all fairness to you if you use the character assistant software it does speed things up a lot in terms of chargen.
Earthdawn: I loved the game so much I bought 3 copies of the core book. 1 to replace the falling apart one I had and another to bring the number of books at the table to 4. In the end after 5+ years gaming once a week (which for our group was a massive effort), we did the setting to death and try as we might we couldn't take the game out of the setting.
Rolemaster. It was always one of my favourite games, but lately I just can't summon up any enthusiasm for it. It feels like a dinosaur and makes me feel old.
I used to love Rifts, Robotech, and TMNT. This was borne of a strange misconception I had, and which the books encouraged, that I simply wasn't understanding the rules. Then, one day, I opened my eyes and realized that there was no sense to any of it. The rules were just an amagamated mess of stuff which the author knew didn't work and didn't care about. It might as well have been piss on the paper instead of words.
AD&D2 was my favorite version of D&D. I still like it, but it has been replaced by D&D4 for all my D&D gaming needs. Right now I don't see myself ever returning to any of the older D&D versions.
I liked Shadowrun 1e and Cyberpunk 2020, but I wouldn't touch the modern/current editions of those games even if you paid me. Shadowrun lost it's charm with 2e, and Cyberpunk V3 falls into the Highlander 2 category of badness.
I played a lot of first edition/blue book Mekton. I enjoyed it a lot, but I'd never play the first edition of the game again. It's percentile system was a clunky mess.
I also used to have a lot of fondness for Torg. Yet, during my Great RPG Purge, I considered discarding it.
Star Frontiers. Played the hell out of it in high school.
Same with Top S.I. Both systems seem ancient and clunky to me now, but lots of fond memories back in the day.
WFRP - Played (and ran) the hell out of it from around '88-'97. Tried playing it when I got back into gaming several years ago, and the overfamiliarity just drained all enthusiasm from the game.
This was 1st edition btw. I don't think 2nd edition would make any difference since we always used low-magic settings.
Quote from: Cylonophile;394381While I'd rather not encourage people to play gurps, in all fairness to you if you use the character assistant software it does speed things up a lot in terms of chargen.
Personally, I have a rule: If I have to use software for character generation, the game is officially Too Much Work.
Champions -- I played and ran this quite a bit in the early 1980s, but it was a very crunchy game and with each edition it got longer and more complex. Marvel Superheroes came out in 1984 and started replacing Champions in my group. The Advanced version in 1986 killed off any interest I had in Champions or other superhero games. Nowadays, I couldn't be forced to play a Hero System game as the rules have just kept growing and growing. However, I'd still play Advanced Marvel Superheroes.
Not a game per se, but I don't see myself going back to the 1E AD&D Forgotten Realms grey box + first several FR supplements/modules from 1987-1988. Back in the day, I thought it was a cool sandbox setting.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394407Personally, I have a rule: If I have to use software for character generation, the game is officially Too Much Work.
Not true in this case.
Playing around with the GCA is actually kind of fun.
You can change one attribute stat up or down - then watch the ripple effects on skill rating and other numbers.
It also helps make quick NPCs with the templates included.
- Ed C.
Quote from: Koltar;394414Not true in this case.
Playing around with the GCA is actually kind of fun.
You can change one attribute stat up or down - then watch the ripple effects on skill rating and other numbers.
It also helps make quick NPCs with the templates included.
- Ed C.
Yeah...that doesn't exactly sound thrilling to me (except maybe the quick NPCs part)...but I figured out a long time ago that GURPS isn't for me (at least as a GM, with an experienced GM, I'd still give it a go as a player).
Tunnels and Trolls - once I'd discovered RuneQuest, I don't think I ever went back to that beautiful yellow box. I still kept the solo adventures, but as every year went by, TNT moved further to the bottom of my wardrobe.
Star Frontiers - my first science fiction RPG, which I adored. It suited my desired for Space Opera and was closer to the Star Blazer comic/RPG that the Fate System.
Marvel Superheroes Advanced - I played in 3 separate campaigns in my teens, each one was a joy. I don't think I could run it again. It was certainly a game of its time, and that time isn't now.
Funny, my experience of MSH was quite the opposite. I bought it when it first came out but I never really did much with it. It seemed to me like a typical TSR nasty, an unsophisticated superhero slugfest game aimed squarely at kiddies.
I only actually gave the game a proper shot last year, partly because despite everything I kept reading good things about it (yup I;m looking at you Tim) ... and it was sensational. By the second session the players were saying think like "To think we could have been playing this all along!".
Now I'm not saying MSH doesn't have its clunky bits, but the Karma mechanics really makes the game sing. It's actually a lot more subtle a game than I expected and strangely modern.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;394407Personally, I have a rule: If I have to use software for character generation, the game is officially Too Much Work.
This applies to me too.
My game I used to love is GURPS. I really loved it, and I keep loving the system, but I can no longer stomach chargen, it's a chore, too open for my taste, and the long list of skills is a deal breaker for me (not only with GURPS, I can't stand any game with a long list of skills).
But as I said, I keep thinking that the system is great. That's why I like Capitán Alatriste so much, it uses more or less the same system (well, it's a simplification) but does away with the tiresome chargen. As I usually say, the Capitán Alatriste RPG has the good parts of GURPS, without the bad.
D20 D&D (3.0/3.5)
I used to like both of these in the beginning. I still find myself taking part in it to keep my social life intact, but vie grown very tired of it. It's the lack of customization. Everything about your class comes off a table, so you're all just clones with only weapons, race, feats, and skill choices separating you. Prestige classes aren't that good and just weaken you overall just for a couple of class features that seemed cool at the time. It started to feel very repetitive and as a GM, I had to move to third party resources to keep my own interest and curb the metagaming by throwing non-canon critters, races, templates and other such. Thank you Sword & Sorcery.
I still find myself enjoying the challenge of making a unique character, and there is some nostalgia when I first play it, but it starts to feel like an old lady that keeps getting plastic surgery to stay with the times. And most of the available players in my gaming circle aren't willing to let this old horse lie and try new fantasy systems. Sorry, old girl. You got to work a little longer. *sigh*
Cyberpunk.
This was the first exposure I had to the cyberpunk genre I only played on two games. There was only one person who has the books. It was so much fun. I preferred it over Shadowrun because it always felt grittier to me, at least how the GM ran it. shadow run was okay, but I didn't care much for the magic component. I never settled into it. I was very sad when the MUX I used to code for decided to switch from Cyberpunk to Shadowrun. I was the one working on the chargen.
D&D /AD&D
Oh, remember the days when elf and dwarf were class choices? I can't even remember how many discussion I was apart of on the side of it being stupid. Still, I always had a lot of fun playing it, and my GM, the one who got me into the hobby, was able to turn it into more of an RPG than module-of-the-week. I remember always getting excited when I got more than one skill. I loved playing Dark Sun and Spelljammer and Hollow World was interesting. Planescape I jumped all over when it was released. After awhile, though, the games just felt like fantasy cheese and it was time to move on.
Middle-Earth (MERP)/Rolemaster
This was the the LOTR game by ICE that made use of Rolemaster. I really loved this expensive game, but I no longer have the books. I never actually got to play or run it, though. I just read the books a lot and made characters, NPCs, and planned campaigns that just never happened. How sad. Ironically, though, I did get some Rolemaster games off the ground and a few members of my group at that time really enjoyed it, especially character creation and the impressive, what, 8 page character sheets? They somehow became addicted to the clerical side of the game. I would print copies of their race, class, weapon tables, and spell sheets, and they'd sit happily with all this information and rulers ready to go. Plus, at the first session, I presented each of them with all this stuff in those mamilla envelopes. I really want to do that again.
Castle Falkenstein
I think that is what is was called, or I, really close. I can't really say it's a game I miss, as I had never gotten to play it. An old GM had it, and I would look through the book and ask him to run it, but he never would. I don't know if it's good, or bad, but I miss it and now I'm going to have to look for it.
Star Wars D6
I posted about this on the D6 What of it Thread. It was always fun and a lot of times we were going by the seat of our pants and spending a lot of time in cantinas all over the galaxy to celebrate another day of life. I had a good group back then and I miss a lot of those people. I'm sad to hear a lot of them don't game any more and they sound pretty embittered by it. I felt pretty chastised when they made it sound like it was fun, but they're adults now with families, why haven't I grown up yet? I haven't played it in a long time. I was so attached to that getup, I just haven't been able to shake this feeling of loss.
Paranoia
GM Hello citizen!
PC Hello friend computer. Is there something I can do for you?
GM Yes, citizen. What colour is the sky?
PC Blue.
GM Knowledge of the outside is treason. Lose 1 clone.
PC now hates himself for falling so easily into this trap.
RE: Gurps
I can still make characters by hand--I just don't care to, there are more elegant and simple systems that give me the same results for less work. That's it, nothing wrong with GURPS for those who like it. Just not for me anymore. I'm playing in a GURPS game now for the record. (The game is not so hot--but it isn't the game system's fault. But I've had words with the GM about it already.)
Re: Top Secret S.I
I got out Top Secret S.I for a game recently and I'm still amazed at how elegant combat is with hit locations. Far easier than any other game for its time in that respect. I don't think its perfect. Lord knows the skill "requirements" for careers is clunky as hell. Yet some aspects remain. Though I can understand why its clunky completely for someone else. I'm still going to run a F.R.E.E. Lancers game with it. Using my own organization M.A.S.K (Metable Applied Strategic Knowledge or Metable Applied Subversive Knowledge)
Re: MSH
I'm glad you like it Soylent Green. I still do. Oh sure I like other superhero games as well, but MSH had effective design elements when it was created It still gets a lot of love for a reason online. I just wish I had time right now to work on SMITE! Since it will use a very "related" system.
I still like GURPS and I still play it. In my experience things go smoother with character creation when you limit your sources. The day my friend ran GURPS saying all his books are a go was an awfulmexperience. he had every book up to the release of Steampunk. Rather than think of a concept for your char a ter and go with that, people spent weeks browsing books and cobbling random things together, whereas I knew what I wanted to play and just pulled the relevant books. We had a mecha piloting hamster (bunnies & burrows with some biotech weirdness), a Vampire the Masquerade vampire wild west gunslinger, the requisite gun bunny with super strength from our otaku player, and I played an older woman, the cat lady on the corner with a knack for steam punk gadgetry and an ability that made cats attracted to me and another that allowed me to speak with them. It was a non serious game that basically involved IOU. We were all taken out of our universes to become staff. I don't normally like non serious fluff like, but IOU is fun, and then group had good chemistry.
I would never allow all books in a game. If I did, I wouldn't openly say it. I'd just say you could play whatever you wanted and once you had an idea, help you make the character without sounding weeks saying "here's my massive collection of every GURPS book to date. Have at it" like my friend basically did.
I wouldn't try to talk anyone into liking GURPS (although I like it myself), but I don't get why having a fast, useful software tool is somehow a detriment for any system. Pathfinder's chargen isn't anywhere near as math-intensive and I still use PCgen just to cut down on time and chances I'll miscalculate something.
Quote from: Insufficient Metal;394553I wouldn't try to talk anyone into liking GURPS (although I like it myself), but I don't get why having a fast, useful software tool is somehow a detriment for any system. Pathfinder's chargen isn't anywhere near as math-intensive and I still use PCgen just to cut down on time and chances I'll miscalculate something.
It's more that "this will fix your problems with Gurps!" Rather than "this is a tool you can use or not."
One is saying that the problems with Gurps
requires an additional tool to be workable, instead of a tool that might be a nice option to be utilized. Mind you that isn't the case for me--and I am more than happy to pick up a (Free) tool to assist me with any game that I'd like to speed up. Of course GCA isn't free unlike almost all other tools I use and it doesn't solve my problems with Gurps anyway.
Quote from: Insufficient Metal;394553but I don't get why having a fast, useful software tool is somehow a detriment for any system.
It's not. That software tool is really helpful. My problem with GURPS is that chargen is a chore, with or without the software tool.
I don't mention HERO here because the name of this thread is Games you used to love, and I never loved HERO.
Quote from: Silverlion;394559One is saying that the problems with Gurps requires an additional tool to be workable, instead of a tool that might be a nice option to be utilized. Mind you that isn't the case for me--and I am more than happy to pick up a (Free) tool to assist me with any game that I'd like to speed up. Of course GCA isn't free unlike almost all other tools I use and it doesn't solve my problems with Gurps anyway.
(tiny voice) GCS is free.... (http://www.roleplayer.com/wiki/)
But I get where you're coming from. :)
AD&D 2e - it was my first commercial game, and I had a great deal of fun with it. What killed it for me was overthinking things. I've gone back and replayed it, stripping out all the rules I never used anyway, and even ran a con game like that and it was a great deal of fun, but there's a disconnect in there for me because the game I play is entirely different from what's written in the rulebooks. I still like it, but it's so heavily modified from RAW that I'm unsure it's even AD&D anymore.
GURPS 3E - initially it was great, great freedom from AD&D, and it did everything it was supposed to, brilliantly even (at least from my perspective then). Eventually I noticed that all my builds ended up taking the same patterns in skills - there was a very clear way to optimise things so that one 100 point character could be more powerful in every way than another 150 point character, all based on how well it was put together. Since then, looking at every similar point buy system I see the same problem - there are patches and bandages built in, but really, it's a point buy system, it doesn't work as it's intended too.
BESM 2E - the initial love affair was with the simplicity, modularity and versatility. Most of all it was with genre based skill costs, and if I play BESM stripping out every attribute, and only playing it with skills, it actually works quite brilliantly. It's also one of the few systems that allows me to stat myself up properly and not have a ridiculously high point count (a ton of skills at +1 or +2 for a jack of a bunch of trades has a tendency of doing that) thanks to the genre based skills. Ultimately though, that's pretty much the only thing left that I like about it, and it still sits on my shelf but I have absolutely zero interest in playing it.
D&D 3e - when it came out, it solved everything that I was complaining about with 2e. It was great. Had a few oddities but it was still great. 3.5 killed it for me. I didn't have that much money and 3.5 seemed to invalidate the previous books as almost everyone switched over, and somehow everything seemed more sterile. Also, over time I realised that d20 as a whole required a great deal of system mastery - something some players love about it, but for me it's a major drawback.
Quote from: Gabriel2;394397I used to love Rifts, Robotech, and TMNT. This was borne of a strange misconception I had, and which the books encouraged, that I simply wasn't understanding the rules. Then, one day, I opened my eyes and realized that there was no sense to any of it. The rules were just an amagamated mess of stuff which the author knew didn't work and didn't care about. It might as well have been piss on the paper instead of words.
In a nutshell (well, except Robotech). I enjoyed many Palladium products, including Rifts, BTS, After the bomb, N&SS, etc. Then I realized what shit the system was. Then I got tired of vapourware, and constantly being told I was too stupid to understand how perfect, I'm sorry, PERFECT (TM), the Palladium Megaversal System was. In essence, my supply of Koolaid ran out. Now I get nostalgic once in a while and crack one open, only to slam it shut 15 minutes later in disgust.
I have books for Robotech, but never did anything with them. Same for TMNT.
When I was younger, I use to buy a lot of rpg books on impulse. For the most part, very few of these rpg books ever saw much use in most of my games. Looking through many of these older books more recently, the first thought which comes to mind is "what was I thinking?" when I first bought these books decades ago.
In spite of having tons more disposable income today than when I was younger, I'm a lot more selective about what rpg books I'll buy these days. I don't bother impulse buying rpg books anymore, unless they're titles which are less than 4 or 5 bucks a pop. Now I only really buy new rpg books which can be immediately used in my games.
Awhile ago I picked up the Mongoose Runequest 2 (MRQ2) core book and the MRQ2 Glorantha campaign setting book. I only ever got around to playing one pickup evening game using the MRQ2 ruleset. As much as I like Runequest, I don't think I'm going to bother picking up any further MRQ2 books. I'll probably never use them again, other than for maybe another one-shot evening pickup type games. One doesn't need a huge library of Runequest or Glorantha books, to play one-shot evening pickup games.
Elfquest
T&T (4 ed. I think)
TMNT
Rifts
Dragonquest (TSR 3ed.)
all great games that I would play again but not "DM".
I don't think there's any game I fall out of love with per se. There are some that go dormant for a while.
RPGPundit
Mekton w/MTS
Mechwarrior (1st and 2nd edition; both were a mess, but in different ways)
Star Frontiers (still got my boxed set!)
...
That's about it; I still play most games I own at some point or another.
Quote from: ggroy;395077When I was younger, I use to buy a lot of rpg books on impulse. For the most part, very few of these rpg books ever saw much use in most of my games. Looking through many of these older books more recently, the first thought which comes to mind is "what was I thinking?" when I first bought these books decades ago.
I was the same way. That's how I ended up with random games like Dream Park, Project A-ko, the Willow Sourcebook, and four tiny Lodoss war game books from Japan which I can't even read. I've looked through them, made characters, and that's as far as it ever went. I doubt I will ever do anything with them, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them.
I tend to focus more on what I really like and hoard from there. I'm truing to fill in my rifts collection and rolemaster frp collection, but for everything else it's limited to what interests me as a GM and what I'm willing to let the players have (or what is cheap and looks interesting at the PDF stores).
Quote from: Guuthulhu;395535I tend to focus more on what I really like and hoard from there. I'm truing to fill in my rifts collection and rolemaster frp collection, but for everything else it's limited to what interests me as a GM and what I'm willing to let the players have
I gave up trying to fill in the gaps in my collection of 1E AD&D/D&D modules. I have most of the classic modules and a smattering of later-1E/early-2E stuff. At this point, the stuff I don't have is mostly marginal modules which are probably easily forgettable. (I don't remember a lot of the later-1E stuff offhand, from back in the day).
Quote from: Guuthulhu;395535(or what is cheap and looks interesting at the PDF stores).
I purposely avoid the pdf market, for this very reason. With many pdfs being less than 5 dollars a pop, I can see myself falling into the pattern of impulse buying tons of rpg pdfs.
The only impulse buying of rpg books which I may still indulge in these days, is whenever I find really cheap stuff (ie. less than 5 bucks a pop) at second handed book stores, garage sales, thrift shops, flea markets, etc ...
Quote from: Guuthulhu;395535I was the same way. That's how I ended up with random games like Dream Park, Project A-ko,
I like Dream Park, but I admit I haven't done much with it. It tends to get dusted off periodically for wacky one shots.
As for Project A-Ko, I've never seen the RPG. Up until about two years ago, I had never seen the anime either. I guess I lose my 80s Anime Fan membership card.
I've always wondered, what do you make as PCs in A-Ko? Is it some kind of generic anime game with a slant toward comedy? I'm not really sure what you could inherently do with the A-Ko setting. Do you just make up school kids who get involved in absolutely batshit insane interstellar conflicts and superscience revenge fantasies borne of irrationalism and lesbian lust?
Quote from: ggroy;395540I purposely avoid the pdf market, for this very reason. With many pdfs being less than 5 dollars a pop, I can see myself falling into the pattern of impulse buying tons of rpg pdfs.
I thought that would happen to me, but it hasn't. Well, not yet. My PDF impulses tend to be more with open content I can use with any game, than new things.
Quote from: Gabriel2;395582I like Dream Park, but I admit I haven't done much with it. It tends to get dusted off periodically for wacky one shots.
As for Project A-Ko, I've never seen the RPG. Up until about two years ago, I had never seen the anime either. I guess I lose my 80s Anime Fan membership card.
I've always wondered, what do you make as PCs in A-Ko? Is it some kind of generic anime game with a slant toward comedy? I'm not really sure what you could inherently do with the A-Ko setting. Do you just make up school kids who get involved in absolutely batshit insane interstellar conflicts and superscience revenge fantasies borne of irrationalism and lesbian lust?
I liked Dream Park, the book, which is why I ended up with the game. I haven't done anything at all with it, other than look through the pictures and sample characters and those paper miniatures it came with. I always thought it'd make a fun concept for a side trek.
the A-Ko RPG reminds me of what the BESM anime guides were, but doesn't contain any kind of episode guide or synopsis. It has stats for all the characters, setting info, and some funky card battle game that you can play on it's own or within the game. The character sheet is less than half a page and the rules really suck. You basically just pick a name and concept for your character from the teenage high schoolers list, the PWDF RC - citizens of Graviton list, or United Earth Allied Command. This is pointless. Its just a bunch of names and some stupid quote beneath.
QuoteThe Muscleman:
Huhn, hunh, hunh. Man, my pecs hurt -- got a mirror? What am I sitting on...?
The rest of character creation is point based. You have four attributes, and they gives you sample lists of skills like motivates losers, paint with angst, BS on essays, or collect junk. There are no skill descriptions, it's all crazy batshit stuff. That was enough to put me off, so it just sat gathering dust.
It's just like you say, though. You just make some whacked characters and throw them in absolutely batshit insane interstellar conflicts and superscience revenge fantasies borne of irrationalism and lesbian lust' or whatever other whacked shit the GM has in store for you, which isn't going to be any better.
ummmm, d6 Star Wars, d6 System, ummmm, ewww still love d6 Legendary System for the WEG DCU, hummm and ran the hell out of RIFTS.
Marvel Classic, Star Frontiers, Gamma World 1e, Top Secret. All great games at the time, but none really aged well for me.
I didn't know about the Dream Park game. Loved that book.
MERP is one for me...I've been meaning to back to it again, but...somehow, it just doesn't happen. I've kept all the 2nd edition stuff in case I run under Decipher's system, but I really don't think I'll ever run MERP itself again.
AD&D is another. I would, in fact, far sooner run AD&D 2nd (the initial release, with a couple of the Complete books) just for some of the cleanup from AD&D
Another I now realise may never happen again is anything under the Palladium system. As many others have stated, the system just didn't age well.
MSH is one a lot of other people have mentioned as similarly not having aged well. Why is that? Is it the Universal Table? Percentile? Something else?