wow, you're totally old.

Like you aren't.

Quote from: Aoswow, you're totally old.

I was 25...

-clash

What do you miss most Clash, pong or mastadons?

What we think of as "geek subculture" was quite different in the 80s, and completely different in the 70s. There were no self-conscious geeks/gamers who had the complete assemblage of tastes which we think of now, e.g. Star Wars/Star Trek/comics/anime/D&D/cosplay/decorating your house with swords and pewter dragons. These interests existed, but it was all a lot less defined. (You might say it's ossified these days...)

And Star Wars was pretty uncool in the 80s - teenagers and young adults didn't really want to admit an interest in it. Those toys didn't become collectible until the 90s, in the mid-late 80s they were junk. So I don't think a Star Wars game would have swept the world in '78, and it didn't sweep the world in '87 either - it gained a lot of popularity with the Star Wars revival which I don't think really happened until the release of the retouched movies.

Quote from: HaffrungThings were different back then.

Yeah, you had no crack to smoke. How'd you come up with your crazy shit back then?

Quote from: HaffrungJust because people lined up to watch Empire Strikes back doesn't mean they would be caught dead playing a Star Wars game.

I can see how choosing to play an elf would be much, much cooler than choosing to play a Jedi.

Seanchai

Quote from: AosWhat do you miss most Clash, pong or mastadons?

If you've ever had mastodon steak, you'd know which...

-clash

Huh, I was 14 in '80, and like Aos, I thought SW was cool. Even my English teacher, who in retrospect was a bit of a nerd babe but probably too old for D&D, went to see Empire (but she didn't like the "twist").

I don't know how many of us would have--but in the late 70s or early 80s, I don't think my friends or I were roleplaying to emulate movies. Using a movie as scenario fodder was ok. But we didn't have any expectation that roleplaying was supposed to feel like a movie. That didn't prevent us from mashing up Arduin and Car Wars to get Mad Max, but I'm extremely dubious that a game based on a movie would have had any more fascination for us than D&D or Traveller.

Quote from: Elliot WilenHuh, I was 14 in '80, and like Aos, I thought SW was cool. Even my English teacher, who in retrospect was a bit of a nerd babe but probably too old for D&D, went to see Empire (but she didn't like the "twist").

I was *counts fingers and toes* 12.  I didn't get to see it. I didn't get to see Return of the Jedi in theatres either. Welcome to growing up somewhat economically challenged on a farm 8 miles from the middle of nowhere with a fairly puritan mother.  I did read The Empire Strikes Back in book though.

Quote from: Elliot WilenHuh, I was 14 in '80, and like Aos, I thought SW was cool. Even my English teacher, who in retrospect was a bit of a nerd babe but probably too old for D&D, went to see Empire (but she didn't like the "twist").

I never saw the original trilogy until I saw them on video tape - and I'd been reading SF since I was 6. My dad was a huge SF fan, and he saw StarWars in the theatres. I was too busy playing guitar and playing with groupies.

-clash

Quote from: DwightI was *counts fingers and toes* 12.  I didn't get to see it. I didn't get to see Return of the Jedi in theatres either. Welcome to growing up somewhat economically challenged on a farm 8 miles from the middle of nowhere with a fairly puritan mother.  I did read The Empire Strikes Back in book though.

My parents were asleep at the switch. I even saw Jaws while it was in the theater, and at least one Dirty Harry movie, too.

Nerds were readers back then. Everyone went to the movies. But nerds read books. Which was important for picking up D&D. Because it was . . . in books.

I had a point there somewhere. Something about how "geek culture" if there is such a thing, looked really different at the time than it does now looking back on it.

Quote from: AosMy parents were asleep at the switch. I even saw Jaws while it was in the theater, and at least one Dirty Harry movie, too.

I saw Jaws with my mom. And, somehow, Revenge of the Nerds. Can you believe it?

But to get back to the main point in a feeble sort of way, I don't remember if I had any interest, at the time, in playing SW in RPG form or not. Mainly I remember initially wanting to edit D&D into a simulation of Middle Earth, then realizing that it wasn't really configured for the sweeping epic--or at least I didn't care for the quest style of game, with a single enemy and world-in-the-balance.

Quote from: stu2000Nerds were readers back then. Everyone went to the movies. But nerds read books. Which was important for picking up D&D. Because it was . . . in books.

I had a point there somewhere. Something about how "geek culture" if there is such a thing, looked really different at the time than it does now looking back on it.

No, I think I understand. My idea of Space Opera used to be The Mote in God's Eye, but virtually everyone on the internet seems to think Star Wars or Babylon 5 when they hear the term. And all those "story games"--they're really movie games or TV series games.

On an unrelated note, the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater was Dawn of the Dead.

I didn't feel like seeing another R-rated movie for quite a while.