I realize some of our younger members might not be able to answer for all the spans here, but if we were to go back 5 years, what would you most likely be playing or running at your game table? 10 years? 15? 20 or more? How does that compare to what you're playing/running today?

Is there a trend, pattern, or have you stuck with the same types of games over the years? If you've changed games, is there a reason you've done so?

5 Years ago is when I decided to play OD&D and subsequently came back to AD&D 1st ed. Some Vampire the Requiem and NWoD games as well.

10 Years ago, I was into 3rd edition D&D. I was also into Malhavoc Press's stuff, like Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes and so on. Played some Star Wars d20, too.

15 Years ago I was playing Vampire the Masquerade (and other WoD games) and In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas. We had other games going where I was a player, from AD&D2 Birthright to Kult to Rolemaster and a bunch of others besides.

20 Years ago we already played VtM and INS/MV, but also some Cyberpunk 2020, Warhammer FRP, James Bond 007, Werewolf, Nephilim, TORG, Bitume, Star Wars d6, Chimeres/Hurlements...

25 Years ago I started playing role playing games. It started with AD&D 1st ed. And then the Dark Eye RPG. Then some Red box. Then Hawkmoon, Stormbringer, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars d6, Rolemaster, MERP, Légendes Celtiques, Légendes de la Table Ronde... and we went from there.

I'd say it's been an interesting ride so far. Came back full circle, in a way. And yet, it's not the same, in the sense I'm not playing the same games now as I did when I was a teen. It's all good.

Quote from: Zachary The First;632998I realize some of our younger members might not be able to answer for all the spans here, but if we were to go back 5 years, what would you most likely be playing or running at your game table? 10 years? 15? 20 or more? How does that compare to what you're playing/running today?

Is there a trend, pattern, or have you stuck with the same types of games over the years? If you've changed games, is there a reason you've done so?

My main campaign games:

5 years ago: Burning Wheel set in Harn, and Spirit of the Century set in alternate 19th century Korea

10 years ago: Lord of the Rings RPG and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

15 years ago: Fantasy HERO or maybe Rolemaster in a homebrew fantasy world

20 years ago: Champions (with Storypath cards) in a standard-ish homebrew superhero world

25 years ago: Champions in a cosmic conflict homebrew universe

These days I'm playing more rules-light and/or story gamish stuff, and the campaigns tend to be pretty short.  I think that's a real trend, but it isn't absolute.

I can answer for three:

5 years ago: Star Wars d20, C&C, WoT d20, Conan d20, RIFTS.

10 Years ago: AD&D 2e, L5R 1e, GURPS.

15 Years ago: AD&D 2e, GURPS.

Oh, this is a fun one.

5 Years ago would probably be NWoD, as would 10. VtR and MtA. More or less. If game line was to define my time in the last five years, it would be these.

5 years ago I also played a few games of D&D 4E to see if I would like it (I didn't) and within the last 5 years I've tried other, older games, such as Palladiums line-up, AD&D1, Tunnels & Trolls etc. which I've fallen in love with.  I also played some Exalted 2E in there, and some pick up games, one offs and tryouts of a bunch of other things...too many to name. The last 5 years have been an issue with me having more money then coordination to play RPGs. But I still get to play pretty frequently.

10 Years ago would be all White-Wolf and 3.x/D20. Exalted and nWoD. D&D, D20 Modern etc. More a less a continuation of 15 years ago, but with nWoD instead of oWoD.

15 years ago would be Vampire: the Masquerade, Hunter the Reckoning. I've been a fan of White-Wolf's games since this time. I played in a buddies home brewed RPG for a little while. Also D&D 3e became a weekly ritual for around 2 years or so.

20 Years ago would be SJ Games TOON and GURPS. TOON is still on of my favorite games to this day. GURPS has become way to much prep-work. I always think about running both of these games again, maybe when the free time or mental bandwidth swings back my way.

5 years ago (2008) - D&D 3rd.  I hadn't yet gotten online, so I didn't yet realize how much 3.x had changed from 2nd.  I was playing it as almost straight 2nd edition with ascending AC and by-level multiclassing - you know, the obvious stuff.  Spells were still interrupted, combats were still run with TotM AO's similar to Combat & Tactics from 2E.  No one had actually -thoroughly- read the new books.  Wish I'd kept it that way, sort of.

10 years ago (2003) - Mage: the Ascension.  From the arrival of 3rd edition most of my group turned to Mage a few years before after a VERY short stopover in Werewolf land.  Order of Hermes or go home!  By the end of 2004 though, my Mage group had dissipated and I was itching for D&D again.  

15 years ago (1998) - D&D 2nd.  I had almost everything that could be purchased in my neck of the woods, and had made friends years before with a local miniature-production company that held small local conventions.  I really miss those people.  They went out of business the next year ('99).  

20 years ago (1993) - Still somewhat fresh outta high school and hanging out with the outcasts because they knew how to game.  D&D 2nd still.

25 years ago (1988) - BECMI.  I wanted to make the change to AD&D, but I was still in school and living with ultra-religious grandparents who nearly fainted when I told them I wanted the book with the picture of the devil on the front of it.  At least my friends could hide my Basic/Expert/Companion sets at their houses!

30 years ago (1983) - I had played exactly one game, with a duration of about 10 seconds.  The kid I'd asked to 'run' me a game couldn't stand me!  'Poison arrow shoots you in the arm you're dead'.  Seriously.  But it would start me thinking about this strange hobby I was hearing about from the kids on the 'back of the bus'.  I'd end up getting the Mentzer set not too awful long after it came out, and this one kid in our class had a copy of the Moldvay set he'd taken from his brother that we'd try to read during lunch before then.  

Erm..sorry.  I was getting all nostalgic there, huh.  I actually did try many other games for short periods of time, from the Aliens game (have smartgun, will travel!), Star Frontiers (I just loved the little dralasite guys), Robotech (Please can I just play a beta!  No, all those alphas suck, I want a beta!  And a cyclone to go with it?), Werewolf (But turning into a wolf is kinna silly and not really what I'm into.  Wait...what's this...Glass walkers!), Nephilim (so...the Church is evil?  O...kay...yah, let's run with it), Anima (zzzzzz...), GURPS (wait...you're a Glitterboy and I'm a...mage?  Okay...), Marvel (Dagger!), and the 40k RPG games.  But D&D is my love.  In 2013, I've come back to 1st edition.  I'm planning on patching up to a 1.5 with some nice houserules, and probably won't ever change it much from there.

5 years ago: D&D 3.5e, Call of Cthulhu, Iron Heroes (I was running, lasted one session, and it was straw that broke the d20 camel's back for me).

10 years ago: AD&D 2e, Call of Cthulhu.

15 years ago: World of Darkness mostly, a bit of GURPS and AD&D 2e on the side, the odd game of D&D RC or Call of Cthulhu.

20 years ago: D&D RC, AD&D 2e, GURPS, MERP, Star Wars D6, Call of Cthulhu, local stuff (Tagmar, Desafio dos Bandeirantes). A year later I'd get my grubby hands on a copy of Rifts, which I'd run to the exclusion of everything else for a couple of years.

5 Years Ago: I was playing High Valor prototypes and Hearts & Souls, I also was still enjoying Unisystem, and Fireborn.

10 Years Ago: I was playing a predecessor to High Valor that didn't work out at all. I was playing  Unisystem and the Providence RPG.

15 Years ago: I was still playing BESM, primarily my goto game for almost everything, .

20 Years ago: I was playing 2nd Edition AD&D, and GURPS a lot. I also dallied with the Palladium system.


25 Years Ago: I was playing AD&D and MSH and waiting on 2E AD&D.

30 Years Ago: I was playing Basic D&D, Top Secret

Of course this isn't complete as there are tons of games I played then that I still play Talislanta, Marvel Superheroes, Marvel Saga, V&V, Gamma World and others.

Memory is a bit fuzzy, I have to figure out where I was living at the time and reconstruct from there

5 Years ago: DnD 3.5, Star Wars SE, Adventure!
10 Years ago: DnD 3.5, Cyberpunk 2020, Deadlands, Werewolf
15 Years ago: Cyberpunk 2020, Champions, Warhammer FRP, Werewolf
20 Years ago: Champions, Fantasy Hero, Palladium Fantasy 1st ed, Chill, Warhammer FRP, Cyberpunk 2020, Werewolf
25 Years ago: TMNT, Champions, Palladium Fantasy 1st ed
30 Years ago: Basic & Expert D&D (didn't really get started in RPGs until 85 with TMNT)

There were other systems interspersed between the dominant systems, but these were the major game systems that dominated our group during the following time periods:

• 2013 (Present):  We are playing 6e HERO System, 4e Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia, and 5e Talislanta.
  
• 2008 (-5 years):  This was the year of crisis for my gaming group and they all drank the 4e Dungeons & Dragons Kool-Aid from Wizards of the Coast; it was 4e D&D or nothing.
  
• 2003 (-10 years):  This was the year that we switched from 3.0 Dungeons & Dragons to the revised 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons, and were playing d20 Modern and d20 Star Wars, Revised as well.  Basically, it was the era of the D20 System.
  
• 1998 (-15 years):  We were playing 2e Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 3e GURPS, and D6 Stars Wars (2nd edition, Revised) during this period.
  
• 1993 (-20 years):  We were playing 3e RuneQuest, 2e Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 3e GURPS, and D6 Stars Wars (2nd edition) during this period.
  
• 1988 (-25 years):  We were playing 1e Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and 3e RuneQuest during this period.

Cool thread.

Today: GMing Other Worlds, and recently a retro run of AD&D 2e. Playing D&D 4e* and a few sessions of Shadowrun, WFRP 2e, and D&DN.

5 years ago: Playing D&D 3e* then converted to D&D 4e* as soon as it came out. GMing Other Worlds and before that a Star Wars conversion of HeroQuest.

10 years ago: Playing D&D 3e*. GMing nothing. I think in this period I was really into Magic the Gathering and getting a bit bored of roleplaying.

15 years ago: The university years! Home group: playing AD&D 2e*, GMing nothing. Uni group: playing Vampire, Hunters Hunted, Mutant Chronicles, and lots of random one shots of other games. GMing mostly Werewolf with a bit of Rolemaster and Cyberpunk thrown in for good measure.

20 years ago: Playing AD&D 2e*. Running a few sessions of AD&D 2e and a bit of WFRP 1e for school friends.

* note that all of this is the same character and the same campaign.

Five years ago? Traveller.

Ten years ago? 3e D&D.

Fifteen years ago? Nothing.

Twenty years ago? Nothing.

Twenty-five years ago? Boot Hill, Traveller, and Marvel Super Heroes.

Thirty years ago? Boot Hill, Top Secret, Traveller, and 1e AD&D.

Thirty-five years ago? 'D&D' (Holmes blue box + 1e AD&D MM + The Arduin Grimoire), Metamorphosis Alpha.

Forty years ago? GI Joes.

Good thread. We should add what we are presently playing...

Present: SWN, LotFP, PF

5 years ago: D&D 3.5, 1E

10 years ago: D&D 3.0, 1E

15 yeas ago: D&D 2E, Shadowrun

20 years ago: D&D 2E

25 years ago: Mentzer Red Box, 1E

30 years ago: D&D Mentzer Redbox

1978 -- scanning the Monster Manual in hobby stores, completely confused
1983 -- running the usual AD&D/BX pick-up group
1988 -- on the edge of discovering GURPS
1993 -- getting really into Glorantha; World of Darkness
1998 -- already mostly out of the industry and the hobby
2003 -- a couple games of 3E for kicks
2008 -- recapturing that 1978 confusion
2013 -- God knows.

Something along the lines of this,

5 Years ago, Savage Worlds

10 Years ago, 3.5

15 Years ago, GURPS

20 Years ago, Cyberpunk 2020, Heros Unlimited

25 Years ago, AD&D, TMNT, Marvel (FASERIP)