Here's another post that I was planning on doing Monday...
Yet Another Game System
No, this is not about the Y.A.G.S. role playing system. I admit that it does look interesting and I would definitely like to delve deeper into reading and trying the rules out in play. This post is about my old gaming groups role playing game buying habits.
Like many other groups, we had our go to systems that got many hours of play. We were pretty devoted to A/D&D for fantasy and V&V for supers. We may have tried out other systems at times but most of them were quickly put aside to go back to our mainstays. Some other games that got quite a bit of play from us included Palladium Fantasy, Talislanta, and Marvel (Basic and Advanced versions).
There were a ton of games that were bought in our group but only played once or never even played at all. Some were bought to serve as idea sources for games that we regularly played. For instance, the Enemies book from Champions led to us assembling a similar product of our own villains for Marvel and also for V&V. It was basically 20 or so NPC's stapled together with a cover drawn by our buddy Dan. Other games never got played simply because we could not get everybody to agree to play it or objected for some other reason. I imagine the list of unplayed games we all had was quite large due to varying tastes and all. I just wonder how common it is for groups to have several unplayed products in their collection?
I think it is very common for people to have unplayed games in their collections. People are lazy, and this naturally limits the games people will play. Think of how much time it takes to learn a system. Then, you have to play a few sessions to get into a grove and see if it works or not. Now, if you are happy with game X, then why trouble yourself with Y?
ReplyDeleteWith that said, people like the idea of playing different games (often because of the genre.) You want to try sci-fi, so you pick up a game book. You think you will play it. You may even try to get your group to play it. The more different it is from your current system, the more time it takes to learn, then the less likely it is to be played.
AD&D is/was the most played game at my table. Second was probably Paranoia (don't really have to learn any rules.) Then Star Wars.
Other games such as White Wolf, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020, GURPS, etc. were all played by going to different gaming groups. The fundamental problem is that my gaming group was stuck in the mud and the only reason Star Wars was played was because it was Star Wars. Now, I knew people in groups that owned other gaming books, but they never got to play then with their regular group.
Your thoughts on this matter sound spot on to me. I was wondering if we were "typical" in that regard.
DeleteParanoia is such a blast to play with the right group of people. I really need to get it for my collection.
Which Star Wars did you play - D6, D20, D20 Revised, or Saga? Just curious.
You can summarize it as the QWERTY problem. There are more efficient and faster keyboard layouts. However the cost of switching people to a different keyboard design is too high, so you stick with what you have.
ReplyDeleteIt was West End Games - D6 2nd edition. I have been told, that in the 1st edition Ewoks can't die. It is a game rule. I want to say I actually verified that, but I can't remember. I sucked at GMing Star Wars. I have zero original ideas. I want to run one now set in the Old Republic where players are secret agents for the Empire.
The QWERTY problem - I like that. I actually missed out on getting D6 Star Wars twice. I did own the original & revised D20 version but never played. Star Wars intimidated me as an rpg setting so I never did give it a shot. I would have enjoyed playing with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn additions & I believe WEG did a D6 sourcebook for that. I like your campaign idea!
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