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By Darren on April 11th, 2010
System Failure
I have to warn you. This post is rpg-centric.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I started playing Dungeons & Dragons at a fairly young age. Though I did make brief forays into other systems (Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Top Secret & Twilight 2000 come to mind), for many years, I never really seemed to break out of that d20 based swords & sorcery fantasy setting as far as gaming was concerned. I was stuck. When d20 Modern was released, I did run a lengthy game in that system, so while I had departed from the genre I was used to, I was still stuck in that system rut.
A friend of mine had been trying to get me to try the storyteller system from White Wolf for years, but I resisted. Violently. I stubbornly stayed away from it for years. I was far too cynical and jaded from reading years of “my system is better than yours” rubbish on forums and message boards all over the web. I was wise to the “kind of people” who I had heard played that World of Darkness stuff. I was stubborn. I was judgemental.
I was wrong.
Within the last two years, several things combined to shake my faith in the d20 system of my youth. First, the release of 4th edition D&D was such a radical departure, to me, from everything that had gone before. It was different enough to feel like a completely different game. Then, I saw the failure of d20 systems to provide the framework I needed for the stories I wanted to tell. My players came from completely different backgrounds and different levels of familiarity with the d20 system. They also had totally different playing styles. I had the character actors, the social gamers, the power gamers, the rules lawyers, etc. The system was stretched to a breaking point trying to accommodate all of us and the stories we wanted to tell. So, I went on a quest to find a new set of rules.
I ended up playing White Wolf’s storyteller system. It wasn’t as sinister as all of the grognards on the d20 forums had led me to believe. I actually found a non-d20 system that I liked. And it helped that playing it didn’t turn me into a vampire-obsessed industrial goth freak like they warned me about. I guess I was enough of a freak already. Besides, I once wrote a college paper on vampires. For the record, in my research, I didn’t come across any that sparkled. Ever. Just saying.
Do I still have some roadblocks in my gaming? Yes. For one, though I like to watch and read sci-fi, and am a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek (yes, it can be done), I am just not interested in playing a pnp sci-fi game. I don’t know why. It’s just one of my roadblocks. I can’t see myself running around with a blaster or seeking out a missing Jedi, or piloting my starship across the infinity of space (my earlier experiments with Star Frontiers notwithstanding). I’m just not feeling it. So, while several of my friends are into their Star Wars d20 or d6 Star Wars games, I’ll be doing something else, thank you (now, if you wanted to run a game like Alien or Dead Space, I’d think about it)
Are there some things I’d still like to try? Of course. I really wish I had access to a part-time gaming group that wasn’t tied into the “must play the same characters in the same story every week” grind. I’d love to do some short (1-8 session) experiments. I still want to try some GURPS. I’d also still love to try my hand at further developing some system design concepts I have in my head. I don’t blame people for sticking to what they know, after all that’s what I’ve been doing for years. After all, I’m old and stuck in my ways now. Or something.
So, if you’re a pnp gamer. What systems do you like? What do you recommend? If you want to be part of a “test group” for new ideas, let me know.
