As noted in Part 1, by the mid-90's I had grown weary of the state of role-playing games and the "anything to make a buck" products that were being churned out by the game companies.
When I started rpg-ing, I entered via the Dungeons & Dragons blue box portal. It was a simple game, one not completely thought out with all sorts of incongruous rules, a bunch of clumsy reference charts and some really goofy art. But that stuff didn't matter - the game was a bunch of fun and that helped folks overlook all the flaws. It was groundbreaking gaming. Something that was brewed up in the 70's - the last great age of artistic merriment. As goofy as it sounds, there was just something magical about the game.
I also knocked around a bit with Call of Cthulhu, which turned me into an H.P. Lovecraft fan, but that system never delivered the goods for me. I love the fact that someone took the works of an obscure author of demented cosmic horror and established a cult of niche gamers who can flawlessly pronounce the names of unspeakable dark gods that he made up! Too, too cool!
Back in the 80's there was an avalanche of game systems to wallow through. I would pick up the ones that appealed to my tastes (mostly fantasy, horror or weird). I tended to not be interested in sci-fi for some reason, though I am a sci-fi fan - someday I'll figure that one out...
Anyhow, lots of systems trickled through my gaming net over the years - but I always returned to D&D as my primary delight. Until that one fateful summer when I discovered the Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing System...
Continued tomorrow...
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4 comments:
Oh yeah my man, WFRP!! Like minds do think alike. We threw down on some WFRP not three weeks ago, broke only by numerous hours playing the Call of Cthulhu boardgame "Arkham Horror" which is totally awesome by the way.
I look forward to the next post!
~k
WFRP details will follow...
Heard many good things about Arkham Horror - that game has like 2000 playing pieces if it's the one I'm thinking about. Looks really cool, though.
I think two thousand and one actually. But it's not as involved or complicated as you'd think. There are a few rule holes but overall, once you grasp the mechanics it's a pretty smooth and simple game. We had a "guy's gaming weekend" like I mentioned and we played Arkham Horror until 6 in the morning one night and 4 in the morning the following so it's pretty damn cool. In addition, it has 4 expansions currently out.
I can't wait to play again.
If you want to throw down some Arkham Horror at Origins, Willy, let us Wittfolk know! Lionel got us all addicted to it this past year...
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