RIP RPG?
January 3rd, 2010
So I've hit you with no less than four (4) updates in the last four days (if you include uh, today I guess), which may make you wonder just why I'm being so darn loquacious of late. It's nothing sinister I assure you, no sudden cancer or mad cow disease or anything. I'm just trying to be better about putting my thoughts down on paper instead of letting them fester in my head for weeks on end.
Not that my brain is full of ripe fruit about to go bad, mind you. Or spiders. SPIDERS. But I have a tendency to dwell on stuff and I'm trying not to. So here I am, rambling at all zero of you - because I can!
Anyway.
So something odd happened on the cusp of this new year/decade we're wading through. I was tracked down online by this fellow I used to know. One or two of you that know me may recall Steve, the Brazilian (?) fellow that used to do gaming with us a little while ago. It's odd, I don't even remember how I met the guy any more; I think I'm getting old, 'cause I'm forgetting little things like that.
He was a decent guy (still is too, I presume), I just haven't heard from him in like forever. And he was asking about the whole gaming thing and if we've done any of late. And sadly, I haven't. And it's not just because I'm here in Dayton and don't really know anyone except for the Sexy Other. I didn't really know more than five or so people in Omaha before I left back in OUGHT NINE, so I wasn't gaming then, either.
But I got to thinking. Am I ever going to do the whole RPG thing again? I've tried it a few times via e mail but most people seem to peter out even before I can really get things going. I would like that sort of thing but the trick is making it click. I've considered looking around for a gaming 'group' hereabouts but despite a few strong gaming stores, I'm not sure I'd find what I'm looking for.
I like roleplaying, but I also like a whole lot of violence in my entertainment. I managed to get that going quite well when I was running a few games back in the 'day', and the folks that I ran games for seemed to enjoy the mix - enough to hang out with me for the duration. I must've been doing SOMEthing right, or else folks wouldn't have humored me for over ten years, I imagine. At least I don't think so anyway.
I don't even have to 'run' the game. I've 'had' to do that forever and honestly wouldn't mind 'just' playing a singular character. But... I can't help but wonder if the RPG thing has passed me by. I see most of the RPGs out there have mutated beyond repair, and I just don't know what to make of them. I used to like the D and D style of game, but it's devolved into something weird and obnoxious.
There is no super hero role playing game out that interests me. Sure there's 'Champions' but that system has always annoyed me, as well as most of the people that play it. If there's one thing I hate more than a game that talks about how great it is (and the third iteration of the Marvel RPG was soo guilty of that, too), it's when the players of a roleplaying game get a superiority complex.
'MARVEL AT MY NERD CRED', or whatever.
Yeah, fuck you, you cheeto-powdered shit tick.
Wait, I'm supposed to be more up beat, aren't I? Damnit!
Digression.
So I don't like Champions. I really like the old Marvel system (and if you've ever checked out my nerd site you'd know that is something of an understatement), but I think there's only about six people who still play it. On earth. Plus, I am pretty sure I want to ram an ice pick through two of their cone-shaped skulls, which narrows it down even more (there's a long story there, will explain some other time).
Wait, more positive, right?
'I disagree with them strongly, in every possible aspect of their lives.'
Better?
There.
The point is I honestly have to wonder if I've fallen out of the RPG 'lifestyle'. And if so, then what to do with myself? In a recreational sense, at least. Sure I have tons of stuff to finish for the previously mentioned nerd site, but aside from that, what else do I got, game-wise? Even if I went and built my very own rule system (which I have contemplated at length), the trick is finding people to play with.
And I'm one of those sociopathic recluses. Crap.
I suppose I could hang up my gaming 'hat' and find myself a new hobby. I've always liked writing; I could just start hitting that whole hog. I have those four series-es of stories I'd started but never quite got around to finishing. And I've contemplated a book. A BOOK. The trick is making it not suck. It's easy to whine about the sci-fi and action-adventure stuff you really can't stand, but to avoid making the same mistakes?
Aye, that's the rub.
I suppose I shall have to ponder on this some moar. MOAR. Probably not the last you'll hear of this bidness.