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We had a thread like this in the old C7 forum and it was nice to share gaming experiences and history with each other so I thought I'd create one for this forum.

So...

- How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?

- What RPG did you first start with?

- What kind of games have you played in the past?

- Have your preferences changed over the years?

- What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?

- What's your all time top 5 (RPG)?

- What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?

Rich H wrote:- How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?

I'm 39, been gaming since 1979 so that's what? 35 years.

Rich H wrote:- What RPG did you first start with?

AD&D. I have a brother who is seven years older than me. He taught me to play at the ripe age of 5 years old.

Rich H wrote:- What kind of games have you played in the past?

LOTS. I've been playing RPGs almost non-stop since '79 and I've been the manager of a hobby shop for the last four years or so, so a LOT of stuff crosses my table.

Rich H wrote:- Have your preferences changed over the years?

Definitely. I lean way toward the more narrative, less crunchy side of things these days.

Rich H wrote:- What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?

That's a hard one. I have a lot of stories, but the first four listed below... I have a soft spot for all of them. I suppose Shadowrun may be the closest to my heart, if only because I ran a campaign that lasted 19 years (real time) and had a proper ending.

Rich H wrote:- What's your all time top 5 (RPG)?

1. The One Ring
2. Shadowrun
3. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
4. Castle Falkenstein
5. Everway

Rich H wrote:- What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?

1. The Darkening of Mirkwood (The One Ring, obviously)
2. Denver: City of Shadows box set (Shadowrun)
3. Heart of the Wild (The One Ring)
4. Harlequin's Back (Shadowrun)
5. Renraku Arcology: Shutdown (Shadowrun)

I'll add my own thoughts...

Rich H wrote:- How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?

41 and a half, thanks for asking! Been gaming since I was about 8 or 9 (so over 30 years at this moment in time with very few breaks in that time).

Rich H wrote:- What RPG did you first start with?

Tunnels and Trolls! This edition:



I remember my mum buying it for me in the Games Workshop of old when they used to sell other companies' RPG and were always packed with cool stuff! The first forays into the Dungeon of the Bear were confusing affairs as I didn't really know how to play an RPG back then - some would say I still don't!

Rich H wrote:- What kind of games have you played in the past?

All kinds. I quickly picked up D&D... Then on to things like MERP... TMNT... Vampire... Amber... Pendragon... Exaled... TOR... The Laundry... Achtung Cthulhu... The list goes on and on.

The list goes on and on. I really like reading RPGs; even if I don't actually play them all.

Rich H wrote:- Have your preferences changed over the years?

Not really. I think I've always liked games with strong themes and narratives in addition to (usually) well realised or interesting settings. From a rules perspective though, I do prefer less complex games now than I used to although I do make exceptions for those that, I think, are exceptionally designed.

Rich H wrote:- What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?

Amber - a diceless RPG. I GM'd it for years and had some great sessions - amazingly demanding, involved, and intense.

Pendragon - I love this game and how Greg Stafford has poured his heart and soul into it. An excellent system that really supports a particular style of play. Pendragon's an amazing RPG with a very tight focus but that allows for a system and set of book that really support and promote some fantastic experiences.

Too many memorable events to mention, though.

Rich H wrote:- What's your all time top 5 (RPG))?

Tough one this... I loved Amber but I wouldn't put it in my top 5.

1) Pendragon
2) TOR
3) D&D 4th Edition
4) Castle Falkenstein
5) Dragonlance 5th Age: SAGA edition

Rich H wrote:- What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?

These are too hard to pick... Darkening of Mirkwood and the Great Pendragon Campaign immediately spring to mind, but the Planescape and Birthright settings for AD&D were both amazing product lines. Best adventure/module I ever GM'd: Night's Dark Terror for Basic/Expert D&D.

PaulButler wrote:I suppose Shadowrun may be the closest to my heart, if only because I ran a campaign that lasted 19 years (real time) and had a proper ending.

... Rare indeed to run a game to a satisfying *and* proper conclusion.

Rich H wrote:- How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?

46, started when I was 15.

- What RPG did you first start with?

AD&D

- What kind of games have you played in the past?

Almost exclusively RPGs (no tactical wargames), but coming off a decade long immersion in MMOs.

- Have your preferences changed over the years?

I like games that minimize mechanics and emphasize character; I like my characters (or my players characters) to be scared.

- What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?

AD&D & Traveler, because those are the two I played when I first started.

- What's your all time top 5 (RPG)?

In no particular order: Dungeon World, Human Occupied Landfill (HOL), D&D Next, TOR, Werewolf: the Apocalypse

- What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?

Ravenloft is so far ahead of any others I can recall that I'll just list that one.

Rich H wrote: - How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?

33. Gaming since 1994 or so. So far, I am the Benjamin among the people answering this thread.

Rich H wrote:- What RPG did you first start with?

MERP. Never played D&D.

Rich H wrote:- What kind of games have you played in the past?

Most played have been: MERP, Ars Magica & Call of Chtulhu with also the guess starring presence of Star Wars (the old one). Other games include Paranoia, Fanhunter, Aquelarre, Pendragon, Vampire, Werewolf, and several homebrew systems.

I have also been big into Games Workshop games, specially Warhammer Fantasy. I played most intensely in the post-university years, but collected from 15 or so to 26.

Rich H wrote:- Have your preferences changed over the years?

Yes. From ultra-detailed games to as light as system as possible. I find TOR to be great for ambience but overly complicated when it comes to rules. Usually do not favour games that you cannot have the whole written rules in 4 pages fully explained.

Rich H wrote:- What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?

Ars Magica, MERP and Fanhunter.
For reference, Fanhunter is a tongue in cheeck Spanish game set in Barcelona, where a local scifi store owner has conquered Europe and implemented a society akin to that of 1984's book, with him as the Pope of God Phillip K Dick, and where Fans (anyone dealing with hobby cards, RPGs, tabletop games, wargames, movie freaks...) are hunted down relentlessly by the papal forces (the fanhunters). You are part of the Resistance, formed by all fans around. It is quite lighthearted game, but we loved the insanity of the stuff, since it tends to aprody all the movied and story tropes of all the stuff we love.

Rich H wrote: - What's your all time top 5 (RPG)?

Ars Magica
Pendragon
TOR
MERP
For a fistful of dice. (A game of my own creation that we use for one of my groups since we do not have time to go around with complicated rulebooks anymore).
Special mention to FUDGE/FATE and the Aspects they introduced to the world of wargames.

Curiously, I only own 2 of these....

Rich H wrote:- What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?

Great Pendragon Campaign (Pendragon)
Realms of Power: the Infernal (Ars Magica)
Masks of Nyarlathotep

Can't think of others from the top of my head without repeating game. Never owned MERP, so no idea of the supplements there, really even if I am sure I would have loved them. Vampire and werewolf were not that great, and Fanjhunter supplements are just as silly as the main game.

EDIT: Masks. Great supplement.

How old are you and how many years have you been gaming?
36 years old now, and I've been playing for 20 years now

What RPG did you first start with?
AD&D (a photocopied hungarian translation )

What kind of games have you played in the past?
A lot, since I am a rules junkie. AD&D 2e, 3e, 3.5e and D&D 4e. Cyperpunk 2020, MERP and Rolemaster, Shadowrun, Ars Magica, Mutant Chronicles, MAGUS (a hungarian RPG), Earthdawn, Alternity, Star Wars d6, KULT, Dark Heresy, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1e, 2e, 3e. Eyeing the new FFG Star Wars RPG. And now the One Ring of course.

Have your preferences changed over the years?
Definitely - In the beginning, I loved simulationist RPG's. Now I don't care as long as the feeling is right.

What RPGs are particularly memorable or do you hold close to your heart?
Earthdawn - it has a special feel. Warhammer also, because the feeling of the Old World. And Star Wars d6, where we had so much fun!

What's your all time top 5 (RPG)?
Without any real order here, I love all of them equally...
- Earthdawn, because the system
- Alternity, the greatest sci-fi game ever
- Ars Magica - the whole concept where the players played a coventant, not a single character
- WFRP3E - I love the dice and the concept, but I hate the cards and the bits - might be replaced by the new Star Wars rpg, since it uses the dice and the concept, without the cards and the bits
- And The One Ring of course (and I am not saying this because this is the game's forum )

What's your all time top 5 (Supplement)?
Now that's a hard question! I loved the Dragonlance setting for AD&D. The Enemy Within series for Warhammer. Night City for Cyberpunk 2020. Planescape. Namegivers of Barsaive. Star Wars Compendium for the D6 version. Tales from Wilderland - I like all the supplements for The One Ring, but I love Tales from Wilderland, it's so diverse and colourful.

I'm 54 & have played for more than 30 years (scary ).

This is my favorite game by a landslide.

I've also played dozens of other RPGs, boardgames, & wargames, however, & the top 5 RPGs are:

ToR
D&D
Warhammer Fantasy
A friend's homebrew that rocked
Chill

There's an amazing amount of gaming experience on here, & it confirms what I've suspected all along about ToR: That we are largely an experienced group of gamers who expect & recognize high standards

Mim wrote:There's an amazing amount of gaming experience on here, & it confirms what I've suspected all along about ToR: That we are largely an experienced group of gamers who expect & recognize high standards

Agreed. As I said in another thread - TOR definitely caters to older more experienced roleplayers for many reasons especially due to its separation from rules-laden formats that have become popular, a more relaxed and abstract system, a long-attention spanning flowery written one. Younger gamers that I typically encounter flock to the short games like Pathfinder society scenarios, card games like Magic, and MMOs - typical of a shorter attention span. TOR is more geared towards ambience. It is the luxurious wine tour - and not the local themepark.

Because of this - it is why most of us who have truly fallen in love with the game are older more refined roleplayers who prefer depth and rich flavor over action and fast-paced playing.


This is merely an observation - not a judgement. By all means, I know this doesn't apply to everyone who likes TOR - just the tendency.
Robert