Pen-n-Paper RPGs; Let's talk OLD School...

[humanbean234]

Yes, kiddies, gather 'round ol' granddad's knee, and let me tell you about how we used to get our geek on, back before there was even 8-bit graphics...

 

Yep, you can't really have a conversation about Classic Games without a good sidebar on the topic of where the seeds for those games were sown. Without those crazy, dice-rolling pioneers, we'd never have seen all those SSI games (Strahd's Revenge, etc.) or Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and so-forth.

 

Anybody got any favorites from the Pen-n-Paper genre?

[bben46]

I have to start this with the original Dungeons and Dragons. Not Advanced or version whatever, the first and original. Played in the late 1970s.

[humanbean234]

I have to start this with the original Dungeons and Dragons. Not Advanced or version whatever, the first and original. Played in the late 1970s.

Ahh, yes... back when they still weren't sure if "Elf" was a Race or a Class... all the hallways were 10' wide, all the doors were made of oak, and half the party-members were each carrying a 10' pole... good times, those.

 

After D&D, and AD&D, the next roleplaying game I saw was Tunnels and Trolls. A crummy system (only three classes, Fighter, Wizard, and Rogue, only four attributes... sound familiar? Diablo, anybody?) but it had some entertaining "choose your own adventure" supplements published that allowed a single player to play without having a DM.

[scarb]

I began with AD&D and finished with that. It had a profound effect on me, leading to my modifying it or designing outright new games based on the concepts and systems within AD&D. I never really played any other P&P RPG's. And then home computers and computer games began to take off (late 80's), and I drifted to those.

[humanbean234]

Inversely, I grew up dirt-poor, and never had access to a decent computer until 1994. Prior to that time, everything I and my friends played was pen-n-paper.

 

Fantasy genre (AD&D, Dragonquest, Runequest, The Fantasy Trip, Pendragon, HackMaster), science-fiction genre (Traveller, Space Opera, Star Aces, Fringeworthy, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, MechWarrior, SkyRealms of Jorune), superhero genre (Villains & Vigilantes, Champions, Marvel SuperHeroes), horror genre (Chill, Call of Cthulhu, Bureau 13), post-apocalyptic (Aftermath!, Gamma World, Twilight 2000, Morrow Project), "other" genre (Toon, It Came From the Late, Late, Late, Late Show, Paranoia), and a great number of homebrew attempts and one-shots that often mixed & matched genres... you name it, I've probably played it or at-least leafed through the rulebooks at some time.

 

Personal favorites from the bookshelf; AD&D (2nd Ed, though 3.5 had some interesting ideas as well), and Fringeworthy (which had the capacity for an infinitely complex storyline... great multiverse concept, there).

[tyreil829]

i still some of the old, Dragon Warroir books very long, its been ages since i played it too much time on Fallout 3 and such XD

 

still thanks for reminding me how fun those books were XD

[Deleted945028User]

I still would love to play a good game of D&D or AD&D but can never find the players.

It was always more fun to play with people instead of a single player computer game.

And games like WoW just are not the same.

 

I also heard of a game Dead Earth kinda like Fallout I always wanted to try it but once again no players.

 

Someone once told me people sometimes play these games in chat rooms but I never could find one. Still wish i could.

[tullabee]

Anyone remember "Chain Mail" the precursor to Dungeons and Dragons? It's curious but every once in a while I'll still look up before going through a dark doorway. Just in case. Dungeons and Dragons and AD&D are fond memories now. Likewise tabletop games such as Warhammer, Magic and even Chess. Games were more fun when you had a social group to relate to in person instead of thru a keyboard and yet, here we are. Talkin' bout the good old days...whenever they ended. Can anyone remember any other games? I remember "Vampire: The Masquerade" and there were some scifi ones too, "Shadowrun" and "Cyberpunk". I still miss playing some of those.

[3rdtryguy]

Back in college, or more precisely the town where that college sat, was a book & game store which catered to gamers of every stripe. Every single night of the week, after normal business hours, the store opened up for the flock of gamers who showed up to play for half the night. We had four big tables, each with a different game going every night, so there was plenty of opportunity to try pretty much everything at some point, and boy, did we ever! I'd say that we must have played well over 60 different games each quarter.

AD&D was my all time favorite, I suppose, but the competition was stiff indeed.

 

We also invented one heck of a lot of new games. Many of them were actually pretty good, and some had, and still have, some serious commercial potential.