2015/01/20

Old school seems old sometimes


At times i feel as if i am in a solitary grotto, surrounded by books no one cares about anymore.

I tell young players that i just played 1st edition AD&D and they blink their eyes saying that in those times things were confused and complicated.

I should take notice more often that i actually live in the past, and that my comrades blogger do as well. So, in one sense it is true, we are the custodians of this hobby- we can teach youngster from where it all started, how it was like to play in the beginning, we are becoming historians even if we despise this word.

We are becoming historians as each year passes.

The conundrum is, is it worth persevering in playing old games?

We old schoolers usually flaunt our wealth, showing that we own, that we know and play old, vintage and rare-to-find games, but this parade doesn't usually raise interest in the public, particularly in the young public.

How to thwart these doubts and difficulties that sometimes arise?

Strenghtening our passion and ignoring the indifference shown by the general public who are playing new games? Maybe.

It's strange to always think about the past while the arrow of time goes in the opposite direction.


9 comments:

Ghola Scale said...

A lucid reflection, and one that may be true to some extent, it's a bit scary to think it, one hopes young folks would investigate and dig to find the gems of the past.

faoladh said...

I don't know about that. I think about the games that I am playing now, that I will be playing tomorrow. Just because they were written and published 30 years ago doesn't make any difference.

Weasel said...

The last three games we've played in my group have been Rolemaster, Runequest 3rd edition and Harn so I think the "old ways" are doing pretty okay here :)

Michael Parish said...

What game book is the image from?

Philosophical slumber said...

Powers & Perils, "Tower of dead", one of my favourite piece of art ever ;)

Jonas said...

I do not flaunt wealth. I can not really get in to collector mentality.

Althought I do greatly appreciate people who write meaningful things about their collections. Observation, theory or even just opinions.

I honestly do believe that creating new or compatible content for older games keeps interest in them alive.

There is also matter of finding out what is good in them and explaining that to people.

It also helps that I don't waste time arguing with people who view any conversation on internet as argument to be won.

Anonymous said...

I happened to just stumble across this library and catalogue of historic and memory invoking lore, and I for one, thank you immensely.

I'm old, and remember with joy being a young boy and hunting through any publication I could find on the hobby. That was eagerly followed by mowing every yard i could or shoveling every sidewalk in town to get many of these games I've seen here.

Sadly a hefty flood destroyed much of what I had saved over the years, so coming here and seeing all this information is pretty neat, to say the least.

Philosophical slumber said...

Thank you.

I'm sad about the flood you mentioned, i can only imagine how horrible could be to have one's treasures suddenly destroyed.

As you may have guessed, i scanned many of those old games in order to preserve them.

If you like my website, please join it by becoming a follower, many surprises await in the future :)

Swordsman01 said...

All people can really do is make the information available, and play the games. One could also run games at their FLGS and see if it generates any interest.

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