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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2021 12:21:28 GMT -6
I expect another way to think of it is that people who grew up playing RPGs as schoolkids are more likely to continue or return to it as adults. The age group that D&D actually targeted in the 70s didn't grow up playing. However, many of them did get introduced to miniatures and board games of different stripes at a younger age. I know plenty of people aged 60-80 who played loads of D&D in the 70s, but talk about that as a passing phase. Today they're really only interested in miniature wargames. You might be right. Maybe the poll should be "how old were you when you discovered the hobby?" I think that's the real common denominator around here. I think if you experienced it at the right age to amplify your childhood wonder it sticks with you more. |
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jonsalway
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Post by jonsalway on Jun 16, 2021 2:39:59 GMT -6
So... interest in OD&D appears to drop off a cliff at age 60? What happens on your 61st birthday?? Retirement. I get to retire in 3 years, within a month of turning 61. I find I'm getting more interested as I get older. Granted I've a year to got before the 60 drop-off. I'll let you all know... |
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Post by greentongue on Jun 16, 2021 11:20:52 GMT -6
I think another issue is the isolation issue of older people. Not all have taken to the internet and those that have may have departed from it because of the toxic areas that abound on it.
If you don't get out much as a normal thing, encountering others with the same interest and the free time to dedicate to a nitch game can be a hard combination.
Unfortunately, I know multiple like that. They sit home and stare at the tube while grousing about back when they got out and interacted with people.
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Post by mrmanowar on Jun 16, 2021 21:24:41 GMT -6
Reading all your replies does add in an additional factor. I started playing in 1988. Didn't hear of OD&D until mid 2000's! Crazy isn't it? I've been able to track down the old box sets as well as all the supplements, but only played them in convention settings. Never ran them on my own.
On the older generation. I sure wish they didn't rage/quit on some perceived slight. However today's gaming is probably vastly different from 1974-1977. Those years before I was born I stated earlier.
One thing I have noted based on reading the Elusive Shift and other period specific articles; the same stuff that comes up today about how to play was debated back then. What was Voltaire's quote? (I'm too lazy to look it up) "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it". If that's not from him, I'll gladly attribute that to whom credit is due.
I like playing OD&D, but if I ran it... It might feel very different from someone who ran it back in the day. I would be basically trying to replicate a feel with a rules light setting to create a certain mood that would hopefully evoke the sense of wonder. Mechanically, I'd probably be different and subject to "You didn't run that the same way we played in the 70's".
All said, I like the LBB's and would play. It's fun!
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Post by jeffb on Jun 17, 2021 6:15:08 GMT -6
Mechanically, I'd probably be different and subject to "You didn't run that the same way we played in the 70's". That's OK. Nobody back then ran games the same way either. If there were 10 DMs at my afterschool club on any given day, you could bet you'd get 10 very different games. |
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Post by tombowings on Jun 17, 2021 8:25:10 GMT -6
Mechanically, I'd probably be different and subject to "You didn't run that the same way we played in the 70's". That's OK. Nobody back then ran games the same way either. If there were 10 DMs at my afterschool club on any given day, you could bet you'd get 10 very different games. Exactly the way it should be. |
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Post by Starbeard on Jun 17, 2021 8:32:25 GMT -6
To be fair to the old timers, tempered opinions and unnaturally prickly egos have been the most common personality type amongst obsessive roleplayers for as long as I've been alive, at least!
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Post by tdenmark on Jun 17, 2021 12:04:15 GMT -6
To be fair to the old timers, tempered opinions and unnaturally prickly egos have been the most common personality type amongst obsessive roleplayers for as long as I've been alive, at least! Why are you talking about me? |
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aramis
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Post by aramis on Jun 17, 2021 23:26:24 GMT -6
Apparently, we need an OD&D workout group. I need the lockdown to end so I can have a fencing practice to go to. And face kids 1/2 my age... or less... Yes, my PT is stabbing people with really blunt swords. (SCA Rapier) |
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Post by asaki on Jun 17, 2021 23:29:48 GMT -6
Maybe the poll should be "how old were you when you discovered the hobby?" I think that's the real common denominator around here. I think if you experienced it at the right age to amplify your childhood wonder it sticks with you more. Well that's a completely different question, and IIRC, we already have a thread on that one =) I didn't get to play actual D&D until high school, right before 3E came out (or at least right before all my friends switched over to it).
My only childhood D&D memories are the cartoons, and a couple of those Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style books.
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Post by tombowings on Jun 18, 2021 0:05:15 GMT -6
Apparently, we need an OD&D workout group. I need the lockdown to end so I can have a fencing practice to go to. And face kids 1/2 my age... or less... Yes, my PT is stabbing people with really blunt swords. (SCA Rapier) I get it. I've been missing Kendo practice. |
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aramis
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Post by aramis on Jun 18, 2021 0:45:53 GMT -6
Its actually surprising me that the 60+ group is so sparse in the survey. If you consider that college students were the main demographich in the OD&D era of 1974-1978, the minimum age should be 61 - which is how old an 18 year old college student in 1978 would be today. It seems pretty clear to me that OD&D is a choice that people who grew up with other editions make after gaming for a while and then searching for something they like better. I bet if you took the poll fifty years from now you would get pretty much the same results. Not all of us are here because we dislike later designs. Some of us, myself included, are here in a form of informal anthropological and historical research, trying to understand what the games we enjoyed back then no longer hold much appeal... Yes, I'm a bit of a grog, started in summer of 81. With AD&D. I've run most official D&D editions (except holmes and 4e) including some of the 'half editions' (AD&D1+UA, AD&D2+PO books, 3.5, but not OE with sups 1+)... What have I discovered? Most of the fans of OSR games avoid using the rules. I embrace rules, and OE as presented in my misprinted Bk1, it made even wizards impressive... (It was missing the line about each hit doing 1d6 HP. Made it really impressive.) I approach games very differently than most posters here. |
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 18, 2021 2:01:52 GMT -6
I need the lockdown to end so I can have a fencing practice to go to. And face kids 1/2 my age... or less... Yes, my PT is stabbing people with really blunt swords. (SCA Rapier) I get it. I've been missing Kendo practice. I have a couple of bokken, so I sometimes practice what I've learned from Korean swordsmanship. I haven't fenced in a while, but I have a foil (decorative rather than functional) that I can use to do the basic movements. |
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Post by tombowings on Jun 18, 2021 3:39:47 GMT -6
I get it. I've been missing Kendo practice. I have a couple of bokken, so I sometimes practice what I've learned from Korean swordsmanship. I haven't fenced in a while, but I have a foil (decorative rather than functional) that I can use to do the basic movements. Nice. I haven't done much European fencing. I learned some while playing Antonio in Twelfth Night. Korean Kundo and Japanese Kendo are nearly identical, despite what the Koreans and the Japanese might say towards the contrary. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jun 18, 2021 7:05:04 GMT -6
Most of the fans of OSR games avoid using the rules. Perhaps another interesting poll might be what portion of folks here feel any investment in "OSR"... if we haven't already had something similar. I personally feel as though I have made genuine efforts to engage with and play the OD&D rules, specifically to explore what is actually there. For me, that's all part of OD&D  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2021 8:23:07 GMT -6
Most of the fans of OSR games avoid using the rules. Perhaps another interesting poll might be what portion of folks here feel any investment in "OSR"... if we haven't already had something similar. I personally feel as though I have made genuine efforts to engage with and play the OD&D rules, specifically to explore what is actually there. For me, that's all part of OD&D Yep. It would be an interesting poll. By definition, I qualify, but I feel decreasing kinship with the movers and shakers of that scene and the direction it's moving in. |
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jun 18, 2021 8:49:46 GMT -6
I didn't discover RPGs until 1982, when I was 15, which is why my entry was B/X. I don't think I even heard about OD&D and Holmes until the late 2000s.
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Post by jeffb on Jun 18, 2021 8:55:48 GMT -6
Most of the fans of OSR games avoid using the rules. Perhaps another interesting poll might be what portion of folks here feel any investment in "OSR"... if we haven't already had something similar. Done. |
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Post by rsdean on Jun 18, 2021 11:15:56 GMT -6
Apparently, we need an OD&D workout group. Well, I just turned 60 in March, but I am generally trying to stay fit, with walking (and thinking about games) interspersed with ballroom dance, ice dancing, and bicycling. Bicycling would be the safest for a group workout.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2021 14:52:25 GMT -6
I think another issue is the isolation issue of older people. Not all have taken to the internet and those that have may have departed from it because of the toxic areas that abound on it. If you don't get out much as a normal thing, encountering others with the same interest and the free time to dedicate to a nitch game can be a hard combination. Unfortunately, I know multiple like that. They sit home and stare at the tube while grousing about back when they got out and interacted with people. I think you may be right, a lot of the people my age and older that I know are only on things like Facebook, which is something I avoid like the plague. These days if you don't use smart phones and text, both of which are more difficult for many of us the older we get and the more our arthritis kicks our butts, then you become invisible to the world at large. If I could not use a full size keyboard, I would not be on the Internet at all. |
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 18, 2021 15:37:23 GMT -6
I didn't discover RPGs until 1982, when I was 15, which is why my entry was B/X. I don't think I even heard about OD&D and Holmes until the late 2000s. B/X was my entry as well. I looked through a copy of OD&D when I visited a friend's house. I didn't hear about Holmes until joining either this place or Dragonsfoot. I haven't played much OD&D, although I did use it when I ran a Carcosa game. |
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Post by tombowings on Jun 18, 2021 23:00:29 GMT -6
I think you may be right, a lot of the people my age and older that I know are only on things like Facebook, which is something I avoid like the plague. These days if you don't use smart phones and text, both of which are more difficult for many of us the older we get and the more our arthritis kicks our butts, then you become invisible to the world at large. If I could not use a full size keyboard, I would not be on the Internet at all. Then, in the opinion of his this 30-year-old, being invisible is totally underrated. Throwing out my phone has increased my productivity in terms of income, books read, exercise done, etc. More importantly, I spend more and better time with my family. It's also tons of fun when people ask for my phone number. I don't have one. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2021 11:41:15 GMT -6
I'm on my phone right now, conversely, but as you can see I'm using it for good purposes.
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Post by clownboss on Jun 24, 2021 18:33:45 GMT -6
I'm 1992, as you do. The first D&D I was exposed to came from WotC.
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Post by Starbeard on Jun 24, 2021 19:48:02 GMT -6
Conversely, I'm 1984, not before, and my first D&D was from WOTC (but when they still had 2nd edition).
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Post by smubee on Jun 28, 2021 14:46:38 GMT -6
Born in 96, so that makes me almost 25 years old.
I was 19 when I joined these boards!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2021 21:03:05 GMT -6
I think you may be right, a lot of the people my age and older that I know are only on things like Facebook, which is something I avoid like the plague. These days if you don't use smart phones and text, both of which are more difficult for many of us the older we get and the more our arthritis kicks our butts, then you become invisible to the world at large. If I could not use a full size keyboard, I would not be on the Internet at all. Then, in the opinion of his this 30-year-old, being invisible is totally underrated. Throwing out my phone has increased my productivity in terms of income, books read, exercise done, etc. More importantly, I spend more and better time with my family. It's also tons of fun when people ask for my phone number. I don't have one. I don't use a smart phone or text, so I am invisible to the world at large and most of my family even. People really look at you like you have two heads when they find out you are not carrying around a smart phone. I am so glad these things did not exist when I was a kid. My life is a lot richer for being "poorer." |
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Post by greentongue on Jun 30, 2021 10:41:07 GMT -6
It is like a knife. It is all in how you use it.
Sort of like the D&D rules. They can be a reference or a "Bible".
I still remember the frustration of needing "Chainmail" to play with the little books I had bought.
The store, which was in another state, had no more copies when I went back to get it.
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