On rare occasions, I might look back, fondly on my initial gaming experiences. Or my first real campaign, which was epic and everything a DM could hope for. But, no even that's not nostalgia.
And when I pull the DMG off my bookshelf, I don't feel "nostalgia." I feel wonder, excitement, the awakening of my own creativity, easy familiarity, respect and a sense of the numinous, which I find devilishly hard to articulate, but partakes of what I feel when involved in any creative endeavor, as well as what I feel when perceiving any work of art I find especially meaningful. Particularly older works, dealing with certain mythological and esoteric subjects (e.g. Arthurian legends.)
As I once wrote:
"Gary's writing in the AD&D rulebooks was a brilliant synergy of fantastic imagination, prose and game mechanics.
"He expressed all that mythological and archetypical lore in such a way that his mechanics created another level of resonance, one not seen in such mediums as film and literature.
"As far as I know, his performance here, has never been matched."And when I sit down to run a game of D&D, nowadays, I don't feel Nostalgia at all!
Why in the hell would I? I'm Playing the Fucking Game, right then and there! Besides, my 43 year old self is a much better DM, than my 15 year old self, on his best day! And gets far more out of the game, to boot! I ain't got no damn reason to "look back on longingly."
Speaking for myself, Nostalgia has nothing to do with it. While I might miss gaming with particular friends, it's now a better time to be playing Old School D&D than ever before!
I'm not wistfully yearning for a damn thing! :)
Well said! :)
ReplyDeleteNostalgia? For something that's not dead?
ReplyDeleteAs long as we live (aka "play") our game lives!
Well said!
Too right! How can you be nostalgic about something you never stopped doing. Its kind of like breathing. "Remember the good old days when we used to breath?"
ReplyDeleteI've never understood this criticism. People play chess all their life and don't face the same criticism. They continue to play it obviously because they enjoy it, not because doing so makes them feel warm and fuzzy thinking about their youth when they first learned to play. A truly bizarre accusation.
ReplyDeleteI'm nostalgic for the High School / College days when I could spend lots more time gaming. I would spend hours designing worlds, dungeons, creatures, and campaigns. So yeah its not the game I miss but the time I can allocate to it.
ReplyDeleteAt 47 I feel very fortunate to spend a Sat 2-3 times a month playing with my kids and my friends!
Morgan
I pull the DMG off my bookshelf, I don't feel "nostalgia." I feel wonder, excitement, the awakening of my own creativity, easy familiarity, respect and a sense of the numinous<<<
ReplyDeleteI think for me the thing is there I used to feel this when I looked in a D&D book, especially a new one back then like UA or when I yanked out my copy of Arduin Grimoire and randomly read pages out of it. I don't have that total sense of wonder and possibility from just looking at the books anymore. Those senses are in my games and when I think about them after, but yeah, I've lost that childlike awe for it I had back in the day. I guess wistfully thinking about it like I am right now is nostalgia.
I do some - I'm using the Keep on the Borderlands for my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game out of nostalgia, although not purely so. It would be pure nostalgia if I made everyone play Basic D&D.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I've never really stopped playing fantasy RPGs since I started gaming. And my new megadungeon is my first ever megadungeon. Hard to be nostalgic for something I never did. I'm just late to the party.
@ Peter - Gurps is one of those games I always wanted to check out, but never have. If I were to do so, would you recommend 4th ed. or an earlier release?
ReplyDeleteIf I ever feel nostalgia, it's because of the people with whom I used to game. Man, I miss those guys. Like you said, however, still being able to game is a wonderful thing!
ReplyDelete:)
Yo James, wanted to say that I too am reading The Compleat Dying Earth! Let's hear it for the Science Fiction Book Club!
ReplyDelete@James - 4th edition is much better than the earlier ones. It's essentially the same game, but with a lot of the little oddities and "this sounded better than it played" rules smoothed out.
ReplyDelete