"Do you miss the good old days" Topic

Whatever they were – old school figures and rules, AD&D 2nd edition(!), WH40K 3rd edition. Or are you boldly looking to the future, ready to surf the wave of the latest new idea/trend – whatever it is (diceless combat, orks with flamethgrowers v's ents, gaming ever smaller wars as the world finally lives in peace and harmony…).

Or some other philosophical position ?

So, where do you stand ?

- It sure was better back then ! Get me to ebay.
- the past is dead to me only the future matters ! Get me to new online catalogues.
– the past is gone the future is unseen only the NOW and the new spacehulk matter !
- Not a gamer
- Not involved in linear interpretations of temporality.

"AD&D 2nd edition"????
My dear sir, we played white box D&D, with no stinking "A" in it.

I'll put you down as "sure was better back then"

(just for the record I started with Basic D&D, but AD&D came out ~3 months later and I graduated to that and never bothered with later editions. At the same time we also played some original D&D (white box) as even then we weren't completely sure that the further development of the game was a positive thing. However RPG's are dead to me now [haven't played for ~8 years])

No, I don't miss the "Good Old Days." Back then, I never had enough money to buy figures or rules. Now I make a lot more money, but the wife has horses, so I still can't afford to buy any figures or rules.

WH40K 3rd Edition? You mean Rogue Trader, with Dwarves and Zoats.

I mean 'squats'.

Sometimes, especially the ability to go to the local hobby shop to look at, select, and purchase historical miniatures in person. It was also nice to be able to look at a set of miniatures rules, before purchasing them, to see if they were something you might like.

There is something satisfying about that.

Rules selection today is more like a crap shoot, which can be mitigated a bit by asking lots of questions on-line.

Without the internet, purchasing miniatures and rules would be a lot more tedious and fraught with peril.

Some older games are good, other stink when you look back.

Same with the new games, there is plenty of great stuff coming out and some of it is bovine excrement.

I hang on to the old stuff and cherish it and eagerly await the new stuff as well.

-The Past is treasured as the past, the Future is yet to be, and the Now is where we are. I'd rather be right here!

Without the internet, purchasing miniatures and rules would be a lot more tedious and fraught with peril.

Amen to that..without the internet, I would not have the hundreds of figures I have…but I guess I would have more money in the bank.

I really don't want to go back to the past of wargaming. The quality and selection has only grown and is still growing. The ability to go online and buy minis, rules, everything else plus join in discussions about the hobby from the comfort of a computer chair in PJs with a cup of coffee is too good to go back before. We have so much more access to information now. You have to be careful with what you find, but that was true before the internet and now we can cross reference and check against more sources so much easier.

Plus, I look at the stuff I used to paint and use for scenery and I think about how much I have now in terms of quantity and quality of painted minis and terrain.

I really really like where I am at in the hobby right now. I look forward to the future with new releases and new projects, but I don't look back to the past with nostalgia, just with the realization of how limited the hobby was for me before.

Maybe I'm just not old enough to become a grumpy grognard, but I don't find anything particularly appealing about the past rules and minis much beyond mild amusement.

Sure, Rogue Trader was fun when I was a kid and D&D was fun, but I would never go back to 40k or THAC0 (shudder). Plus I have only become that much more involved in the hobby since I became interested in historicals and produced a bunch of rules and supplements and gone to cons, etc. etc.

Put me firmly in the here and now and the immediate future.

I would add that maybe the only thing I miss are some of the brick and mortar hobby stores (my favorite game store is still around).

The only thing about the past, from my perspective, is that the limit on the amount of rules available made it easier to get a larger number of gamers into playing a given period.

I have nothing against people writing rules, but when I came into the hobby, most periods were dominated by only a couple of rule sets, where most basing, organization, and number of miniatures to a base were the same – making it easier for a variety of people to play a miniature game.

Now, with the amount of rules, base sizes, number of figures, organization – brigade, army, skirmish, etc, often makes it hard to put on big games.

As much as gamers fault GW and FOW, one of their strengths is building a rule system that makes it possible for a variety of gamers to get involved.

I'd love to play D&D and Traveller again on a regular basis. But that's about the only nostalgia I have.

I never could get the hang of new-fangled rules like "THACO." Real D&D has tables, not THACO.

I do seem to be buying items now that date from, or are inspired by, my misspent youth.

Yes I do…

Traveller/Striker should be much better now, with all of the new 15mm figures and vehicles.

Well it depends, I still prefer my figs from back in the day. Love those old Heritage 15mm ACW, and my Mikes Models's 7YW.. But on the other hand I like the rules out now better. So a little of both.

I remember playing Metamorphasis Alpha, many yers ago. I don't miss it….

I miss the old days when there weren't so many distractions (such as the Internet provides…history and gaming sites galore….and don't forget computer games). Each new SPI or Avalon Hill game got plenty of play in those days. Of course, once I got into miniatures that all changed…but there was plenty of time and focus to work on the figures and armies back then. Problem is, as someone already mentioned earlier in the thread, I didn't have an income even close to what I have now….and being limited to what was in stock at the hobby store often was a problem too!

I'm torn… The quality and variety of miniatures nowadays is amazing compared to what was out say, 15 years or so ago. In many cases, the rules are more playable, logical and "tight".

On the the other hand, I miss what I can only refer to as a "fun factor". The goofiness and "seat of your pants" aspect, especially in fantasy/sci-fi games, that has gradually slipped away over the years. When I noticed members of various 40K message boards arguing "accuracy" in a manner that I once associated with horse and musket historical gamers, I realized that many of things that initially attracted me to the genre had been lost on those (apparently) younger players.

And as others have mentioned, the thrill of visiting a well stocked FLGS that carried more than two or three product lines is something I miss.

The only thing I miss from the 'good old days' are some of my friends that are no longer with us.

It's the people that make this hobby great.

That said, we are in the golden age of wargaming. Treasure it. It may not last forever.

mjc

No, I don't miss the "good old days".

I love Rogue Trader and it's very much at the forefront of my involvement in the hobby today, but back when it was still on the shelves I couldn't afford to buy a fraction of what I wanted, and didn't have access the resources that are now available to gamers. I'm able to do things with that game today that I would never have been able to achieve back in the late '80s, and I exploit that advantage fully – so although it's still close to my heart, it's a game I love now, not as a nostalgic memory.

I also have a number of new games and a lot of new miniatures that I'm very keen on, and I look forward to releases yet to come, but I don't see the point in dropping the treasures of yesteryear just because they aren't new any more – or waxing wistful about old games as a lost resource, as if we're somehow no longer allowed to play them.

W40K and AD&D as "the good old days!?!?!!?!?"

Pah! (dismissive sweep of hand)

I played D&D when it first came out in pamphlet form. Heck! We used coins for tokens because there were no miniatures!

The good old days are now. The past was chaotic, expensive, difficult to get what you were looking for, very few manufacturers/publishers and several other problems.

'nuther choice:

- Old, Now, New…doesn't matter: I take fun from whatever source available no matter its age.

…and what's with this calling white-box D&D "old"? kids these days…

I agree that figures are,on the whole ,more affordable today than in the past.

I miss the friends from back then, and the time to paint/play for days on end, before wife, kids, mortgage etc.

Phil

"We used coins for tokens because there were no miniatures!"

Coins? Luxury! I cut out bits of cardboard to use. They had the huge adavantge that you could write on them.

Anyway, I can be as nostalgic about the past as anyone (perhaps more so), and I do miss those three month long games of Third Reich, however now is best.

The thing I miss most about the good ol' days was the ability to get together with a big group and game at least once, often twice a week, every week. Work schedule and geography now keep me from being able to do that.

I miss the old crews, too, although I've reconnected with some of the survivors of the old groups on Facebook.

The only think I miss about the good ole days, is having all the time on my hands to get as much gaming done as I liked!

"My dear sir, we played white box D&D, with no stinking "A" in it."

You youngster! We used to play D&D in the faux wood-grain box, which came before the white box. The white box was the third printing of the game-inna-box, they went with white to lower production costs because the game was selling faster than they could print it.

I even have the original 'Come Visit my Dungeon' t-shirt from Gencon. Back when Gencon was actually held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In the agricultural hall (although there was one year in the Playboy club up there). My only regret is that I didn't buy any of GHQ's short-lived 25mm 7-Years War line, because now no-one believes me when I tell them that GHQ made a (failed) line of 25mm.

Things were better then because I had the time to play and friends who also had time to play. But we had no money. Which wasn't so bad because there wasn't much available (thank goodness for Airfix figures). Now I have money, I can get any figure I want in any scale, but I have no time to play more than once a month or so. But in the future I and my cohort will be retiring, so once again we'll have time to game! Only we won't be able to see anything…

The internet has reinvigorated the hobby with the ability for people to connect with others and find enough people willing to buy that special odd range of figures. I think it's the new golden age and I hope it only gets better.

Steve
cavalcadewargames.com
nycjadie.wordpress.com

The Past is always preferable to the Present or Future!

Things were better then because I had the time to play and friends who also had time to play.

That pretty much sums it up for me too.

I have a huge stash of wargaming stuff now, enough unpainted metal and plastic to last me the rest of my days, but not being able to game on a regular basis kinda puts a damper on the whole thing.

I miss the innocent enjoyment of someone finding something new that they love. Hunting for stuff all over town was really fun. Playing was always exciting.

There wasnt a 10th of the stuff out now, nor as sophisticated but for the time it was very entertaining.

But today you can switch systems at the drop of a hat, buy figs online no one would ever carry and even participate in the creation of the games and miniatures, how cool is that?

You have big companies and small, the choices are almost too much actually.

"My dear sir, we played white box D&D, with no stinking "A" in it."

I played "Empire of the Petal Throne"! Now those were the days.

"The Past is always preferable to the Present or Future!"

How bad must one's life be to feel that way? Too sad!

Hey, let's not be judgemental – the future isn't always better and brighter (although I am looking forward to WH40K 14th edition)