I’ve think I simply feel more comfortable with some older designs and worlds than I do continuing to ride the treadmill of new and shiny. Recent delves back into the 1980s and ’90s designs on my shelves, and especially of early GURPS, has helped me to recognise how little anxiety I feel when I play old games.

While there certainly was plenty of controversy in the pages of the 1970s through to 1990s ‘zines, the gaming community pre-internet was qualitively different. Some might say it was amateurish and raw, others might claim it was filled with inappropriate ideas, but I lived in those years and grew up learning to play at that time. Denial of that fact is not healthy.

I wasn’t really a big Old School D&D guy because, until I returned to it in 2008, I thought it was a bit simplistic compared to the much more interesting games of my youth. Rolemaster was our go-to through most of my formative years, alongside Traveller, Palladium Fantasy, and Star Frontiers. We enjoyed the detailed systems but we were also deeply into roleplaying our characters.

Trying to play along with the tastes of other people who want different experiences than I do has been a poisonous path to tread. When, at last, I admitted to myself that I am not a minimalist story-focused gamer but rather someone who seeks deep Fantasy, Discovery of the world and characters, and who enjoys the Challenge of tactical combat… there was a sense of relief.

I don’t know where things will go next. Heck, I have never known much from one week to another what ideas and creative inspirations will excite me throughout these past 40+ years. I am a passionate and flighty soul, on the one hand deeply interested in the “how” of RPGs while being on the other hand wholly attracted by too many cool ideas.

But I do know that I love those familiar old designs from the late 1970s through the 1980s until 1999. The last time I really felt excited about a new design was maybe TSR’s last one: Alternity. I am drawn to the deeply-drawn fantastic realms from many now-classic games. And more than anything, I love to get around the table with a bunch of like-minded and curious gamers to bust out some dice and roleplay.

Game on!