Pen & Paper/Tabletop RPG's

[McMurphy]

Is Paper and Pen Games Dead to a Gimmick and Card RPG Generation?

Tabletop and video games alike have provided creative inspiration for me in the past....far more than television does on a daily basis. That is not to say that all games have, however. Once and a while you come across a game that, when in the right groove, you could simply close your eyes while mashing the buttons and the experience would be same. Likewise, I have seen some horrible DMs suck all the creativity out of the paper-and-pen RPGs by relying far too heavily on dice rolling.

This may seem like a dumb question, but does anyone know if companies are actively putting out new paper-and-pen traditional rpgs, or are they still just republications of the most successful ones from the '80s?

 

[Barristan]

Hi McMurphy, and no its not a dumb question. The PnP games have been underground for about the last 5 years.

Yes, there are loads of companies still producing new games, new concepts and the "must have" money making expansion books. DnD was re-vamped into a totally new system around 2000, then had an updated revised system 2 years later. This is the main reason behind new interest in the industry IMO.

IMNSHO though, the best games were mode in the 90's. White wolf started their "World of Darkness" in 91, which pretty much rewrote what the players were looking for in a game. Since then the expectation from players has been higher. The desire has generally been pointing more towards a free-form system, where you are not constrained by any cardinal rules.
Still, if you look at the big guns in the RPG industry, most of what they produce is "more of the same". If it sells, then why change. Check out a few RPG websites, and the RPG section in eBay, the shops there sell a lot of the new stuff as well as the old. My personal favourite? Well, look into Legend of the 5 rings, Kult and Over the Edge. Admittidly they are all several years old now, but between them contain the inspiration for decades of fun.

Sorry to waffle, lol, just looked back at what I typed, lol!

 

[SkywardShadow]

Re: Is Paper and Pen Games Dead to a Gimmick and Card RPG Generation?

This may seem like a dumb question, but does anyone know if companies are actively putting out new paper-and-pen traditional rpgs, or are they still just republications of the most successful ones from the '80s?

EOS Press has put out a couple of fun and unique games recently, including my favorite "Weapons of the Gods".

I recommend hitting a convention like GenCon sometime, where most of the big and small companies set up booths and unveil new products each year, it's a lot of fun!

 

[McMurphy]

Make Marvel...My RPG?

Thanks for the responses Barristan and Skyward Shadow. In a way, it does me good knowing that even in a media world that has surrounded a new generation of gamers and fantasy fans with quick-paced card games, video games, and even online multiplaying epics there is still enough demand voiced for the old paper and pen format that the industry is willing to continue evolving it.

I remember my friend and I working one summer as grunt workers on a golf course-to-be site in North Dakota. We were too young to start spending any money we earned on girls or cars, so we, instead, found a ride into town and hit the nearest bookstore. Among some literature (okay, mostly graphic novels and comic books, but---hey---the "Infinite Gauntlet" was taking place at the time) my friend purchased the Marvel Super Heroes paper-and-pen kit.

We were both so naive to this genre of gaming, that neither of us could wrap our brains around the rules. Our Monopoly raised minds understood the role of the dice. We thought the grid formatted fold-out map of New York City was meant to be literally the game board on which we played the whole game. I remember both of us camped out in that tent in a middle of a large hay field absolutely dumbfounded by the DM and Player handbooks. It wasn't until a year later (after the kit had been long since cast aside) that it dawned on us what exactly a pen-and-paper rpg game was.

I never said I was a fast learner....

 

[purenightshade]

I play AD&D, Big eyes small mouth, Paranoia, and Amber. My husband plays Call of Cthulu.