What RPGs Did You Play As A Kid?
I was just thinking about the RPGs that I played as kid/teenager that got me hooked on this hobby:
- Villains & Vigilantes – Back in print once again, this is by far my favorite game for the Supers genre. I had pages upon pages of characters created for V&V, and I still find artwork that I did for this game when I dig through my old gaming gear.
- Basic Dungeons & Dragons – The elf and dwarf were a class, and nobody seemed to care. Rust monsters and kobolds were major threats, and clerics could only use blunt weapons. Was it simple? Yes. Was it mundane? Not by a long shot!
- Top Secret/S.I. – I feel that the hand-to-hand combat and damage systems of this game has yet to be equaled by another game. It had great supplements, and it captured the modern action setting brilliantly!
I would be lying if I said that these games don’t influence my expectations for games today. They do. They always will. These were the games that I really sunk myself into. Sure there wasn’t much depth to Basic D&D to be honest, but I made tons of material for it. I learned to be a game master because of these games, and my goal is to design a game that is as memorable to play as these games were.
What about you? What games were your introduction to RPGs? Leave a comment below and share your favorite RPGs from childhood with the rest of us.
Patrick, you make me feel old…
Chainmail (for playing minis with my dad)
Empire of the Petal Throne (dad bought it, but didn’t really get into it as much as I did. It just seemed more interesting than the other Tolkein-derived stuff in D&D…)
Call of Cthulhu/Stormbringer/Hawkmoon/Runequest (no comment necessary)
BECMI Dungeons & Dragons (because I couldn’t get any of my friends to play EPT or CoC)
Hm… The games that were my introduction to role-playing:
Moldvay Basic Dungeons & Dragons
Cook Expert Dungeons & Dragons
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition
Gamma World 2nd edition
Boot Hill 2nd edition
Top Secret
Marvel Super Heroes
Star Frontiers
Call of Cthulhu
Stormbringer
Ringworld
Superworld
Tunnels & Trolls
Doctor Who (FASA)
Timeship
Man, Myth & Magic
Twilight 2000
Those are the role-playing games I played from about 5th grade through 12th grade (that I can recall). I owned more, but never got beyond reading them due to one thing or another. I won’t say how many RPGs I currently own and haven’t played yet…
@Gordon Cooper: Marvel Super Heroes and Twilight 2000 were two great games as well. I completely forgot about those. The more I think about Marvel Super Heroes the more I realize that it probably has an influence on my game designs as well.