WISH: That Was Then, This is Now
In the gaming you are doing lately, what do you miss from earlier games? What works so much better you never looked back? Three examples?

What I Miss:

• I miss trying out new games. Besides Unknown Armies, I haven't played a new game system in years. In the old days, we used to try out new games constantly. We were always starting an epic campaign of one game or another that would last for three or four adventures until some new game caught our attention. (This is why I started planning all my campaigns with endings. I got tired of playing in all of these open-ended games that never got anywhere near an ending.) These days, every game I play or GM seems to go back to the same few systems: Amber Diceless, Champions or White Wolf. I have a vague memory of there being other games out there. (OK- actually the vague memories happen to be sitting on a bookshelf next to the computer...)


• Pick-up Games- I remember a time when games would start out of the blue. A couple friends would be hanging out and someone would ask "Hey, want to make up characters for this GURPS game I've been thinking about running?" and an hour later we'd be playing. These days, noone seems to have the time to just be hanging out, let alone playing a game on a whim.


• Miniatures- I never played any roleplaying games that really use miniatures with the exception of one Champions campaign I was in once that used cardboard stand-up superheroes. I only played D&D a few times and never with a group that used minis. My current Champions GM flinches whenever I mention the idea of using miniatures. (Something that Champions is a very good system for and now that Heroclix is out, it's not hard to find minis for.) In fact, the only games I've ever really used minis for were Heroquest and WarhammerQuest, which are more like board games than roleplaying games. Still, I miss having a reason to collect and paint all those fantasy minis. Sure, I can collect them for Warhammer or Chainmail but that's different. Those games don't give a good reason to collect all sorts of funky characters. Instead, I find myself painting legions of elves with spears.


• Multiple GMs: In my original group, we would sometimes start campaigns were we would take turns GMing. Our original Heroes Unlimited game (Superhero Game) campaign started that way until I eventually became the official GM. (None of us were experienced gamers so it took us a while to figure out who should GM.) Years later, we started a Palladium Fantasy game where the rule was that everyone got a turn as GM and during that turn, they would add onto the story and the game world. It was a lot of fun building off of what other GMs had started.

Things I don't miss:

• Munchkins: My current gaming groups are munchkin free. In my original gaming group, we had the king Munchkin. I should tell you about him sometime.


• level-based character development: It has been ages since I've played a game system where characters developed by going up levels. The only thing that may ever make me play a game like that again is D&D Third Edition. I want to use minis again and Third Edition looks like it is a bit better than AD&D, which I hated.