Having been a player in 4E for a couple of games outside of my normal group, I think it most definitely plays better than any D&D game before. Teamwork in combat is rewarded. Paying attention to the board when it’s not your turn is rewarded. Being able to reposition opponents and allies…that is one of the single best improvements to the combat system. The downside I see is groups that don’t use grids are basically forced into it now.

Robotech is a setting I’ve always liked, but had those terrible Palladium rules at their core (also used for TMNT and Other Strangeness and Rifts). Battletech was something that just never saw a lot of use other than a little stint of brewing up homemade mecha and duking it out gladiator-style. Traveler provided a great deal of the underlying causes for my general aversion to space-travelling sci-fi as the setting for a RPG: when you can potentially plot a course to anywhere it’s really easy to get paralyzed by your own freedom. I always preferred Cyberpunk (the R. Talsorian game) to Shadowrun, as I like to keep my Elves and Orcs separate from my machineguns and robots.

ElfQuest

I own all of the original black and white, golden age sized comics (mostly 1st printings), all the color compilations and the roll playing game. Do I qualify as a huge gaming geek yet?

Since we’re rolling down memory lane, how about Battletech, Robotech, Star Frontiers, Traveler, and Albedo? I’ve also have played a fair amount of Shadowrun, Stormbringer and even a bit of Marvel Super Heros.

Wow… You’re really bringing me back with ElfQuest though. I was even a member of the fan club.

Turkish Prawn

My first RPG purchase was actually the Chaosium Elfquest box set, followed shortly by the D&D Red Box from TSR. These were bought with loans against lawn-mowing money from my dad, if memory serves. Good investments; I still have that old 20-sided white d10 in my dice bag. That makes me fairly oldschool, but certainly not as OG as some people I know.

You have NO idea how much you are making me want to game again.

I have no clue how many hours of my life have been spent with dice in one hand and soda in the other, but it’s been a hell of a lot. I don’t know how how old you are (though if you played Teenagers from Outer Space, you can’t be that much of a pup) , but I’m old enough to remember buying brand new D&D (not AD&D) modules and being very protective of my level 5 Elf. Not Elf, fighter. Just “elf”.

My son is two. When he’s old enough, his dear old dad will have to leave his old 1st edition stuff out someplace easy to find and see what happens.

Turkish Prawn