RPGaDAY 2017 #17

From the #RPGaDAY2017 challenge (info here):

[as I'm starting this thing a little late, I shall be doubling up on my daily posts until I catch up. Early posts will be post-dated to the date they were originally supposed to appear]

Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?

This is a tough one.

Over the years I've gone from "RPG player" to "RPG designer," I have collected an incredible number of games...more than I could ever play in a lifetime. At least, in any meaningful way. Heck, "RPG collector" might be a better term for my gaming life and, sad as that is, I'm willing to wear it until such time as that changes.

[by the way, I've just had a loooong day of hauling 50 pound paving stones and 60 pound bags of sand and I am on my second pint, so my typing...and my train of thought...might be a little shaky. Sorry about that]

Even in my youth, once I found a way to acquire some spending money, I purchased a lot of games (usually at a used bookstore). But every game I would play. Take it out for a "test drive," you know? Back in the day, I had lots of friends clamoring to game and I had lots of free time (ah, sweet youth...cherish your free time while you can, kids!), so it wasn't an issue to try every game. One session or a dozen, who cares? It gave us as much enjoyment as going to the movies (if not more) for roughly the same price.

But the older I've gotten, the fewer gaming friends seem to be around, and my free time has dwindled to a trickle due to my other responsibilities. Yes, I could make it a priority of my life. I don't have to be the president of the parents club and the first grade soccer coach and the dutiful son who visits his mother and the dutiful brother who tries to comfort an ailing brother and the dutiful husband and father and homeowner moving three f'ing tons of rock to build a patio. Hell, I could get rid of the beagles and not worry about feeding and walking and caring for them (the younger is prone to ear infections). I don't think it's possible to exercise less than I already do, or write less than I already do or...well, you get the point. We all have our priorities and while I'd like gaming to be one of mine, I can't seem to fit it in as often as would seem to be appropriate for a dude who's devoted so many internet words to the subject.

*ahem*

ANYway, even so, it wasn't till the last ten years or so that I really started collecting games with little, if any, intention to play. Some are appropriate for research, some represent pieces of history, some are pretty to look at, some I've purchased based on reviews thinking I'd play them (but for some reason found them wanting) and some I fully intend to play one of these day, when I have the chance, and the right group of people.  But, sad to say, there are a LOT of unplayed games that sit on my shelf.

To find the oldest, however, required me to really scratch my head and dig deep. I was having a hard time considering if Werewolf: the Apocalypse counted...certainly, I've never run a saga in that game, though I've been asked to before (back in college...the game fell through before the first session due to some man-woman stuff), but parts of that game was incorporated into other Vampire games, and I'm sure I've used it to make at least one or two characters. Then there's another game from 1992 called Dreampark (based on the Larry Nivens novel) from R. Talsorian. I actually really dug that as a potential "universal" RPG system (in a simpler fashion than GURPS)...but I think I might have run a game for my brother at some point.

And anyway, I have an older game that I'm sure I haven't played: Guardians by James Perhan from Starchilde Publications. This game was published in 1988, though I believe I picked up my copy circa 1990 (and possibly from a used bookstore). Guardians has a simple system, some nice interior art, and some fairly cool fluff. Plus I loved the "flourish" skill that allowed a character to execute cool moves without tripping over his/her cape (and failing a flourish roll could have embarrassing, if not dangerous, consequences).

It's pretty crappy. Sorry.

However, Guardians lost all credibility with me when I read the sample adventure it contained. It didn't bother me that it was hokey, with an evil dentist and his robotic, drill-armed henchman. No, it was when I was researching the bad guys' powers (in anticipation of running the game) and realized the robot's suite of invulnerability powers made it completely impervious to anything the pre-gens (or anyone else) could throw at it. A bad oversight of game design, and one bad enough that I chucked the whole book without ever running a game.

But I didn't chuck it into the trash, just a dusty corner of the shelf. I found it a while back when I was reading Age of Ravens History of Superhero RPGs posts and realized he'd left it off the list. It's still a shitty game with decent artwork, and for some reason I've allowed it to stick around...it's pretty thin, after all (doesn't take up that much shelf space).

I'm about 99% sure it's the game I've owned the longest without once having played it. Going on 27+ years.

[holy mole! Only one more day of double-posting to do! You can read my Day 8 post by going to this link. Tomorrow I'll do Day 9 and then I'll be all caught up]