We live in a new Golden Age of Plenty in RPGS.
I was thinking about what is commonly thought of as the Golden Age; the Early 80s. Sure there was a lot going on and everything was bright and new and the vistas seemed endless.
But I also remember a time when finding some books was difficult and unless you were in the know then you not only didn't have access to the books, you didn't even know they existed. Plus lots of news of new games, books or whatever was regional.
I lived near the pipeline between Chicago and Carbondale (two places I would later live in) that had a steady stream of material partially thanks due to Tim Kask and his connections at Southern Illinois University (SIU, go Salukis!). So I came to later learn that even though I lived in a highly religious small town, we had some good access to D&D products. With Mayfair in the Chicago burbs and the University of Illinois all the North, things were not too bad.
BUT there was still a lot of stuff I never saw. I understand there was a vibrant scene in California and other places that produced completely different material. Material that the local took for granted.
Today. Today things are different. We have the Internet and easy access to several thousands of books of gaming material.
Blogs and boards produce a Dragon's magazine worth of material every week, if not every day.
Sure some of you might claim there is a lot of noise and useless information. Well, guess what? That has always been true.
There are so many good games out now. Yesterday I talked about One game, but today I am talking about all of them. We don't have to choose one game for forever and forever.
It's a Golden Age and we should enjoy it.
If there's a downside to all of this, it's the shear amount of choices out there--what to buy, what to play, and convincing others to play it, too. It can lead to breadth of play but not depth as groups sample one different game after another.
ReplyDeleteYet choices are certainly better than scarcity.