In the early 1990's I was very much a part of the Goth and Metal scene in Liverpool,UK. Apart from the music and imagery, it was were I found and made friends that I had a lot in common with..a sense of belonging. Some of them were RPG fans and wanted to get back into the hobby. This marked my return to Tabletop RPG's, both as a GM and player.
My first step back was through my love of horror. TSR had just released a boxed set called "Ravenloft". This was a heavily supported campaign setting for AD&D 2nd Edition. It was the perfection combination really, a system that had broad appeal and familiarity coupled with a setting that I "got". I ran the published scenarios over a year long period with, in my opinion, mixed success, but the players seemed to love it. The high point was a werewolf adventure in which the players really did very little as they were so intimidated. That was the atmosphere I was looking for, and it would eventually lead me back to Cthulhu years later. I was also lucky to have a group who didn't know the rules very well...if I'd been called out on some decisions it would have been awkward as I didn't know the rules well myself!
The next game that I ran was "Kult". It was a very controversial Swedish horror game with a bad reputation.It was extremely dark and gnostic, but the system was very clunky. I loved it though, but when I tried to run a game it just didn't work. I didn't understand the game enough and simply didn't have the experience to do it justice. The players didn't get it either and felt I was railroading them, which I was...again because of inexperience and lack of confidence. I think in retrospect I thought that the game would just "happen" when I ran it. It only lasted one session.
Around this time White Wolf changed everything with their World of Darkness games. I bought "Vampire : The Masquerade", a game in which the players are vampires in a Gothic-punk modern setting. It was exciting and I was sure I'd have success running it. I never got the chance. The main problem was that my Goth pals weren't into tabletop games, the nearest they'd go was the Live-Action version. My pals who did play tabletop were turned off by the Goth angle, which they saw as pretentious. To this day I know that setting inside out without having played it.
I did get to play some other White Wolf games though, "Werewolf : The Apocalypse" and "Mage : The Ascension"."Werewolf" was fun though I had difficulty getting into character. I just didn't connect with the aggressive, animalistic aspect which is core to the game."Mage" on the other hand fit me like a glove..I understood it and really enjoyed it. It must be noted that the GM for "Mage" had a style that I hadn't encountered before, but it was perfect for that game. He had no storylines, just a firm grasp on the game mechanics. He focused the game on our characters and just reacted to what we did...we,the players, made the story ourselves to a large extent. That takes skill to do, and can be seen in some of today's new game systems. If I were to run a World of Darkness game I would call on my memories of his approach. He definitely helped shape my current style.
The last game I played was "Cyberpunk : 2020". The game was plain cool, loaded with attitude and good fun. It was the same GM we'd had for "Mage". Now it's horribly dated..this was in the days before people really used the internet. I did like the whole idea of enhancing yourself with cybernetics, at the cost of your humanity.
So around this time I stopped gaming. I think a large part of it was the time required. I had started working and simply couldn't be bothered with the time and preparation. It wouldn't be until 2011 that I'd do it again.
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