Reflections on Gaming as a Kid: Then vs. Now

Yesterday I posted about changing the rules to suit my game needs, which got me to thinking about how we played the game when I was a kid. As I mentioned, AD&D was our game of choice but we actually played it more like B/X D&D with the expanded classes of 1e. We tended to ignore rules that slowed things down for us like weapon vs. armor, etc. However, on an interesting note, while we did ignore rules, it was almost taboo (to our 11 and 12 year old brains) to actually CREATE new rules. I know that is part and parcel to what Old School gaming is about, and I’m not saying that we didn’t do it at all, but it was much more akin to amending the Constitution of the United States to create a new rule than to simply ignore a standing one. Even for very cosmetic things like spell names, we considered changes very gravely before we instituted them. For instance, we would never have thought about renaming Tenser’s Floating Disk, but we didn’t think anything about ignoring the material components to cast the spell. After all, we’d just hand waive it and unless the DM had an adventure hook in mind that required a quest for material components, we didn’t want the overall flow of the game being slowed down.

It’s funny how things change. As I got older, grafting on new parts, house ruling, etc became the standard of the day. I began to create my own classes, spells, and tweak rules as I saw fit and as they better suited our style of play. However, it stands in stark contrast to the gravity with which my group considered such changes in the early days. I'm not sure yet where Bear will fall in this. I suspect that I've skewed that a bit for him being an avid gamer since well before he was born. He's already excited about creating his own monsters, spells and adventures and I'm more than glad to encourage this. I tend to think he'll see the game rules as a toolbox to use to give life to his wildest imaginings. And I'm enjoying being here for the ride!