You know what it needs though? It needs an impossible to answer question. One that would alienate certain people over others and get many of my friends angry at me. Something like...
Jeez-Louise! Are they serious? Why not just have my girlfriend ask me if this skirt makes her look fat? I mean, no it doesn't honey. You look fantastic in everything. And of course nothing. Besides, how does it make you feel? It's your opinion that matters most. If you like it, it's the right skirt. Don't worry what other people think.
Where was I?
Oh yeah. SWEET SHAMANS of the CAYMANS! How am I supposed to answer this?!?
OK...real talk people...
It's no secret toy surprise that I miss gaming with many of my older players, and groups. We had a synergy of style that I can't seem to duplicate with my modern groups.
The reasons for this are actually pretty simple.
- The members of my older groups were closer in age to me, and each other.
- We were all fans of a lot of things, and they were all the same things*
- We were friends outside of gaming first, or
- We were friends of friends
- We knew each other, when we started or eventually, for a long time
Although I do have some truly great people that I know, and game with these days - and that's true across all my groups - my dream team would all be from people who were regulars at one time, or another prior to 2009.
Alright...let's do this.
The game would be Star Trek. The system either FASA Second Edition, or LUG's ICON System.
The era would likely be the TOS Movies circa Wrath of Khan to Undiscovered Country, or the first part of Generations.
The cast:
The Captain - Rebecca H.
First Officer/Science Officer/Weird Alien - Allen H.
Doctor/Chief Medical Officer - Joseph C. (As a Tellarite, Vulcan-Human mix, or other alien)
Helm - Nelson M.
Navigation - Selina W. (Preferably as a Vulcan)
Security - Jeff
Engineering - Very tough - Either David C., or Ken L. If David, then...
Small Craft Pilot (Shuttles, Worker Pods, etc.) Ken
Communications - Selina W., or Lynn M. (if Lynn M. also make her a Starfleet Intelligence Agent).
I am leaving out sooo many people. Pete H., Keith C., Little J., Big J., Phil L., Aris, Joe V...
If it was a different game though, I'd probably have a different dream team.
Ugh.
This question is killin' me.
What's next?
AD
Barking Alien
*One of the key elements that made my old groups work and my new groups...well...weird...is that in the past everyone was a fan of a broad variety of subjects. Everyone.
So for example, if I wanted to run Star Wars, everyone would be excited about the idea.
Compare this to one of my new groups where one fellow hasn't really seen anything Star Wars (No, he wasn't raised in a foreign country by militant squirrels. Yes, he is a pop culture fan. No, he isn't Amish. Even the Amish like Star Wars). Another isn't that enthused
and everyone else decides to infuse their characters with as much Expanded Universe stuff as possible so that it doesn't really feel like Star Wars.
In my old groups where everyone was an Anime/Manga fan, everyone liked Mecha Anime (and comedies, and Fantasy, and...you get the idea). While one Mecha Anime fan might have Mobile Suit Gundam as their favorite, another might prefer Neon Genesis Evangelion, and a third is most enamored with Five Star Stories. Now, the Eva lover still likes Gundam a lot. The Gundam fanatic is a big reader of Five Star Stories, etc.
In my newer groups, where there are say, a lot of Anime/Manga fans if not every single member, only a couple like Mecha Anime. Most barely know the classic series at all.
That's probably the biggest difference between old and new.
Old:
Me: Would anyone be interested in playing in an obscure cartoon from the 80's game?
Players: YES! We love that show!
New:
Me: Would anyone be interesting in playing in a fairly well known comic book styled game?
Players: One Third - Sure, let me make a character that doesn't fit that style. One Third - I don't know what that is. One Third - OK, but I refuse to show much enthusiasm.
*sob*
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