31 Flavors of Vanilla

As someone who enjoys many different rules systems and game settings, I often get very frustrated with playing the same old thing again and again. While I would love to be part of a long term campaign that lasts for years and years, at this point in my life I'll be lucky if my friends and I can get together a few times a month for a whole year. If this is going to be the case (as it has been for some years now), I want to expand my gaming horizons and try some new flavors instead of the same old vanilla.

It seems however that when a campaign ends and/or something new is called for, the vast majority of players and GMs default to the same games. Usually its some incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons or the D20 System. Superheroes games see a lot of activity in the circles I travel in and I am a big fan but even then too much of a good thing can lead to boredom with the genre. World of Darkness used to be a common default but not so much for my groups over the past few years and rarely the one I find to be the most intriguing of the series, Changeling: The Dreaming.

I long for someone other then myself to run something strange, different and new. Mouse Guard, Faery's Tale Deluxe and Spirit of the Century would all be a welcome change. Alternatively, something ol' school and classic would be nice too. I haven't played Call of Cthulhu in forever. Nor have I had the opportunity to play Cyberpunk, Shadowrun (any edition) or Gamma World in recent memory.

Now, what I would like to point out if it was not particularly clear is that these are games I'd love to play. I consider myself about 90% Gamemaster and 10% Player, prefering to GM the vast majority of the time. In part, it is because I know I will run something different from time to time. This is occaisionally met with a little initial resistance. Many players my age don't want to learn a new system. A lot of my current players are GMs as well and seem to prefer games where this fact gives them an advantage during character creation (yes, for the first time in 25-30 years I have min-maxers and powergamers - slay me).

Also, many of the game ideas I enjoy and have run for full on awesome campaigns in the past are viewed as not 'serious' enough by my current peers (Faery's Tale Deluxe, Mouse Guard, Oz) without really giving them a chance. So my thinking is, if my ideas are too 'goofy' for you, please come up with something yourself. Unfortunately, at least for me, the response to that is usually, "OK. I've got an idea for D&D...". To which I often reply, "Zzzzz..."

Well, my hope is that things will improve as I try to introduce new ideas to the groups and see if anything sticks. Already a few of my players and fellow GMs are looking at games they may not have looked at before. The chance to run something truly unusual may still be a ways away but at least I can look forward to more variety in the future instead of 31 flavors of vanilla.

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Barking Alien