"Oh, I wanna be a soldier!
"I'm a nurse"
"I'm playing vets with the dog, mommy!"
Well we all grow up and so did the games. Role Playing Games took on a new style still imagination but based around a set of rules and regulations but most importantly IMAGINATION.
Dungeons and Dragons was my first adventure. I was about 14 at the time and would play during lunch time at secondary school. There were a handful of devout RPGer's who would hack and slash there way through numerous caves and zombies to get to the goal. We didn't care what it was, we just cared that we were hard and swinging a big sword that could do loads of damage.
It wasn't long before we were venturing down other paths of insanity. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got a good run for its money. There was nothing giner than being a Bi-ped Porcupine with a speech impediment with the ability to remove your own quills and launch them at attackers!!
The Jewel in the crown was Paranoia. A sci-fi RPG based around lunacy and dark humour. Pulling in traits and environments from movies such as Logan's Run, Brazil and a Brave New World. With story lines such as "Do androids dream of electric sheeps", "Vapours dont shoot back" and "The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues" you just knew you'd be onto something good.
I've had a fair few sleepless nights as games have lasted well over a day to times when weekends are nothing but a blur.
It all quieten down after I left school but as soon as I hooked up a PC to the internet it was all back on. Compuserve was one of the biggest service providers along with AOL but they had a wealth of content. One being an RPG forum. The games were the same although the style was different. Games took longer to play as characters interacted post by post. Imagination was even more key as the medium of communication changed.
Then came the first RPG con.. it was held near Cambridge. 28 people in one house set up in 3 rooms over a long bank holiday weekend. Manic. Tiring but a loads of fun.
As with TF2 it's all about the craic!!
