Summertime, though, is different. We're out and about, socializing, vacationing, and reconnecting with the world that slept during the winter. It's a vibrant, warm, and life-affirming time that I enjoy very much. I may be a solo gamer, but I'm not a hermit; I love gaming with others just as much as I love moving little men over military maps alone in my den.
However, I am keenly aware that my gaming tastes are occasionally too eclectic for, as my wife so pointedly puts it, "normal people," and I need to lower my expectations when I feel like sharing. Disappointment, she reminds me, is just a ruleset away.
This summer, though, I had a strategy.
I had recently become affiliated with a large group of organized gamers - a serious lot, some of whom had 20+ years of RPG and war-gaming experience. These new friends, I was certain, would be wonderful to have during the outdoorsy season because they would be kindred spirits. They would understand the beauty of emergent strategies! They would appreciate narrative depth in play!
And many of them did! As we played their games, they exhibited the zeal of true lovers of the social gaming experience, and we had great times! Granted, most of them played the "popular" games and the enjoyment we had was more about the socializing rather than the gaming, but fun is fun, and I never regret the blessings of laughter and camaraderie when they enter my life.
After many weeks, I felt comfortable enough to bring some of my own games to the group's table, hoping that our shared enthusiasm for the hobby in general would result in a better reception of my personal interests. The first product I presented was a new find that I had recently acquired, a roleplaying game that I had been deliberately saving for the next group play opportunity that came my way. It's a game that is obscure to the US, but would be quickly recognized in another country. Here's a hint to the game's identity:
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| Recognize this guy? |
The second game I brought was the Mythic Game Master Emulator which I believed would be a perfect fit with the unnamed RPG's easy-to-learn, creativity-encouraging rules system. My hope was to run a game of improvisation and spontaneity with opportunities for the players to use Mythic to take over the plot from me, the GM, at any moment. Cool, right?
When the first reaction I received was "What's Mythic?" followed by remarks expressing trepidation over using creativity during a role-playing game, I knew I was in trouble.
It seemed that, once again, I had gone too far. Encouraging players to be creative during a roleplaying game was, to my complete shock, simply crossing a line. Several members of the group directly stated that they preferred a more reactive role as players to the more active one I was suggesting.
Perhaps the use of Mythic seemed strange to them, or maybe it was the combination of Mythic and an entirely unfamiliar RPG that caused polite but noticeable revulsion. Whatever the case, my gaming suggestion remains unaccepted by the group to this day - and summertime in the US is almost over.
So, it seems my tastes remain on the fringe of a fringe hobby. That either makes me really lame or super cool. I choose to believe it's the latter.
Ultimately, this is NOT a lament about the difficulties of getting a group of players together to try something new. Rather, this is a booster for the ingenuity and spirit-lifting that is solo gaming. Despite the rejection of the RPG+Mythic game suggestion I had made, I'll make that suggestion again with another group I've got on my radar. If my suggestion is met with disinterest once more, I won't be daunted.
Obscure game gems need never be untried dust collectors. They, like the unnamed RPG in question, merely wait patiently on the shelf for the first frost of the year to emerge the recipients of the full solo-gaming treatment!
Tell us about your own obscure gems that have defied group play and remain solo.
Also, can you guess the identity of the unnamed RPG above?
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