I have come to grips that I am old… well not that old, but in terms of what games that I enjoy, and how I want to spend my money, I am old. I used to get excited about new games coming out, with interesting backstories and settings, and new mechanics that make things smoother, but not much anymore.
Not sure what that means. Every year I go to game conventions looking for something that jumps out at me, and almost every year the number of games I am interested in diminishes. Small side note, most conventions anymore are growing more towards other aspects of gaming and geek culture. There are more artists and authors areas each time I go. Not to mention more gaming stores, costuming places, and dice tables than there are actual gaming companies.
After playtesting every game that I can during cons, I come to one point… the games aren’t being targeted towards my demographic anymore. That is fine, I get it. In order to survive you need to have younger fan bases. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel left out. I know that I am not the only one, and that there are a small handful of companies that I do go back to the well for… I love me some Modiphius, especially the Achtung! Cthulhu series. I also find myself always at the Palladium booth when I can.
My generation and the before me, are the ones that typically have the disposable income to purchase new items with greater frequency than the younger generation. Like I said, I know that there is a need to get new people involved to grow the industry, but I would like to still have some things that catch my eye.
The games from Make Believe Games (ran by Vampire: the Masquerade creator Mark Rein-Hagen) are fun. We played tested one called Toxicity at Gen Con this year, however, not something that jumped out and said “buy me”. It was a fun little game, and was even better that Mark ran it for us, however not something that I would want on my shelf. It felt more like a game that teens and twenty somethings may like, and not that it is a bad thing… just left me and my gaming group out of the mix.
As much as we cover Paizo and Pathfinder, I am not into that game. I have tried, and I have friends who always offer to let me and my group join them, but I just can’t bring myself to it.
Like I said in the beginning. I am coming to grips with getting old. I am starting to be one of those gamers that stay with the games that I always have played, and not having anything draw me into something new. If you have suggestions for games that I should look at, or if you feel I overlooked something, please let me know. I am more than willing to try something new. If afterwards I want to buy it, now that is something different… lol.