Role-playing Rants: Learn to move forward, or: why nostalgia can be a bad thing

In a couple of days I'll be running the first session of "Lichemaster" for my original group (well, what's left of it anyway). It's the second time that I'm GM'ing this campaign and the last time that I'm doing so, using the 2nd edition WFRP's ruleset.

Let me be perfectly clear: I love the 2nd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It's the game that started my whole journey into this hobby. I still have my battered, spineless rulebook that I've bought for my last money, more than a decade ago. I have almost every, single sourcebook for 2nd edition, except "The Renegade Crowns" (planning on buying that soon!). I've clocked hundreds, if not thousands of hours into this system.

And I don't want to play it anymore.

It's time to move on...
After finishing "The Thousand Thrones" in my Roll20 group, and the "Lichemaster/The Enemy Within" in my IRL group, I won't be returning to 2nd edition of WFRP. Instead, any other Warhammer Fantasy games that I'll ever GM will be run on the excellent and very well made 4th edition ruleset, created by Cubicle 7. I can't express enough my absolute enthusiasm, when it comes to the rules, governing the newest edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

But why am I exactly writing a blog post about it, other than express my gratitude towards the newest iteration of my most-played game?

Because I know first hand the dangers of wrongly handled nostalgia. You see, I'm a nostalgic person. I love reliving the past, to look to the better (and often simpler) times. Times that were happier for me and my friends. Back when we've all just begun experiencing this hobby. We didn't had a place to play in, so our first sessions (almost half a year) took place in a basement, where we had to be very quiet and make sure that the windows were covered with black fabric, so as not to be seen from the outside. I had this dingy old laptop, that was barely able to play a Winamp playlist that I've composed for the session, let alone handle a massive PDF.

Later, when the spring came, we've moved to a small summer house that belonged to the family of one of my players. The electricity was barely working, when it rained heavily we had water coming from the fireplace (which we aptly renamed "waterplace"), and even in early autumn it quickly became unbearably cold. We had to use the dirty, stiff blankets which we've managed to salvaged from piles of... stuff, that was lying around in that place. Still - it was an incredible time, and one that I'd not trade for anything else.

It'll also never return. That group disbanded long time ago. Well, most of it did. One of my players, who was also my closest friend, died of cancer. His loss affects me deeply to this day. The other decided to follow a different path than the rest of us, and I wish him all the best. The three of us that remained still enjoyt this hobby together, but... it's not the same. Not even close. It's time to move on, and we know it. That's why this is, most probably, our last game together. I've always wanted to run the legendary "The Enemy Within", preceeded by the excellent "Lichemaster", written by the late Carl Sargent, for them, but always there was something else to play, to experience. Now, as there just few of us left, we can finally experience these campaigns, even though our friends are no longer with us. In some sense, we're doing this for them as well. But after that, it'll be time to move on, for all our sakes.

Staying in the past for too long, whether it's about a former relationship, an RPG group or something else, is ultimately damaging. It prevents us from healing, from experiecing new things, new avenues of life, of learning and discovering other, equally fantastic, places, hobbies and people. I will run these two campaigns, one last time, like it was 2009 again, and for a brief moment, imagine myself sitting in that dingy basement, with an acient laptop before me, surrounded by the laughter of my friends. After that... it'll be time to move one. For theirs, and my own, sakes.

Well, that was a depressing post. Fortunately, next time I'll be writing about something less dreary, so do excuse my moment of nihilism. I've finally managed to watch the "Black Death" with Sean Bean, as was suggested to me by a couple of people on Twitter, and in my own comments section. So I will be certainly writing about this, very warhammery movie. Also, I've watched my boy James Purefoy cleave fools in the excellent "Ironclad", which is another movie, perfect for any enthusiast of all things dark and grim. Yeah, looks like "It always rains in Nuln" will be turned, even if only briefly, into a movie-related blog, albeit one that is still tabletop-related.

Not that I'm complaining, or anything...
Until next time!

Xathrodox86

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