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08:20, 19th March 2024 (GMT+0)

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Posted by GreenTongue
GreenTongue
member, 1018 posts
Game Archaeologist
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:27
  • msg #1

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Over time my tastes have shifted from highly detailed mechanics with RuneQuest to more abstract like Savage Worlds.

Never was a huge fan of "High Fantasy" but I've found that if a setting isn't closer to Harn than to Dreamlands, I'm much less interested. This has become more so over time.

I want to try games like Dungeon World or something Fate based and yet I have a hard time getting into them.

Pathfinder was a non-starter.

Is it age or just the tendency you fall into a comfortable rut?

Do people age out of RPGs either from having less tolerance for "new" or from being left behind as what everyone else is interested in changes and few if any players remain for "old stuff"?

I'm just inflexible and don't realize it any more?
DBCowboy
member, 71 posts
Played rpgs since about
'81 (D&D Basic ed)
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:32
  • msg #2

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Tastes change, not a big deal.  I'm less interested in crunch these days, so 2d20/Savage Worlds/Dungeon World all working better for me.

Best thing about RPGs is the variety in both systems and settings.
donsr
member, 2374 posts
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:34
  • msg #3

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

 I was always  more RP focused  then numbers...used the numbers  to  ste a 'base' then Play RP of that.

 I use my own system that players  can build a character, while  concentrating on RP.

 I guess the  anser is..you're never  too old, you just  tend to focus on what part of the games you like.
tmagann
member, 746 posts
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:39
  • msg #4

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

I've been playing over 40 years, and I still like a bit of detail in my mechanics. Truthfully, D&D5 is a bit fuzzier on rules than I'd like, and I miss Rolemaster (yes, I realize there is a version still around, but no one really likes that much detail these days).

About the best detail oriented game I can find is Gurps, which is also an old favorite, but it, too, seems to be falling out of favor, juts more slowly.

I don't think it's age so much as a general trend in game rules being published. More are coming out with less detailed mech than used to be usual, and folks gets used to what is available to play, coloring their preferences by resetting what they are familiar with.
Piestar
member, 984 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:41
  • msg #5

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Hard to tell, but I feel like maybe age impacts things. I know I couldn't play for as long as I used to, more than three or four hours at tabletop would probably become physically uncomfortable for my sixty year old self, when we would play for far longer than that when I was young. RPoL is great for me in that regard.
nalling
member, 3 posts
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 17:55
  • msg #6

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

I haven't GMed long, and I have little experience with multiple game systems, so I really shouldn't be opening my mouth here...

Having said that, allow me to open my mouth here...

I GM a GURPS game, and some players like diving into the rules to the point where my head spins and I just have to assume they know what they're talking about more than I do (which is absolutely the case) and some just like to RP and we toss a roll in there once in a while to keep it spicy.

I gravitated toward GURPS for the fact that it's a wide-open playing field and the type of game you want to play with it is up to you, which in fact is why I would hesitate to classify what kind of game this thing has morphed into.

I have a "good" necromancer riding around a giant elephant skeleton, I have another player with an Ultra Tech AI body modification solving crimes. So... eh.

*shrug*

I like seeing what my players decide to get into once they're unleashed. It's been a riot, for me at least. I can't speak for them.

As for how old is too old?

I hope to be muddling through obscure rules, and making crap up as I go, minutes before being planted.
engine
member, 858 posts
There's a brain alright
but it's made out of meat
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 18:00
  • msg #7

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

In reply to GreenTongue (msg # 1):

I had a DM who was an older person and was running games pretty much up until their health prevented them.

But your question seems to be about the ability to have interest in new things, which I don't see as a key aspect of being involved with the hobby. Some people get into one game and just stick with that forever. And why not?

I realized years ago that I would never have a chance to really run or even try most of the systems I'm interested in. Some I've had a chance to try, but they didn't grab me enough to put the effort into arranging further games.

When a game offers intetesting ideas that I can separate from the mechanics, I'll sometimes bring them into the system I prefer. I've done that with Fate, Dungeon World and Traveller.

I am starting to feel rather left behind, but I'm okay with that. I don't care for some of the newer games I'm seeing, but I don't have anything much against them or their players, as long as their players don't look down on me.
evileeyore
member, 555 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Joined 20150819
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 18:24
  • msg #8

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

DBCowboy:
Tastes change, not a big deal.

Exactly.  I have a friend who still plays oD&D (1974), and he's like a million and half years old.  I have other friends who've slowely switched to narrative systems, some who started in narrative and have switched to D&D, etc.

Me?  I'm still on my GURPS kick and always will be, but I also enjoy other systems.  For me it's mostly the people, if it's a good group I'll even choke down D&D.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:25, Mon 04 Oct 2021.
Cygnia
member, 305 posts
Amoral Paladin
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 18:25
  • msg #9

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

I promise you this, I will be GMing at the hospice if I end up there.
evileeyore
member, 556 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Joined 20150819
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 18:28
  • msg #10

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Cygnia:
I promise you this, I will be GMing at the hospice if I end up there.

I'll be rolling them bones in the grave comrade.
Mad Mick
member, 1001 posts
GURPS beyond measure,
outlander
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 20:34
  • msg #11

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

Funny how some of the older geezers in this thread mention GURPS. =)

I've played with GMs in their 60s. I think the answer is similar to how old people think is too old to play video games. I've seen gaming rigs people build when they're in nursing homes. RPGs are great for keeping the mind active.

A quick search on Google Scholar shows a ton of articles on video games and Alzheimer's/cognition. I'd think RPGs would be ideal for helping people stay engaged mentally.
DrTachyon
member, 97 posts
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 20:40
  • msg #12

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

I'm 59 and I'm still actively GMing and playing TTRPGs. Granted my tastes have changed over the years. I'm more into narrative/story games now a days (like City of Mist, Powered by the Apocalypse Games, etc.). I cut my teeth on D&D, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, Savage Worlds and other simulationist / crunchy games. While I had a lot of fun with those older games, I'm more drawn to games that help create more of a TV/Movie feel where we're in a writer's room creating a kick ass show (yes, I know this can be achieved with older games, but the newer ones tend to be designed with this ethos in mind and really support that kind of gaming).

Bottom line - you're never too old to game!
phoenix9lives
member, 1071 posts
GENE POLICE!  YOU!
GET OUTTA THE POOL!
Mon 4 Oct 2021
at 20:41
  • msg #13

How Old is Too Old to Play RPGs?

You are only too old to play when they have to pry your dice from your cold, dead hand.  I've been involved in RPGs since the early 1980s.
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