Hey there all,
Please forgive the length of this post...
First a little about me as a gamer.
I first played RM back in 1987, although I bought MERP in 84/85 or so, when I first saw it in a book store. I swore off AD&D, and continued to play other RPGs (Stormbringer,CoC,Mechwarrior), as well as throwing together Homebrew Systems.
I ran a Middle Earth game from 87-89, then moved from Az to Ca, where I started another RM group (As well as Cyberspace and SM games), lasting from 90 to 95 or so, when I again moved (To Nevada).
I pretty much stopped playing games for a year or so, due to a lack of players in the small town, but when I moved back here to San Francisco (96) I started playing games again, mostly miniatures games (Chronopia,Warzone), and my homebrew.
It seemed that ICE games were a thing of the past for me...
During this time I was the general manager for a game store chain here in the Bay Area (Gamescape), though my RPG interaction was usually just derisive comments about Gurps/AD&D "If I wanted to play a fantasy RPG, it would be Rolemaster, and I don't have time for that". Miniatures games and one CCG (L5R) took up what gaming time I alloted myself.
So, along comes D&D 3.0. I laughed, said I wouldn't play, I had sworn it off etc...Then I played it, noticed the skill ranks, the crits...then spotted Monte Cook's name on it. Aha! One of the old boys from ICE, in another endeavor. Nostalgia is what really snagged me. I missed Mind Flayers, Drow, Umber Hulks and Grimlocks, Ya'Know?
I won't lie, I enjoyed it, and 3.5, and I still do (I plan on continuing two of my three current campaigns in 3.5, as they wouldn't convert well).
However...with the coming of 4.0, I haven't felt the same about d20. I found myself Nostalgic for Black Reavers, Demons Beyond the Pale, and Shards. Especially Shards.
Memories came flooding back of my Seduction roll of 427... one shot kills, spell casting rolls (One of my biggest peeves regarding D&D 3.whatever is the lack of a casting roll).
This hit me about a week ago, and I decided that I was going to reconvert my beloved Homebrew World back from 3.5 to it's original system. Then, I looked up ICE on Wiki, out of curiosity. I spotted HARP. I Googled HARP and read some old ENWorld posts where silly men talked smack to a very eloquent and honest Tim. Kudos, Sir, for your civility when faced with illogical 'D20ism'.
Anyways, I walked in to my old stomping grounds and bought every HARP book they had (CoM,ML,Bazaar,Loot book and Monsters book). The basic book was OOS, but it should be there when I visit tomorrow.
I had been considering dredging my old RM stuff (RM2 and before) from the boxes where it lies, like some Lovecraftian beast, but I think I will cut my players on HARP first. It has great reviews, isn't so far off from my HB that I can't convert, and seems easy enough to play(Er...my setting does have 32 races, but I can change that since 8 are human, 3 elf, 4 dwarf etc...It'll all come out in the wash, as far as Backgrounds, Cultures etc...).
Anyways, that's me. It's odd, I sort of feel like I am calling up an old Ex-GF, but one where the breakup wasn't bad, and I can't figure out why we stopped dating. Sure, she was a detail oriented girl, but at least she didn't mind my thousands of miniatures...
I hope that HARP provides me with as much fun as RM and MERP did in days of old.
-Uriel
