Those Warm Nostalgic Feelings

Every couple of years I get a hankering, an itch in the base of my brain to replay old games. I’m a huge Chrono Trigger fan; I owned it on the original SNES playing it over and over again. I’ve seen most of the endings and figured out most of its secrets before GameFAQs was even a glint in some ones eye. I love the game, its story and its characters. The music never fails to stir me in a deep way. I just wish you could package up the feelings and love for a game into a tabletop RPG session.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve been playing tabletop games for years; homebrewed; dungeons and dragons; savage worlds; you name it. Yet some adventures and memories still live on fondly in my mind, and I hanker to play them again. It’s just never the same. One story that leaps to mind involved a group which I haven’t seen in years. One of the players had a rather over the top and zany style of play; regularly hogging the spot light. While playing a variation on a supers game he accidently ripped the steering wheel off a baby poop colored van (don’t ask, it was the GM’s “favorite” color). We quickly fished out a monkey wrench and he began steering the car with the wrench; hilarity ensued.

While I don’t miss the player stealing the spot light I am a bit nostalgic for that type of zany play. My play tends to be a bit more serious, I think I lead my players to dark places. I mean, one of them has a tendency to torture small children. I doubt I’ll be leading them to sunshine and frolicking meadows anytime soon. Unlike a video game it’s dependent on everyone playing, instead of the passive observance of one player.

Games, like seasons, come and go. While I may be able to rally some of the older group together some of us (me) have moved past the 12 hour marathon D&D sessions. The zaniness has been put to rest, left to the nostalgia moments and reminiscing with old RPG veterans. My games are much cooler anyway with more adult themes, bigger arcs, and deeper characters. They are also not without their nostalgic moments. We’re fresh off of the Witchfire Trilogy and already I’m hankering to get back to those characters and that world; ready to get back to those moments of pure unadulterated awesome.

What are your favorite moments from games past? What games do you hanker to play over again and experience anew?