The Big Chair

It's been a long time since I actually ran a game for a group. So long, in fact, that I have trouble remembering exactly when the last time was. I remember doing so for years in middle school, then in high school, and on into my undergrad years, but after that, things get a little fuzzy. And I know my head has often been in a bad place in the years since I got out of undergrad, and I even have a reasonable excuse for that. But I've got all these games that I have that I haven't played, and probably won't get a chance to play, unless I decide to try and make them happen. So I'm thinking that I should get back into the game.

The problem is, I want to try something new, and that has traditionally been a problem. The old favorite games - D&D and the various Storyteller games White Wolf makes - are old favorites for a reason; they're reasonably easy to grasp, and a lot of people know how to play them already. with something new, different, and possibly unusual, I have to not only come at the game with new ideas, but I also have to explain to whatever group I have what the system is, why it is cool and fun, and how to play with it.

Also, most of the people I know who I have gamed with in the past are people who live nowhere near me. While face-to-face gaming is vastly preferable in general (in large part because it becomes much easier to flake out on a meeting you don't have to physically attend), I'm not averse to online gaming; I've put various chat programs to good use in the past, and I'm fairly certain it can continue to work in the future, especially with all the advancements that keep happening. AIM chat is no longer the big thing in online gaming chat; now we have Skype, and virtual tabletops, and wikis, and Facebook. So I think that, since online gaming is possibly the easiest way to assemble a group of players who I know, have met, and have spoken to, even if it requires some scheduling to make happen.

The challenge, then, is finding people to subject themselves to such a game. I'm out of practice running games; like I said, I can't remember when the last one I actually got up and running happened, and while I used to be considered good, I don't know where my lack of practice and other problems have left me. Also, I want to try something new - new to me, that is; some people might have more experience in whatever I end up going with than others. I don't want to play D&D, in any iteration, or any of White Wolf's Storyteller games, however interesting. I'm looking for something I haven't done before, something that does something new.

Some of my more current ideas would be something along the lines of a FATE game, like the Dresden Files or Legends of Anglerre; the FATE system is one I like the look of, and seems to have a lot of potential. Eclipse Phase is high on the list, currently, as a game of futuristic transhuman conspiracy and horror; a bonus is that it was written under the Creative Commons license, so it is legal to download for free. Other games that have been going around in my head are things like Hellas; Rogue Trader; Shadowrun; something using the Cinematic Unisystem, like Buffy or Angel; some kind of superhero game; something in the Mass Effect universe, though likely not my own version, since it strays a bit too close to D&D; games using the One Roll Engine, like Reign or a version of Fallout I'm reading through; and I'm open to other suggestions.

If you have any interest in something like this, let me know, by whatever means you feel like; comment here, send me an e-mail, leave a note on my Facebook page, send me an IM, give me a call, hell, even tweet at me (my Twitter handle is, unsurprisingly, knightveritas). I have no interest in forcing people into playing a strange new game, but I am open to suggestion, discussion, and ideas, so please, let me know what you're thinking.