My experience is very similar to what some of the others posted. I got tired of 3.5, and 4e looked awful (to me), so I turned away from D&D in general. I had bought the C&C PHB in, probably, '06 and gave it a second look. I honestly hadn't looked at it when I bought it. What I found what spectacular. It reminded me of the old stuff, the stuff I started playing - BECMI, 1e, then 2nd Edition AD&D.
Julian Grimm wrote:It is more of a missing of the early days of the game when a lot more seemed to be going on. I look at the explosion of material from the OSR and sometimes wonder why the C&C community has not followed suit?
See, I think I missed this. There was a lot of activity, or so it seemed to me, but I think a lot of the "golden" era of fan-made ideas was passed. Not that it's not great now, and hasn't been since my arrival in C&C-land...it has been. I just think I missed the "flurry" of amazing ideas and the steady stream that comes now, while wonderful, just isn't quite the same. The wonder and excitement of new and exciting offerings, whether they be official or not is not new...just expected.
That last comment sounds bad, but I don't mean it to be. When I got into D&D, every trip to a Waldenbooks, B. Daltons, or the local shops in Central Florida (Coliseum of Comics, Enterprise 1701, Starbase K-7, and a host of others) was a flood of that "new and exciting" stuff that I think is relative (even if just a little) to the topic at hand. Sure it wasn't creative ideas posted on various forums or sites on the net. But it was ideas by publishers, put out for the game I loved. Even if it wasn't "new" - TSR products I had never laid eyes on, or the myriad of products of 3rd party suppliers (like Mayfair Games, for one) were a wonder to behold. But as I "caught up" to the new releases and started seeing most the of game's back catalog, I started losing that wonder. That's the closest thing I can relate to when comparing it to C&C, and the brief period of wonder I had with it. Earlier I had typed that C&C "reminded me of the old stuff" and that's what I had meant. I don't even know if I can call it a nostalgia period. But it was close, if it wasn't. I've got all the product released for C&C, almost ll the pdfs and fan offerings that were released over the years, so now the stuff that comes out seems but a trickle.
I may have never felt the nostalgia of "how it used to be" with C&C versus "how it is now." I'm going to sound like a crotchety old b@stard (though I don't think I'm that old...or crotchety!
) but I think the internet has a lot to do with it. It does for me, I can that that much. I know the releases long before they're out. Usually, pretty in-depth information, too, about a product. The OSR, while I love, is sixty-seven (that's a made up number) ways to do the same thing...more or less. I think the over-exposure and the in-depth previews and reviews and talk about products take a bit away from the actual product. Again, for me. Now for JG, he seems to be missing the creative soup that used to be around here and the ideas that were tossed around during those times. I don't know, maybe I'm missing the mark of that JG is talking about. But, at the very least, this thread has stirred these thoughts in me. In the end, I think there has been - was - an explosion of releases for C&C, fan made and otherwise. As far as the OSR goes, when there's a plethora of variations, which means a quite a few games under the "OSR umbrella" it's definitely a loud and noticeable explosion. C&C is one game, and it's explosion isn't (wasn't?) as loud, in comparison. But it was profound.
But any planar material is good.
