I was almost always the DM, rarely a player when we gamed back in high school and college. With the exception of one short lived AD&D campaign that went down in flames (literally), I never had the opportunity to play in a D&D or AD&D campaign back in the days.
There were two campaigns that I was a player in. One was Battlelords, an insane game of big guns and huge damage. I couldn't tell you off-hand the type of character I played, but it wasn't a tank and I'm fairly sure I was a pain in the ass... heh.
The other game I played in was an on again, off again RIFTS campaign. I had gotten my book at GenCon the year it was releases, Kevin Siembedia and Kevin Long both signed it, it read damn cool but I just couldn't figure out how to run it. So it sat on a shelf for a bit until my friend Dave grabbed a copy. It spoke to him I guess (as did Battlelords - he just dug unbalanced games).
One day I'll have to post about that RIFTS campaign. It was a blast, even with the Glitterboy sized holes in the rules.
Now I'm solely a player. I played in a Warhammer Dark Heresy campaign via Fantasy Grounds for about a year, and the Castles & Crusades game I've been in for the last 2 years via FG is still going strong. Heck, I even play in a Tunnels & Trolls message board game these days.
Still, I'm getting the itch to GM again. Really. It even looks like it wont be D&D or one of its clones, but T&T.
Go figure.
Just need to get all the pieces in place for now.
My own history is the inverse of yours: I started out in the early days as a player only, but more recently, since the early 1990s, I am almost always the GM, regardless of system. (Though I got to be a player in a D&D 3.5 game for a few years in the mid-2000s, and am currently a player in a Mutant Future game.) Like you, I greatly enjoy doing both!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing about your RIFTS experiences -- a game I have never played but have heard lots of secondhand legends about.