labcats | Contentment, Designers, and Cool

Another thought on rpg designers and contentment.

Okay, so, there's Some New Game out there. I hear about it, and it sounds waycool. Everyone thinks it is, including the designer who wrote it and his or her fellow designers. I buy it, and it seems waycool to me as well. Of course, finding time to play even one game of it in the next 12 months is challenging, and actually finding time to run a campaign of whatever length the system supports exponentially harder.

And, then, there's Some Other New Game in a few months. It's got different ways of being cool. And part of me is thinking, "Wait! I haven't wrapped my brain around the last nifty new game!" (or the last 5 or...) And it feels, sometimes, as if just as I'm discovering something, everyone else decides it's passe.

This is probably at its worst among the indie designers who are pushing the envelope. They are not content to stop where they are. There's fresh territory to be explored up ahead.

And, this isn't a bad thing. But, I still want time to wrap my mind around the old waycool games and concepts.