Re: Casual Survey: Age of players and Hero's utility vs. other games
I'm 33 and have been playing Hero for a week now.
I started RPing a little over 20 years ago, and began with D&D in it's various incantations. I have played some Rolemaster/Spacemaster for a while, but for the most part, D&D has a stranglehold on players in my area. I've owned and read several other games and systems and have played a few session with each, but I always ended up coming back to the standard D&D fantasy game.
In the last 5 years or so, I switched from primary player to primary GM and became disillusioned with D&D. It's a great game, but there are so many different things I want to do that weren't easily done in that system. Since I'm the GM now, I can do things my way, which seems a lot easier with a level-less, point-buy system, where rules and setting aren't overly intertwined.
I've been looking for a solid unified system that can handle the different campaigns I've been wanting to run (super heroes, fantasy, modern, sci-fi). I was also looking for something with a proven track record, continued support from the company, and a reasonable sized fan-base. This is how I ended up with Hero (GURPS came in 2nd).
I think I've come to the right place.
One thing I found interesting was the average age of people here (and the link to the previous poll about player ages with Hero). I'm pleased that so many of the players are in the neighborhood of my age, but I was a little dismayed at the lack of younger players. Does Hero not appeal to younger gamers (compared to other RPGs), or does the younger crowd just not hang out on these boards?
Cheers!