I'm generally a fan of older games, and many here are hardcore old-schoolers, so I thought it'd be particularly interesting to ask this question in this forum: is there any game that was generally well-received at the time, or that you in particular thought was really good, that you'd feel has Not Aged Well, either because of system or setting (or some other consideration)?

RPGPundit

Villains & Vigilantes, Top Secret, and Ninjas & Superspies spring to mind. Hell, throw Star Frontiers in there too, because though I still love the setting, races, and weapons, it all feels old and shabby.

inb4 D&D.

Even though i like it, i think Rolemaster qualifies as a game that hasn't aged well. It's had it's time and is now in the rocking chair on the porch.

Cyberpunk type games.  More generally, cyberpunk inspired fiction seems to have petered out.

Cyberpunk -- one of my favorite games c. 1988-91, couldn't even imagine playing it today (which seeing CPv3 only confirmed)

Quote from: One Horse Town;343130Even though i like it, i think Rolemaster qualifies as a game that hasn't aged well. It's had it's time and is now in the rocking chair on the porch.

I wouldn't say it hasn't aged well, it's the tastes of the public that have changed.

Quote from: Claudius;343133I wouldn't say it hasn't aged well, it's the tastes of the public that have changed.

Tomato-Tomayto.

Vampire: the Masquerade and the whole oWoD in general:
 
I think it was basically lightning in a botlle when it came out. However, with nWoDs system working as well as it does, everything else about those games seems like trite cliches of a Gen X alternative nineties. It was made to be contemporary, and that made it's relevance temporary.
 
Shadowrun <4e
Older versions of Shadowrun do not compare well to the new one. The older setting was based on a vision of the future from the 80's. Now, in the late oughts, the vision of the future has changed dramatically. Also, the system was shitty.

Has Boot Hill held up well?

The original Marvel Superheroes?

Quote from: Mistwell;343140Has Boot Hill held up well?

No idea.

QuoteThe original Marvel Superheroes?

Two words for you. Hell. Yes.

Boot Hill has at the very least "not held up well" since the advent of Coyote Trail and Aces & Eights, and one could say since the advent of Deadlands, even.

RPGpundit

I'm kind of younger...so...I guess I'll go ahead with what someone else said and say oWoD.  Looking back on some of those books isn't very pretty.

Also, I don't have any previous experience to go back on, but I recently acquired a copy of Rifts, and it doesn't seem to have held up very well, at least in terms of presentation and mechanics when you compare it to today's games.  It's interesting as all get-out, in a weird sort of way, but the corebook is a mess.  Although, I'm sure it's better in it's current form than what my friend is trying to do with the fluff (convert it over to Saga/4e d20.  I'm afraid to even ask him about it anymore).  

It's a shame Siembieda tries to lockdown most fan system conversions...

Quote from: Peregrin;343200I'm kind of younger...so...I guess I'll go ahead with what someone else said and say oWoD.  Looking back on some of those books isn't very pretty.

KrakaJak's observation about the oWoD being a sort of snapshot of the '90s is pretty much dead-on.  It's like trying to listen through a Nine Inch Nails album now and take it seriously.  But another thing that caused the various games to age poorly was the attempt to unify the scope of all of the games.  Each separate game as a single part of the elephant worked pretty well, because you couldn't really see that it was an elephant you were touching.  But as the years passed and each new game came out, and each revision was released, the scope pulled back and you could see that they'd built an entire elephant.  A really shitty looking elephant, to be sure.  Part of the poor aging process of the entire line was the lack of creative restraint, and the total undermining of any sense of mystery.

!i!

MSH has held up fairly well.

AMSH has held up better, albeit because its a several year newer version.

Starships And Spacemen has not held up so well; the lack of a skill system, and the strong attribute driven nature, plus the release of licensed Trek games, have all made it look pretty weak. Still, it's solid, but try telling that to new kids...

Space Opera hasn't held up well, either. Too much math, too slow to play. Heck, most of the FGU catalogue has issues with B&W line art that is highly stylized... and Jeff Dee's art from back then just doesn't hold much appeal for many.

Classic Traveller, as well, tho' it's fared better than FGU's stuff. Traveller as a line keeps going, but that's because it reinvents itself every 5 years.