Today’s question: What Gives A Game “Staying Power?”
Honestly, it has very little to do with the game, and everything to do with the players. With the right group, even the most bare-bones game can become a beloved, extended campaign, with stories that you still remember years later.
In college, I ran a game using the old TSR BOOT HILL Western RPG. Not the third edition redesign, which actually was an RPG, but the earlier, late-70s boxed second edition, which was actually a skirmish-level shoot-out miniatures game that barely nodded at being an RPG. And yet, because of the group of players I had, it remains one of my favorite gaming memories to this day.
“Gather ’round, pardners, and I’ll sing you the Ballad of “Gatling Bob” Roberts…”