Ugh, I miss FT so much it hurts. Sometimes.

I know that whining about missing FT and making half-serious jokes about someday rebooting it are not productive at all, though. Because, well, it's never going to happen. Interests have scattered, there are other people doing reincarnation games, and I doubt we'll ever have collective interest as a mod team to revisit it.

And yet, and yet.

So, I'm going to try and work out what it is, exactly, that I miss so much. So that maybe I can figure out a way to stop missing it, and stop wanting to revamp it.

Is it just nostalgia? Rose-colored glasses?

That's probably a part of it, but for the most part, I don't think so. Because when I allow myself to imagine a reboot, I still get excited, even knowing that most of the characters would not come back. I mean, sure, I get that twinge of 'what if'-ness, thinking about storylines that I never got to play out, but I've put most of the FT canon to bed, in its box, where it will forever be fondly remembered.

Is it the premise?

This is a large part, to be sure. I love fractured fairy tales, I love thinking about the ways in which I could make a fairy tale game unique. I don't have any interest in expanding the 'reincarnation' bit beyond fairy tales, because that goes into canonized territory, and I just don't tread there.

Is it the characters?

Like I said before, I've put most of FT's cast to bed. But I really, really miss my own characters. I miss Velvet, I miss Lillian. I wish I'd done more with Kelly, and that I'd actually apped Donovan. I miss the interactions that came with such a varied cast - all ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life. The fact that they were all normal, with a single secret that tied them all together.

I guess that's it, really. But it seems too simple, because there are other games out there! Like that! aren't there? but they don't hold the same appeal.

Don't get me wrong, I lovelovelove Neopolis, but there's really no comparing -- they're two completely different beasts. Neopolis is fantastic because there's so much plot, and it's so easily generated within the structure we've set up. Everyone's stuck together, there's crazy super powers and whatnot, it's great.

Maybe what I need to do is just write a crap-ton of drabbles for my FT kids and maybe find myself some closure that way. Or write some sort of short story, or novel, or academic paper about fairy tales. Maybe that will scratch the itch.

anyway. what do you FT vets think? do you miss it? what was it that made it special? have you found similar dynamics in other games? I am curious!