I’ve been watching the old British Robin of Sherwood series on DVD and it’s got me sort of nostalgic. I remember watching these back in the late 1980s on PBS and fell in love with them. Sure, the production values are a pretty dated, but the patina is part of why I think it's so endearing. I even enjoy the dated soundtrack, which must have been performed on the cheapest synthesizers the band could find. My wife mocks me ruthlessly when I watch them, and she can't make it through a single episode. Watching them brings me back to a time when I had far fewer responsibilities — not that I’m complaining, but there’s a certain sense of bittersweet innocence lost when I watch them.

Some amount of that has carried over into my gaming habits of late, too. I certainly wouldn’t say that I’m one of the new old-schoolers, but getting my hands dirty with the same reckless abandon I had in middle school really scratches an itch for me. No epic storylines, no massive characterization, no commitments is how I’ve been playing recently, and it’s pretty refreshing. There are times when gaming can be a chore, and that’s the last thing I want after a long day at the office building immersive and characterized. Don’t get me wrong, because that scratches another itch that’s maybe less frivolous. Then again, maybe the problem is that I’m too itchy.

So maybe the show didn’t age well, but being able to just enjoy it is a real pleasure, just like being able to put aside the velvet and absinthe of Vampire for a while is a refreshing change of pace. There are other Robin Hoods out there — the new BBC version seemed a bit glossy for my tastes and I’m tentatively looking forward to the new Russell Crowe production — but I have a soft spot for this one and the maybe “unsophisticated” but undeniably fun game philosophy of my early years.

(If you ant to get really nerdy with me about it, I much prefer the Michael Praed episodes to the Jason Connery ones, but I think the opposite might have been true when I was younger.)