RPGaDAY 2022 - Day 22-31

 

Most of the last week or so of this year's RPGaDAY was focused on YOUR CURRENT CHARACTER... which... I didn't really think applied to me as I DIDN'T HAVE a "current character" in any RPGs... Until this past week, when I rolled up four, completely random, zero-level characters for a Mutant Crawl Classics game my son Finnegan will be running for me and a few friends on Monday (Labour Day in Canada) 

22. Who is your current character?

I have FOUR of them! 

Sweet Pea - a Plantient (mutant plant) Gatherer

Hunter S. Hashpipe - a Manimant (mutant anthropomorphic animal) Hunter 

Wüd Kutr - a Pure-Strain Human Gatherer 

Bartholemew Pantaloon (B.P.) Hovercraft - a Pure-Strain Human Gatherer 

23. What situation is your character currently in?

Well, all four of them are not enjoying their lot in life as mere hunters and gatherers and have been considering striking out on their own to try and prove themselves as something... MORE... to the community! 

24. When did you start playing this character? 

Well... technically... I haven’t yet… 

25. Where has that character been?

Y'know... around... The village... The Hunting Grounds... The Gathering Grounds... 

26. Why does your character do what they do?

Up until now, it's all they've ever known. And they're getting bored with it. They're starting to feel like they have a greater purpose, to be.... something MORE! 

27. How has that character changed?

Oh, none of them have developed any mutations, yet... 

28. Style Sunday: Roll 1d8+1, tag that many friends with your favourite cover art

Well. I can't really TAG people on this platform... but I'll post some art I really loved.. 

That whole run of covers for the first half-dozen or so modules for the first edition of Twilight: 2000 were just fantastic. Free City of Krakow, Pirates of the Vistula, Ruins of Warsaw, The Black Madonna, Going Home, Armies of the Night, etc. All just fabulous paintings with so much detail - they told a story and really set the tone of the adventures for me. They also often had women, which wasn't super common for the time.

29. Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDay?

I've tried to get more friends and other local people to join in through a local role-playing game group on Facebook. I wish a few more of my friends on their would participate. 

Wouldn't mind at all if anyone reading THIS would chime in with their answers. (I guess I COULD have tried to encourage that more by ending all these posts with something indicating I'd LOVE to hear from people reading this blog... because it's cool to hear people stories and stuff... but also just to know that there ARE people still reading blogs and I'm not just casting this all into the void!?)

30. What should RPGaDAY do for its 10th Anniversary next year?

Maybe start at the beginning and repeat all the questions that those of us late joiners missed...?

Or a "best of"...?

Maybe go back to using single word prompts...? I don't know. Sometimes when there have been specific questions, I found a lot don't apply to me, which is a bit of a bummer, if I'm wanting to participate... but then I've also struggled with how to interpret single word prompts. Part of me likes the idea of going back to single word prompts, so I could maybe used them as drawing prompts - like those that are used for inktober (or all the other "...ober" and "...ember" drawing challenges later in the fall). 

31. When did you first take part in RPGaDAY? 

I think I first encountered RPGaDAY in 2016...? It was on Eric Jacobson’s wonderful blog Gaming with the Gnomies - I think I replied to a few of his posts with my answers to the questions.

The following year, 2017, I tried posting answers on my own blog, but only got halfway through the month (partly because I went on vacation and didn’t have the technology to post remotely). 

I’m pretty sure I’ve participated, in some way, every year since….? Either on my blog and/or Facebook groups. I've never tried Twitter... I feel like twitter could be a place to connect, but the character limit is so... limiting... Maybe if I was using the prompts for illustrations, though... If I was doing illustrations as responses, I suppose I could post on Instagram as well... now I'm rambling... 

'til next year, I guess...?

RPGaDAY 2022 - Days 19-21

 

Day 19 - Why has your favourite game stayed with you?

I don’t know that I HAVE a favourite game that has “stayed with [me]”…? I get tired of systems and move the fuck on…

SETTINGS, on the other hand, have stayed with me and I’ve tried exploring settings that I’ve played before with different systems. I’ve played Cthulhu games (1920s and Modern) with at least three (maybe four or five..?) different game systems! Loving Wrath & Glory - it’s also the third or fourth system I’ve used for role-playing in the 41st Millennium! I damned near bought that new Twilight: 2000 game (totally new games system) because I have fond memories of playing the original back in the 80s.

Plenty of other settings I've thought of revisiting, but never with the original system. Often I discover a new system and, reading though it, I notice something in the mechanics and think, "Oooh! THIS would handle X so much better!" (Where X is some aspect of a setting that I thought was poorly handled with the previous system)

What’s brought me back to those SETTINGS…? Some of it might just be nostalgia... But, I like the idea of Cthulhu setting and Hellboy and "urban Fantasy" as there is the contrast of the Modern and relatable, with something otherworldly, fantastical, or arcane…? I think games like Twilight: 2000 or modern zombie apocalypse games are similar - the familiarity of the ruins of the world we lived in being ever present and all around and it’s kind of all mostly gone, it’s there but it’s not functioning anymore.

Day 20 - How long to your games last?

Like campaigns or individual sessions…?

Individual sessions 3-4 hours. 

Campaigns… never as long as I hoped when I started out! Usually a couple sessions to a few months. 

I love the idea of playing a forever campaign and having characters start off as peasants or acolytes or apprentices and seeing them grow and get mighty and carve out a kingdom by their own sword, or the Modern or Sci-Fi equivalent or whatever... but I just can't stay keep them going. 

As I’ve mentioned, I have some significant challenges with maintaining focus. What has often happened is I get a great new idea for a campaign, new characters are made, campaign is started, we play a few sessions… then someone misses a game… then a few people can’t make it and a game is cancelled at the last minute… then it happens again, and at that point I’ve lost it - whatever it was that kept my focus is gone and I’m on to new ideas and 

Ones I’ve PLAYED in have lasted longer, I guess…  

Day 21 - Setting Sunday - Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy

Totally drawing a blank here... I don't know. Moving on. 

RPGaDAY 2022 - Days 16-18

 

Day 16 - What would be your perfect game? 

Oh wow…

3-4 of my favourite humans being able to play through a complete campaign... Where everyone is actually committed to showing up on a regular basis…?

As many of my favourite humans don’t even live here anymore, I have fantasized about running a short campaign over long weekend When they could travel to Saskatoon. I’d run it over six marathon RPG sessions (Friday night, Saturday Morning, Afternoon and Evening, and Sunday Morning and Afternoon) interspersed with long meal breaks to catch up on non-game life things…

I’ve had some success with weekend miniature skirmish campaigns in the past. This would still have a heavy miniature component, but involve less people than those campaigns and be totally cooperative and involve, y’know, more role-playing…

Actually... I tried this once a few years back... 

Wrath and Glory Gaming Weekend

Things did not go great, for so many reasons... but LESSONS WERE LEARNED!! I know what I'd do differently.

I have SO MANY ideas of things I’d like to run for that… Either as a straight role-playing game - or a "RPG-lite" adapted miniature skirmish game (that would be co-op - i.e. all the players versus me, running all the antagonists), where the role-playing would be just discussions with how to proceed and those decisions would determine the next encounter that would generally be worked out with miniatures on the tabletop. I like the idea of using something like Savage Worlds for this - as it CAN be used as a miniature game AND a role-playing game (so there is a non-combat task resolution system built right in - though any other game I could ADD in some way of determining success for things that are NOT directly combat) 

Day 17 - Past, Present, Future? When is your favourite game set?

Things change...

Currently I am more interested in exploring modern or future settings… Games I’d be most interested in running are Wrath and Glory (future), Hellboy (modern) and maybe some FATE games - which would also be mostly modern/near-future settings…

Historically, looking at all the games I’ve played and run and enjoyed the most, I think it would be Modern +/-100 Years… Almost ALL of the games I’ve truly loved the most over the years would fit in that range (though, now that I think about it that might have to expand to +/-125 years!? Because the Great War is OVER 100 years ago, now!).

Some of those games/settings in that range include: 20s Cthulhu settings, Gangbusters, Weird War One and Weird War Two, Pulp Adventure, straight up, historical World War Two (played a bit of Behind Enemy Lines back in the 80s with a friend!), Revised Recon, Tour of Darkness, Top Secret, James Bond 007, Cthulhu Now, Hellboy, Twilight: 2000, GURPS: Horror/Cabal/Special Ops/Supers, Cyberpunk/Shadowrun, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Road Warriors/After the Bomb, Tales from the Loop, Near future/Hard SF - those games and settings (often using Savage Worlds, or, more recently, FATE) have made up my most memorable and loved games.

(I guess if I expanded that to Modern +/-150 years, I could catch Space: 1889 in there too!)

I have to admit, I am so very, VERY dreadfully bored of standard medieval fantasy role-playing… but it seems like it is the ONLY thing so many people are willing or interested to run or play…. The absolute BONKERS thing is I'm actually talking with two different groups about joining two separate standard medieval fantasy role-playing campaigns (one D&D5E, one Pathfinder)!? Both would be one game a month... but, Ughhhhh... It's either play in fantasy games... or don't play at all...!? What do you do!? 

I might play the D&D5E and not end up joining the Pathfinder game. the 5E game would be run by my son Finnegan who has become a really, REALLY good Game Master. (and I'd kind of like to LEARN D&D5E - because the new Hellboy game is based on it!!) 

Day 18 - Where is your favourite place to play?

My place. It’s where all my stuff is at. I mean, who wouldn't want to play in THE GAME ROOM!? 

RPGaDAY 2022 - Days 13-15

 

Day 13 - How would you change the way you started role-playing?

I ended up thinking a LOT about this… Probably way too much… 

My initial answer for this was “Given the circumstances of who I was and where I lived and the time it was, I’m not sure how it could have BEEN different…?”

Also, even if I could change certain circumstances, I can’t help thinking about the “butterfly effect”. IF those things were changed, where would I be today. Would I have met all the fantastic people that I did meet…? Would I have experienced ALL of the things I did…? I wouldn’t want to miss out on so many of those people and experiences. 

However, IF were are only limited by our imagination AND any of those circumstances COULD have been different AND I could still somehow meet all the same people and play all the same games…?

I guess, under those conditions, the one circumstance.. or SET of  circumstances (which wasn’t really about gaming, but has had a HUGE affect on my gaming from the get-go) I might change would be getting diagnosed with ADHD about 40 years earlier than I was and finding a medication that worked. Or maybe just not having ADHD at all (if we are only limited by imagination). How would things have been different if I’d been able to stay focused enough to actually READ rules and READ through the adventures, explore a set of rules or a setting more thoroughly, and then actually stick with those adventures and campaigns to see them through to reasonably satisfying completion, instead of abandoning things and skipping ahead to the next shiny new idea that popped into my head!?

Of course, without ADHD, would there have been the ENDLESS TORRENT OF NEW IDEAS that ended up as inspiration for so many of the games I’ve run over the years…? Without it would I have been as good at improvising and making shit up on the fly?

Probably best NOT to dwell on it. I have done FAR TOO MUCH of that already. All the could have, would have, should haves…. Onwards and upwards my friends. 

Reflecting on the last two weeks, however, I think this and the whole line of questioning about where and how we started has really just been to reflect on our own experiences and how things went down and how we could collectively make role-playing a better experience for newcomers. And I think that comes down to compassion and patience and understanding that your reality isn’t everyone else’s reality. 

For some of us that reality is having hundreds of new ideas EVERY WEEK and sometimes that meant showing up at my place to discover we were making new characters and embarking on a whole new campaign (however short-lived) without ever wrapping up the one we’d just been playing the week before… I am so grateful for those that humoured me over the years and just buckled in and held on for that wild, wild ride, no matter where it took them! 

I realize that calling for compassion and empathy and inclusion is probably triggering for the gate-keeping, old school, retro cranks, but… fuck em… They are everything that is wrong with role-playing and gaming in general. I am so glad the industry has finally realized they are a small (though vociferous) minority and will NOT be the ones that keep them in business and have decided to largely leave them behind and move towards inclusion and representing diversity and massively growing their market instead of relying on stingy old bastards that will all soon be dead…

Day 14 - Suggestion Sunday: Roll 1d8+1 and tag that many friends and suggest a new RPG to try. 

I’m not sure how to even do this really… my friends are spread out over a variety of different social networks… and I don’t think any of them read this blog anymore… I used to feel like Barney on How I Met Your Mother - people constantly asking questions and me thinking “did’t you read my blog…? I JUST posted about there yesterday!?” 

Day 15 - Who would you like to Gamemaster for you? 

Like within the realm of reality or if I could get ANYONE to run a game for me…?

If I could get ANYONE, I’d love to play in a game run by Wil Wheaton… That would be amazing. 

I guess if Wil wasn’t willing or able, I’d totally love to get in on Joe Manganiello’s game… 

In the realm of reality… I don’t know… I do kind of like running the games myself. 

I am so here for the day when Trevor feels safe about in-person gaming again, however, and I would not turn down an invitation to try anything he wants to run... (fellow I met though a local RPG group, who moved to town DURING the pandemic) 

My son Finnegan is an AMAZING GM - if he weren't already so busy with the TWO WEEKLY D&D games he's running, I'd probably cajole him into running something for me and my friends again!

RPGaDAY 2022 - Days 10-12

 

Day 10 - When did you start Gamemastering? 

Right away! 

My dad and I sat down to try and figure out the rules to this game we’d bought, and right away (despite having virtually no ability to actually, y’know, READ rules…), I knew I wanted to be the one running the game. He made two characters and we started blundering our way through Keep on the Borderlands. 

Day 11 - If you could live in a game setting where would it be?

Ummmm… no. 

Probably, no. 

I can’t think of any that I’ve played in that would be any better than now. Not that now is perfect… but it could be so much worse… and that’s where all the RPGs are set.

Maybe Star Trek. Sure, it’s a TV/Movie setting… but there have been RPGs…? 

The only Star Trek RPG I've played was the one by FASA that came out in the 80s. I had a friend that was a super huge fan of the series and had all the books and insisted on running it. I think I played a security ensign (NO, I DIDN'T DIE EVERY SESSION!)

A couple years ago there was a PILE of the FASA Star Trek RPG books at the SSO Book and Music sale. Like, 15-20 of them. I ended up buying them all... because... nostalgia... and they were ONE DOLLAR EACH!?!

Day 12 - Why did you start RPGing?

It was the miniatures… Totally the miniatures. 

I was at the point where I was feeling like I was probably too old to still be playing with G.I.Joes and Star Wars figures, and the miniatures that seemed to go with the game might be a more “grown up” version of the same. 

Beyond that, it seemed like a really fun thing and was totally unlike any other game I’d ever played or heard of (at that point, I’d played Monopoly and snakes and ladders and uno and a few other shitty 70s board and card games…). 

I like the idea of freely being creative and just making shit up! 

This was also before there were computer games!? Or at least before I had access to computer or video games. 

ROGaDay 2022 - Days 7-9

 

Day 7 - System Sunday: Describe a cool part of a system that you love?

kind of drawing a blank here... There are lots of bits here and there that I like... but nothing that stands out as something I LOVE more than anything... 

I really like a LOT of what's presented in FATE and I want to try that out some more. 

There are lots of things I really like about a lot of different system, but then there ends of being something else within that system that just DOESN'T work... at all... and ends up overshadowing everything else and I end up just dropping in and looking for something new...?

Day 8 - Who introduced you to RPGs?

No one, really.

As I kind of already explained on Day 3, I had heard about Dungeons & Dragons through mentions in popular media and advertisements in comics, but kind of started in a vacuum. I did’t know ANYONE that played when I convinced my parents to buy that first D&D box set.

I did later discover two guys at my school that played near the end of the year… and we played a few times over the summer. But then one moved away and the other went to a different school in the fall…

Day 9 - What was the SECOND RPG you bought?

It was a used copy of either Star Frontiers or Top Secret. One was second the other was third. I maybe paid $4-5 for just the core book of each - not the box set.

Either way, that was the most fun per dollars spent on RPGs EVER!!! We played with just the basic rulebook with both of those systems for AGES…

In other news, I actually finished some miniatures! a whole warband for Warhammer Underworlds... which is just four miniatures... and I'd done most of the painting ages ago... BUT THEY'RE DONE!!! So I should be posting some pics of them soon! 

RPGaDAY 2022 - Days 4 - 6

 

Day 4 - Where would you host a first game?

Probably at my place. It’s where all my stuff is at. I have a dedicated gaming space with a BIG table and comfy chairs. 

I guess I could run something at a convention, or my FLGS. 

Or not… 

A lot would depend on who I was running it for - a group of complete strangers totally new to role-playing!? Just a new campaign with old friends? I'm guessing they mean something closer to the former...? 

I guess I might be willing to invite a group of complete strangers over to play a new game if I was desperate enough to play a role-playing game and was having a hard time finding enough COMMITTED players among my current pool of friends. 

I don’t know… the idea of inviting a bunch of complete strangers over is a little anxiety causing… 

Now that I think about it, though, just a few years ago I wanted to try out Wrath & Glory. None of my friends were interested or available, so I put out a call for players on the local 40K clubs Facebook group and a half-dozen people responded and I think five showed up to try out the game? Two or three of whom I don’t think I’d ever even met or engaged with in the group before!? It was a bit terrifying. It could have been a disaster. But it worked out. 

Maybe I need to remember THAT and try it again sometime!

Day 5 - Why will they like this game? 

Who? Which game? An introductory game? At my house? 

I guess this question assumes that I had a concrete answer for Day 2 Great Introductory Game) and Day 4 (Where To Host a First Game)…? 

Thinking more about this idea of introducing people to games over the last few days.. I’m not sure the system matters. I don’t think there are ANY that would be the BEST in all situations. I do think it needs to be SIMPLE and accessible and most importantly it needs to keep moving and be exciting. 

I think far more important than what system is being used in how prepared the GM is and how well THEY KNOW the system. 

I could very well see an introductory game with a bunch of total newbs playing a very complex game going quite well, IF the they’re playing with pre-generatetd characters (so they don’t get bogged down in trying to make one - and also the characters can be tailored to have something they can all contribute to the team and that first adventure!) AND person running it knows the game, the adventure, and the characters everyone is playing inside and out and can allow the players to focus on the role-playing - so they can describe what they want to do and the GM just says - well you have X ability or Y Skill so roll the red die and one blue one and then can narratively interpret the outcome of that roll. No one playing has to know a single rule or mechanic, they just need to tell me what they want to do. This requires a LOT of preparation.

So, if people come to play a new game at my house, they will like it because I WILL BE PREPARED and the game will be fast-paced and fun and everyone will be involved and feel like they contributed something and it didn't bog down with mechanics and looking things up or long explanations of how rules work. 

When I ran Savage Worlds I was passionate about it and knew it inside and out and brought a complete set of dice for everyone that was colour-coded (d4 was red, d6 was orange, d8 was yellow, d10 was green, d12 was blue, and the wild die was a translucent sparkly die). so I didn't even have to say  "roll your d6", I'd say, "roll the orange die with your sparkly blue wild die". I also used a set of the same dice - to help with learning which was which faster and also immediately see how much better or worse their foe was at whatever they were doing.

I knew the system well enough to balance things to be a challenge but not end up with a TPK - if things were too easy, I knew how many more baddies I could throw in. If it got a little overwhelming I usually had a way to add in allied extras or provide ways out. If I didn't remember how something was supposed to work, I made shit up on the spot. 

Day 6 - How would you get more people playing RPGs?

I don’t know that I particularly feel the need to…? 

I’m assuming when they are asking about “get more people role-playing” they mean “people that haven’t played RPGs before”… 

I guess if I was feeling like I really wanted to run a game but couldn’t find ANY committed players among my own friends. I’d probably just try to find some players among a few local game groups on Facebook… They might already be role-players, thought.

It could also just mean “People that are not currently playing a role-playing game” - which there are a lot of us, because… y'know... life… and COVID…!?!

In that case just ORGANIZING A NEW GAME - whether I run it or not, or whether it’s for complete neophytes or old grognards… starting a new game is literally getting more people playing that weren’t previously playing…. 

So… Do THAT I guess…?

RPGaDay 2022 - Day 1-3

 It's August, so it's time for RPGaDay again...

Maybe I'll do these in batches every few days...?

There are a LOT of questions that I'm not sure I'll even be able to answer... but I'll have a go at this anyway. 

1. Who would you introduce to RPGs?

I don’t know… I am less and less interested in doings stuff with  complete strangers as life goes on. Of the people I know, most already play role-playing games or have no interest… 

I have, in the past, ran games at conventions or stores (though, admittedly, most of those were more “tabletop miniature skirmish adventures” using Savage Worlds (or similar) but I’ve always tried to encourage a little role-playing in all my skirmish miniature games. 

I introduced my kids to role-playing games. That was so much fun. One, in turn, has introduced others, so maybe my work here is done. 

If ever I had grandchildren (I have my doubts about that… which I am neither pleased nor disappointed about… but you never know….) I would be thrilled to introduce them! 

2. What is a great introductory RPG? 

I’m not sure. 

Something simple that promotes ROLE-PLAYING and less about fiddly mechanics. 

I used to run Savage Worlds a lot - and introduced a lot of people to role-playing (and skirmish miniature gaming) through that. It was great because it was simple enough and could be used for ANYTHING… It used a lot of different dice which can be tricky - but usually easily solved with a “dice map”… and there were other problems… but I may need to revisit that at some point. 

I feel like FATE would be good… but I haven’t really played it enough to say for sure. 

3. When were you first introduced to RPGs?

I think it was forty years ago, this year - 1982-ish. 

I don’t know WHERE exactly I first heard of Dungeons & Dragons… I definitely didn’t KNOW anyone that played it. I do know it was mentioned or portrayed in at least two movies I saw around that time (Taps and E.T.). I relatively certain by that point I was reading Conan the Barbarian comics and maybe there were ads in there…? Or maybe other comics I was reading...? 

Then one day I saw the  Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (the one with Keep on the Borderlands) and a number of Ral Partha miniatures in a toy store at the Wildwood Mall (now part of the Centre at Circle and 8th… or maybe it’s just called The Centre, now…?) I somehow convinced my parents to buy it and my dad to try and play it with me.