RPGaDay 2024: Day 31

31. Game you miss

The role-playing game I miss GMing and playing the most is Stormbringer 1st edition.

And that is the end of this year's #RPGaDay.

Be seeing you...

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 30

30. Person[s] you'd like to game with

I've answered versions of this question before, but this time, I would like to game at the Canadians' table:

• Brent Butt
• Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
• Rakhee Morzaria
• Andrew Phung
• Nancy Robertson
• Sugith Varughese

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 29

29. Awesome app

The answer to this prompt is The Crawler's Companion (for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG and Mutant Crawl Classics RPG) from Purple Sorcerer Games. I highly recommend both the app and the HTML version.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 28

28. Great gamer gadget

Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary defines "gadget" thusly:

gadget

an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often thought of as a novelty

Based on that definition, "great gamer gadget" is clearly a dice tower. Do I use one? No. Do I think they are amusing? Yes. Would I use one if I had one? Yes, if a) it was sufficiently amusing and b) my players can't keep their dice on the table otherwise. Personally, I prefer dice trays and dice cups, but dice towers are fine, too.

I think it would be fun if there were competitions to create the most interesting dice towers—elaborate Rube Goldbergian contraptions just to roll dice. And then OK Go could incorporate the entries into a music video. It seems like the universe would want this to happen.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 23 Revisited

23. Peerless player[s]

Previously, I asked if anyone would like to offer an alternative topic to the 23rd prompt of #RPGaDay2024, but none have been forthcoming, despite it being the most-viewed post of Applied Phantasticality this month. (Technically, I was asked if I had considered the official alternative prompt, but I found it equally uninspiring.) Well, I no longer need any suggestions. I have an answer.

Peerless players? The Aquabats. We'll sit around a table in the Battletram, set it on autopilot, and I'll run the wildest game of our lives as we drink cherry sodas and eat gas station burritos. At least until real danger strikes or someone needs our help.

Behold the Floating Eye of Death!

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 27

27. Miniatures

For war games, I prefer miniatures. For role-playing games, I prefer "theatre of the mind."

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 26

26. Superb screen

I own a four-panel, landscape-oriented, customizable GM screen with clear plastic pockets on both sides of every panel so I can slide in reference sheets or art appropriate to whatever game I am running. It's called The World's Greatest Screen from Hammerdog Games. It's nearly perfect. The World's Greatest Screen: The Half Screen (soon to be launched on Kickstarter) might be even better (and I certainly plan to get one).

Another good option is the three-panel, landcape-oriented, Savage Worlds Customizable GM screen from Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

When I was a teenager, I used the typical cardboard, three-panel, portrait-oriented screens that were produced for various role-playing games by their manufacturers. They were already too tall for my purposes, but the situation was worsened by the fact that I ran my games from a desk that was taller than the card table at which my players were seated. To overcome this lack of visibility (a problem for me as I communicate nearly as much with gestures and facial expressions as I do with speech when I GM), I tended to sit on the back of my office chair. And tilt it backwards (a habit, not a strategy). I strongly discourage both activities. Fortunately, landscape-oriented screens (and playing at the same actual table) eliminate the need for such stunts.

Buy a better screen or make one yourself. It's worth it.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 25

25. Desirable dice

It is my desire to see binary six-sided dice become more widely available and in a greater variety of colors, styles, and materials. By "binary dice," I mean those that have an equal number of sides marked "1" or "0"—and I strongly prefer the six-sided variety (either 16 mm or 12 mm).

I have 20 binary dice in opaque white with black inking, but I have never found them in actual stores, and they are not always easy to find online. I just conducted a search on a popular retail site and the closest result I found was a set of cowrie shells "for use as binary dice." We can do better.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 24

24. Acclaimed advice

Game design: To paraphrase, "Keep it simple, sunshine."

Refereeing: Thou shalt not railroad.

Playing: Support thy comrades and share the spotlight.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 23

23. Peerless player

I have no use for this question. Would anyone be willing to ask me a better one?

[Edit: I found an answer.]

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 22

22. Notable non-player character

In my experience, the best non-player characters have always been those who were not intended to be notable at all, and were often created spontaneously in the midst of play. They appear out of necessity, but—due to player character interest—grow to become complex recurring characters and an important part of the player characters' lives. This, to me, is one of the most fascinating and enjoyable phenomena that occur in role-playing games.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 21

21. Classic [literary] campaign

Short answer: Pendragon.

Slightly longer answer: I've never played Pendragon, but its structure and subject matter seem like the quintessental classic literary role-playing game/campaign. I'd love to run and play it someday.

(Note: I altered the topic to make it less boring for me.)

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 20

20. Amazing adventure

One of the most amazing adventures I've played in the last few years was When Manimals Attack by Tim Snider. It is a Mutant Crawl Classics RPG adventure for 2nd level characters, and I had the privilege of playtesting it with Mr. Snider and one other player via Zoom. My comrade played a Plantient, and I played a Human Rover named Declan (possibly descended from a clone of footballer Declan Rice (or his reincarnation???)). We made a great team despite being shorthanded, and the adventure itself was, per today's topic, amazing.

(I just noticed the Goodman Games site is currently out of stock of the Print + PDF, but here is the link watch: MCC #12: When Manimals Attack—Print + PDF. Meanwhile, it is still available strictly as a PDF: MCC #12: When Manimals Attack—PDF.)

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 19

19. Sensational session

"Sensational" is a strong word, but from a GM's point of view, I'll take it to mean an enjoyable adventure with a satisfying resolution, a great group of players, and a comfortable gaming location. I was running a homebrew adventure I had written for Timeship that began at the O.K. Coral in Tombstone, moved to San Francisco via train, and ended in Shanghai via steamship. The players included some of my oldest friends and our younger brothers. The location was a luxurious conference room (complete with kitchen!) at our local university library. One of my friends had reserved the room for us, despite the fact that we were high school and junior high school students who had no connection with the university. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience under perfect circumstances. Amongst other things, a barroom brawl was started, a U.S. President was rescued, and a manmade earthquake was averted. (Hurrah!) I consider that session sensational.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 18

18. Memorable moment of play

It was like a scene in a movie: The time my Mutant Crawl Classics RPG character Barry Gibb-On (a mutant gibbon Manimal with the ability to throw balls of electricity and who looks exactly like Barry Gibb except when asleep) was crossing a bridge inside a building of the Ancients with a Plantient infant in one hand and a laser rifle in the other and held off an attack by a huge aerial murderbot singlehandedly, enabling all to escape.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 17

17. RPG community

More often than not, I feel detached from the concept of community in general. I have always felt like a stranger from another place and another time, an alien stranded in these spacetime coordinates. I rarely feel that I belong. But sometimes I do. Sometimes the RPG community feels like home. I strive to make my corner of the hobby as welcoming to others as it has been to me. The best part of a hobby is sharing it with others.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 16

16. Quick to learn

For speed of learning and teaching, the honors go to:

• Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game
• Scales & Tales
• Teenagers from Outer Space
• Zorro: The Roleplaying Game

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 15

15: Great character gear

Several RPGs with great character gear come to mind:

• The Morrow Project
• Mechwarrior
• Ringworld

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 14

14: Compelling characters

In my experience, both as a player and as a GM, RPGs are always better when the player characters and the non-player characters are actual characters—beings with motivations, complications, and unique personalities. Without those elements, one might as well be playing board games. (I enjoy board games, but what I enjoy most about role-playing games are those aspects that set them apart from other kinds of games.) Compelling characterization—for me—is the most important ingredient in a role-playing game.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 13

13. Evocative Environments

There are too many to name, but here are a few:

• Valley of the Pharaohs
• Flashing Blades
• Boot Hill
• Gangbusters
• The Morrow Project
• Judge Dredd - The Role-Playing Game

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 12

12. RPG with well-supported campaigns

Need it be said? Call of Cthulhu.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 11

11. RPG with well-supported one-shots

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG has a large number of adventures that can serve equally well as one-shots or parts of a campaign.

(Ask a simple question, get a simple answer.)

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 10

10. RPG you'd like to see on TV

If the RPG is the setting of a television show, my answer is Gamma World or Paranoia.

If the RPG itself makes an appearance on a show (that is, if the characters are depicted playing it), my answer is Lords of Creation or Paranoia.

If the characters in the show are depicted playing the RPG and then they find themselves in the RPG's setting, my answer is Sherpa or Paranoia.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 09

9. An accessory you'd like to see

A tri-faced monitor like the one seen in the original Star Trek so the GM can display images simultaneously to all the players.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 08

8. An accessory you appreciate

I feel very appreciative of cushioned dice trays. They reduce the noise of dice-rolling and (mostly) keep dice from flying everywhere. They are well worth the investment and can be used for many types of games.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 07

7. RPG with 'good form'

I'll say Sherpa by Steffan O'Sullivan. [Click!] The rule book is digest-sized. The rules can be condensed to an index card. The character sheets can be written on business cards. Nothing is required to play except a single randomizer: a digital stopwatch, a dice app on your smartphone, a single d10, or a deck of cards (minus face cards). It can be played anywhere. It has great form.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 06

6. RPG that is easy to use

Several RPGs or RPG systems that are easy to use:

• Sherpa
• Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game
• Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game
• Any classic Basic Role-Playing game such as Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Ringworld, etc.
• Knave
• Macchiato Monsters

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 05

5. RPG with great writing

Three RPGs immediately spring to mind as being enjoyable to read and clear (the most important factors in considering RPG-writing greatness in my opinion):

• Teenagers from Outer Space by Mike Pondsmith
• Sherpa by Steffan O'Sullivan
• Tunnels & Trolls 5th edition by Ken St. Andre

There are others that qualify, of course. These are just a few examples.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 04

4. RPG with great art

I am less concerned with the art in an RPG than I am with game design, writing, editing, typography, and layout. I want great rules with great writing, great legibility, and great organization. There are many RPGs with great art even if you exclude those that use the art of the original source material (as in the case of games adapted from comic strips). I cannot imagine how I could narrow it down, so I won't. I'll just say I prefer any art or an absence of art over a.i. "art."

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 03

3. Most often played RPG

The RPG I have played most often in my life is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition.

The RPG system I have played most often in my life is Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (with an emphasis on Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, Ringworld, and Superworld).

The RPG I have played most often in the last few years is Mutant Crawl Classics RPG, followed by Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG and Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 02

2. Most recently played RPG

The most recent RPG I've played is Mutant Crawl Classics RPG published by Goodman Games. Today, if all goes well, I'll be running the MCC RPG adventure, Assault on the Sky-High Tower. It will be my first time as an MCC RPG judge.

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RPGaDay 2024: Day 01

1. First RPG bought this year

I haven't purchased any this year, but if Gallant Knight Games launches its Kickstarter project soon enough, my first RPG bought this year will probably be D6 System: Second Edition.

Update! I just noticed Kevin Sherry's Scales & Tales 2nd edition (ISBN 978-1524885564) has been released, so that will probably be my first RPG purchase of the year.

Another Update! I ordered Scales & Tales and then discovered that the D6 System: Second Edition Kickstarter project is live! I backed it, of course. So, S&T 2e beat D6 2e by a matter of hours as my first RPG bought this year, but we're all winners in the end, aren't we?

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