Back to the Table

The last gaming session I participated in was probably last year as a player in the playtest of a Mutant Crawl Classics RPG adventure via Zoom. Until a week ago, my last in-person gaming session was two years ago when I ran "Temple Siege!" for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. It is a short adventure by Julian Bernick included in the DCC Day 2021 Adventure Pack. As it states in the beginning, "This adventure is for 5 to 6 1st-level PCs (Some playtesters found that the adventure provided plenty of challenge for 4 to 5 2nd-level PCs as well.)" Well, we had three 2nd level player characters, and we were only halfway through the adventure when the session ended. Two years later (on 31 August 2024, to be precise), we finally met again to complete the adventure. Joe played Billie the Once Risen, formerly Billie the Squire (2nd level warrior), Sarah (my wife) played Francis the Creep (2nd level thief), and Leslie played George the Pupil (2nd level cleric). I re-described the circumstances of the adventure, what they had done, and where they had been, and they gradually recaptured the mood and party dynamics as if we had last played a mere week ago. The band was back! I would love to meet every week, but the schedules of adults are notoriously difficult to coordinate, and I'll consider us lucky if we can meet once or twice a month. It has been left to my discretion to pick the next adventure, so at least I'll have plenty of time to make a good choice and thoroughly prepare. I will be planning a mini-unmodule to lead into the adventure as I think we need more development of the player characters' local community and home bases. Their previous adventures, incidentally, have been Sailors on the Starless Sea, Doom of the Savage King, Frozen in Time, and, as I mentioned, "Temple Siege!"

Meanwhile, I will be running Mutant Crawl Classics RPG weekly for Mary (my mother) and Linnville, starting with the 0 level funnel, "Assault on the Sky-High Tower." I will be giving them eight 0 levels each (generated by the Mutant Crawl Classics 0-Level Party Generator by Purple Sorcerer Games). I have been developing a rich background for their tribe and location, which I hope will lend a feeling of community and shared history to the player characters. I think this is especially important to a far future postapocalyptic setting, which can sometimes be more difficult to visualize and relate to than more popular genres. I know it was one of the factors that dissuaded me from running Gamma World when I was a lad, despite a great desire to do so. Thankfully, I've learned how to surmount that inhibition.

I would very much like to run the new edition of Knave for some friends. I'm not sure who, where, or when, but I would like to try it as soon as possible.

I really need to get back on the phantom steed of running Ghostbusters. I can't remember when our last session was, but I really miss the wacky looseness of it. And I must run Teenagers from Outer Space! Either (or both) of these might be a good project for Halloween.

What games are you running, playing, or planning?

RPGaDAY 2017: Day 01

1. What published RPG [game, world, or adventure] do you wish you were playing right now?

I am in the mood to play multiple role-playing games and settings at any moment, but at this exact moment I feel the urge to play Teenagers from Outer Space by Mike Pondsmith. Published by R. Talsorian Games in the late 1980s, it is "set on an Earth where fun-loving space aliens go to our high schools and party with the Earth kids. In the game you play the part of a teenager—alien or human—and have adventures fighting mutant monstrosities, saving the world from ravening rabbits from the X dimension, and getting your homework in on time." In other words, you engage in sci fi teenage high jinks.

The game system is simple and transparent (features I find very attractive and all too rare), and the writing is whimsical without being forced. The character attributes (or Statistics) offer a clear picture of the flavor of the game: Smarts, Bod, Relationship with Parents, Luck, Driving, Looks, Cool, and Bonk. (Bonk is how much punishment you can take.)

The cover art for the two editions offer somewhat different visions of the game. The first, by Mike Ebert, is suggestive of manga, whereas the second, by Wayne Barlowe, reflects the 1980s America in which the game was written. My own instincts draw me inexorably toward a sci fi 1950s interpretation inspired by the movie that inspired the game's title (plus every other sci fi and/or monster movie of the 1950s). Or a blend of all three.

Teenagers from Outer Space is light, easy, comedic fun, which is exactly what I'm in the mood for right now.

[For more information on #RPGaDAY (or #RPGaDAY2017 specifically), read this.]