RPGaDay 2023: Day 20

20. Will still play in TWENTY years time

I would hope that I will still be playing all of my favorite role-playing games in twenty years time if I live that long. I'd rather not think about it. Let's concentrate on what we're playing now and what we'll be playing next, regardless of the interval of time.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 19

19. Favourite PUBLISHED adventure

This question makes me tired. There are too many adventures for too many different role-playing games for me to have an answer. Plus there's the distinction between favorite published adventure played versus favorite published adventure GMed. I have neither the time nor energy to ponder the matter. And as I have mentioned before, my mode of thinking tends not to be hierarchical. I fail to see the point of it.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 18

18. Favourite RPG SYSTEM

Some of my favorite role-playing game systems include:

• Basic Role-Playing
• The D6 System
• Fudge

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 17

17. FUNNIEST RPG you've played read

Instead of "funniest role-playing game you've played," I'll name the funniest concept for a role-playing game I've encountered. It's a tie between Creeks & Crawdads, the game of playing inept crustaceans in a post-apocalyptic future, and Og (including Land of Og and Og: Unearthed), the game of playing prehistoric people with an extremely limited vocabulary. I don't know how funny they are in action, but they're hilarious on paper.

N.B. This may overlap Day 7.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 16

16. RPG you WISH you owned

I shall interpret the "role-playing game you wish you owned" as one that has never been published, because otherwise I would merely be sharing my wish list of mostly out-of-print titles, and no one cares to see that.

The nonexistent role-playing game I wish I owned (because a friend of mine would dearly love to play it) would be an adaptation of Tron. I would want it to be streamlined, fast, and awe-inspiring in play. I would want special Tron dice and Tron dice trays and a landscape Tron GM screen and a rule book that looks gorgeous in both print and PDF. And I want interactive player character sheets with graphics and sound effects that the GM can alter remotely during the game.

It sounds crazy and it will never happen (and if it did it wouldn't be nearly as good as I'm envisioning it), but that would be my wish. Short of that, I'll just have to homebrew my own version.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 15

15. Favourite Con MODULE/ONE-SHOT

• The time: The summer of 1980-something.
• The place: Fal Con, a gaming convention at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A.
• The situation: My friends and I signed up for a science fiction role-playing game adventure.

I no longer recall the name of the GM nor the title of the adventure, but I remember the following:

• When pregenerated characters were offered, I went last, and I was left with the party's highest ranking officer, Captain Donald Drake.
• Amongst my character's possessions was a "spring rifle," which the GM explained to me was inspired by a weapon from Gordon R. Dickson's series of Dorsai novels. (I subsequently read and very much enjoyed those novels.)
• The planets were named after the Greek equivalents of our own, e.g., Mercury was Hermes, Venus was Aphrodite, Mars was Ares, etc.
• Some of the miniatures the GM used were Star Wars toys, including a walking tank that Drake blew up Skywalker-style.
• The GM used a screen from the The Adventures of Indiana Jones role-playing game.
• The GM was a member of the Northern Ohio Wargaming Society and the founder of another club. He handed out pamphlets, the result of which was that we later attended NOWS Con.

I say it was my favorite convention module/one-shot because it was the only occasion my friends and I all played together as players without one of us having to be the GM. It was great fun, and I wish it had been one of many such experiences.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 14

14. Favourite CONVENTION purchase

This one is easy. My favorite and most memorable convention purchases were the items I bought at the first Gen Con I attended when it was held at the University of Wisconsin—Parkside in the early 1980s: Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, and the two volumes of Best of The Dragon/Best of Dragon. This was the beginning of my devotion to the Basic Role-Playing series of games by Chaosium.

I can remember how I felt as I sat in our tent at a nearby campground, marvelling at my first convention acquisitions. The first remain the best, and I cherish them.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 13

13. Most memorable character DEMISE

The winner of "Most Memorable Character Demise" goes to one of my wife's 0 level characters in Sanctum of the Snail, a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG adventure included in the first issue of Crepuscular (obtainable here). I can't reveal the cause of death, as it would be a spoiler (and that's the problem with this question), but I can say that her character had two options. Upon taking the correct option, which yielded something beneficial, she then decided to take the second option also (over the objections of her fellow player) and paid the fatal consequence. Those who have played or run the adventure might know the situation to which I am referring, and can well imagine the facial expressions of onlookers. I wish I could say more. Rest in Peace, 0 level daredevil who knew no fear and took every risk that confronted her. If we ever find her character sheet, I'll post it here.*

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[Edit: I previously stated that the name of the adventure was Sailors on the Starless Sea, but I had misremembered.]

* I found her character sheet and realized I can't post it due to spoilers, but I can share her non-spoilery character generation info.

Name: Zip
0 level Rutabega Farmer (she/her)
Strength: 14 (+1)
Agility: 16 (+2)
Stamina: 4 (-2)
Personality: 13 (+1)
Intelligence: 15 (+1)
Luck: 14 (+1)
Armor Class: 12
Hit Points: 1
Lucky Sign: Bountiful Harvest (+1 hit points per level)
Weapon: pitchfork
Equipment: hen, holy symbol
Starting Funds: 42 copper pieces

RPGaDay 2023: Day 12

12. Old RPG you STILL play

I am more interested in the inverse of this question. An old role-playing game I do not still play is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the RPG I've spent more hours playing than any other game. I no longer have the patience for AD&D's morass of unnecessary rules. It has its uses as a resource, but not as a game I have any interest in playing again.

That isn't to say I won't run an AD&D adventure, but if I do, I'll adapt it for Basic/Expert D&D, Swords & Wizardry White Box, Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Knave, or Maze Rats.

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RPGaDay 2023: Day 11

11. WEIRDEST RPG you've played read

The weirdest role-playing game I have encountered would probably be The Original Flatland Role Playing Game by Marcus L. Rowland, based on Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. It is available here via DriveThruRPG. The "free 'lite' version" known as The Original Flatland Role Playing Game (The Flattened Remix) can be obtained here (likewise via DriveThruRPG).

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