0: #RPGaDay 2017
1: What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?
2: What is an RPG you would like to see published?
3: How do you find out about new RPGs?
4: Which RPG have you played the most since August 2016?
5: Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game?
6: You can game every day for a week. Describe what you’d do!
7: What was your most impactful RPG session?
8: What is a good RPG to play for sessions of two hours or less?
9: What is a good RPG to play for about ten sessions?
10: Where do you go for RPG reviews?
11: Which ‘dead game’ would you like to see reborn?
12: Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art?
13: Describe a game experience that changed how you play.
14: Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play?
15: Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?
16: Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?
17: Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?
18: Which RPG have you played the most in your life?
19: Which RPG features the best writing?
20: What is the best source for out of print RPGs?
21: Which RPG does the most with the least words?
22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
23: Which RPG has the most jaw-dropping layout?
24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more.
25: What is the best way to thank your GM?
26: Which RPG provides the most useful resources?
27: What are your essential tools for good gaming?
28: What film/series is the biggest source of quotes in your group?
29: What has been the best-run RPG Kickstarter that you have backed?
30: What is an RPG genre mash-up you would most like to see?
31: What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018?
#RPGaDay 2016
#RPGaDay 2015
#RPGaDay 2014
Thursday, 31 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 31: Hopes for 2018
#RPGaDay 2017
31: What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018?
All going to plan, The Trinity Continuum should be on Kickstarter by the end of this year, so hopefully the first books will be on their way.
Outside of glorious self-promotion... surprise me.
Flying cars!
31: What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018?
All going to plan, The Trinity Continuum should be on Kickstarter by the end of this year, so hopefully the first books will be on their way.
Outside of glorious self-promotion... surprise me.
Wednesday, 30 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 30: Genre mash-up?
#RPGaDay 2017
30: What is an RPG genre mash-up you would most like to see?
Erm. Um. Something without Cthulhu, zombies or steampunk.
Okay, positive, be positive.
I’m thinking of running 1920s gangster Vampire: The Masquerade, so something like that, I suppose. How to apply different genres to various games.
30: What is an RPG genre mash-up you would most like to see?
Erm. Um. Something without Cthulhu, zombies or steampunk.
Okay, positive, be positive.
I’m thinking of running 1920s gangster Vampire: The Masquerade, so something like that, I suppose. How to apply different genres to various games.
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 29: Best-run Kickstarter?
#RPGaDay 2017
29: What has been the best-run RPG Kickstarter that you have backed?
Going for most fun, I admit bias here, as The Year Without A Summer chapter that went into the Dark Eras Companion was one of my suggestions. My next choice would be TimeWatch for its ongoing battle between two of the antagonist groups in the Comments section.
29: What has been the best-run RPG Kickstarter that you have backed?
Going for most fun, I admit bias here, as The Year Without A Summer chapter that went into the Dark Eras Companion was one of my suggestions. My next choice would be TimeWatch for its ongoing battle between two of the antagonist groups in the Comments section.
Monday, 28 August 2017
Werewolf 20 Bundle
Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition at Bundle of Holding, supporting the International Wolf Center.
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby, founding artist of the Marvel Universe, creator of the Fourth World for DC, and war hero, was born 100 years ago today.
His influence on comics and popular culture is hard to overstate, from creating and designing characters currently dominating cinemas to inspiring generations of artists. There’s a lot of Kirby in the animated Superman (not least a character he created designed to resemble the man himself) and as much in Mike Mignola’s worlds. I had no idea until recently how much Masters Of The Universe owes to the Fourth World, too.
The Fourth World also includes one of my favourite notions - the arch-villain’s lieutenants competing for his favour goes all the way to them raising their own armies.
I first came across his work in black-and-white reprints in Marvel UK’s SF weeklies, usually standalone shorts with cool monster designs. At some point they started a run of Devil Dinosaur, which was pretty much exactly my interests at that age, so I had a soft spot for his work from early on.
And there’s still stuff that he never used, like Roxie’s Raiders, a 1930s spy team masquerading as a travelling circus. I want to run that Adventure! game right now.
Kirby’s own life could provide some adventure ideas as well. A street fighter, an animator in his teens, who received threats from American fascists and responded by scaring them off, a war hero, the designer of the unmade Roger Zelazny adaptation Lord Of Light and its double duty as a theme park proposal which was the basis for the CIA mission to rescue Iranian embassy staff by posing as location scouts filmed as Argo...
His influence on comics and popular culture is hard to overstate, from creating and designing characters currently dominating cinemas to inspiring generations of artists. There’s a lot of Kirby in the animated Superman (not least a character he created designed to resemble the man himself) and as much in Mike Mignola’s worlds. I had no idea until recently how much Masters Of The Universe owes to the Fourth World, too.
The Fourth World also includes one of my favourite notions - the arch-villain’s lieutenants competing for his favour goes all the way to them raising their own armies.
I first came across his work in black-and-white reprints in Marvel UK’s SF weeklies, usually standalone shorts with cool monster designs. At some point they started a run of Devil Dinosaur, which was pretty much exactly my interests at that age, so I had a soft spot for his work from early on.
And there’s still stuff that he never used, like Roxie’s Raiders, a 1930s spy team masquerading as a travelling circus. I want to run that Adventure! game right now.
Kirby’s own life could provide some adventure ideas as well. A street fighter, an animator in his teens, who received threats from American fascists and responded by scaring them off, a war hero, the designer of the unmade Roger Zelazny adaptation Lord Of Light and its double duty as a theme park proposal which was the basis for the CIA mission to rescue Iranian embassy staff by posing as location scouts filmed as Argo...
Famous Monsters
The new Taylor Swift song Look What You Made Me Do would make a good end credits theme for a backstabbing Vampire session, while the video has her as, among other things, an angry revenant.
I may have overthought this.
Possibly also a Demon: The Fallen chronicle about the Serpent of Eden returning to Earth in the body of a singer and becoming a celebrity, fighting rival famous monsters...
#RPGaDay 2017 28: Biggest source of quotes in your group?
#RPGaDay 2017
28: What film/series is the biggest source of quotes in your group?
Star Wars. By, like, a parsec.
Monty Python And The Holy Grail will still endanger fantasy games and render running Pendragon all but impossible, The Princess Bride sometimes sets off extended riffs (particularly when a GM tries to use a Rodent Of Unusual Size as a monster) and Serenity comes up pretty much every time something is described as “interesting”, but nothing to the same extent.
Playing in another existing setting will see a balance of its own catchphrases (sometimes even used in context!) and Star Wars quotes, and you can imagine how it goes when we’re actually playing Star Wars.
28: What film/series is the biggest source of quotes in your group?
Star Wars. By, like, a parsec.
Monty Python And The Holy Grail will still endanger fantasy games and render running Pendragon all but impossible, The Princess Bride sometimes sets off extended riffs (particularly when a GM tries to use a Rodent Of Unusual Size as a monster) and Serenity comes up pretty much every time something is described as “interesting”, but nothing to the same extent.
Playing in another existing setting will see a balance of its own catchphrases (sometimes even used in context!) and Star Wars quotes, and you can imagine how it goes when we’re actually playing Star Wars.
Sunday, 27 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 27: Tools for good gaming?
#RPGaDay 2017
27: What are your essential tools for good gaming?
A location with shelter, table space, relative quiet and amenities like that. (One of the rooms GEAS sometimes ends up in has the perfect acoustics for one speaker to drown out everything else.)
Pens, paper. Sturdy books, including a notebook. Dice that are big enough to find them again when they bounce off the table.
Visuals can be very helpful too. It was a lot easier to keep fifty-odd NPCs in order in my V20 game when I had a picture for everybody, particularly when a dozen of them were in the same room.
Wi-Fi... though it tends to result in delays as I try to find the perfect picture for an NPC or scene, or look up a name, or something. So maybe no Wi-Fi, as long as I have time to prep.
Time to prep.
27: What are your essential tools for good gaming?
A location with shelter, table space, relative quiet and amenities like that. (One of the rooms GEAS sometimes ends up in has the perfect acoustics for one speaker to drown out everything else.)
Pens, paper. Sturdy books, including a notebook. Dice that are big enough to find them again when they bounce off the table.
Visuals can be very helpful too. It was a lot easier to keep fifty-odd NPCs in order in my V20 game when I had a picture for everybody, particularly when a dozen of them were in the same room.
Wi-Fi... though it tends to result in delays as I try to find the perfect picture for an NPC or scene, or look up a name, or something. So maybe no Wi-Fi, as long as I have time to prep.
Time to prep.
Saturday, 26 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 26: The most useful resources?
#RPGaDay 2017
26: Which RPG provides the most useful resources?
Traditionally, D&D. A vast amount of stuff, a vast amount of third-party stuff, and in the 3/3.5 era specifically a vast amount of free stuff. These days, probably Pathfinder due to D&D’s smaller publishing rate.
Useful to me? Probably Vampire: The Masquerade for the sheer number of books and things I have going back twenty-six years. Companies like Pelgrane, Growling Door and Exile put a lot of stuff online and offer adventures for Free RPG Day and so on.
26: Which RPG provides the most useful resources?
Traditionally, D&D. A vast amount of stuff, a vast amount of third-party stuff, and in the 3/3.5 era specifically a vast amount of free stuff. These days, probably Pathfinder due to D&D’s smaller publishing rate.
Useful to me? Probably Vampire: The Masquerade for the sheer number of books and things I have going back twenty-six years. Companies like Pelgrane, Growling Door and Exile put a lot of stuff online and offer adventures for Free RPG Day and so on.
Friday, 25 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 25: Thank your GM
#RPGaDay 2017
25: What is the best way to thank your GM?
I accept thanks, praise, constructive criticism, cola and chocolate. Money would call my amateur status into question.
25: What is the best way to thank your GM?
I accept thanks, praise, constructive criticism, cola and chocolate. Money would call my amateur status into question.
Thursday, 24 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 24: Pay what you want
#RPGaDay 2017
24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more.
Stew Wilson is pretty much the only pro writer doing PWYW games that I know offhand. So I’ll expand the question slightly and suggest Patreon as well. Rose Bailey drops a new mini game monthly, and Steve Dee mixes game design with other good deeds.
I admit bias in knowing them all, but hey, my blog.
24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more.
Stew Wilson is pretty much the only pro writer doing PWYW games that I know offhand. So I’ll expand the question slightly and suggest Patreon as well. Rose Bailey drops a new mini game monthly, and Steve Dee mixes game design with other good deeds.
I admit bias in knowing them all, but hey, my blog.
Wednesday, 23 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 23: Jaw-dropping layout?
#RPGaDay 2017
23: Which RPG has the most jaw-dropping layout?
Annalise, the Gothic doomed romance game, for its elegance and atmosphere.
In-character artefacts like Dracula Unredacted and the Vampire: The Requiem Clanbooks can be very impressive too.
(Of course, jaw-dropping could also be for negative reactions. There’s a game where the page background was so dark nobody could read chunks of the rulebook...)
23: Which RPG has the most jaw-dropping layout?
Annalise, the Gothic doomed romance game, for its elegance and atmosphere.
In-character artefacts like Dracula Unredacted and the Vampire: The Requiem Clanbooks can be very impressive too.
(Of course, jaw-dropping could also be for negative reactions. There’s a game where the page background was so dark nobody could read chunks of the rulebook...)
Tuesday, 22 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 22: Easiest RPGs to run?
#RPGaDay 2017
22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
Urban fantasy with monster hunting and high weirdness clashing with the everyday world. Preferably with fairly simple rules. Yeah, like Buffy. Maybe keep going with it, take it back and make new good memories.
22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
Urban fantasy with monster hunting and high weirdness clashing with the everyday world. Preferably with fairly simple rules. Yeah, like Buffy. Maybe keep going with it, take it back and make new good memories.
Monday, 21 August 2017
News
Whedonesque closed today. I’ll be shutting up about Buffy for a while, I think. Not forever, I hope, as this is a creation that has brought me a lot of joy over the years, lasting friendships and more. But not today.
#RPGaDay 2017 21: The most with the least words?
#RPGaDay 2017
21: Which RPG does the most with the least words?
TOON.
See how few words I used? But anyway, the first edition is 68 pages with large type and lots of art, including adventures. There are smaller RPGs out there (including one-page RPGs and even the Business Card RPG) but this is the one that made me a roleplayer for real and that I ran on and off for years.
21: Which RPG does the most with the least words?
TOON.
See how few words I used? But anyway, the first edition is 68 pages with large type and lots of art, including adventures. There are smaller RPGs out there (including one-page RPGs and even the Business Card RPG) but this is the one that made me a roleplayer for real and that I ran on and off for years.
Sunday, 20 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 20: Best source for out of print RPGs?
#RPGaDay 2017
20: What is the best source for out of print RPGs?
PDFs And print on demand mean few things are truly gone, but licensed games in particular can vanish.
Paizo and Noble Knight are good for this, but in the UK I mostly rely on eBay and sometimes The Shop On The Borderlands and Travelling Man. But check your FLGS first, though, because if you’re in luck you can look through the book rather than sending for it sight unseen.
20: What is the best source for out of print RPGs?
PDFs And print on demand mean few things are truly gone, but licensed games in particular can vanish.
Paizo and Noble Knight are good for this, but in the UK I mostly rely on eBay and sometimes The Shop On The Borderlands and Travelling Man. But check your FLGS first, though, because if you’re in luck you can look through the book rather than sending for it sight unseen.
Saturday, 19 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 19: Which RPG features the best writing?
#RPGaDay 2017
19: Which RPG features the best writing?
Best rules writing? TOON for clarity and flavour. Best prose? Adventure! for Warren Ellis and more. Best GM advice? d6 Star Wars.
19: Which RPG features the best writing?
Best rules writing? TOON for clarity and flavour. Best prose? Adventure! for Warren Ellis and more. Best GM advice? d6 Star Wars.
Friday, 18 August 2017
Star Wars: Legion
A new Star Wars skirmish wargame from FFG... apparently with big-even-for-32mm scale miniatures, more realistic but also half a head taller than Imperial Assault. :/
#RPGaDay 2017 18: RPG you've played the most?
#RPGaDay 2017
18: Which RPG have you played the most in your life?
Including GMing, probably Buffy, followed by Vampire: The Masquerade or possibly d6 Star Wars.
Excluding GMing, probably Vampire: The Masquerade due to a whole lot of shortish games and the New Bremen chat, particularly if I count time playing a mortal. d6 Star Wars is probably the runner-up here too. Marvel Super Heroes SAGA must be close too, with two two-year-plus games. The longest campaign I’ve ever been in as a player, four academic years, was Werewolf: The Apocalypse, but I’ve played about three sessions of it outside that chronicle. Sadly Buffy is a long way down the list.
18: Which RPG have you played the most in your life?
Including GMing, probably Buffy, followed by Vampire: The Masquerade or possibly d6 Star Wars.
Excluding GMing, probably Vampire: The Masquerade due to a whole lot of shortish games and the New Bremen chat, particularly if I count time playing a mortal. d6 Star Wars is probably the runner-up here too. Marvel Super Heroes SAGA must be close too, with two two-year-plus games. The longest campaign I’ve ever been in as a player, four academic years, was Werewolf: The Apocalypse, but I’ve played about three sessions of it outside that chronicle. Sadly Buffy is a long way down the list.
Thursday, 17 August 2017
Trinity Storypath preview and Onyx Path brochure
New from Onyx Path, the 2017 brochure, and a new Storypath system with a Trinity focus.
#RPGaDay 2017 17: Longest owned unplayed RPG?
#RPGaDay 2017
17: Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?
I’m going to have to look up some publication dates here...
Monster Horrorshow came out in 1987. It was really a book of GMing advice and an adventure with a simple system attached, but it still counts. I think I got it soon after it came out.
But for a big RPG that has gone through multiple editions and has supplements and such, the GW hardback core set for third edition RuneQuest also came out in 1987, though I don’t think I got them until 1988 or so, when they were on sale.
I never ran either of these, or even seriously considered doing so.
Yes, I have games I’ve owned and never done anything with for thirty years.
Just a couple, though...
17: Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?
I’m going to have to look up some publication dates here...
Monster Horrorshow came out in 1987. It was really a book of GMing advice and an adventure with a simple system attached, but it still counts. I think I got it soon after it came out.
But for a big RPG that has gone through multiple editions and has supplements and such, the GW hardback core set for third edition RuneQuest also came out in 1987, though I don’t think I got them until 1988 or so, when they were on sale.
I never ran either of these, or even seriously considered doing so.
Yes, I have games I’ve owned and never done anything with for thirty years.
Just a couple, though...
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
The original Star Wars RPG at 30 - back in print!
FFG are reprinting the first edition d6 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and the Star Wars Sourcebook for their 30th anniversary. Guess they can get my money for a Star Wars RPG after all!
I wonder how the licence works... reprints of some of the adventures would be nice too.
I wonder how the licence works... reprints of some of the adventures would be nice too.
#RPGaDay 2017 16: RPG you enjoy using as is?
#RPGaDay 2017
16: Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?
To vary my answers a bit, Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who, as the simple system allows for a wide variety of characters, and the action-based initiative is genius.
Otherwise, yes folks, Buffy. I don’t even change the single D10 or the grainy Life Points. I probably should, but honestly I hardly ever have the monsters hit the PCs...
16: Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?
To vary my answers a bit, Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who, as the simple system allows for a wide variety of characters, and the action-based initiative is genius.
Otherwise, yes folks, Buffy. I don’t even change the single D10 or the grainy Life Points. I probably should, but honestly I hardly ever have the monsters hit the PCs...
Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Coming soon: Mage plot hooks
Halfway through a “thirty hooks from song titles” challenge for Mage: The Ascension and thinking I could run this game.
Though I might be leaning a bit too much on “rival cabals being troublesome”. That may be more of an Awakening thing.
Though I might be leaning a bit too much on “rival cabals being troublesome”. That may be more of an Awakening thing.
Nosferatu 3?
A potential remake of Nosferatu, from director Robert Eggers and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, reteaming after The VVitch.
Still waiting on the “remix” with virtual sets from the original and Doug Jones as Orlok to come through post-production, though...
Still waiting on the “remix” with virtual sets from the original and Doug Jones as Orlok to come through post-production, though...
#RPGaDay 2017 15: RPG for adapting?
#RPGaDay 2017
15: Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?
Storyteller, I guess. I’ve used Adventure! for spy-fi (with gadgets and some advantage/disadvantage ideas borrowed from Spycraft) and a modern Flash Gordon style space opera, and Trinity for a Battlestar Galactica style military SF game. Mostly because it’s a simple enough framework, reasonably well balanced for human and near-human characters, already used for various character types and genres so it has assorted sets of powers and equipment lists that are fairly easy to bolt on, and it mostly gets out of the way after characters are made.
15: Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?
Storyteller, I guess. I’ve used Adventure! for spy-fi (with gadgets and some advantage/disadvantage ideas borrowed from Spycraft) and a modern Flash Gordon style space opera, and Trinity for a Battlestar Galactica style military SF game. Mostly because it’s a simple enough framework, reasonably well balanced for human and near-human characters, already used for various character types and genres so it has assorted sets of powers and equipment lists that are fairly easy to bolt on, and it mostly gets out of the way after characters are made.
Monday, 14 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 14: RPG for open-ended campaign?
#RPGaDay 2017
14: Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play?
At the risk of repeating myself... Buffy.
Okay, to avoid a one-word answer, why?
It’s a kitchen-sink setting where I can reasonably throw a vast number of absurd ideas at the players and their characters. Parallel universes? Time travel? Killer puppets? A musical episode? Absolutely. With a group prepared to roll with the crazy it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Jokey geeky table talk can easily stay, or move, in character. Gamers love undercutting villainous speeches, for example, and Buffy does that more often than not.
And that central metaphor, that high school is hell and growing up is a hero’s journey, really works.
14: Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play?
At the risk of repeating myself... Buffy.
Okay, to avoid a one-word answer, why?
It’s a kitchen-sink setting where I can reasonably throw a vast number of absurd ideas at the players and their characters. Parallel universes? Time travel? Killer puppets? A musical episode? Absolutely. With a group prepared to roll with the crazy it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Jokey geeky table talk can easily stay, or move, in character. Gamers love undercutting villainous speeches, for example, and Buffy does that more often than not.
And that central metaphor, that high school is hell and growing up is a hero’s journey, really works.
Sunday, 13 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 13: game experience that changed how you play
#RPGaDay 2017
13: Describe a game experience that changed how you play.
The earliest are bound to be formative...
My first ever session put me off letting the dice fall where they may, thanks to a near-total TPK by a bear in a side room of a dungeon. (A bear who could apparently teleport...)
My first time GMing, I planned everything out like a Fighting Fantasy book, and found myself having to improvise when the players went off the map. I didn’t handle it terribly well, so practiced that. Improvising systemless games with a friend at school over the lunch hour helped here.
My first “proper” RPG was MERP, which taught me a number of valuable lessons in the half session I suffered through running, about rules density and about adapting systems to settings or the other way around. My second was TOON, which I’d gladly run to this day. This has informed my views on what RPGs are for ever since.
By the time I was in late high school, I was pretty burned out on mission-based games like Shadowrun, so I fell hard for the character-centric Vampire: The Masquerade. I even tried playing music in-session - that didn’t take.
And the inevitable TWH reference - behind the scenes talk with players about what they’d like to put their characters through, with one becoming the Producer to my Director, collaborating on storylines for everybody.
13: Describe a game experience that changed how you play.
The earliest are bound to be formative...
My first ever session put me off letting the dice fall where they may, thanks to a near-total TPK by a bear in a side room of a dungeon. (A bear who could apparently teleport...)
My first time GMing, I planned everything out like a Fighting Fantasy book, and found myself having to improvise when the players went off the map. I didn’t handle it terribly well, so practiced that. Improvising systemless games with a friend at school over the lunch hour helped here.
My first “proper” RPG was MERP, which taught me a number of valuable lessons in the half session I suffered through running, about rules density and about adapting systems to settings or the other way around. My second was TOON, which I’d gladly run to this day. This has informed my views on what RPGs are for ever since.
By the time I was in late high school, I was pretty burned out on mission-based games like Shadowrun, so I fell hard for the character-centric Vampire: The Masquerade. I even tried playing music in-session - that didn’t take.
And the inevitable TWH reference - behind the scenes talk with players about what they’d like to put their characters through, with one becoming the Producer to my Director, collaborating on storylines for everybody.
Saturday, 12 August 2017
Zach Best Family Bundle
A DriveThru bundle for Zach Best, of Conjecture Games, also known as Ravious on RPG.net, and his family.
#RPGaDay 2017 12: most inspiring interior art?
#RPGaDay 2017
12: Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art?
Having not given the cover the win here, I really have to go for Vampire: The Masquerade, especially the black and white Tim Bradstreet chapter frontispieces in the first two editions.
12: Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art?
Having not given the cover the win here, I really have to go for Vampire: The Masquerade, especially the black and white Tim Bradstreet chapter frontispieces in the first two editions.
Storytellers Vault Opens
Storytellers Vault opened last night, with, appropriately enough, thirteen products at launch:
Three adventures, two of them introductions to chronicles (Bloody But Unbowed, Contagion and Our Lady Of Sorrows)
Two By Night books, of very different size (Denmark and Madison)
One antagonists book (Fiends And Foes)
Two how-to-play primers for specific groups (Harpies and Ventrue)
One Discipline (Engagement)
One novel (A Golconda Story)
One short story (The Rose Witch)
One foreign-language By Night book (León Nocturno)
One foreign-language story (Pentagrama Demencial)
Also character sheets, templates and art collections.
Naturally, the server is a bit busy.
Interesting to see adventures top the list, with more promised by two of the three and the third, Bloody But Unbowed by Travis Legge, creator of the film and RPG Bloom, introducing a city setting suggesting it will have sequels as well. (So is the Discipline booklet.) We’ll see how well they do, as Vampire: The Masquerade adventures have always been thin on the ground.
Likewise, Denmark By Night is by Jacob Klünder, who worked on Revised and Dark Ages, and Madison by Bill Bodden, who has worked with OP on V20 and more.
And a plug-and-play antagonist book is a good call too.
Three adventures, two of them introductions to chronicles (Bloody But Unbowed, Contagion and Our Lady Of Sorrows)
Two By Night books, of very different size (Denmark and Madison)
One antagonists book (Fiends And Foes)
Two how-to-play primers for specific groups (Harpies and Ventrue)
One Discipline (Engagement)
One novel (A Golconda Story)
One short story (The Rose Witch)
One foreign-language By Night book (León Nocturno)
One foreign-language story (Pentagrama Demencial)
Also character sheets, templates and art collections.
Naturally, the server is a bit busy.
Interesting to see adventures top the list, with more promised by two of the three and the third, Bloody But Unbowed by Travis Legge, creator of the film and RPG Bloom, introducing a city setting suggesting it will have sequels as well. (So is the Discipline booklet.) We’ll see how well they do, as Vampire: The Masquerade adventures have always been thin on the ground.
Likewise, Denmark By Night is by Jacob Klünder, who worked on Revised and Dark Ages, and Madison by Bill Bodden, who has worked with OP on V20 and more.
And a plug-and-play antagonist book is a good call too.
Friday, 11 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 11: Which 'dead game' would you like to see reborn?
#RPGaDay 2017
11: Which ‘dead game’ would you like to see reborn?
Take a wild guess.
Okay, to be slightly more thorough, Buffy and Angel had five written sourcebooks including one ready to go to final edits when the publishing licence ended, and the published books are still available in PDF, which is nice considering how often licensed games vanish when the agreement runs out, so getting those five at least in PDF seems achievable with some legal wrangling. (Please note, I am not a lawyer.)
11: Which ‘dead game’ would you like to see reborn?
Take a wild guess.
Okay, to be slightly more thorough, Buffy and Angel had five written sourcebooks including one ready to go to final edits when the publishing licence ended, and the published books are still available in PDF, which is nice considering how often licensed games vanish when the agreement runs out, so getting those five at least in PDF seems achievable with some legal wrangling. (Please note, I am not a lawyer.)
Thursday, 10 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 10: Where do you go for RPG reviews?
#RPGaDay 2017
10: Where do you go for RPG reviews?
RPG.net, DriveThruRPG, a few blogs for reviews including character creation and Actual Play.
10: Where do you go for RPG reviews?
RPG.net, DriveThruRPG, a few blogs for reviews including character creation and Actual Play.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 9: What to play for about ten sessions?
#RPGaDay 2017
9: What is a good RPG to play for about ten sessions?
I feel like this should have been question 10...
I used to specialise in games that ran ten sessions or so. It’s a good season-one style Buffy arc, or a trilogy worth of Star Wars, or a decent stab at a “one big book” campaign like Eyes Of The Stone Thief or The Dracula Dossier ... but there are games specifically designed for this kind of length.
Apocalypse World and its offshoots have purposely limited character advancement in their playbooks, with AW featuring Retire To Safety as one of the options when gaining a level after the first five or so and MonsterHearts characters acquiring Growing Up moves as more mature responses to their issues, which suggest a game that runs for a handful of sessions before it’s time to stop, or bring in a new cast of characters one by one or all together if you want to continue.
9: What is a good RPG to play for about ten sessions?
I feel like this should have been question 10...
I used to specialise in games that ran ten sessions or so. It’s a good season-one style Buffy arc, or a trilogy worth of Star Wars, or a decent stab at a “one big book” campaign like Eyes Of The Stone Thief or The Dracula Dossier ... but there are games specifically designed for this kind of length.
Apocalypse World and its offshoots have purposely limited character advancement in their playbooks, with AW featuring Retire To Safety as one of the options when gaining a level after the first five or so and MonsterHearts characters acquiring Growing Up moves as more mature responses to their issues, which suggest a game that runs for a handful of sessions before it’s time to stop, or bring in a new cast of characters one by one or all together if you want to continue.
Tuesday, 8 August 2017
The first Trinity Continuum art
Onyx Path’s Monday update includes the first piece of art for The Trinity Continuum, a character illustrated by Leif Jones, and developer Ian Watson notes...
“I haven’t named her yet, but she doubtless works with the Global Cartography Initiative. Or perhaps even Les Fantômes.”
Those are two of the groups I wrote!
Ahem.
I got a bit excited.
“I haven’t named her yet, but she doubtless works with the Global Cartography Initiative. Or perhaps even Les Fantômes.”
Those are two of the groups I wrote!
Ahem.
I got a bit excited.
#RPGaDay 2017 8: What to play for two hours or less?
#RPGaDay 2017
8: What is a good RPG to play for sessions of two hours or less?
To avoid another “it depends” answer, because some players will rip through adventures for various games:
Something without a lot of combat or at least without a lot of detailed combat. Something with fairly defined parameters for adventures. Something like espionage, stealth-heavy, like Black 7? Or something with a core puzzle and little rolled action, like a whodunnit or Doctor Who?
Another good suggestion I’ve seen is comedy-centred games like TOON and Paranoia, because dissolving into chaos is part of the point.
8: What is a good RPG to play for sessions of two hours or less?
To avoid another “it depends” answer, because some players will rip through adventures for various games:
Something without a lot of combat or at least without a lot of detailed combat. Something with fairly defined parameters for adventures. Something like espionage, stealth-heavy, like Black 7? Or something with a core puzzle and little rolled action, like a whodunnit or Doctor Who?
Another good suggestion I’ve seen is comedy-centred games like TOON and Paranoia, because dissolving into chaos is part of the point.
Monday, 7 August 2017
Making that Doctor Doom post game-relevant
Darth Vader so embodied the Black Knight archetype, with added gadgets and Force powers, that he moved from interesting henchman to central character, and all the other villains in Star Wars went with other styles of supervillainy. The Emperor was originally going to be a distant and isolated figurehead, but became a full-on Evil Wizard.
When the prequels rolled around, a different kind of Darth was needed, so we got Darth Maul as Ninja Satan. Count Dooku was Sir Christopher Lee With A Lightsaber. General Grievous was a four-armed robo-skeleton.
Kylo Ren had to follow Darth Vader in-universe, so I think making him a Vader Fanboy was a stroke of genius.
I borrowed from outside sources for my last Star Wars villain, taking the Kingpin from Daredevil as the basis for a leading Imperial intelligence officer.
What would a Star Wars version of Ultron be like? Or Loki? Or Bane?
When the prequels rolled around, a different kind of Darth was needed, so we got Darth Maul as Ninja Satan. Count Dooku was Sir Christopher Lee With A Lightsaber. General Grievous was a four-armed robo-skeleton.
Kylo Ren had to follow Darth Vader in-universe, so I think making him a Vader Fanboy was a stroke of genius.
I borrowed from outside sources for my last Star Wars villain, taking the Kingpin from Daredevil as the basis for a leading Imperial intelligence officer.
What would a Star Wars version of Ultron be like? Or Loki? Or Bane?
The problem with Doctor Doom in films
There have been four live-action Fantastic Four movies, three starters and a sequel, and they’ve all used Doctor Doom as the villain - even that sequel Rise Of The Silver Surfer had him cause more trouble than the world-eating space god Galactus. This is natural, Doom is the biggest villain in the series and one of the biggest in the Marvel Universe... and they’ve all played him off-model.
The 1994 zero-budget rights-keeper by Roger Corman actually played him pretty close, considering.
The 2005 version looked the part in the end after spending most of the movie looking normal and sounding cocky and American, and had electric mutation powers instead of magic. He even cured his appearance in the sequel!
The 2015 version was a hacker who turned into a Reaper drone lookalike from Mass Effect.
And they all rung the changes because, I believe, there’s already a perfect cinematic Doctor Doom, and if you play him straight he’ll remind cinema audiences of someone else.
Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
So the new Fox standalone Doctor Doom movie, from Legion showrunner Noah Hawley, will have to figure out how to work around that. Because only Marvel themselves (owned by Disney) could really go to the source...
The 1994 zero-budget rights-keeper by Roger Corman actually played him pretty close, considering.
The 2005 version looked the part in the end after spending most of the movie looking normal and sounding cocky and American, and had electric mutation powers instead of magic. He even cured his appearance in the sequel!
The 2015 version was a hacker who turned into a Reaper drone lookalike from Mass Effect.
And they all rung the changes because, I believe, there’s already a perfect cinematic Doctor Doom, and if you play him straight he’ll remind cinema audiences of someone else.
Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
So the new Fox standalone Doctor Doom movie, from Legion showrunner Noah Hawley, will have to figure out how to work around that. Because only Marvel themselves (owned by Disney) could really go to the source...
#RPGaDay 2017 7: What was your most impactful RPG session?
#RPGaDay 2017
7: What was your most impactful RPG session?
Probably the start of The Watch House season five because one player met her future husband when he joined the game. Their second child was born a day after this post.
7: What was your most impactful RPG session?
Probably the start of The Watch House season five because one player met her future husband when he joined the game. Their second child was born a day after this post.
Sunday, 6 August 2017
Paladin: Warriors of Charlemagne
Paladin: Warrios Of Charlemagne, from Nocturnal Media, on Kickstarter, an RPG of legendary chivalry adapted from Pendragon.
#RPGaDay 2017 6: You can game every day for a week...
#RPGaDay 2017
6: You can game every day for a week. Describe what you’d do!
I feel like this should have been question 7...
It depends who’s available to play or GM.
(Nearly got through a week without an “it depends” answer! Oh well.)
I actually did this in the spring sharing a cottage in the Highlands, and because the organiser had a bag full of one-shot indie games he never got to run we mostly played one-shot indie games.
If I organised such a retreat I would plan something like a mini-campaign in the evenings, much like my one-term-only campaigns covering as much story as a busy movie or a shortish trilogy, and see what else people would like to do in the afternoons.
Ah, but what would I run? That depends who’s there too.
6: You can game every day for a week. Describe what you’d do!
I feel like this should have been question 7...
It depends who’s available to play or GM.
(Nearly got through a week without an “it depends” answer! Oh well.)
I actually did this in the spring sharing a cottage in the Highlands, and because the organiser had a bag full of one-shot indie games he never got to run we mostly played one-shot indie games.
If I organised such a retreat I would plan something like a mini-campaign in the evenings, much like my one-term-only campaigns covering as much story as a busy movie or a shortish trilogy, and see what else people would like to do in the afternoons.
Ah, but what would I run? That depends who’s there too.
Saturday, 5 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 5: Aptest RPG cover
#RPGaDay 2017
5: Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game?
I think Vampire: The Masquerade has the most evocative cover art in my collection, but for “This is what you’ll be doing” it’s hard to beat Paul Bonner’s cover for Shadowrun Third Edition.
Because it’s a troll with a Mohican firing a massive gun as a human decker and what appears to be a Dwarf version of Baron Munchausen try not to fall off a chain on a collapsing platform in a dingy corporate facility. In my experience, Shadowrun is exactly like this.
As are most RPGs.
5: Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game?
I think Vampire: The Masquerade has the most evocative cover art in my collection, but for “This is what you’ll be doing” it’s hard to beat Paul Bonner’s cover for Shadowrun Third Edition.
Because it’s a troll with a Mohican firing a massive gun as a human decker and what appears to be a Dwarf version of Baron Munchausen try not to fall off a chain on a collapsing platform in a dingy corporate facility. In my experience, Shadowrun is exactly like this.
As are most RPGs.
Friday, 4 August 2017
Storytellers Vault
Storytellers Vault is on its way, having been discussed at World Of Darkness Berlin so I for one have had a while to think about it.
Maybe adventures because there were never very many of them. Maybe a book about the art world in the World Of Darkness because it would be a bit too niche for general publication. Maybe...
Maybe adventures because there were never very many of them. Maybe a book about the art world in the World Of Darkness because it would be a bit too niche for general publication. Maybe...
#RPGaDay 2017 4: Which RPG have you played most this year?
#RPGaDay 2017
4: Which RPG have you played the most since August 2016?
I’ve played five - D&D 5, Vampire: The Masquerade, FFG Star Wars, homebrew Star Wars and The Comics Code set in the world of Strikeforce: Morituri. I think The Comics Code wins for length as well as frequency of sessions.
I also ran d6 Star Wars for eight or so sessions, and had a Buffy game fizzle after four.
4: Which RPG have you played the most since August 2016?
I’ve played five - D&D 5, Vampire: The Masquerade, FFG Star Wars, homebrew Star Wars and The Comics Code set in the world of Strikeforce: Morituri. I think The Comics Code wins for length as well as frequency of sessions.
I also ran d6 Star Wars for eight or so sessions, and had a Buffy game fizzle after four.
Thursday, 3 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 3: How do you find out about new RPGs?
#RPGaDay 2017
3: How do you find out about new RPGs?
Mostly RPG.net. Word of mouth. Newsletters from go-to publishers like Pelgrane and Onyx Path. The RPG Kickstarter news groups on social media.
3: How do you find out about new RPGs?
Mostly RPG.net. Word of mouth. Newsletters from go-to publishers like Pelgrane and Onyx Path. The RPG Kickstarter news groups on social media.
Wednesday, 2 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 2: An RPG you would like to see published
#RPGaDay 2017
2: What is an RPG you would like to see published?
I will admit bias here and say the forthcoming games I’ve written for and playtested. :D And throw in the EVE RPG, which I was offered a chance to write on before it was cancelled.
But outside that...
Destiny. The background and lore seems like they would get more airtime here than in the game itself. And (assuming I liked the system) I would like to run it, more than other theoretical licensed games like Harry Potter or Mass Effect which I would also like to see for the good of the hobby.
And for a non-licensed answer, a Young Adult Dystopian SF game.
2: What is an RPG you would like to see published?
I will admit bias here and say the forthcoming games I’ve written for and playtested. :D And throw in the EVE RPG, which I was offered a chance to write on before it was cancelled.
But outside that...
Destiny. The background and lore seems like they would get more airtime here than in the game itself. And (assuming I liked the system) I would like to run it, more than other theoretical licensed games like Harry Potter or Mass Effect which I would also like to see for the good of the hobby.
And for a non-licensed answer, a Young Adult Dystopian SF game.
Tuesday, 1 August 2017
#RPGaDay 2017 1: What do you wish you were playing?
#RPGaDay 2017
1: What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, because I’ve almost always been on the GM’s side of the table. Of course, I sincerely doubt I’d be able to stop myself backseat directing.
Also of course, playing can also mean GMing. Buffy is a good choice here too. I’d like to give Leverage a go too.
1: What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, because I’ve almost always been on the GM’s side of the table. Of course, I sincerely doubt I’d be able to stop myself backseat directing.
Also of course, playing can also mean GMing. Buffy is a good choice here too. I’d like to give Leverage a go too.
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