0. RPG a Day 2018
1. What do you love about RPGs?
2. What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?
3. What gives a game “staying power”?
4. Most memorable NPC?
5. Favourite recurring NPC?
6. How can players make a world seem real?
7. How can a GM make the stakes important?
8. How can we get more people playing?
9. How has a game surprised you?
10. How has gaming changed you?
11. Wildest character name?
12. Wildest character concept?
13. Describe how your play has evolved.
14. Describe a failure that became amazing.
15. Describe a tricky RPG experience you enjoyed.
16. Describe your plans for your next game.
17. Describe the best compliment you’ve had gaming.
18. Art that inspires your game.
19. Music that enhances your game.
20. Which game mechanic inspires your play the most?
21: Which dice mechanic appeals to you?
22: Which non-dice system appeals to you?
23: Which game do you hope to play again?
24. Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?
25. Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months.
26. Gaming ambition for the next 12 months.
27. Share a great stream / actual play
28. Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you’re grateful for.
29. Share a friendship you have because of RPGs.
30. Share something you learned about playing your character.
31. Share why you take part in RPGaDAY.
31a. BONUS ROUND
RPG a Day 2017
RPG a Day 2016
RPG a Day 2015
RPG a Day 2014
Friday, 31 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: BONUS ROUND
RPG a Day 2018
ALTERNATE PROMPTS FOR 2018
Most memorable character retirement.
Jake in The Watch House becoming a vampire and a ghost, attempting to put his soul back in his body and accidentally unleashing the evil ancestor who founded his family’s psychic lineage and the ghost helping Milli slay the vampire. And then getting rescued from Hell a couple seasons later.
Most ambitious campaign idea achieved.
Inevitably TWH again after years of running games for a term or two, where I set it before the Watchers got nearly wiped out in Buffy and joked that we’d have to worry about that if we played for six years... and then we did.
Most innovative game of the last 12 months.
Harlem Unbound, for its in-depth treatment of its subject.
Share playing a “temporary” character.
Michael Byrne somehow survived Enlightenment In Blood despite everything from accidentally helping rob the Church of Caine to bumping into a Camarilla warlord while getting away, mostly through not being the most obvious threat in the area.
Narrowest escape?
The time we got hit by a fuel-air explosive in enemy territory in Shadowrun and everybody got knocked out, except I had one health box left and could therefore call for an extraction.
How do you prepare for a one-shot?
Character sheets, character info (try to keep it to one page) and standees, pictures of NPCs and scene ideas, a bullet point plot.
How do you prepare for an extended campaign?
Blank character sheets, a notebook, some more NPC and scene art, a plot hook for the first session and notes for more.
What’s your favourite character “hook”?
I often end up playing the down-to-earth one in the group, though far from always.
What makes you want to GM?
I just wanted to entertain...
What appeals to you about GM-less games?
Some interesting premises and ways to make them work.
ALTERNATE PROMPTS FOR 2018
Most memorable character retirement.
Jake in The Watch House becoming a vampire and a ghost, attempting to put his soul back in his body and accidentally unleashing the evil ancestor who founded his family’s psychic lineage and the ghost helping Milli slay the vampire. And then getting rescued from Hell a couple seasons later.
Most ambitious campaign idea achieved.
Inevitably TWH again after years of running games for a term or two, where I set it before the Watchers got nearly wiped out in Buffy and joked that we’d have to worry about that if we played for six years... and then we did.
Most innovative game of the last 12 months.
Harlem Unbound, for its in-depth treatment of its subject.
Share playing a “temporary” character.
Michael Byrne somehow survived Enlightenment In Blood despite everything from accidentally helping rob the Church of Caine to bumping into a Camarilla warlord while getting away, mostly through not being the most obvious threat in the area.
Narrowest escape?
The time we got hit by a fuel-air explosive in enemy territory in Shadowrun and everybody got knocked out, except I had one health box left and could therefore call for an extraction.
How do you prepare for a one-shot?
Character sheets, character info (try to keep it to one page) and standees, pictures of NPCs and scene ideas, a bullet point plot.
How do you prepare for an extended campaign?
Blank character sheets, a notebook, some more NPC and scene art, a plot hook for the first session and notes for more.
What’s your favourite character “hook”?
I often end up playing the down-to-earth one in the group, though far from always.
What makes you want to GM?
I just wanted to entertain...
What appeals to you about GM-less games?
Some interesting premises and ways to make them work.
RPG a Day 2018: 31. why you take part in RPGaDAY
RPG a Day 2018
31. Share why you take part in RPGaDAY.
This one’s pretty simple. I ramble on here pretty much daily, and try to keep it positive, so this gives me prompts to do that for a month. It’s fun seeing how other writers respond to it as well.
31. Share why you take part in RPGaDAY.
This one’s pretty simple. I ramble on here pretty much daily, and try to keep it positive, so this gives me prompts to do that for a month. It’s fun seeing how other writers respond to it as well.
Thursday, 30 August 2018
How not to make your monsters scary
Discovered through history Twitter: The Wenhaston Doom, a church panel painting on Judgment Day, where the demons doing the judging have big surprised teddy bear eyes, floppy ears, and basically look like the monsters from The Muppet Show. It predates teddy bears and Muppets by about 400 years but I’m pretty sure big eyes and floppy ears have been considered cute rather than scary for longer than that.
RPG a Day 2018: 30. something you learned playing
RPG a Day 2018
30. Share something you learned about playing your character.
Something I learned about how I play?
I’ll often wait and see what other players make first, although there are a few times I leap at playing X if I haven’t had a chance before.
Something I learned about by playing a specific character?
Bits and pieces of history, language and the like. For example, there was the time I helped to organise a Goya exhibition in-character in the World Of Darkness New Bremen chat.
30. Share something you learned about playing your character.
Something I learned about how I play?
I’ll often wait and see what other players make first, although there are a few times I leap at playing X if I haven’t had a chance before.
Something I learned about by playing a specific character?
Bits and pieces of history, language and the like. For example, there was the time I helped to organise a Goya exhibition in-character in the World Of Darkness New Bremen chat.
Star Wars Resistance cast
Star Wars Resistance featuring, among others, Bucket the Astromech who wears a pilot helmet.
Wednesday, 29 August 2018
Handbooker Helper
Handbooker Helper: brief introductory guides to specific D&D subjects, presented by the Critical Role crew. Episode one, Dice 101, is up now.
Wizards Artists detained
Three Magic: The Gathering artists flying from Europe to the US for a meeting were held at customs, detained overnight, and sent back.
io9's Gaming Shelf
Gaming Shelf, a roundup of tabletop gaming news at io9, this time including Dystopia Rising: Evolution.
RPG a Day 2018: 29. Share a friendship you have because of RPGs
RPG a Day 2018
29. Share a friendship you have because of RPGs.
It would be a lot faster sharing friendships I have that aren’t because of RPGs.
Seriously, it goes back to high school, and right around the world - literally, in my world trip I stayed with friends in Australia, New Zealand and the US, and at other times have stayed with friends from gaming in other parts of Scotland, England, Wales and Germany as well. I have online friends as well who I’ve never physically met who helped me through some rough and lonely times. There have been long rambling conversations, unwise dancing and hill climbing in the dark, and so much more.
29. Share a friendship you have because of RPGs.
It would be a lot faster sharing friendships I have that aren’t because of RPGs.
Seriously, it goes back to high school, and right around the world - literally, in my world trip I stayed with friends in Australia, New Zealand and the US, and at other times have stayed with friends from gaming in other parts of Scotland, England, Wales and Germany as well. I have online friends as well who I’ve never physically met who helped me through some rough and lonely times. There have been long rambling conversations, unwise dancing and hill climbing in the dark, and so much more.
Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Made it through the Festival(s) again
Saw Sirs Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson on Fighting Fantasy, and Alan Lee talking through his artistic process, and that was about it. Just spent the evening in town not getting flyers for anything and having a table to myself at my local.
RPG a Day 2018: 28. inspiring gaming
RPG a Day 2018
28. Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you’re grateful for.
Morgan Davie, first winner of the Banquo Award, founder of Taleturn and ORC (originally the Ottakar’s Roleplaying Club) and writer for Doctor Who, Icons, Mutants & Masterminds and more, and also runner of great games when he was here in Edinburgh, as well as before and after that, notably Providence Summer, a game about the year a group of kids had to grow up very fast.
28. Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you’re grateful for.
Morgan Davie, first winner of the Banquo Award, founder of Taleturn and ORC (originally the Ottakar’s Roleplaying Club) and writer for Doctor Who, Icons, Mutants & Masterminds and more, and also runner of great games when he was here in Edinburgh, as well as before and after that, notably Providence Summer, a game about the year a group of kids had to grow up very fast.
Monday, 27 August 2018
Cyberpunk 2077 game demo
Cyberpunk 2077 48-minute game demo is now online.
It’s come a long way from three black-and-white books and a couple of dice.
Content note: blood, nudity, swears. Like proper swears, not made-up game swears.
The camera’s a little floaty, particularly on stairs, but they note it’s a demo.
Favourite touch, the monks in amongst the street scenes, very Blade Runner. (By which I mean plenty of things about it are very Blade Runner but the monks are a nice inclusion.)
It’s come a long way from three black-and-white books and a couple of dice.
Content note: blood, nudity, swears. Like proper swears, not made-up game swears.
The camera’s a little floaty, particularly on stairs, but they note it’s a demo.
Favourite touch, the monks in amongst the street scenes, very Blade Runner. (By which I mean plenty of things about it are very Blade Runner but the monks are a nice inclusion.)
RPG a Day 2018: 27. Share a great stream / actual play
RPG a Day 2018
27. Share a great stream / actual play
Never Let Go for Vampire: The Requiem.
And I guess I could mention my Buffy game, eh?
27. Share a great stream / actual play
Never Let Go for Vampire: The Requiem.
And I guess I could mention my Buffy game, eh?
Sunday, 26 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 26. Gaming ambition for the next 12 months
RPG a Day 2018
26. Gaming ambition for the next 12 months.
Run something. Have a good Conpulsion and Nationals. Put something on Storytellers Vault. Hold the Trinity Continuum rulebook in these mortal hands.
26. Gaming ambition for the next 12 months.
Run something. Have a good Conpulsion and Nationals. Put something on Storytellers Vault. Hold the Trinity Continuum rulebook in these mortal hands.
Saturday, 25 August 2018
World Press Photo 2018
The World Press Photo award exhibition is, as ever, a mix of all things, from the most hopeful to the most horrific. My favourite this year is Earth Kiln by Li Huaifeng. (Content alert for the gallery as a whole, violence and nudity, right away if you click through past the page for this image.)
RPG a Day 2018: 25. impact in the last 12 months
RPG a Day 2018
25. Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months.
Trinity Continuum got Kickstarted!
A chance to play Beautiful Anomalies and see how it works with players coming to it cold, liking the effects they could take from their selection of cards.
25. Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months.
Trinity Continuum got Kickstarted!
A chance to play Beautiful Anomalies and see how it works with players coming to it cold, liking the effects they could take from their selection of cards.
Friday, 24 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 24. Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?
RPG a Day 2018
24. Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?
Historically, Ghostbusters is the starting point for dice pools as a common mechanic, with Star Wars following a year later and Shadowrun introducing target numbers per die two years after that. It was also a really nice design all round, in a box packed with good material, as well as running with the setting concept rather like The Real Ghostbusters animated series, unlike Ghostbusters II which shut the company down for the years between films.
As someone involved with the OP and WW arenas, I have to say Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition as well, especially now that Masquerade Fifth is out and showing some clear influence.
24. Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?
Historically, Ghostbusters is the starting point for dice pools as a common mechanic, with Star Wars following a year later and Shadowrun introducing target numbers per die two years after that. It was also a really nice design all round, in a box packed with good material, as well as running with the setting concept rather like The Real Ghostbusters animated series, unlike Ghostbusters II which shut the company down for the years between films.
As someone involved with the OP and WW arenas, I have to say Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition as well, especially now that Masquerade Fifth is out and showing some clear influence.
Thursday, 23 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 23. Game you hope to play again?
RPG a Day 2018
23. Which game do you hope to play again?
It tends to be games I run.
Vampire: The Requiem. It would be nice to get more than one session per edition as a player.
D6 Star Wars.
Doctor Who and/or Beautiful Anomalies.
And, yes, Buffy. I got to play an Angel game for a few weeks once.
I’d also like to do another big immersive LARP like Enlightenment In Blood sometime, though those very much depend on theme and practical availability.
23. Which game do you hope to play again?
It tends to be games I run.
Vampire: The Requiem. It would be nice to get more than one session per edition as a player.
D6 Star Wars.
Doctor Who and/or Beautiful Anomalies.
And, yes, Buffy. I got to play an Angel game for a few weeks once.
I’d also like to do another big immersive LARP like Enlightenment In Blood sometime, though those very much depend on theme and practical availability.
Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Dystopia Rising: Evolution
Onyx Path’s Storypath RPG for the Dystopia Rising post-apocalypse game series is now Kickstarting.
RPG a Day 2018: 22. Non-dice systems?
RPG a Day 2018
22. Which non-dice system appeals to you?
Card systems, such as the SAGA system used for Marvel and Dragonlance Fifth Age where your hand of cards is effectively a certain number of “rolls” and you can decide which to use, with the addition of other features on the card such as suits where a match gives you a bonus, and text which can be brought in as well, and you take damage by losing cards of a value up to the number of the effect. New systems like Beautiful Anomalies use cards for other effects as well as their value too.
22. Which non-dice system appeals to you?
Card systems, such as the SAGA system used for Marvel and Dragonlance Fifth Age where your hand of cards is effectively a certain number of “rolls” and you can decide which to use, with the addition of other features on the card such as suits where a match gives you a bonus, and text which can be brought in as well, and you take damage by losing cards of a value up to the number of the effect. New systems like Beautiful Anomalies use cards for other effects as well as their value too.
Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Happy anniversary Chronicles Of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem!
First launched fourteen years ago tonight.
(And twentieth anniversary of the US opening of Blade. And thirty-seventh of An American Werewolf In London.)
(And twentieth anniversary of the US opening of Blade. And thirty-seventh of An American Werewolf In London.)
RPG a Day 2018: 21. dice mechanic?
RPG a Day 2018
21. Which dice mechanic appeals to you?
More than one die. I started with a 2D6 bell curve in Fighting Fantasy, and moved on to dice pools as soon as they became a common design feature. I’m a lot happier with D&D 5th Edition than previous versions because you can choose when to use Advantage to roll 2D20 and use the best (and the DM can reverse that with Disadvantage) in a nice simple not-relying-on-one-die system. If I were less lazy I’d probably switch Buffy to 2D6.
21. Which dice mechanic appeals to you?
More than one die. I started with a 2D6 bell curve in Fighting Fantasy, and moved on to dice pools as soon as they became a common design feature. I’m a lot happier with D&D 5th Edition than previous versions because you can choose when to use Advantage to roll 2D20 and use the best (and the DM can reverse that with Disadvantage) in a nice simple not-relying-on-one-die system. If I were less lazy I’d probably switch Buffy to 2D6.
Monday, 20 August 2018
Nationals 2019
Glasgow, April 12th to 14th, theme of SCIENCE. A week after the provisional date for Conpulsion. (And a week before the backup provisional date.)
She-Ra & Tieflings
While starting work on the new She-Ra, showrunner Noelle Stevenson started playing a D&D game run by Star vs. The Forces Of Evil designer Molly Knox Ostertag, and her character inspired one of the new supporting cast.
RPG a Day 2018: 20. inspiring game mechanic
RPG a Day 2018
20. Which game mechanic inspires your play the most?
I generally tend to prefer rules that fade into the background, but I like them to have some interesting effects here and there. What those are vary from game to game, from the Drama Points in Buffy to the initiative ordered by who’s doing what (so Fighting is always last) in C7’s Doctor Who.
If I were to pick one thing I generally like, it’s an option to bump something up to a success before or after rolling when you really want to succeed. It shows what really matters to the players.
20. Which game mechanic inspires your play the most?
I generally tend to prefer rules that fade into the background, but I like them to have some interesting effects here and there. What those are vary from game to game, from the Drama Points in Buffy to the initiative ordered by who’s doing what (so Fighting is always last) in C7’s Doctor Who.
If I were to pick one thing I generally like, it’s an option to bump something up to a success before or after rolling when you really want to succeed. It shows what really matters to the players.
Sunday, 19 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 19. Music that enhances your game
RPG a Day 2018
19. Music that enhances your game.
I mentioned music as a source of inspiration along with other artforms yesterday, notably lyrics more than tunes in the case of the Episodes Based On Song Titles posts - really a way of getting a list of short evocative phrases to take ideas from, with or without connections to the music or lyrics.
I hardly ever use music at the table, as I’m often running games in public and I’m too quiet already.
I will sometimes play one theme track, that’s about it. I may mention specific tracks, perhaps link to them in emails, so players can listen as and when they choose. Even when not playing in public I tend not to do more.
If I have time I’ll edit together a title sequence or teaser trailer cut to the theme tune. When I do they’re usually pretty short, both for ease of finding material and editing together and for playing them in-session without taking up much time.
More often I use music as inspiration or play it to myself when I’m preparing a game. My playlist for one game will be pretty different to that for another - soundtracks for Star Wars or Star Trek, punky uptempo and a few sad ballads for Buffy, thunderously gloomy for Vampire: The Masquerade and more wistful for Vampire: The Requiem...
(The soundtrack for The Watch House was only mostly Britpop.)
Scores that aren’t from anything I know well can help here, as they evoke a mood rather than a specific moment. Video games produce a lot - Excerpt From The Ecstasy from Destiny would make a great Star Trek theme. Likewise, there are companies dedicated to making trailer music - the 2009 Star Trek trailer featured one. And listening to the same composers can help too - the John Williams score for the 1979 Dracula provides a perfect Star Wars villain theme... called To Scarborough.
19. Music that enhances your game.
I mentioned music as a source of inspiration along with other artforms yesterday, notably lyrics more than tunes in the case of the Episodes Based On Song Titles posts - really a way of getting a list of short evocative phrases to take ideas from, with or without connections to the music or lyrics.
I hardly ever use music at the table, as I’m often running games in public and I’m too quiet already.
I will sometimes play one theme track, that’s about it. I may mention specific tracks, perhaps link to them in emails, so players can listen as and when they choose. Even when not playing in public I tend not to do more.
If I have time I’ll edit together a title sequence or teaser trailer cut to the theme tune. When I do they’re usually pretty short, both for ease of finding material and editing together and for playing them in-session without taking up much time.
More often I use music as inspiration or play it to myself when I’m preparing a game. My playlist for one game will be pretty different to that for another - soundtracks for Star Wars or Star Trek, punky uptempo and a few sad ballads for Buffy, thunderously gloomy for Vampire: The Masquerade and more wistful for Vampire: The Requiem...
(The soundtrack for The Watch House was only mostly Britpop.)
Scores that aren’t from anything I know well can help here, as they evoke a mood rather than a specific moment. Video games produce a lot - Excerpt From The Ecstasy from Destiny would make a great Star Trek theme. Likewise, there are companies dedicated to making trailer music - the 2009 Star Trek trailer featured one. And listening to the same composers can help too - the John Williams score for the 1979 Dracula provides a perfect Star Wars villain theme... called To Scarborough.
Saturday, 18 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 18. Art that inspires your game
RPG a Day 2018
18. Art that inspires your game.
I look at a lot, from visual art in the games, “this is cool” art threads on general and game-specific forums and social media, official art books, comics, and the like. Sometimes I’ll get an idea for a scene or character from something in a gallery as well.
But also music, as demonstrated by the various Episodes Based On Song Titles threads on RPG.net, as well as more directly narrative inspirations like books, movies, TV, video games, streaming game sessions...
For some specific examples:
I’ve swiped a bunch of Buffy monsters from the SyFy Channel makeup challenge show Face Off, as well as sites for effects and mask companies like The Scream Team whose designs have a suitably Buffyish look. Others have ended up in Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and other games.
On the subject of Doctor Who, I once spun up an adventure about wolves made of ice after seeing an ice sculpture awards gallery, a few years before The Snowmen.
I’ve run superhero games based on grabbing character ideas from artists like Storn Cook and David Bednarski.
One of these days I’ll run a Warhammer game based on Bruegel’s The Triumph Of Death. (And I’m tempted to buy the miniatures army that a designer based on it!)
And a particularly odd one: I lifted the character from the I Am A Crisis Red Cross fundraising advert for my first V20 game. It wasn’t even about giving blood.
18. Art that inspires your game.
I look at a lot, from visual art in the games, “this is cool” art threads on general and game-specific forums and social media, official art books, comics, and the like. Sometimes I’ll get an idea for a scene or character from something in a gallery as well.
But also music, as demonstrated by the various Episodes Based On Song Titles threads on RPG.net, as well as more directly narrative inspirations like books, movies, TV, video games, streaming game sessions...
For some specific examples:
I’ve swiped a bunch of Buffy monsters from the SyFy Channel makeup challenge show Face Off, as well as sites for effects and mask companies like The Scream Team whose designs have a suitably Buffyish look. Others have ended up in Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and other games.
On the subject of Doctor Who, I once spun up an adventure about wolves made of ice after seeing an ice sculpture awards gallery, a few years before The Snowmen.
I’ve run superhero games based on grabbing character ideas from artists like Storn Cook and David Bednarski.
One of these days I’ll run a Warhammer game based on Bruegel’s The Triumph Of Death. (And I’m tempted to buy the miniatures army that a designer based on it!)
And a particularly odd one: I lifted the character from the I Am A Crisis Red Cross fundraising advert for my first V20 game. It wasn’t even about giving blood.
Friday, 17 August 2018
Star Wars Resistance
The first trailer and main character details for Star Wars Resistance, the new animated series about a pilot and spy in the run-up to The Force Awakens.
RPG a Day 2018: 17. the best compliment you’ve had gaming
RPG a Day 2018
17. Describe the best compliment you’ve had gaming.
Having new players brought to my table at the games society. That shows a lot of trust.
Meeting someone at a convention who knew my name from The Watch House was pretty cool too.
17. Describe the best compliment you’ve had gaming.
Having new players brought to my table at the games society. That shows a lot of trust.
Meeting someone at a convention who knew my name from The Watch House was pretty cool too.
Thursday, 16 August 2018
Happy 60th birthday, Madonna
First famous for Like A Virgin, she completed the triple as the Crone in the Chris Cunningham video for Frozen.
Buffy at Dark Horse Comics, 1998-2018
Joss Whedon confirms that the four-issue mini-season The Reckoning is the final Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic from Dark Horse, with Fox taking it in-house after twenty years with DH. They also took Firefly to BOOM! Studios. This is also why he has a new Dr. Horrible miniseries at DH soon.
RPG a Day 2018: 16. plans for your next game.
RPG a Day 2018
16. Describe your plans for your next game.
We’re getting close to the start of the academic year, so probably time to get the notebooks in order.
Likely candidates:
Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition. I’d like to try it, but it really depends if my Vampire-liking friends want to give it a go, and if the book arrives at my FLGS in time. Probably set in a major city that has been hit by the upheavals in the setting. (Probably not LA as I would be tempted to steal from the Geek & Sundry game run by Jason Carl, and there’s a danger I’d get players who also watched it. Maybe go back to my first non-canon city, St. Louis?)
Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition. Because No Man’s Land was hit by the common problems of trying to game over summer, give it another shot. If not, expect certain unused background elements to drift to V5...
Star Wars D6. Because there’s reliable demand. But which era? I dunno...
Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Because I am me. And with a new series in early development, there might be something different about the universe this time next year.
Icons. (Maybe.) For WWII superheroes. (Maybe.)
16. Describe your plans for your next game.
We’re getting close to the start of the academic year, so probably time to get the notebooks in order.
Likely candidates:
Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition. I’d like to try it, but it really depends if my Vampire-liking friends want to give it a go, and if the book arrives at my FLGS in time. Probably set in a major city that has been hit by the upheavals in the setting. (Probably not LA as I would be tempted to steal from the Geek & Sundry game run by Jason Carl, and there’s a danger I’d get players who also watched it. Maybe go back to my first non-canon city, St. Louis?)
Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition. Because No Man’s Land was hit by the common problems of trying to game over summer, give it another shot. If not, expect certain unused background elements to drift to V5...
Star Wars D6. Because there’s reliable demand. But which era? I dunno...
Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Because I am me. And with a new series in early development, there might be something different about the universe this time next year.
Icons. (Maybe.) For WWII superheroes. (Maybe.)
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Language!
After all the times I made sure the language in the APs for The Watch House was PG-friendly, I started watching the first episode of a Buffy AP streaming game and the Slayer’s fourth word in character was an F-bomb. Which I was fine with in the Chronicles Of Darkness stream from the same people I watched first, but not in a Buffy game. Is that totally weird of me? The use of language, in and out of character, can really affect how a game feels.
The Return Of Un-Shirtless Conan
I just discovered that Oxford University Press adapted a second Conan story for their educational series Dominoes, The Jewels of Gwahlur, complete with an audio version!
RPG a Day 2018: 15. a tricky experience you enjoyed
RPG a Day 2018
15. Describe a tricky RPG experience you enjoyed.
Well, there was the time I ran a Buffy game at Conpulsion with the series cast as PCs, and the role of Giles, the Watcher, was taken by one of the guests, game writer Phil Masters, who I’ve been reading work by since I was eleven - and who literally wrote the book about Watchers for the game line. As you can perhaps imagine that gave me some stage fright, which he was very nice about.
Well, there was the time I ran a Buffy game at Conpulsion with the series cast as PCs, and the role of Giles, the Watcher, was taken by one of the guests, game writer Phil Masters, who I’ve been reading work by since I was eleven - and who literally wrote the book about Watchers for the game line. As you can perhaps imagine that gave me some stage fright, which he was very nice about.
Tuesday, 14 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 14. Describe a failure that became amazing
RPG a Day 2018
14. Describe a failure that became amazing.
A game I never got players for, that became the basis for a novel. (Which I should finish.)
A game I never got players for, that became the basis for a novel. (Which I should finish.)
Monday, 13 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 13. How your play has evolved
RPG a Day 2018
13. Describe how your play has evolved.
Hopefully it’s changed quite a bit in the previous decades... but I’ve always leaned towards genre emulation, and of late I’ve pushed that further in mechanical and meta ways.
I’ve also adjusted regular game features like the average amount of combat per session - notably the time I ran Buffy in the afternoon and V20 in the evening and threw pretty much all the combat into the Buffy game.
Having gone totally kitchen-sink with Buffy for six years, I now tend to alternate between games with similarly high Weird Levels and ones with much lower ones, like Buffy and V20 again. I often end up saving ideas that won’t fit one for the other - after a year running a military SF game about facing one alien culture, I had half a dozen ideas for adventures too weird for it that went into my plans for a Star Trek game.
Hopefully it’s changed quite a bit in the previous decades... but I’ve always leaned towards genre emulation, and of late I’ve pushed that further in mechanical and meta ways.
I’ve also adjusted regular game features like the average amount of combat per session - notably the time I ran Buffy in the afternoon and V20 in the evening and threw pretty much all the combat into the Buffy game.
Having gone totally kitchen-sink with Buffy for six years, I now tend to alternate between games with similarly high Weird Levels and ones with much lower ones, like Buffy and V20 again. I often end up saving ideas that won’t fit one for the other - after a year running a military SF game about facing one alien culture, I had half a dozen ideas for adventures too weird for it that went into my plans for a Star Trek game.
Sunday, 12 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 12. Wildest character concept?
RPG a Day 2018
12. Wildest character concept?
Hmm. Most superhero games (and close enough like Buffy) encourage these, so from outside those...
A high-level Cyberpunk 2020 series about a corporate troubleshooting team. Two players loaded fairly normal characters with a lot of tech. One went with an artificially created psychic...
And I worked back from the limitations of skillsofts, biochips for plugging in recorded skills, which can only go so high because the sense memory doesn’t match your body’s - so I made a character who could slot in world-class skills because she was secretly one of a family of highly trained specialist clones. And sometimes she’d just send the most appropriate sister for a mission.
I went further with this idea in a Marvel game with a character who could uplink to various specialised bodies, but as noted, that’s superhero gaming for you.
12. Wildest character concept?
Hmm. Most superhero games (and close enough like Buffy) encourage these, so from outside those...
A high-level Cyberpunk 2020 series about a corporate troubleshooting team. Two players loaded fairly normal characters with a lot of tech. One went with an artificially created psychic...
And I worked back from the limitations of skillsofts, biochips for plugging in recorded skills, which can only go so high because the sense memory doesn’t match your body’s - so I made a character who could slot in world-class skills because she was secretly one of a family of highly trained specialist clones. And sometimes she’d just send the most appropriate sister for a mission.
I went further with this idea in a Marvel game with a character who could uplink to various specialised bodies, but as noted, that’s superhero gaming for you.
Saturday, 11 August 2018
You are being watched, Wally
The government has a secret system - a machine - that spies on Wally every hour of every day.
RPG a Day 2018: 11. Wildest character name?
RPG a Day 2018
11. Wildest character name?
Since I already mentioned Ronan Honigsman, Clenched Jaw Of The North, Sounder Of Mjolnir’s Thunder, Modi Of The Get Of Fenris And Warder Of The Sept Of Warriors’ Blood...
Another that stands out was Protocol Skull, a Cyberpunk 2020 Solo who more-or-less recovered from a fatal gunshot wound to the head but had some issues with her memory and vocabulary, taking her new name from the first words she remembered.
Since I already mentioned Ronan Honigsman, Clenched Jaw Of The North, Sounder Of Mjolnir’s Thunder, Modi Of The Get Of Fenris And Warder Of The Sept Of Warriors’ Blood...
Another that stands out was Protocol Skull, a Cyberpunk 2020 Solo who more-or-less recovered from a fatal gunshot wound to the head but had some issues with her memory and vocabulary, taking her new name from the first words she remembered.
Friday, 10 August 2018
Ghostwatch
Ghostwatch and the real stories it drew from, by documentarian Adam Curtis.
Thanks to Stephen Collins for the link.
I was there that night, Hallowe’en 1992, and I’d read the Radio Times in advance and saw the Screen One ident so I knew what was up, and could only watch it purely as drama. I like to think I would have twigged before the end.
(I also borrowed some footage from it for one of my planned Doctor Who PBP episodes, based on the unmade Mark Gatiss script about the Doctor landing in a live haunting broadcast. Naturally I ended the trailer with an ominous Please Stand By card.)
Thanks to Stephen Collins for the link.
I was there that night, Hallowe’en 1992, and I’d read the Radio Times in advance and saw the Screen One ident so I knew what was up, and could only watch it purely as drama. I like to think I would have twigged before the end.
(I also borrowed some footage from it for one of my planned Doctor Who PBP episodes, based on the unmade Mark Gatiss script about the Doctor landing in a live haunting broadcast. Naturally I ended the trailer with an ominous Please Stand By card.)
RPG a Day 2018: 10. How has gaming changed you?
RPG a Day 2018
10. How has gaming changed you?
I’ve grown up and lived with gaming for roughly three-quarters of my life, from age about eleven to forty-four and counting, so... probably quite a lot, really.
It’s affected my social life, my professional life, likely helped with public speaking, and definitely boosted my vocabulary of obscure words.
I’ve grown up and lived with gaming for roughly three-quarters of my life, from age about eleven to forty-four and counting, so... probably quite a lot, really.
It’s affected my social life, my professional life, likely helped with public speaking, and definitely boosted my vocabulary of obscure words.
Thursday, 9 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 9. How has a game surprised you?
RPG a Day 2018
9. How has a game surprised you?
Usually it’s when a player grabs a session and pulls it in a totally new direction.
The classic example in The Watch House was, of course, the time I was about to reveal that Natalie’s too-good-to-be-true new potential boyfriend was a villain, but Matthew’s player had him jump way further with the too-good-to-be-true part and make him magically appear as CAPTAIN RUGGED.
More recently, a planned Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition session was paused for a week as Marcie the Malkavian was revealed to have diaberlised her sire - when her player had him take over her body...
And sometimes it’s when I haven’t quite figured out the rules, and oh, that monster just took over half a PC’s hit points in a single hit. But it’s been a while since that happened.
Usually it’s when a player grabs a session and pulls it in a totally new direction.
The classic example in The Watch House was, of course, the time I was about to reveal that Natalie’s too-good-to-be-true new potential boyfriend was a villain, but Matthew’s player had him jump way further with the too-good-to-be-true part and make him magically appear as CAPTAIN RUGGED.
More recently, a planned Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition session was paused for a week as Marcie the Malkavian was revealed to have diaberlised her sire - when her player had him take over her body...
And sometimes it’s when I haven’t quite figured out the rules, and oh, that monster just took over half a PC’s hit points in a single hit. But it’s been a while since that happened.
Wednesday, 8 August 2018
The 100 Season Five
After I was surprised The 100 came back last year, it’s already been confirmed it’ll be back next year, otherwise I’d be surprised again. It has quite a knack for smashing its setting. May we meet again.
RPG a Day 2018: 8. How can we get more people playing?
RPG a Day 2018
8. How can we get more people playing?
Plugging away at it. Appearing in geeky media like different games on Geek & Sundry helps, as does appearing in mainstream media. Being inclusive, and trying to be more inclusive. Showing the array of games available.
8. How can we get more people playing?
Plugging away at it. Appearing in geeky media like different games on Geek & Sundry helps, as does appearing in mainstream media. Being inclusive, and trying to be more inclusive. Showing the array of games available.
Tuesday, 7 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 7. How can a GM make the stakes important?
RPG a Day 2018
7. How can a GM make the stakes important?
I run a lot of games where death and serious harm are off the table, and action is an excuse for the players to show off. PC death isn’t generally very interesting to me.
But in those cases I may put in emotional stakes instead, going dramatic (or soapy) with it.
Bought and paid for NPCs like contacts will generally be reliable and safe, but other social and romantic connections might get strained more easily. (This comes through in the Buffy RPG reflecting the show, where combat Qualities and social Drawbacks mean a lot of characters are good in a fight and bad in a relationship.)
Emotional stakes are one example of personalising them as well. I’m not going to actually blow up the planet the game is set on, but I might blow up the PCs’ houses.
Every now and then I will run a game where death and other effects are on the table, but it doesn’t usually go that well. I’ll still tend to pull my punches.
I run a lot of games where death and serious harm are off the table, and action is an excuse for the players to show off. PC death isn’t generally very interesting to me.
But in those cases I may put in emotional stakes instead, going dramatic (or soapy) with it.
Bought and paid for NPCs like contacts will generally be reliable and safe, but other social and romantic connections might get strained more easily. (This comes through in the Buffy RPG reflecting the show, where combat Qualities and social Drawbacks mean a lot of characters are good in a fight and bad in a relationship.)
Emotional stakes are one example of personalising them as well. I’m not going to actually blow up the planet the game is set on, but I might blow up the PCs’ houses.
Every now and then I will run a game where death and other effects are on the table, but it doesn’t usually go that well. I’ll still tend to pull my punches.
Monday, 6 August 2018
RPG a Day 2018: 6. Making a world seem real?
RPG a Day 2018
6. How can players make a world seem real?
This is usually up to the GM first and foremost, but players can contribute a great deal. They describe what their characters do as well as choosing what they say, and create their backgrounds, and can in many games add details pertinent to them, like what their homes and possessions and connected NPCs such as contacts are like. They can bring more in, such as visuals (miniatures, art and so on) and more details like background and bluebooking between sessions.
This is usually up to the GM first and foremost, but players can contribute a great deal. They describe what their characters do as well as choosing what they say, and create their backgrounds, and can in many games add details pertinent to them, like what their homes and possessions and connected NPCs such as contacts are like. They can bring more in, such as visuals (miniatures, art and so on) and more details like background and bluebooking between sessions.
Sunday, 5 August 2018
Ant-Man And The Wasp
Ant-Man And The Wasp finally reached cinemas here, and I just saw it (thanks Rick!) and like the first Ant-Man it includes lots of clever uses of miniaturisation and, er, embiggening.
RPG a Day 2018: 5. Favourite recurring NPC?
RPG a Day 2018
5. Favourite recurring NPC?
For a specific recurring NPC... Escher, the Watch tutor in The Watch House, letting me be wise and use big words and occasionally show other sides.
5. Favourite recurring NPC?
For a specific recurring NPC... Escher, the Watch tutor in The Watch House, letting me be wise and use big words and occasionally show other sides.
Or Victoria, the catty vampire who stuck around long enough to be love-to-hate for some just-plain-hate for others.
Or maybe Sullivan, the demonic information broker, letting me be snide.
Or Marty, the future Ethan Rayne to Milli’s Giles. (Without so much hanging out.)
For a recurring type of NPC... near-silent scary people (who I keep near-silent rather than rambling like I do normally) or sages who know more about what’s going on but are a bit suspect or creepy.
Or maybe Sullivan, the demonic information broker, letting me be snide.
Or Marty, the future Ethan Rayne to Milli’s Giles. (Without so much hanging out.)
For a recurring type of NPC... near-silent scary people (who I keep near-silent rather than rambling like I do normally) or sages who know more about what’s going on but are a bit suspect or creepy.
Saturday, 4 August 2018
The Enemy Within for WFRP IV
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fourth edition news from Gen Con:
The Enemy Within Director’s Cut will be 800 pages long, 5 books, extensively rewritten and E.T.A. “soon”.
That’s a lot of within with plenty of room for enemies.
I ran The Enemy Within as it came out, in high school, with the White Dwarf adventures and others in between books. The players eventually got stumped by Power Behind The Throne and I lacked the wherewithal to bring in an extra lead so it ran out of steam. A shame, as it would have been nice to finish that adventure and the original main plot.
Edit: Graeme Davis linked to this article discussing the news. The new version of Power is to be followed by The Horned Rat...
The Enemy Within Director’s Cut will be 800 pages long, 5 books, extensively rewritten and E.T.A. “soon”.
That’s a lot of within with plenty of room for enemies.
I ran The Enemy Within as it came out, in high school, with the White Dwarf adventures and others in between books. The players eventually got stumped by Power Behind The Throne and I lacked the wherewithal to bring in an extra lead so it ran out of steam. A shame, as it would have been nice to finish that adventure and the original main plot.
Edit: Graeme Davis linked to this article discussing the news. The new version of Power is to be followed by The Horned Rat...
RPG a Day 2018: 4. Most memorable NPC?
RPG a Day 2018
4. Most memorable NPC?
Victoria Valdemar, flapper daughter of a Watcher turned vampire in The Watch House, because she provoked strong varying emotions, with the seething hate from Milli fuelled by a hint of attraction from Jake - expert trouble fuel by their players. It also helped that I realised that I’d phrased an apocalyptic prophecy so that it could apply to either Milli or Victoria. (“The Watchers’ Daughter will fall and rise, and hold the fate of the world in her hands.”) And then as part of the fallout of season four (when she sired Jake) I had her come back with a soul...
As a player, one of the local elders in a Werewolf: The Apocalypse game:
Ronan Honigsman, Clenched Jaw Of The North, Sounder Of Mjolnir’s Thunder, Modi Of The Get Of Fenris And Warder Of The Sept Of Warriors’ Blood.
(... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.)
4. Most memorable NPC?
Victoria Valdemar, flapper daughter of a Watcher turned vampire in The Watch House, because she provoked strong varying emotions, with the seething hate from Milli fuelled by a hint of attraction from Jake - expert trouble fuel by their players. It also helped that I realised that I’d phrased an apocalyptic prophecy so that it could apply to either Milli or Victoria. (“The Watchers’ Daughter will fall and rise, and hold the fate of the world in her hands.”) And then as part of the fallout of season four (when she sired Jake) I had her come back with a soul...
As a player, one of the local elders in a Werewolf: The Apocalypse game:
Ronan Honigsman, Clenched Jaw Of The North, Sounder Of Mjolnir’s Thunder, Modi Of The Get Of Fenris And Warder Of The Sept Of Warriors’ Blood.
(... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.)
Friday, 3 August 2018
Changeling: Waking Dreams
Waking Dreams is a Changeling: The Dreaming blockbuster LARP by way of weekend music and art festival, from Dziobak, in Atlantic City in April.
Edit two years later: Wayback
Edit two years later: Wayback
Vampire: The Masquerade - Heritage
Vampire: The Masquerade - Heritage is a multi-session legacy board game of vampires influencing history from 1306 to 1990.
Even if I never play, the sample art makes it look like a good source of character illustrations.
Even if I never play, the sample art makes it look like a good source of character illustrations.
RPG a Day 2018: 3. What gives a game “staying power”?
RPG a Day 2018
3. What gives a game “staying power”?
A broad and/or deep setting, with lots of things that PCs can do and lots of things that the GM can throw at them. My Buffy The Vampire Slayer game The Watch House is easily the longest series I’ve ever run partially through group enthusiasm but on my end it definitely helped that the setting let me drop all kinds of nonsense onto them. Being able to shake it up regularly, including an annual-ish season setup, helped to keep it fresh too.
(This is a similar answer to the 2016 challenge question What makes a successful campaign? - if anything it fits better here. See also long-term (superhero) campaign advice.)
On the player end, it helps to have more stuff to pick up and use for their characters, and chances to use it, although I’m often overwhelmed by too many options. I’ve only run out of interesting new toys in a few long-running games.
(Edit: one of the stars of TWH is doing this too, and namedropped me today.)
3. What gives a game “staying power”?
A broad and/or deep setting, with lots of things that PCs can do and lots of things that the GM can throw at them. My Buffy The Vampire Slayer game The Watch House is easily the longest series I’ve ever run partially through group enthusiasm but on my end it definitely helped that the setting let me drop all kinds of nonsense onto them. Being able to shake it up regularly, including an annual-ish season setup, helped to keep it fresh too.
(This is a similar answer to the 2016 challenge question What makes a successful campaign? - if anything it fits better here. See also long-term (superhero) campaign advice.)
On the player end, it helps to have more stuff to pick up and use for their characters, and chances to use it, although I’m often overwhelmed by too many options. I’ve only run out of interesting new toys in a few long-running games.
(Edit: one of the stars of TWH is doing this too, and namedropped me today.)
Thursday, 2 August 2018
Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition
Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition is out in PDF and physically to Gen Con and some backers. The PDF comes in at 430 pages, including content warning and game safety advice. After the credits and content warning, it starts with an in-character setting chapter (which features the only hint of the old green marble in the book) before moving on to the Camarilla/Anarch setup and its clans.
After the intro section it’s mostly black text on white, with a few pages of white on black or an illustrated background.
A call back to the letter from Dracula. Beckett. Big and small Bloodlines references. A suspicious web address.
A new Tremere weakness again. (The new system means variations for everybody, notably going easier on the Gangrel and Ventrue, but for the Tremere it’s a change rather than just a new edition translation.)
Rules start on page 115. (Not counting clan-specific stuff.)
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Discipline logos!
The Church Of Caine is in there, though just in two passing mentions.
Memoriam, the flashback system gets about four pages.
Mention of a book on how to use the teaching of Golconda to be a better predator, and I’ll be suspicious of any player who wants to try it because it’s called the One True Way.
A chapter on cities, including a section on graffiti, is just one of the sections that might feel more familiar to Requiem fans.
25 Loresheets.
After the intro section it’s mostly black text on white, with a few pages of white on black or an illustrated background.
A call back to the letter from Dracula. Beckett. Big and small Bloodlines references. A suspicious web address.
A new Tremere weakness again. (The new system means variations for everybody, notably going easier on the Gangrel and Ventrue, but for the Tremere it’s a change rather than just a new edition translation.)
Rules start on page 115. (Not counting clan-specific stuff.)
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Discipline logos!
The Church Of Caine is in there, though just in two passing mentions.
Memoriam, the flashback system gets about four pages.
Mention of a book on how to use the teaching of Golconda to be a better predator, and I’ll be suspicious of any player who wants to try it because it’s called the One True Way.
A chapter on cities, including a section on graffiti, is just one of the sections that might feel more familiar to Requiem fans.
25 Loresheets.
The Diana Jones Award 2018
The Diana Jones Award 2018 goes to the Actual Play movement.
That means modern AP streams and podcasts and stuff, but still I presume I’m allowed to touch the award for three seconds as long as I write about it at length afterwards.
That means modern AP streams and podcasts and stuff, but still I presume I’m allowed to touch the award for three seconds as long as I write about it at length afterwards.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the sixth in the film series, and the first with a returning director, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie coming back after the previous Rogue Nation. This picks up from there, though the introductory briefing and some allusions are probably all the catchup you’d need going in fresh. There’s actually a lot of linkage to Mission: Impossible III, as well as a small callback to the first in the run.
And it takes a classic moment from the original series, something the films don’t actually do much apart from the theme music and the super-masks.
Despite being two and a half hours long, it’s in such a hurry that the studio intro cards are sped up.
And the trailer cut is a misdirection... and there are quite a few in the film as well, aimed at the audience as well as various in-character targets.
And it takes a classic moment from the original series, something the films don’t actually do much apart from the theme music and the super-masks.
Despite being two and a half hours long, it’s in such a hurry that the studio intro cards are sped up.
And the trailer cut is a misdirection... and there are quite a few in the film as well, aimed at the audience as well as various in-character targets.
RPG a Day 2018: 2. What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?
RPG a Day 2018
2. What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?
What it does that another RPG doesn’t. This may include “give me something to read right now” but in wider terms I will generally look at the art early, then the setting material and then the rules later on. Who is behind it is often a factor as well.
2. What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?
What it does that another RPG doesn’t. This may include “give me something to read right now” but in wider terms I will generally look at the art early, then the setting material and then the rules later on. Who is behind it is often a factor as well.
Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Chicago By Night for V5
Chicago By Night for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, coming via Onyx Path.
RPG a Day 2018: 1. What do you love about RPGs?
RPG a Day 2018
1. What do you love about RPGs?
The freedom to jump in and affect the narrative then and there.
The chance to play at trying things I would probably never get to do.
Responsive feedback from people who are right there.
Hanging out with friends.
Pirates.
1. What do you love about RPGs?
The freedom to jump in and affect the narrative then and there.
The chance to play at trying things I would probably never get to do.
Responsive feedback from people who are right there.
Hanging out with friends.
Pirates.
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