RPGaDay2023 12) Old game you STILL play

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12) Old game you STILL play

2014 answer to Old RPG You Still Play / Read: (optionally a slight hack of) West End Games’ first edition Star Wars.

And now... (optionally a slight hack of) West End Games’ first edition Star Wars.

Gimme some D6s.

One word prompt

12) STILL

Photography has a great power for truth - and untruth as well. And that’s before you get to things like haunted cameras, beings who are invisible to the eye but not the camera and vice versa...

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

Hip-Hop at 50

DJ Kool Herc MCed the first known hiphop improvisation on August 11th, 1973.

RPGaDay2023 11) WEIRDEST game you've played

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11) WEIRDEST game you've played

2014 answer to Weirdest RPG Owned: RPGs are pretty much all weird in some way.

But the ones I’ve played that were weirdest to me personally were two separate occasions where I found myself playing in plot hooks I’d come up with and shared as suggestions with the GMs some time earlier.

One word prompt

11) WEIRDEST

A plot idea: a contest to find (or be) the weirdest thing in a group.

A prize at a suitably avant-garde costume party, perhaps? Or part of a gathering of Addams Family style monster-ish people who delight in that kind of thing? Or possibly a group of thesis advisers talking about the pitches they received this academic year?

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 10) Favourite tie-in FICTION

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10) Favourite tie-in FICTION

Does The Expanse count?

2014 answer with five answers. (I have since read The Subtle Knife. It’s good too!)

One word prompt

10) FICTION

How would player characters of sufficient fame deal with stories about them? Being known in song, having dime novels “print the legend”, having their actions tracked on the chatty rooms?

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 9) Favourite DICE

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9) Favourite DICE

2014 answer: The Marvel SAGA card set

Still true, my favourite “dice” still aren’t dice.

But to answer the question today with actual dice that have come out in the last nine years:

Hunger Dice from Vampire: The Masquerade V5 and Stress Dice from ALIEN. They take the place of regular dice as Hunger and Stress rise and introduce complications when specific numbers come up. Keeping track of two kinds of dice in one roll isn’t too distracting, and keeping them under control focuses some attention on this constant problem that never quite goes away.

One word prompt

9) DICE

What games do your characters play? Dice or cards at the tavern, chess at court where each move reflects the political strategies all around? Stranger Things shows how a D&D group might cope with being in Call of Cthulhu...

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

Only Murders In The Building season three

Only Murders In The Building is to be a trilogy. We know the setup from the end of season two...

... complete with Mabel getting the last F-bomb of the season and repeating it here in the Previously On.

RPGaDay2023 8) Favourite CHARACTER

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8) Favourite CHARACTER

2014 answer: Charity Chance, Agent of S.A.B.E.R. which I created as a precursor to S.H.I.E.L.D., has since led to great amusement when a Marvel agency called S.A.B.E.R. actually happened.

And obviously Milli fandom as a GM goes on.

Since 2014, I’ve had a lot of fun playing Cara the absolutely not Vampire Slayer of a Mage, as well as recent and current could-almost-play NPCs like Ligeia and Colette.

One word prompt

8) CHARACTER

Do you have a “recurring cast” of NPCs in connected games?

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 7) SMARTEST RPG you've played

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7) SMARTEST RPG you've played

2014 answer to the most different question yet, Most “Intellectual” RPG Owned: De Profundis

This is the biggest change so far, as smart has different shades of meaning and alternative uses than intellectual. So going for one where I thought the core idea was smart in taking something quite simple that hadn’t been done before.

Dread is a horror RPG that uses Jenga as its mechanic. When you want your character to do something risky you pull a block from the tower. If the tower falls, they are removed from play. So chances are, they die.

Obviously this brings in player skill, requiring manual dexterity. And it’s not a “get out of the way” system, and is good for one-shots. But the use of that simple game’s mechanic to raise tension with every pull works very smartly.

The ready-to-go adventures have characters based on questionnaires with leading questions, which is a clever idea too and possible to swipe for other games. But my “oh, that’s smart” reaction was the tower.

Giant Jenga might kill you as well as your character.

One word prompt

7) SMARTEST

Anthony Boyd suggested smart can mean stylish too. The Camarilla in Vampire: The Masquerade and the overall All Night Society in Vampire: The Requiem are supposed to encourage vampires to blend in, but for the stylised fun of the setting, and especially in courtly social games, they do tend to stand out. V5 devotes a page to vampire fashion with an in-setting rationale for dressing up for Elysium.

Dave Chapman mentions Buffy!

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 6) Favourite game you NEVER get to play

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6) Favourite game you NEVER get to play

2014 answer: Trinity.

2023 answer: Trinity.

Especially now considering the Trinity Continuum includes character Allegiances I created among other things, and I didn’t even get a chance to playtest it.

I’m still an edition behind on Vampire: The Requiem too.

One word prompt

6) NEVER

“Never!” is a bold statement by a hero or villain. Can they back it up?

Because to quote Fiona Apple, Never Is A Promise.

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

Gen Con Card Heist

Someone at Gen Con got a pallet loader and stole cards valued at $300 000.

Life is odd. Proves my point about Magic and the like being big though.

Thanks to Steve D and Angus Abranson for the news.

Magic The Gathering at 30

I remember thinking that Magic The Gathering, as a card game with trading cards, was a brilliant idea that I didn’t want to get into, and that if it worked it could be huge. I wish I’d bought a first edition starter or two to sell later...

RPGaDay2023 5) OLDEST game you've played

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5) OLDEST game you've played

Fighting Fantasy and TOON both came out in 1984.

Call Of Cthulhu third edition, the first one I got, is basically backwards compatible with first and second.

The furthest I’ve gone back with the oldest published game D&D is AD&D second edition. Which opens up questions about how many editions of D&D there really are.

One word prompt

5) OLDEST

How far back in history (or a world based on a real-world era) have you set a game?

There are a few prehistoric RPGs out there. As well as ones about creation myths, including ones where the PCs are the ones doing the creating.

For me, not counting time travel or “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...” probably the usual medieval kind of thing, and I haven’t run something like that regularly in quite a while. A couple of Ancient Greek style adventures here and there.

2014 answer to Most Old School RPG Owned: RuneQuest. Which I’ve never played, so wouldn’t count here.

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

Coyote & Crow

Coyote & Crow, the science fantasy game of an uncolonised future. wins the 2023 Diana Jones Award.

Halloween Parks For 2023

A roundup of Halloween theme park and other event news in the US. Featuring Universal Horror Nights in Florida introducing a new villain with a twenty-five-minute audio story with special guest vampires concerned about rival immortals, the return of Creep LA interactive theatre not-LARP-honest The Willows (also previously playable through VR) and an Only Murders In The Building escape game...

RPGaDay2023 4) Most RECENT game bought

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4) Most RECENT game bought

Actually, this might be They Came From The RPG Anthology! too.

Most recent non-core RPG purchase is a sourcebook, Trinity Continuum: Aegis.

One word prompt

4) RECENT

How do modern developments affect ancient threats?

“You are a fool. No weapon forged can stop me!”

“That was then. This is now.”

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Innocence

2014 answer to Most Recent RPG Purchased: Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Quickstart. I have since played M20, five years later!

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 3) First RPG BOUGHT (this year)

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3) First RPG BOUGHT (this year)

This year:

They Came From The RPG Anthology! A spinoff from the They Came From! series of meta media games, it contains the updated Storypath Ultra system as well as a light version, so it can be used as a core rule set - or even two!

One word prompt

3) BOUGHT

An auction is a great place for rare items to show up. There’s a classic adventure about a bunch of occult paraphernalia going on sale for Call Of Cthulhu, and I borrowed it for The Watch House along with the episode of Angel where Cordelia’s eyes are among the lots.

2014 answer to First RPG Purchased: Fighting Fantasy again

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

V5 at 5 (or V)

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition came out five years ago tonight. I’ve been running it on and off since, and so far played one session.

RPGaDay2023 2) First RPG GAMEMASTER

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2) First RPG GAMEMASTER

2014 answer to First RPG GMed: Fighting Fantasy

As I mentioned back in 2014, my first formal GM was my brother. He didn’t make a habit of it, and I did. Although actually he recently started running games for his kids!

The “this year” option: hey Dave.

One word prompt

2) GAMEMASTER

I always think Gamesmaster, due to the early influence of the game shop of the same name, and the double M sound just feels awkward.

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger

RPGaDay2023 1) FIRST RPG played (this year)

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1) FIRST RPG played (this year)

2014 answer to First RPG played: Fighting Fantasy

Obviously that answer hasn’t changed as that would involve time travel. ;)

So First RPG played this year.

GMing ongoing Vampire: The Masquerade V5 Last Dance (including one of my high school group), playing ongoing Escape From The Enemy (run by another of the high school group!) which was OneDice Fantasy but is now D&D 5E. But for a new game starting playing Vampire: The Masquerade V5 City Of Angels, my first chance to be on the player side for this edition since the 2017 playtest. And a Doctor Who (C7 first edition) one-shot at Conpulsion. And some Buffy on RPGnet play-by-post.

One word prompt

1) FIRST

Are the PCs the first of their kind? The first heroes of prophecy, the first superhumans, the first starship crew to visit this sector? Or are they part of an established type or a legacy?

Dave Chapman

Runeslinger and in audio for days 1 to 10

#RPGaDay2023

#RPGaDay2023

RPG a Day begins now! (Well, expect the first answer post at lunchtime.)

Dave Chapman and Anthony Boyd introduce the tenth anniversary edition of RPG a Day.

#RPGaDay hopes to get people talking in a positive way about tabletop roleplaying games. For each day in August, use the prompt or highlighted word to inspire a blog, vlog or social media post to celebrate everything great about our hobby with the tag #RPGaDay2023

Questions in list and infographic form from Dave’s blog:

Anthony says let’s go!

As the questions this time are a reworking of the 2014 questions I’ll be comparing my answers as they go along, and answering variant questions.

1) FIRST RPG played (this year)

2) First RPG GAMEMASTER

3) First RPG BOUGHT (this year)

4) Most RECENT game bought

5) OLDEST game you've played

6) Favourite game you NEVER get to play

7) SMARTEST RPG you've played

8) Favourite CHARACTER

9) Favourite DICE

10) Favourite tie-in FICTION

11) WEIRDEST game you've played

12) Old game you STILL play

13) Most memorable character DEMISE

14) Favourite CONVENTION purchase

15) Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT

16) Game you WISH you owned

17) FUNNIEST game you've played

18) Favourite game SYSTEM

19) Favourite PUBLISHED adventure

20) Will still play in TWENTY years time

21) Favourite LICENSED RPG

22) Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase

23) COOLEST looking RPG product / book

24) COMPLEX / SIMPLE RPG you play

25) UNPLAYED RPG you own

26) Favourite CHARACTER SHEET

27) Game you'd like a new EDITION of...

28) SCARIEST game you've played

29) Most memorable ENCOUNTER

30) OBSCURE RPG you've played

31) FAVOURITE RPG of all time

Roundup

And on RPGnet

2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.