The Watch House

30. Pride

30. A game event that you are still proud of.

Some of the high concept episodes of The Watch House, notably the time two of the PCs found themselves behind the scenes of the TV series they were in the cast of, the time Natalie became a fairytale princess, the flashforward to a hellish possible future. You can trace where I swiped and adapted from, gotta know your classics. (And see how many Supernatural did after us.)

And some the players brought in that caught me by surprise as well, like the Milli and Ziggy bodyswap, Andy the werewolf getting split into human and superwerewolf with his player stepping up to play both, and Matthew’s player dropping the spell to make Natalie see her possible new boyfriend in a negative light going wrong as he grumbled jealously about how cool he was...

And some of the developments in season arcs as well, like a villain reveal, a starting Big Bad being written out, heel and face turns and more.

Saturday, 29 August 2026

RPGaDAY 2026 29. Labour

29. Labour

29. Labour: Thing you are most willing to work on for a game.

I often focus on visuals as my memory works more that way, so my recurring cast of Vampire: The Masquerade NPCs all have photo references and hardly any of them have character sheets.

Printing them out also meant I could map out who was standing with whom at Elysium.

This visual focus extends to cutting together video trailers and title sequences, making custom action figures and miniatures, commissioning art including mini painting, and even actually drawing myself.

Friday, 28 August 2026

RPGaDAY 2026 28. Devotion

28. Devotion

28. Devotion: Game you have played the most!

GMed - Due to a long history with it and several year-long runs recently probably Vampire: The Masquerade, though Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the longest I’ve run a series, almost six years.

Played - Star Wars is probably up there, mostly the D6 classic but also tried others (and wanted to go back to the D6 classic). Also a lot of the various Star Trek games almost all with one keen GM, up to Star Trek Adventures currently. Longest single games, there’s the four-year Werewolf: The Apocalypse run with that Star Trek GM and about as long with a Silver Age style Marvel SAGA game.

Autocratik - “If you’ve done every day of #RPGaDAY since it began, this is your 400th entry to the challenge. I feel tired just thinking about that!”

Garbage, No Gods No Masters

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Cassie Workman is Witchy AF

Cassie Workman is Witchy AF trailer, via EP Lilly Wachowski

A puppet-heavy drinky history of the occult by Australian comedian Cassie Workman, starting September 16th. Hail Satan!

Halsey, The Girl In The Tower

Halsey, The Girl In The Tower concert film

Shirley Manson at 60

Happy birthday to Shirley Manson!

RPGaDAY 2026 27. Hunger

27. Hunger

27. What do you hunger for most from a session?

What is the game meant to do? I want experience X from game X, Y from game Y - a bit of Z might be a fun addition or might spoil the whole thing for me.

This is a formative preference going all the way back to my first couple of games, where Middle-earth Roleplaying gave me no Tolkien feel and TOON gave me a lot of Looney Tunes feel.

I want my superheroes to be amazing at something, my horror protagonists to be at risk though not necessarily doomed but sometimes doomed works too, my cool vampires to be cool and my sad vampires to be sad, my teenage monster hunters to be badass and funny and occasionally emotional wrecks. I want a moment creating the kind of thing that makes a genre appealing. If it feels wrong, I’m probably not going to play that game for long.

Also, Hunger Dice are the most evocative version of blood use in a Vampire game so far.

Wednesday, 26 August 2026

Buffy comics delayed

The new Buffy and Angel comics that were due to start weeks ago have now been resolicited to launch later, with bigger first issues. Fingers crossed?

Tim Curry

Clue tonight I think.

RPGaDAY 2026 26. Regret

26. Regret

26. One game you regret not trying?

Having read the full adventure series for Orpheus I couldn’t really play it when offered a chance, though it was a few years later. I’d really have to run it.

And scheduling has prevented me playing Buffy and Adventure! at the Nationals, Alien and Mothership in the last two years at GEAS, and more.

As a GM there are... let’s say a few I’d like to get to the table someday. Including a break from “first chance to play this, do something normal” setups for the games I do run, like high society historical Vampire instead of usually scuzzy modern, or going all-in on the black market and thief setup that didn’t come together last year. Running Trinity Continuum would be nice too.

Okay, Orpheus is a good choice for one, as it’s a reference to someone who regrets looking back. Ha ha.

Coop

Coop was security director for World Of Darkness live events including the Grand Masquerade and recently Darkness Emergent, the first port of call if someone needed help or to find a safe space.

Tuesday, 25 August 2026

V5: City Of Angels 41

Vampire: The Masquerade - City Of Angels session 41

Paris got to use her event planning skills for the third time this chronicle, to make it look like we weren’t just hiring a venue as a potential ambush spot.

And on meeting a Nosferatu spy: “Rat? What, were you at the end of the line for nicknames? Or the start?”

Dolly Parton

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

Her family ask those considering a gift support the Imagination Library sending books to children.

Her production company Sandollar got Buffy made, and when she learned Sandollar producer Gail Berman was being paid less than the other (male) producers she cut a cheque for the difference.

RPGaDAY 2026 25. Familiarity

25. Familiarity

25. One game you want to get more familiar with?

I would like a chance to play Storypath Ultra someday, and try the Quick Play variant too, as they’re streamlined next steps after the version used in Trinity Continuum.

Buffy toy update

A first look at Monster High versions of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, and a newly announced Polly Pocket set coming out in September 4th. Why this is happening now I dont know, but okay I guess?

Can I use the school library mini-diorama...

Monday, 24 August 2026

RPGaDAY 2026 24. Distance

24. Distance

24. Your preferred distance in any type of RPG conflict?

I’m much more up for playing an in-your-face fighter than a sniper. I want to trade barbs as well as blows, and put myself between opponents and anyone else they might be targeting. It also means not having to worry about tactical positioning and all that kind of thing.

I did recently play a gun guy (who could also do magic, so another distance effect) but this was after playing the kick-down-doors sword guy with the same group.

I mean, I’m playing a sword girl in Mage: The Ascension.

(Though not in Star Trek Adventures. Even I have my limits.)

Sunday, 23 August 2026

Vampire: The Masquerade V6 alpha playtest

Overall, this feels like an edition I could run, with quite a bit of houseruling and throwing some of its changes out entirely. Combat (physical and social) both feel more systemised. Clan Traits push clans too close to classes as is. STs not rolling dice is fine but NPCs having mostly flat difficulty feels a step too far. Coming after one of my favourite edition and getting rid of its biggest innovation, this feels like a step back while trying various new things.

(Also the feedback form really needed some N/A options for STs rather than players, and an Other spot for the list of other RPGs played.)

Coyote Vs. Acme

Coyote Vs. Acme is a lot of fun. The “based on a true story” caption at the start got the first big laugh, and the dedication at the end to everyone who made noise to get it into cinemas was lovely.

Cartoon and live action integrates nicely OOC but is the core of the issue IC.

My favourite blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gag is when:

RPGaDAY 2026 23. Fortune

23. Fortune

23. An enjoyable moment of good or bad fortune.

Sometimes I want the system to add unpredictability to RPGs but quite often I don’t really.

A statistically odd roll can derail a cool moment, and that’s why most of the games I run have limited pools that players can use to convert failure to success. So my “and then I rolled a 1” stories are more about being annoyed.

The only system where I really like the risk in every “roll” is Dread, the horror RPG with Jenga as the mechanic where the tower falling when you pull out a brick writes out your character.

But there are influences outside of the way the dice fall which can affect a game too. Like the perfectly timed crash of thunder when a player mentioned a cult threatening the city.