Graeme Davis on the history of RPGs in the UK

When Dice Were Made Of Flint, a column at Tabletop Sentinel, begins in 1978 as he plays his first game of D&D and finds his way to Games Workshop.

RPGaDAY 2026 3. Poise

#RPGaDAY 2026

3. Poise

3. How does one character present themselves?

Of my current PCs this leans towards:

Paris, the Toreador events promoter in Vampire: The Masquerade - City Of Angels. High Charisma and Presence, different outfits for different occasions, active code switching. And the literal poise power of Cat’s Grace which gives her perfect balance, mostly used for running in high heels.

Olivia Holt
Not my original visual reference but Paris went more girlish than expected

And so naturally I talk about all my current PCs - and my first ever - to show variety.

Michael Sorensen, Tremere occult investigator, wears black. He wore black tie to Elysium, saying he’d go full white tie for a special occasion like a formal dance or being sentenced to Final Death.

Matthieu Lasalle, French Revolution Brujah, was scruffily handsome but his main note of poise was his tendency to start an attack on an enemy of the people by kicking a door open, making a proclamation about justice, and either firing his flintlock or otherwise drawing attacks to him.

Elsewhere, Cara Lawson in Mage: The Ascension is mostly practical but will dress up nice if she thinks it won’t stop her fighting. She has to rely on her high Dexterity for running in high heels.

She is currently in the 1880s and hoping that having to dress like a lady doesn’t get her or anyone else killed.

A screenshot from Assassin's Creed Syndicate with the alert
"EVIE's movements are RESTRICTED by her dress"

Captain Diana Carter in current Star Trek Adventures is kind of a Pike, diplomatic but direct, friendly until not. Her main tic is a wry smile when threatened.

A certain amount of looking cool when player charactering goes all the way back to my first session, where despite no rules for elves or archers in Fighting Fantasy I used an elven archer miniature. With an eyepatch, no less.

Oreon, leader of a Regiments Of Renown army set
Painted and photographed by The Stuff Of Legends.
I went more olive drab IIRC

As a GM, I often have a social episode here and there. My Vampire: The Masquerade band game Last Dance was all about that side of the setting, with just a few fights and chases.

Some day I’d like to go full Good Society and run a full high society game... with or without vampires.

Autocratik

Runeslinger

Vampire V6 playtest AP

Vampire: The Masquerade V6 playtest as run by Alexander Ward

It didn’t hit most of my concerns. I don’t especially like the target taking off dice so we lose big pools and the clatter of may D10s. Glad to be shown Overqualified, the equivalent of taking half, still exists for players.

Drama seems like a minor thing here, which is a concern as one of the bg things being flagged up in the playtest.

X is the thief of Y

Comparison is the thief of joy, they told me, and I said, I’m putting together a team for a heist.

Gareth Hanrahan

This is the best Nobilis pitch I’ve ever read.

Me

The Pod Universe phase two

Slate reveal featuring space horror, space murder, superhero musicals, and an animated family adventure which is a prequel to the space horror.

RPGaDAY 2026 2. Stature

#RPGaDAY 2026

2. Stature

2. What does one character’s stature in their community mean to them?

If my character is someone people will listen to they’ll use that for their ends. A firebrand revolutionary rallying the people, a figure of authority offering to negotiate before a battle starts.

Not for self-indulgent reasons. Usually.

Quite a few are outcasts trying to help without it.

For Stature in general, I have played some notably big characters and some small ones, but no giants offhand.

Autocratik

Runeslinger

RPGaDAY 2026 1. Discipline

#RPGaDAY2026

1. Discipline

1. Share a character or fellow player who is a strong example of discipline.

I can talk about disciplined characters with ease. Starfleet officers, Mages who gained power through study and practice, superheroes who will jump in the path of a bullet or laser beam or thrown bus.

I met a disciplined player once. You could rely on them to be about twenty minutes late every session.

Autocratik

Runeslinger

Bonus: a friend is also particpating, finding comics characters that match the daily, weekly and weekday prompts, and gaming relevance for them, like so.

August

Made it, almost intact.

#RPGaDAY2026

#RPGaDAY2026

RPG a Day 2026 begins now! (With my first answer around 12:01.)

Each day in the month of August, roleplaying gamers work from the infographic below to take inspiration from each of the 31 prompts to post positively in affirmation of the joys and benefits of RPGs and the relationships and skills we have developed as a result.

Introductory post by David F. Chapman, including a text prompt list

Explanatory post by Anthony Boyd, plus a video intro with David and Anthony

This year I plan to answer the prompt questions. I had another plan for the single words but it kind of fell through.

--

Daily Prompts

1. Discipline

2. Stature

3. Poise

4. Charm

5. Burden

6. Reach

7. Mercy

8. Resolve

9. Privilege

10. Secret

11. Tact

12. Loss

13. Strain

14. Regard

15. Endurance

16. Composure

17. Intensity

18. Directness

19. Desire

20. Promise

21. Charity

22. Grit

23. Fortune

24. Distance

25. Familiarity

26. Regret

27. Hunger

28. Devotion

29. Labour

30. Pride

31. Edge

Weekly Modifiers

Week 1 - Drive

Week 2 - Intellect

Week 3 - Associates

Week 4 - Instinct

Week 5 - Emotion

Week 6 - Ability

Daily Modifiers

Monday - Fair of Face

Tuesday - Full of Grace

Wednesday - Full of Woe

Thursday - Far to Go

Friday - Loving & Giving

Saturday - Works Hard

Sunday - Blessed

Daily Prompt Questions

1. Share a character or fellow player who is a strong example of discipline.

2. What does one character’s stature in their community mean to them?

3. Poise: How does one character present themselves?

4. An enjoyable moment of charm gone right or wrong?

5. What burden is a character willing to carry until the end?

6. Reach: Who would you like to be able to share RPGs with?

7. A moment of mercy received or given?

8. A moment when a character kept or broke their resolve?

9. Give one reason why it is a privilege to play with your group.

10. A secret you hope comes out about a character?

11. A character made great by having or not having tact

12. Most things end. What is one RPG loss you still feel?

13. Strain: So far, what is the heaviest set of RPG things you have carried to play?

14. What is a game held in high regard you have yet to play?

15. How would you organize an endurance session of your favourite game?

16. One thing that will cause a character to lose their composure?

17. A satisfying example of a character’s integrity

18. Directness: A fast introduction of a new PC or player?

19. A huge risk taken because of desire?

20. Have the characters kept or broken more promises?

21. Share an RPG charity past or present that moved you

22. An enjoyable moment of grit PCs did or did not tough out

23. An enjoyable moment of good or bad fortune

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

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

26. One game you regret not trying?

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

28. Devotion: Game you have played the most!

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

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

31. Why does a character think they have an edge?

--

Roundup!

On RPGnet!

On Bluesky!

2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014!

The Crow and The Last Temptation

I was today old when I discovered thanks to Virtual Goth Night that The Crow was temp tracked with The Last Temptation Of Christ by Peter Gabriel and Graeme Revell was presumably told the copy the homework.

So now I have a spare album of vibes of The Crow score.

The Feeling Begins

#RPGaDAY2026 day zero

David Chapgman (Autocratik) and Anthony Boyd (Runeslinger) discuss RPGaDAY on video ahead of launch day.

RPGnet thread is up

Star Wars with D&D

Star Wars D&D collaboration coming next year.

WotC already did basically D&D systems for Star Wars twice, but not quite I guess.

Vampire: The Masquerade V6 playtest

DriveThruRPG link to all formats

This is an alpha playtest with feedback forms attached. And if the big swings go ahead I’m sure it will find an audience. I may not be in it.

Make it to Saturday, start RPGaDAY.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

I got Spider-Man versus the Hulk in live action, which I’ve wanted since I was about five, and it exceeded my expectations.

And also a fun Spider-Man movie, if kinda busy here and there. The bodily changes didn’t really do much except set up that it was possible for we could get another example.

I saw it in 3D because apparently that’s a thing again? The soaring used it nicely, as that’s one of the things it does.

Looking ahead

This week sees the V? panel and playtest which we'll get to see at least some of online officially and no doubt all unofficially.

And with Do Us Part concluded, maybe a change to summer Sunday evenings for a while, ahead of probably returning to GEAS in a few weeks depending on when and where.

And I feel I should offer something online to a couple grops as I have time.

But also questioning continuing my one current play-by-post after something I saw today.

I shouldn’t make any decisions in this mood.

Mage: The Ascension - Sunrise City

So for a summer special the PCs have been thrown back to the 1880s. I did this in The Watch House once so I suppose I deserve it :D

AP by Tanith

An action figure of Cara like this would be tricky. Porcelain doll yes, figure no...

Vampire: The Masquerade - Till Death Do Us Part

Our summer game concluded with a possible victory over somebody worse than us. I didn’t get the righteous death this time, despite trying by going to an enemy to try to reason with her. Ah well, there’s always next time!

The only way D&D got my money in the last decade

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves co-director Jonathan Goldstein says the script for a sequel already exists, but he’s not expecting it to see the light of day any time soon.

IGN

“I’ve got a great campaign written, I just can’t get a group together” is the peak D&D experience.

Lee Casebolt

MCU update

Ryan Coogler (SINNERS) back on Black Panther III with David Jonsson (Alien Romulus) as T’Challa’s son.

Shawn Levy (Night At The Museum, Stranger Things) on Ghost Rider, not III, with Ryan Gosling (Barbie) as not Nicolas Cage.

Both of those could guest star Blade. But GR is more rebootable based on previous quality.