The Watch House

Dave Chapman and Anthony Boyd discuss the 2022 challenge.

Roundup

The year went by pretty quickly. In part because I’ll apparently ramble more with single-word prompts than with specific questions, a general idea I can spin to talk about various topics rather than a direct answer.

(And I couldn’t do the bonus round of using prompts for adventure hooks like I have for the past two years. I could have gone back and done the 2019 prompts though! Not sure what I’d do for a third setting though. Maybe Trinity...)

But I also know some people don’t like the singular prompts at all, so variety is good.

I’m pretty much always happy to talk about my gaming history, but since I started GMing a week after I started playing my answers may have gotten a bit samey.

I felt I had to include a previous game and GMing in Talk About Your Character Week as I haven’t done much with my actual current character at all, and generally talk more about GMing than playing anyway.

I’m curious to see what the tenth year brings. See you next time!

#RPGaDay2022 ?? - Anecdote Alternative

?? - Anecdote Alternative: Roll 1d8+1, tag that many friends and tell a gaming story about them.

Five gets you six, so... gaming-adjacent little moments in most cases, though one leads to an Actual Play comic strip.

Rick once featured a fictionalised version of me as a background character in a LARP.

Dave dreamed up an RPG called Raw Steak one night, which was about finding the manuscript to an RPG called Raw Steak.

Cat made me the world’s first The Watch House T-shirt.

Steve once put me up for the weekend in Australia and ran a game of The Night Watch that I got to guest star in as a TWH NPC.

Rose likes shared pictures of DIY Masters Of The Universe figures, the odder the better.

Faye illustrated the awkward Salubri-Tremere meet-cute they played the Salubri in at my first V5 game.

#RPGaDay2022 31 - When did you first take part in #RPGaDAY?

31 - When did you first take part in #RPGaDAY?

I got to hear about it a couple of weeks before the inaugural run, thanks I believe to Tyler on Twitter, so I’ve been here the whole time.

Dave Chapman says “that’s pretty obvious for me”

Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev has died, aged 91. He bought about one of the good things in world events in my youth.

The World Below

A preview of The World Below, Onyx Path’s new Storypath fantasy RPG at GeekNative, following the OP panel at Tabletop Scotland.

Immortality, a lost film in game form

Immortality (A.V. Club review including trailer) sounds like a great use of its medium to tell its story, giving you access to the archives of three lost films with the same vanished star and seeing if you can find out what happened to her. Is one of the films cursed...?

#RPGaDay2022 30 - What should #RPGaDAY do next year?

30 - What should #RPGaDAY do for its 10th anniversary next year?

Since so much gaming for the past couple of years has been online and RPGaDAY is online by nature, perhaps we could arrange a game stream over one of the weekends, or a Q&A or some other kind of hangout.

Boost some free games to try, or maybe set up a charity bundle sale for the month.

Monday, 29 August 2022

RPG soundtracks

io9 checks out official and unofficial soundtracks for tabletop RPGs, including D&D, Vampire: The Masquerade and Trail Of Cthulhu, as well as some games where the soundtrack is part of play.

Vampire: The Masquerade - A Beast I Am

Vampire: The Masquerade - A Beast I Am, the score album by Bart Dijkman, is now available again to stream on Bandcamp.

Thanks to Getta Robo on the World Of Darkness Discord for the news.

New York By Night season 2

Vampire: The Masquerade NY By Night moves to a Camarilla coterie starting September 30th. Title sequence introduces the new characters, and shows more people in the city centre, perhaps to emphasise the Manhattan setting,

(And finally remembered what the bit of the theme at 1.01 reminds me of, the Lunatic Calm remix of Chinese Burn by Curve. That’s been bugging me for weeks.)

#RPGaDay2022 29 - Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDAY?

29 - Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDAY?

There are specific people I could prod here, but a more sensible answer would be groups that talk about RPG on podcasts and the like on a regular basis, like Darker Days Radio and Rookery Publications.

Sunday, 28 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 28 - Style Sunday: favourite RPG cover art

28 - Style Sunday: Roll 1d8+1, tag that many friends with your favourite RPG cover art.

To the surprise of I suspect very few regular readers, the original Vampire: The Masquerade cover.

The product of budgetary necessity, a photo of a piece of marble and a rose, it evoked a mood and stood out from most RPG covers of the time with paintings of characters in action. Backed up by the interior art, especially Tim Bradstreet’s full-page chapter frontispieces, it suggested more than showed.

No tagging, but I did decide to roll, and got a 3, so three more...

There had been minimalist covers before Vampire, all the way back to Traveller at least, but this is the one that got me for something I was already looking at. And the first edition of Traveller I saw, the 1983 starter set, had a figurative art cover anyway. But I’ll still count it.

One of the best presented RPGs I’ve ever seen is the second edition of Nobilis:

And finally let’s go much more traditional with first edition King Arthur Pendragon, the cover by Jody Lee which I first thought was a Pre-Raphaelite original.

Runeslinger and week 4 video with guest Lily

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Parallel Universe 101

Unless you want to cause confusion as to which world is which, have a clear signifier. For shorthand, maybe several.

I just got to the episode of Superman & Lois season two where Clark goes to Bizarro World and in this version it’s a cubed planet with a red sun giving everything an orange tint and style-wise almost everybody's kind of emo.

I am not sure what to do with this information.

Now neither are you.

Fighting Fantasy at Forty

This day, 27th August 1982, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was published with an iconic cover by Peter Andrew Jones and stunning interior line drawings by Russ Nicholson. Happy 40th birthday Zagor. May your STAMINA never fail!

Sir Ian Livingstone

This is where it begins for me and mine. I came on with City of Thieves, number five in the Fighting Fantasy series, and the books and introductory RPG were my gateway into this hobby.

#RPGaDay2022 27 - How has the character changed?

27 - How has the character changed?

Jackdaw: He’s changed system... Beyond that he hasn’t really had time.

Cara: Being played at length meant she loosened up a little. Starting to date a lonely troll was a factor here.

GMing: I added Claudine the magic shop owner after Harper’s player decided they lack a Watcher in a “yeah, he died” kind of way rather than simply not showing up, so the gang knows about their lack of occult expertise. She’s not as handy in a fight but can do the exposition in a pinch. I had various ideas for an occult exposition source but went simple.

Friday, 26 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 26 - Why does your character do what they do?

26 - Why does your character do what they do?

Jackdaw: There aren’t enough decent sailors to go around. One of the ships in the fleet is his mother’s, so he has a personal stake in this too. And now apparently some gods are talking to the cleric he just met.

Cara: She Awakened because she faced down a monster on campus when she was in college. She gained a reputation among her Tradition for hunting things like it, and now there’s a monster here.

GMing: They’re NPCs, it’s their job. Okay, Kelsey and Willis were friendly with Harper before the Vampire Slayer thing became an issue and stuck around out of general goodness.

Thursday, 25 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 25 - Where has the character been?

25 - Where has the character been?

Jackdaw: Starting with the evacuation of the port ahead of a tide of the undead, helping to sort out the ragtag fleet, searching for a legendary warship, and now in an island nation ahead of the Enemy and attacked by monks of the mad goddess of knowledge so on the divine plane trying to deal with all that.

Cara: Mostly 1990s Edinburgh, though the seasons were going wrong so not 100% sure which years. Sometimes in the Highlands seeking to undo spiritual damage. Sometimes in the mystical Mage hangout.

GMing: Banning High School in suburban Portland, Oregon, the woods outside, the magic shop Enchantment in the city centre - not one of the several real ones in the city’s “Mystic District”, though I was tempted to use the one just called WOO - and possibly Hell in a flashback.

She-Hulk 1.02: Superhuman Law

Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

1.02: Superhuman Law

Setup is completed, and on to the plot. New job, with a catch. And hopefully some more explaining something in a film from last year...

Wednesday, 24 August 2022

Lost Ollie

Lost Ollie, a miniseries launching on Netflix today based on a book by Guardians Of Childhood creator William Joyce, is a beautifully done live action paired with animation take on the lost toy trying to get home. And as reviews have noted, if Toy Story gets to you this could crush you.

Ukraine Independence Day

Reminder for Ukraine Independence Day: GreaterGood Click To Give is giving extra daily pageview donations to Ukraine.

#RPGaDay2022 24 - When did you start playing this character?

24 - When did you start playing this character?

Jackdaw: May 2021

Starting with the evacuation of the last free port, getting on the nearest available ship and making sure it steered in the right direction while also helping to fend off undead boarding action.

Cara: June 2019 - April 2020 (the last few sessions were online)

She came to town because she heard there was something supernatural and threatening going on, while the other PCs were generally local and in some cases mixed up from the beginning.

GMing: July 2022

Kelsey and Willis are friends of Harper, in the know about the slaying after they saved their lives.

Tuesday, 23 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 23 - What situation is your PC currently in?

23 - What situation are they currently in?

Character week

Jackdaw: Helping with an attempt to separate the Goddess of Knowledge from the divine plane as it has been corrupted, which may be the cause of the madness turning gods against the world.

Cara: The chronicle ended with the characters fighting an ancient vampire and her pinning to the ground with the Sword in the Stone. She could do with a holiday.

GMing: Having discovered JP is at least a part-time demon, the gang are investigating that. Which is attracting the attention of other demons.

Only Murders In The Building season two

Only Murders In The Building season two ends with a solution that feels mostly fair, another fantastic physical comedy moment, and yodelling.

“I have a plan!”

“What?”

“... I’m sorry, I thought a plan would, uh, come to me in that moment, but, uh, no. Nothing.”

An old-school Killer Reveal Party!

Important uncertainty over whether something was confirmed in the narrative!

Monday, 22 August 2022

Lou trailer

Allison Janney as a badass hermit in woodsy action thriller Lou, from director Anna Foerster, coming to Netflix next month. The trailer looked interesting even before the song choice kicked in.

Not A Drop To Drink series 2

Vampire: The Masquerade 5 - Not A Drop To Drink returns with a second series Session Zero, a fantastic example by ST Jacob Burgess and the players.

#RPGaDay2022 22 - Who is your current character?

22 - Who is your current character?

I am currently playing one character:

Jackdaw the Sea Elf cutter pilot in Escape From The Enemy, which has moved from OneDice Fantasy to D&D 5. He’s a swashbuckler, meant to be kind of the Starbuck of the game’s fantasy Battlestar Galactica.

But I don’t really have much to say about him as the game has been progressing slowly, and he’s more of a support character anyway.

So to have a bit more to write about, I’ll also discuss the last biggish game I played in, the World Of Darkness 20th Anniversary crossover Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, where I played Cara Lawson, Akashayana Mage ~~Vampire Slayer~~ monster hunter. Also an agile sword-wielding fighter, despite being in the 1990s.

(After that with the same group I played the party Rogue in a short series of fairytale-flavoured fantasy RPG Beyond The Wall, also agile but not much good with a sword.)

But of course I’m mostly a GM. I tend to have prominent friend, ally and sounding board NPCs that the PCs can hang out with, and I could imagine playing some of them if a suitable game came along, but I try to keep them from being GMPCs mostly by keeping them at low power levels in things the PCs are good at.

In my current summer Buffy game I included two because I have two players and wanted a bigger group: Kelsey is helpful and snarky while Willis is snarky and helpful. There’s also a helpful occult exposition type, but she doesn’t hang with them so if she comes to a fight it’s going to be a big deal.

Runeslinger and on video for the week

Sunday, 21 August 2022

OP / White Wolf anniversaries

Happy 21st anniversary to Adventure! and 18th to The World Of Darkness book (introducing what is now Chronicles Of Darkness) and Vampire: The Requiem. Rose Bailey gives discounts to her Vault books to celebrate!

#RPGaDay2022 21 - Setting Sunday: Share a setting detail

Setting Sunday: Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy.

The Succubus Club in Vampire: The Masquerade, the archetypal vampire-friendly alternative nightclub in the setting, is so prominent in-universe that there have been fights over using the name after the original owner was killed in a sourcebook, it became a travelling megaclub brand for a while, and there’s not a franchise option. (And out of character, the name is sometimes used for the big party night at World Of Darkness conventions, so I can say I’ve been there.)

Also, it has nothing to do with the actual Succubus who appears in the sourcebook where it was first referenced.

And licenced games often add to their settings, and sometimes it sticks. D6 Star Wars did a lot to codify the setting and its books were used as Expanded Universe references, the Twi’Lek species was one named there, and the Rebels episode about the origin of the B-Wing directly references the adventure Strike Force Shantipole. The Andorian sourcebook for Decipher’s Star Trek introduced a traditional weapon later used in Enterprise. And Faith not having a surname on screen in Buffy led to the RPG creators asking Whedon’s team and Lehane becoming her canon surname ever since. (Kendra got one too even though she purposely didn’t use it.)

Dave Chapman with a very secret secret for Conspiracy X.

Runeslinger on a detail that could change everything in Blue Planet.

An Addams Family game night

Spurred on by the trailer for Wednesday on... Wednesday...

Pluvinarch on RPGnet asks how would you do a game about something like The Addams Family?

While there have been various board games (including one on shelves now, using Addams original designs) and computer games, no actual RPG, though some in the style are mentioned in the thread. I’ve considered this before but...

The children playing a game together.

For pure sitcom “family interpersonal issues as they deal with an outside problem” with strangeness defined by traits, probably something Cortex or DramaSystem, although they often aim interpersonal conflict rather than support so the players would need to work on making a supportive Addams dynamic rather than something more Dark Shadows.

(One time I actually played a closely connected group was a Wraith: The Oblivion one-shot where everybody’s connections were built into the system by Passions which were tuned so they’d support each other at times and clash at others.)

Of course there are a lot of ways to play it depending what the family is doing - the classic TV series would work with Prime Time Adventures, the movies with a cinematic adventure system, and Wednesday looks more like a Bubblegumshoe game.

From an outside perspective, I ran the Ghostbusters plot hook about a similarly ooky family hiring ghosts to spook an unwelcome houseguest.

And being me, I’ve considered a Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel game about a possibly-monstrous family having spooky adventures. (Indeed, such a family may have appeared as NPCs...) Other low-level supers games could also work.

Saturday, 20 August 2022

Werewolf: The Apocalypse at 30

Happy 30th anniversary to Werewolf: The Apocalypse, launched at Gen Con 1992.

Coming after Vampire: The Masquerade it’s a more traditional action fantasy RPG in a modern setting, with loose class-like Auspices as well as clan-like Tribes, a much larger selection of supernatural enemies to fight and more spell-like powers and magical items to use. It draws from shapeshifting myths far more than the pop culture werewolf.

It also made environmental protection a major factor, and White Wolf sponsored a wolf conservation charity at the time.

I ran it once for about six weeks, while I played a friend’s game for four academic years, and AFAIK he never ran Vampire. While his game still had a fair amount of monster fighting it got into tribal politics often as well in a way that might have worked for Vampire, but he liked the variety of options.

#RPGaDay2022 20 - How long do your games last?

20 - How long do your games last?

Per session, generally three to four hours. Probably a bit shorter online than at the table - travel could cut into it, but going to a specific place focuses the mind a bit more.

The longest session I’ve ever run was probably six or so hours of one game, as part of a weekend retreat. (The longest session I’ve ever run geographically was on a train...)

Per series, they largely revolve around university schedules - generally a semester with the option to continue for an academic year if we’re enjoying it, and sometimes more.

The Watch House going for five and a half years - stopping because we hit the same episode count as Buffy itself - was a surprise to everybody really. (And not just because I set it five years before when we started playing to avoid dealing with major setting changes that would affect the premise...)

My notebooks for The Watch House season seven.
(When I found notebooks with Kings College Cambridge on the cover I got a few.)

I’ve been running Vampire: The Masquerade consistently for about as long at a stretch (and a bit of Vampire: The Requiem before that) with a few breaks, with a couple of the same players along with new players every year, but starting a new chronicle every year or two as it’s less of a kitchen sink so I can’t throw in as many random ideas and have them fit tonally, and I can’t really do the escalating Big Bad structure. I took a break to run some Buffy this summer after my most recent Vampire game featured too many angry ghosts.

Friday, 19 August 2022

The Rings Of Power score

The score to season one of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power season one is now online ahead of the premiere, with music by Bear McCreary and a theme by Howard Shore.

Buffy reboot on pause

Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot from Monica Owusu-Breen is reportedly on pause, while the anniversary has seen new books from Disney as well as the ongoing Boom! Studios comics. Sigh.

The Sandman Specials

Well, this answers the question of how they might do the really standalone Sandman stories... make them and release them without warning. And make A Dream Of A Thousand Cats in animation with a variety of familiar voices. (Two days late for Black Cat Appreciation Day, sadly.)

Trailer which is fairly spoilery for an hour already available.

#RPGaDay2022 19 - Why has your favourite game stayed with you?

19 - Why has your favourite game stayed with you?

I basically answered this for Buffy The Vampire Slayer on Day 16: a much loved origin, a pretty simple system with some good encouragements for genre-friendly play, and a wide-open setting that can roll with a wide variety of adventures across its Weird Level.

So for Vampire: The Masquerade... okay, I’ve answered this already as well. My kind of dark setting focused on an interest since I was a gloomy kid, a system I could grasp, and an emphasis on character plots rather than missions while still having room for them.

Both have systems I can deal with as a GM and include features that support their genres, settings with a clash of the mundane and fantastical, and excuses to compile mood-friendly playlists.

Thursday, 18 August 2022

Bloodhunt Soundtrack

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt soundtrack now available to stream and buy physical copies too. Interview with composerr Atanas Valkov.

One D&D

One D&D is a revamp of fifth edition but not a new edition despite having all three core rulebooks revised, coming in 2024 and starting playtesting today at DNDBeyond.

Like the X-Box I guess?

(Not that fans of Vampire: The Masquerade 1, 2, R, 20th, 5 can talk.)

The digital bundling and VTT shown in the annoucement video looks nice. And Planescape is coming back, which fans are cautiously hopeful about.

Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland

Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland from Jon Hodgson, a story game of mesolithic magic illustrated by Midjourney.

#RPGaDay2022 18 - Where is your favourite place to play?

18 - Where is your favourite place to play?

Teviot Row House at the University Of Edinburgh, the oldest purpose built student union in the world. It has nice rooms, nice chairs, several bars, a basement mini-nightclub which has come in handy for Vampire LARPs, its own library (now with a bar added which makes it look much less like a Watchers Council meeting hall, sadly) and at least one window with no apparent corresponding room.

As the most frequent home of uni RPG society GEAS and its annual convention Conpulsion, this is where The Watch House began, and the décor helped set the mood. (Although individual sessions that overran often ended at a nearby pub.)

Not a castle. But probably defensible in a siege.

And if you can get the Middle Reading Room, with its one big table, all to yourself, do so.

This room. Give it to me. Now.

She-Hulk 1.01: A Normal Amount Of Rage

Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

1.01: A Normal Amount Of Rage

When I was a kid, She-Hulk was one of the features in the black and white weekly Hulk reprint comics, and back then she was the Savage She-Hulk though she could still speak and reason better than He-Hulk. The switch to the comedy-centric Sensational She-Hulk was a few years later, and the move to mixing superheroing with a lawyer focus is the most recent setup.

The CG look works well, showing it off with front and centte comparison with Bruce. This week is mostly origin, as Jen tells us up front. “It’s true, I am a Hulk. And I’m guessing you’re not gonna be able to focus on this fun lawyer show until you know all about that.” The fourth wall breaking comes from the Sensational era.

Little bit I loved, the restroom solidarity.

“To a good time during a hard time.”

Story structure note, it was at one point going to be about one trial.

Mid-credits joke! (Watch the credits anyway, it’s nice and they’re fun.)

Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Onyx Path announcement at 10

Ten years ago today we announced ourselves at Gen Con! Thank you for joining us for these Ten Years, Many Worlds, One Path!

Onyx Path on Twitter

#RPGaDay2022 17 - When is your favourite game set?

17 - Past, Present, or Future? When is your favourite game set?

It didn’t take long for me to gravitate towards modern-ish games, starting with superheroes.

I haven’t run a traditional medieval-style game in a long time, and it’s been a while since anything futuristic either. Occasional Star Wars.

I’d go for a 20s-30s pulp Adventure! game with player interest, or “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”...

But the Vampire family of games and Buffy both juxtapose the supernatural with a world that looks a lot like ours, and adding a different setting era can take away from that, as well as preventing Buffy’s mangling of pop culture references and the like.

My favourite picture from d20 Modern, by Ryan Sook.
See resulting Buffy adventure hook.

And for variety, I have another blog for a setting where the answer would be “Yes”.

Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Universal Halloween Horror Nights 2022

Gizmodo looks at the full roster of Universal Halloween Horror Nights in Florida alongside The Weeknd Nightmare and some of the events not based on movies sound like they’d make good movies, or indeed RPG one-shots. They certainly have more backstory than a three-minute walkthrough with people in masks jumping out at you needs: several have actual short stories attached.

(edit: And there are different stories at Hollywood.)

#RPGaDay2022 16 - your perfect game?

16 - What would be your perfect game?

A fun setting with a lot you can do, possibly based on a favourite media thing, coupled with a not too crunchy system that still supports the tone. Okay, it’s basically Buffy.

In every generation there is a Chosen One.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer isn’t 100% perfect for me as a system - I prefer the 2D6 distribution of the Vortex system, some of the damage multiplying is fiddly, Life Points don’t do much compared to classic Unisystem, and Sorcery models Willow’s rapid rise so well it’s game-breaky - but it gets the job done very well for me. And it led to my near as any to perfect series.

The Watch House was the ideal mix of subject and players bouncing off each other. The kitchen sink setting of the Buffyverse definitely helped, letting us throw in bizarre episode ideas and everybody running with them, as well as the jokey asides that would often be derailing out of character comments in most games being at home in dialogue in character, but this one went big mostly down to the mix of players willing to jump in to the drama and humour, which isn’t something you can generally plan.

A slayer slays, a Watcher...
Watches?

I’ve run games since that had moments like it, and I’d love to play something that got that involving.

Short of the Holodeck becoming readily available, something like that.

Monday, 15 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 15 - Who would you like to GM for you?

15 - Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?

There are the obvious celebrity GM choices. Having sat with Jason Carl at World Of Darkness Berlin where he discussed V5 setting elements and presented the attendees with a plot hook, I’d take more.

If we can go through history, Sir Terry Pratchett.

More personally, there are some folks I know that I missed chances to play with. I got to play one session of Steve Dee’s Night Watch, the Buffy game I lifted the TWH premise from. And I would like to play something like Morgue’s Providence Summer, for example.

And if I could get more of the current generation of players GM that would be good too. Bring on the future of RPGs!

Runeslinger and week 3 on video, with guest host Lily the puppy

Sunday, 14 August 2022

Demons Demons Demons

In tonight’s Buffy session we discover JP’s a part time demon.

JP: Thanks guys. Sorry I freaked you out.

Willis: Only a lot.

#RPGaDay2022 14 - Suggestion Sunday

14 - Suggestion Sunday: Roll 1d8+1, and tag that many friends and suggest a new RPG to try.

I’m not really one for tagging people, but if anyone wants to volunteer, leave a Like on Twitter.

Our hosts both recommend one RPG rather than one RPG per tagged person which is what I was thinking. In that case, Dread for a highly thematic and easy system, depending on player skill. (Also tricky to do online and not possible for some players.)

Saturday, 13 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 13 - change the way you started?

13 - How would you change the way you started RPGing?

I wish I hadn’t started with a near TPK, and I still regret running from the monster. Though it taught me not to inflict mass death on brand new players.

And getting a second session as a player before taking over as GM would have been nice too. But again I learned from that.

So one thing I would really change is that after that first summer with five girls in the game, I wish my high school group had had any. I could have done more to make a mixed group happen, but I doubt it would have gone far.

Red Rose

BBC Three, back on TV, returns to its occasional role providing horror and other genre shows with Red Rose, starting Monday, described by its creators as like Scream or The Ring but set in Bolton.

“At first, the app seems like a peculiarly helpful mindfulness assistant, but before long it is controlling Rochelle’s life, an omniscient force able to help her out or terrify her with threatening visions, via the phone’s camera.”

Friday, 12 August 2022

Nope

Jordan Peele’s third film, Nope, is the most comedic and least grim by quite some way. The most gore is in the first five minutes, and the metaphorical effect is much less central.

Fun is had.

I could tell you more but it’s a big old spoiler.

And we get Michael Wincott...

#RPGaDay2022 12 - Why did you start RPGing?

12 - Why did you start RPGing?

I was that kind of kid.

And I was the right age for the peak of the gamebook boom.

If I hadn’t been directly introduced to gamebooks I might have found them through 2000 A.D. advertising, or later through their Sláine gamebook story or spinoff magazine Dice Man or the official Judge Dredd RPG or...

But I was already in by then.

After starting high school, I had a couple of ~~poor suckers~~ friends drawn in too. They can blame me.

And I stuck with it because of the interactivity, and the immediate feedback of the group, as well as the genres that most of the games played into. Remember that this was a time where if you got an episode of Doctor Who and a sci-fi cartoon on TV that was a good week. This was something that could be mine.

Thursday, 11 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 11 - living in a setting

11 - If you could live in a game setting, where would it be?

Obvious bias here, but the Trinity Continuum setting is an upbeat science fiction spin on our world, with smart, brave, well-meaning people dedicated to making it a better place and making real progress doing so, with a little luck on their side as it’s a real thing in the metaphysics of the setting.

The Neptune Foundation, illustration by Leif Jones

Sure, it has villainous groups, strange phenomena, creepy aliens messing with our psionic potential and in a few years it’ll have superhuman celebrities who nearly destroy the world, but you can’t have everything.

And I could help without being called upon to save the world myself on a regular basis.

Hanging at the Bronze or the Succubus Club would be cool, but the life of a PC there would be stressful and as an NPC I’d be killed by a haunted photograph at the gallery or something.

I would also be tempted to live in some cosy games like Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine but that seems like cheating as I’ve never run them.

Wednesday, 10 August 2022

Raymond Briggs

Raymond Briggs is best known for The Snowman, but for me it was Fungus The Bogeyman that first drew my attention, partially because of adult disapproval. I love his down-to-earth Father Christmas as well.

#RPGaDay2022 10 - GMing?

10 - When did/will/might you start Gamemastering?

Formally, my second session. Informally, I was already improvising systemless adventures before that first session with rules. So before I knew what that was.

(I added “might” to the question because it’s not for everybody.)

Getting that one session as a player cemented some preferences. I still like to keep my hand in as a player, but I’ve run a lot more than I’ve played.

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 9 - Second RPG?

9 - What is the second RPG you bought?

Middle-earth Roleplaying, aka MERP. I based this purchase on knowing the setting. It was a bad fit for me, and I still think it’s a bad fit for the setting. I learned quite a bit about my preferences in RPGs as a result, having a lot more luck with my third system, TOON.

Monday, 8 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 8 - Who introduced you?

8 - Who introduced you to RPGs?

That summer five of my cousins were living around the corner. The eldest gave me a copy of Sir Ian Livingstone’s City Of Thieves, her favourite of the first Fighting Fantasy run.

The art by Iain McCaig was a factor too. He went on to design Darth Maul.

This led to the FF RPG with her and her sisters, with my brother GMing for one day only and then me taking over. After that summer my cousins moved away, and I believe I was the only one to stick with RPGs. Playing was mostly my idea as I recall, with some nudging required to get that first session.

I used a miniature like this, Oreon from Citadel’s Regiments of Renown, for me.

Though the game had no rules for bows. Or elves. or eyepatches.

Runeslinger and with Week Two on video

Sunday, 7 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 7 - a cool part of a system

7 - System Sunday: Describe a cool part of a system that you love.

TOON was my third RPG and the first I saw emulating a genre other than fantasy adventures. One of the many ways it does this is that when you lose all your Hit Points you’re out of the game for three minutes of real time before coming back at full points.

Drama Points in Buffy The Vampire Slayer do a lot to balance the main character types, more immediately powerful Heroes and more normal White Hats, with the latter able to buy them cheaper and having more ways to earn them, give some player narrative control in a largely traditional game, and while they’re mostly used for the big boost to a single roll of a Heroic Feat, every use has an example you can cite from the show.

For the show, skipping repeating getting an Orb of Thesulah.
For the game, Giles spending a Drama Point to skip that.

(Bonus: four of the five uses in the demo, the fifth being coming back from the dead.)

Saturday, 6 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 6 - How would you get more people playing RPGs?

6 - How would you get more people playing RPGs?

Be inclusive. Having seen my local university society pushing for this, diversity encourages diversity. An inclusive group will attract a wider variety of people.

RPGs are bigger than ever with the highest profile in decades. Make them accessible and be welcoming.

Dave Chapman on not putting people off

LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation

LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation follows the Holiday Special and Terrifying Tales in a skewed look at the sequel trilogy and its connections to other eras, and follows the first in giving Finn more to do and Rose more screen time than the last live-action film.

And seeing Force ghost Leia got to me, as did the Solo family adventure she introduced while everything else was pretty goofy.

Friday, 5 August 2022

The stage retelling of your series

Who would retell your RPG series in a one-person show? A narrator like the GM? One of the player characters? A prominent NPC? Bob the goblin bartender?

Buffy ReVamped

Buffy: ReVamped is a fun retelling of the saga through the not-entirely-unbiased perspective of Spike, and not afraid to give the audience emergency stakes.

Brendan Murphy as Spike

Contains words you couldn't say on 90s network television and a slight chance of mild audience participation.

And a just so 90s playlist including two tracks from the TWH soundtrack.

And on the way out we got flyered by the other Buffy retelling at the Fringe this year. Which is more than productions of Macbeth.

Prey

Prey (trailer) now on Hulu in the USA and Disney+ Star here, is a much earlier encounter with a Predator. As in 1719 CE. And despite this distance in time, Amber Midthunder’s Naru is the most relatable hero after four films worth of special forces types and rogue cops, a young woman out to prove herself, snarking with her brother, looking after her dog and worrying about her community, with a story that would be great without a monster getting involved. (And directing the monster borrows a trick from The Invisible Man, lingering on spaces on the side of the frame.)

The historical setting has led to discussions about who people would want to fight Predators. I might go for Theseus in the Labyrinth, or a 1920s locked room murder mystery...

The Sandman

The Sandman gets a big audiovisual adaptation after decades of trying, Neil Gaiman and his band having waited to make a close one. This means some great moments come through clearly, and some of the uneven tone of the early stories in particular does too.

The first episode, The Sleep Of The Just, covers most of the first issue with some slight embroidering here and there to make the series a bit more serialised.

#RPGaDay2022 5 - Why will they like this game?

5 - Why will they like this game?

Showing enthusiasm helps. Be up, be attentive.

Sharing it is even better. If I can run a game I like based on their interests that’s the best option.

I’ll also work to make them feel involved, present them with meaningful choices and let them see what kinds of things they can do as players, because that’s one of the strongest appeals of RPGs.

I prepare more for potential introductory games like one-shots at conventions and the start of the academic year. Ready-to-use characters, short rules explanations, visuals, and a fairly straightforward plot - better to end a bit early than not end.

Thursday, 4 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 4 - Where would you host a first game?

4 - Where would you host a first game?

Someplace nice.

I’d like a room with a biggish table, comfortable chairs, access to facilities and snacks.

Student unions often have great rooms if you’re in a university or college group, and if not there may be classrooms available. One room to a group is ideal for noise levels. For school-age groups, a classroom or library?

Game stores and other dedicated gaming spaces can be great if available. Pubs are a popular choice for off-campus game groups as social spaces which might have back rooms you can book in the evenings, but often are or feel like 18+ spaces. Cafes don’t have such spaces, so mostly good for weekends.

Gaming outside depends on the weather.

And I’ve been running games online for two years now and while it’s great in many ways, not least having a player currently who’s on another continent, I do miss the energy of the table.

Runeslinger with dog photos and an 18th century fort

Wednesday, 3 August 2022

#RPGaDay2022 3 - Your introduction?

3 - When were you first introduced to RPGs?

I came to RPGs through the gamebook boom of the mid 1980s, Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf and many others. I was 11 or 12.

And I was that kind of kid - I heard about Lone Wolf through an advert in 2000 A.D. for example, the first film I remember seeing was Star Wars, and my mother read Lord Of The Rings to us.

And I had done a bit of improvisational gamebook-inspired GMing with a friend over school lunch breaks already.

I started with Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role-playing Game and was GMing by my second session - so that introduction worked for me!

Steve Jackson has since signed my copy.

And FF got me into miniatures as they were sold nearby along with some RPG books in the toy department at John Menzies on Princes Street, one of the biggest department stores in Edinburgh at the time (and the one they run out of at the start of Trainspotting).

Then this introduction got me to White Dwarf - starting with issue 67 when I was newly 13, which had an adventure for Golden Heroes and Champions and an article on ghosts for Call of Cthulhu and adverts for other games and companies - at a magazine rack. (I ran that adventure, and decades later I realised I was sitting in a convention bar with writer Phil Masters and Golden Heroes creator Simon Burley, which was a very starstruck-y moment.)

That then led me to my first dedicated game shop, Gamesmaster on Forrest Road. (The location is now a Japanese street food place.)

I never saw the Glasgow shop.

Which is probably why I think of GM as gamesmaster rather than gamemaster to this day.

Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Trinity: Battleground returns, digitally

Onyx Path partners with Faceless Publishing to revive the Trinity: Battleground miniatures game with PDF rules material and 3D printable miniatures.

#RPGaDay2022 2 - Introductory RPG?

2 - What is a great introductory RPG?

This depends on you and your target audience, but I generally lean towards lightish systems here, and in general.

Something you’re keen to run and they’re interested in.

Sometimes a licenced setting or something with a similar tone.

I’ve used Fighting Fantasy, TOON, D6 Star Wars and its ‘parent’ game Ghostbusters, Icons, C7’s first edition Doctor Who - you’ll notice quite a few D6s and small pools here. With D10s, Buffy The Vampire Slayer has worked for fans, Adventure! for pulp action and the World and Chronicles Of Darkness too for horror. Nothing too rules or lore heavy.

Sometimes a storygame or LARP, though those show different play styles and preferences. There are introductory games for them too.

There are also dedicated RPGs for kids. I haven’t tried any since Fighting Fantasy, which is where I started.

Dave Chapman - who helped make Doctor Who - agrees with me on Ghostbusters.

Runeslinger and video for days two through six.

Monday, 1 August 2022

Near Dark at Bloody Disgusting

Mear Dark turns 35 in October, and Bloody Disgusting hosts the Halloweenies podcast from 2020.

Star Wars: Andor trailer

Andor premieres on September 21st, held back a bit - presumably to finish it - and starting with the first three episodes as a result.

Behind the scenes at Empire reveals that there are physical scenes to be behind.

It looks great while very much not looking like what I go for in Star Wars. A gritty space opera war story seems like a whole different thing.

#RPGaDay2022 1 - Who would you like to introduce to RPGs?

1 - Who would you like to introduce to RPGs?

I’m going to go vague here and say: more people. A more inclusive and welcoming hobby is great.

Hoping most of my answers will be longer!