RPGaDay2022 – Part:17-31

Well, I’ve properly buggered this one up. Illness and insomnia hit me pretty hard these past couple of weeks. So here’s a big massive catch up post to finish things off.

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

I have two favourite games.

Cyberpunk 2020 is kinda both. When I ran it it was a future branched off from an alternate past. Now it’s just an alternate past. Though there is the future of Cyberpunk RED which carries that one (I haven’t had a chance to run that though, so it doesn’t get on the favourite list)

D&D is neither/past. I guess if you just based it on the technology level of mundane items it would be the past.

18 – Where is you favourite place to play?

Somewhere with snacks and friends.

And comfy chairs.

19 – Why has your favourite game stayed with you?

Cyberpunk 2020 – I can make the future in my image and I can actually do something about the pricks making the world worse. Even if that is usually limited to introducing them to explosives.

D&D – its just a classic. It was my introduction to the hobby and I have many good memories of fun times with friends from it, and I love the current version of the system.

20 – How long do your games last?

I usually plan for about 4 hours, with short breaks when needed and a longer break about halfway.

Though plans and making contact with the real world… so they usually run later if everyone’s ok with that, only about an hour at most, and breaks are added as necessary.

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

I’m not sure how intriguing it is, but Cyberpunk 2020 has a piece of cyberware that affects how you poop. Seriously.

That they though to have a piece of gear, the “T-Maxx Ileocecal Siphon,” that filters water out of your system more efficiently so you can go longer without drinking is unusual. As I have never been in a game where someone thought to monitor PC’s fluid intakes.

But that they had a box out flavour quote in the book (Chromebook 4) describing what it does to your waste raises it to “what?why?” territory.

The phrase used is “Bunny Pellets.”

22 – Who is your current character?

I roll up characters all the time as “what ifs?” and rules tests, but I guess the one that I’ve played most and want to play more again is Vyzzik Thessaraxian, a Dragonborn Warlock (Blade/Fiend) rolled up in D&D 5e.

Chaotic good(ish), snarky bastard, always tries to do the right thing – sometimes achieves it.

Unwittingly subjected to a Warlock pact that occasionally hits his family due to an ancestor not reading the fine print on an infernal contract.

23 – What situation are they currently in?

Currently he’s not being played as I don’t have an active group.

When last played he was trying to do good things with a shit hand. Knowing his impending damnation due to the contract he’s working to collect information to nullify the contract, if not for him then for future members of his family who may be affected. And trying to do as much good with fiendish powers as he can on the way.

“Just because I’m damned doesn’t mean I can’t help people.”

24 – When did you start playing this character?

Mid/Late 2019 in one shots at a local gaming café. I rolled the first version up using the free stuff on DnDBeyond, as that’s all I had access to at the time. I didn’t even have a PHB of my own at that point.

25 – Where has the character been?

All over the place in the Forgotten Realms, Eberron and many homebrew worlds. Thanks to being in many one shots run by many DMs.

In my homebrew world where he’s an npc he’s been through many major cites and the Candlekeep equivalent trying to gather information on his infernal contract.

26 – Why does your character do what they do?

He’s trying to break curse/pact on his family. If anything his main fear isn’t him ending up in one of the hells, it’s that happening to one of the future members of his family. That would feel like he’d failed.

27 – How has the character changed?

Oooh many ways.

Personality wise he’s become a more definite character of his own. Rather than a mash up of Han Solo’s cockiness, John Constantine’s attitude in the face of damnation and Billy Butcher’s antisocial moments and violence.

Back story wise it’s become more definite. Early on it was “He’s a fiend pact warlock and his patron’s pretty hands off” to give one shot DMs less to worry about. Now he’s a warlock of Tiamat who ended up in the pact as a generational thing. An imprisoned ancestor appealed to all the gods for the ability to free themself and got no response until asking Tiamat near the very end of the list. She snuck in a clause that later generations also get the power at a price and he missed it. The deal being the signee is free to use their powers however they wish during their life, but when they die she gets them as her servants forever. Possibly becoming Abishai.

Mechanically he’s also changed. As I said earlier he was initially built with free DnDBeyond stuff The most recent incarnation was built using pretty much every 5e D&D book there is, including the updated Drgonborn from Fizban’s. This enabled me to theme his spells and abilites to be much more in line with the draconic and fiendish flavour of his background.

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

Not tagging. Bit of a tough pick. I knew as soon as I saw the question it would be a D&D alternate cover by Hydro 74, I love his style on those, but narrowing it down was hard.

In the end I think I’ll go for Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden.

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

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

Honestly I’m not sure as I’m new to it.

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

31 days ago.

RPGaDay2022 – Part:16

What would be your perfect game?

I’m going to take this as meaning the System. A hypothetical perfect game.

Ideally medium crunch, so there’s rules for most things, but not overly complex. With enough structure that you can use the given systems to improvise checks for things not explicitly covered and have them make sense.Preferably with straightforward terminology, to make things smoother and not scare off newbies.

Setting agnostic, with splats for different things that can be mixed and matched. So you want Eldritch Elven Cyberpunk Baking Competition, grab the relevant books and you can get on with it.

Well organised. I have a few books both from the 90s and today where you’re flipping back and forth to just build a character. Easier layouts please…

High production values. By this I mean the physical structure of the book and the art and layout inside. This is something I’m pleased to say has improved greatly in the time I was away from the hobby.

Does this exist? Will it ever exist? (I know certain games cover different parts of it) I dunno, but I’ll keep looking.

RPGaDay2022 – Part:15

Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?

Hmm, well there’s two ways to answer this. A hypothetical ideal GM, and an already known person.

For the hypothetical I’d say someone creative, respectful of my time, respectful of the lines and veils of the players, and just fun to be around. Thankfully this does describe most people whose games I’ve been part of.

For the real person, I’ve limited time to watch or listen to actual plays, but after religiously watching Black Dice Society every week since it started I would love to be in a similarly pitched game run by B. Dave Walters.

RPGaDay2022 – Part:6-14

Oof, I missed a few as it’s been a bit rough here at the Kobold cave. So here’s a massive catch up post.

Part 6: How would you get more people playing RPGs?

Publicising the variety of settings available. TTRPGs seem to be bigger than they’ve ever been, but it seems like there’s a 800 pound ampersand shaped dragon in the room.

As much as I love the current version of D&D it’s not for everyone, and smaller games offering more niche experiences exist but aren’t widely known. Some kind of concerted push to get smaller press stuff, or the many games on itch.io out there. Maybe in one shots by actual play groups could work wonders.

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

D&D 5e’s Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. I’d taken a long break from RPGs before coming back with 5e and I remember the times of many many stacked modifiers.

Whilst these still exist in some cases a quick call to roll 2D20 and take the highest for advantage, or lowest for disadvantage, speeds things up so much compared to fiddly tables and keeps the action flowing when it needs to.

Part 8: Who introduced you to RPGs?

I guess I did this myself, or my cousin that I got the D&D set from. But I think he was trying to get rid of it and didn’t really show me much of the game. So yeah, me.

Part 9: What is the 2nd RPG you bought?

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. This would have been sometime in the late 80s/early 90s before there was a Games Workshop store in every city, but just as they were really taking off.

I think I ran it once for a school friend or two, but that didn’t continue. Just not their thing. I did mine it for ideas for later games when I found a gaming group.

Part 10: When did/will you start Gamemastering?

The aforementioned D&D and Warhammer games. It was the old thing of you own the game – you run it.

Regularly though it would be late 90s running Cyberpunk 2020 for a group of friends at one of them’s flat. I ran that campaign for several months continuously. From what I remember, they weren’t my most imaginative games, mainly being heists, but we had fun.

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

So, looking at my bookshelves.

I’m half tempted to say Night City from Cyberpunk 2020/RED due to familiarity, but I know I’d be dead in seconds somewhere like that.

Call of Cthulhu would be a non-starter too. I wouldn’t be able to resist reading something that would warp me.

Dune – no, I’m working class and would be seen as a tool. Blades in the Dark – blades in my neck. Alien – see Dune. Starfinder – no, I’ve seen space toilets.

I guess my best option would be one of the D&D settings. I’ve done work in chemistry based labs and have a degree in music tech. So I could probably get some kind of work as an alchemist or a lute technician somewhere on the Sword Coast. I’d just need to keep away from all the secret organisations that have conspicuous badges.

Shit, I need more happy settings in my game collection.

Part 12: Why did you start RPGing?

They provided a framework for building on and letting my imagination fly. They were, and still are something for me to build my own ideas on, and collaborate with others in the process. Something no other hobby really offers.

Collaborative writing may come close, but lacks the randomness the game element brings.

Part 13: How would you change the way you started RPGing?

I would have found a solid group quicker. It would have meant I wouldn’t have a big gap in my playing so soon after starting the hobby. I don’t know how I would have done this, as I didn’t know anyone else into the hobby. I guess this is more a wish than a how, but my options were limited at the time.

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

Ehh, not going to tag anyone, and as a relatively recent returner to the hobby I guess most have played anything I could think of.

I know. There’s https://kaldrenon.itch.io/three-kobolds that I found when I bought a charity bundle over there recently. (long after I’d started using this name on a few sites). I guess you could check out my namesake.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed after this.

RPGaDay2022 – Part:5

5 – Why will they like this game?

Hopefully because I’ve listened to what they wanted from the game and provided that. Maybe with a few twists and surprises thrown in, so it doesn’t get predictable.

Hopefully because I’ve bought my a-game to running it and am enthusiastic. As nothing kills a game quicker than a GM who’s not feeling it and is going through the motions. Been there on both sides of the screen.

Hopefully because I’ve provided an environment using the answers to the earlier questions that enables them to relax and just have fun.

That’s a lot of “hopefully”s, but this is a question I’d mainly gone with gut feeling on before and not actually sat and thought about. I’d been using Wis instead of Int. I think I need to think more on this one, if only to better put the feelings based decisions into words.

#RPGaDay2022 – Part:4

4 – Where would you host a first game?

Wherever there’s space and snacks.

Seriously though, with the rise of gaming cafés I think these are ideal spaces for first sessions, if not full campaigns.

There’s already space provided, as trying to fit a group into someone’s cramped living space can be awkward.

It’s neutral ground, so there’s no weighting towards one person’s decisions, which I have seen get uncomfortable.

There’s food available. Trust me on this, cheesy chips go really well with D&D.

They’re often independent local businesses, and it’s nice to support those.

#RPGaDay2022 – Part:3

3 – When were you first introduced to RPGs?

Sometime in the 80s. I’d seen that bit in ET with the kids playing something and wondered what it was.

I got my first RPG not long after that, a copy of the Mentzer D&D red box. I traded a pair of jeans that didn’t fit me to my older cousin for it. He’s always been shorter than me

I still have the box, but not the books. One of those lending to someone and losing touch scenarios.

I tried unsuccessfully to get friends at primary school interested to play. However I was still fascinated by the book, and this laid the groundwork for my interest for years to come.

#RPGaDay2022 – Part:2

2 – What is a great introductory RPG?

Ooh, fuck, I’m not sure about this one. As I started in the 80s-90s with fairly crunchy systems by modern standards, which were not smooth on-ramps to the hobby.

So I guess I’d look for something that’s rules light.

If not “rules light” ideally the rules are clear and laid out in a logical manner that’s easy to follow. To prevent flipping back and forth. Also preferably with a unified core mechanic such as “throw this die, add that number, compare to target” for every subsystem

Also I would say setting could be as important, if not more so than the system. If introducing a Sci-fi fan to TTRPGs I’d probably not suggest D&D, and would go for Traveller, Aliens, Cyberpunk etc. instead. See which setting grabbed the prospective players interest first.

So my complete cop out, unsatisfying answer to this is… It’s probably different for everyone.

#RPGaDay2022 – Part:1

1 – Who would you like to introduce to RPGs?

Honestly, as I’ve introduced most people I wanted to to them, or met people through RPGS, I’d have to say probably my mum is the only one left.

She’s intelligent, quick witted and creative. I think she’d do really well with RPGs. However, despite supporting my interests since forever she’s never shown any interest in joining in.

I guess finding a setting that she would appreciate would be the first step in this. But there’s none that I can think of, especially in my collection, that would appeal to her.

#RPGaDay2022 – Part:0

So I’ve just found out August is RPGaDay month, and have decided to warm up the blog again to post something to do with this.

The prompts this month are in the graphic below. Taken from https://www.autocratik.com/2022/07/announcing-rpgaday2022-in-august.html

I may not get all of them done, as having limited contacts and no current gaming group tagging people won’t really work. But I’m sure I can some up with something to fill those gaps.