The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 31

August 31: What is the best piece of advice you were ever given for your game of choice?

Last day! I answered every question without a skip...had to use the alternate questions a few times, and these last entries kept getting shorter and shorter, but I saw it through until the end. The best piece of advice--and this goes for any game and for real life as well--is to have fun.

More good advice: take it slow.  Don't worry too much about the rules. You are either there to have a good time with your friends or  you are there trying to make some new friends to have good times with, so put your best foot forward. Don't judge ALL RPGs, players or sessions by one or two bad ones. Once you find a good group to play with, you will see that this is the kind of hobby that can last you for a lifetime. You will meet and become friends with diverse, creative people that you probably would have never met otherwise and you will tell stories about them and their characters for years and years to come, and somewhere down the line they'll be telling stories about you and your creations. Because as hokey as it may sound and at the risk of becoming the overly dramatic "It's still real to me dammit!!" pro-wrestling fan, at it's best when you are roleplaying you are creating something together. A memory just as real as any other. A shared story that is unique to you and your group at that particular time in your lives. That's something that has largely been lost in our modern society and that's why so many people cherish it.

That's it for 2016! #RPGaDay #RPGaDay2016. Stay tuned for rants about the upcoming election--beware I am a rightwing conservative. Don't worry I won't rant about Killary everyday. See you for RPGaDay2017.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 30

August 30: Describe the ideal game room if your budget were unlimited.

I would like a large, quiet room with plenty of shelf space for games and books.The air conditioner would be on and running cold.The table itself would be large enough to contain all the play materials plus huge maps, terrain and minis. I'd definitely have minis to represent whatever I needed at the table every session, and if my budget is unlimited, I'd probably have people on the payroll to paint them...and if it's REALLY unlimited they'd all be cosplayers...and good looking ones too. None of the rejects. I would make a lot more use of projectors and music.We would have nice chairs to sit in and hopefully a fully stocked and functioning bar. I'm afraid I'm not too imaginative with this one. The fact is that if I had an unlimited budget for a game room, I would have to keep expanding it to hold all of the games that I would buy. Eventually, it would be so packed with games that we'd end up playing on the dining room table or on the floor somewhere.

The RPG A Day Blog 2016 Day 29

August 29: If you could host a game anywhere on Earth, where would that be?

I would choose Japan because it's a place that I have always wanted to go, but have yet to visit. I would prefer that it be at a cooler time of year because I picture running a session outside. I would also choose to be in one of the provincial areas rather than in the heart of Tokyo. Up in the mountains would be a good place to play. Lots of nice scenery to take in, and it would be away from the noise and everything. Afterwards, we could hit the town and buy all kinds of toys, candy and the like. I'd hope to go at a time when New Japan Wrestling had a show on, so that I could check that out too.  

A friend of mine visited Ireland--another one on my to do list--and he was able to rent a castle for the weekend. That would be a cool place to play too. The problem would be finding enough friends that have the money for a trip and the time from work to take it all at the same time.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 28

August 28: What film or novel would you be most surprised that a friend had not seen or read?

In this question I'm assuming that we're talking about our RPG friends. Some of my friends--and older folks like my mom and my dad, when he was alive, just aren't into fantasy. That being said, I have one friend in particular who is into fantasy, sword and sorcery, and the like and he still hasn't seen an episode of Game of Thrones. I must give the caveat here that he doesn't subscribe to HBO and he's not the pirating type. But, it shocks me that one so into the genre hasn't found a way, by hook or by crook to at least watch a few episodes. As a conservative guy, I can see how some might want to wait for the edited for TV version that will come around eventually, but the dirty old man side of me--well, I'm not quick to change the channel when Daenerys is doing her thing. That's one. The next would be The Walking Dead. It's on basic cable, so I really don't get genre fans who haven't even given it a shot. At this point people are jumping off the bandwagon, and yet there are some who have never watched it. Then there are the big ones: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Star Wars. I just don't see how anyone interested in role play and fantasy could have avoided these properties. Granted, the Hobbit movies and the prequels for Star Wars have some non-stellar moments, but on the whole they are right in the gamer's wheelhouse. It should go without saying that reading the LOTR and the Hobbit books should be mandatory for any fantasy geek, but people don't like to read much these days. 

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 27

August 27: Describe the most unusual circumstance or location in which you have gamed.

I answered this one in an earlier post. The most unusual circumstance and location I'm playing in is right here and now in the United Arab Emirates. I'm currently having a renaissance at the table top wherein my main group is playing at least once a week and at least from my end--bringing in alternate systems to 5E once in a while. In addition, there are several opportunities for me to join in the mini-cons run by the Gulf Roleplaying Community (GRC). Those meet ups are a great distance from me, but I attend at least once a year. Granted, there are many expatriates in the community, but you'd be surprised--or maybe not surprised--by how diverse our play group is in spite of being in the Middle East...Our group sometimes looks like the Catina scene from Star Wars...speaking of which on to the alternate question.

Identify an under-represented genre in RPGs that you would like to see more of.
 
Up until recently I would have said space opera type sci-fi, but the new Star Wars games are really fun and Starfinder from Paiso sounds good too. I'm going to say that we don't get enough spy games.
Not that I remember too many of them in the first place, but I do remember Top Secret S.I.. It was a TSR game and we only played a few times, but I found it to be really fun. This is again some twenty years back that we played, but I remember that our group looked once again like the United Nations. My operative was from Japan and I made him a former sumo wrestler--long before Deadpool used the joke--only my guy didn't lose any of his weight. So, he was some giant fat dude in a tux trying to do James Bond style stuff. I can't remember the details of what we did twenty years ago, but I do remember him trying to jump between train cars and not making it. It didn't kill him, but he was hurting pretty bad. Just typing that made me remember that none of us made it to the front of that train. One guy had a grappling hook or something and went flying. The bad guy went on to do whatever it was he needed to do. I don't think we ever finished that one, but it was fun. A modern spin on it could be like Mission Impossible, 24, or Homeland. Of course, Bond is still popular too though he tends to work alone.

That's a wrap for 27

 

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 26

August 26: What hobbies go well with RPGs?

I'd have to go with reading and playing video games. I think reading helps because it gives you ideas and general structures that you can use for a campaign. It helps the DM/GM to come up with motivations for his villains and NPCs and it helps the players to do the same for their characters. Surrounding yourself with readings from a particular genre helps you to get a feel for the tropes that are expected. The group can then follow or go against them. In short, reading will inspire the group to hopefully look forward to creating their own stories and characters at the table.

The same holds true for playing video games. I particularly like the Neverwinter game even though it's not all that in terms of game play because they put a lot of the locales and personalities from Forgotten Realms into the game. It's cool when those things come up at the tabletop after I've seen the 3-D modeled version. There are bits and pieces of lore from those games that can be used as to create a story as a part of the tabletop game or just as a way to help some players visualize what's happening while they are role playing. In addition, I would put video game RPGs as an option three for people who can't find a tabletop group to play with--option two being a virtual tabletop like roll 20. They aren't quite 'there' yet in terms of giving me the satisfaction that I get from the other two options, but if there's no other choice, they at least give the player a chance to play through a story in the style of what they would find at the tabletop.

One more good thing about video game RPGs is that it helps to recruit players to the tabletop. If someone has played through a videogame RPG they know about stats, hp, exp, and in a very broad sense the goals of the tabletop. Some games, like Mass Effect for example, give the player choices for dialogue response that directly affects the game. It's only a short jump to understanding that your character at the tabletop can say anything that they want with direct implications both good and bad.

Other good hobbies that go with RPGs would be writing, map making, painting and building terrain. Playing opens up tons of creative things that a person can do with their spare time...the only thing it can't do is give us more spare time to do those things. 

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 25

August 25: What makes for a good character?

First and foremost a good character is one that you will enjoy playing for the long haul of the campaign. For whatever reason I usually find myself  playing as small female characters (gnomes, halflings, pixies..) when I'm playing fantasy which is to say most of the time. I lean more toward male characters for the other genres that I play, but we don't play those very often. I find it interesting that throughout the years my gaming groups have been made up of males almost exclusively. I've had the occasional game when a girl does play and they rarely if ever play as male characters. On the other hand, several of the male players at the table and online will choose to play as female. I'm not sure why it turns out that way. In my case, I'm pretending to be someone else for roughly 3-4 hrs a week, so I think it's more interesting to play as someone very different than the person I am in real life.

As to classes...I choose the easiest one to play. Outside of playing bards, I've never strayed too far from the original classes as far as D&D and other fantasy settings go, and usually it's either fighter or thief (rogue) then. I definitely suggest that beginners take a less complex character type to start with. It's hard to remember all of the things that a character can do. For instance, all of the characters in my party were put to sleep...including my elf character...later on I remember that elves can't be put to sleep. If I really was that elf, I wouldn't have forgotten, and there are a dozen other little things that I might forget about over the course of a session. In short, I don't like to be bogged down by the mechanics of playing my characters. You can probably guess that I don't play any of the super-complex games like RIFTs very often.

I do give my characters elaborate backstories. I know that some players are the exact opposite, and sometimes even I will go with a prebuild. But, for the most part I like to know what motivates my character to do the things that she is doing. Where did she come from? Why does she want to become an adventurer? How did she come to join the party? What are her short and long term goals? You know the things that I should be asking myself in real life. Keeping these things in mind makes the role play portion more interesting.

So for me good characters are the ones that are simple to play, that have a detailed backstory, and that allow me to explore parts of my personality that I wouldn't normally get to in real life.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016-Day 24

August 24: What is the game you are most likely to give to others as a gift?

If we're talking a gift for beginners I would have to go with the Pathfinder Beginners Box  with special mention to the D&D 5E starter . Both games are a small investment and they give the new player a taste of what role playing is all about. On the 5E starter--a lot of folks would say it's obsolete because you can get the PDFs and they give more options than the actual starter set does. I say the price is so low on Amazon and Ebay that the dice alone are worth it, and it's a nice gift to try to recruit potential new players. The Pathfinder Beginners Box in many ways is much better. The set is more fun with the maps and the standees. I recently ran the boxed set adventure with my 5E group and they really liked it. There's a certain feel to it that's slightly different than 5E. The only drawback I see here is that fewer people are playing it at the moment.

For the experienced players/GMs I would likely buy the PHB or equivalent for whatever system that I wanted to play next. It would hopefully encourage the players to read and think about new characters for the campaign. Since I like trying different systems, now would be the time to gift my players with the 7th Sea 2nd edition or the Dungeon Crawl Classics book. Both of these source books give the players and potentially the DM/GM everything they need to run the game in one book. In fact in the case of DCC a potential drawback is that it gives the players too much access to information. They have to be on their honor not to spoil themselves by looking at the adventures or monsters included in the book.

Any other board game or RPG related paraphernalia would be good gifts. You can never have enough dice.  

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 23

August 23: Share one of your best 'Worst Luck' stories.

This is a good luck story for one of the players but a bad luck story for the Storyteller and everybody else. We were playing Vampire the Dark Ages in original World of Darkness. I had a character named Erroll Synn who was pretty much a vampire Robin Hood. The party was supposed to be good guys--in as much as vampires can be, but one of the guys decided to go off the rails. He attacked a peasant right in front of everybody. My character tried to stop him, but was quickly beaten down. I would have been killed outright if I didn't have that ground meld power or whatever it was. Anyway, other party members tried to restrain the guy. It's been so long I can't fully remember how many--if any--other players were there that day, but they were all quickly dispatched. Then, the Storyteller started throwing NPCs at him who were also falling left and right. It was crazy because the guy should've been taken down fairly quickly, but everybody kept making terrible rolls. The guy ended up escaping, and if I remember right we ended the session very quickly because he went so gonzo. I can't remember how to play Vampire because it's been so long, but I know the Storyteller could have easily taken him out had he wanted to, but that night by playing "fair" and getting horrible rolls...over and over...one rouge player ruled the day. We were all laughing and it definitely became a memorable night even though I might have forgotten some of the details.  

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 22

August 22: What are some random events in your games that keep happening?

Looks like I'm set up for another short entry. They can't always be long ones. Nowadays, the groups I play with are all using 5E with various different settings. Those differences make the games feel unique although the system is the same. I still intend to shake things up with my Curse of Strahd campaign by using Dungeon Crawl Classic rules--at least in the magic system if not completely. DCC has tons of random tables in it, so I expect next year I would have a better answer for this question. As it stands it is the magic in 5E that has a strange reoccurring event. For some reason both at the live table and online the sorcerer's wild magic keeps coming up '41-42': you turn into a potted plant until the start of your next turn...' for one particular guy it happened for him twice in one combat. You're rolling on a D100 for this BTW. I also had a funny one when going oldskool and playing Dragon*Quest. I ran the  politically incorrect titled story 'The Camp of Allah Akbar'. To get to the camp the characters have to travel from their town through a vast desert. In this system their are X-number of random encounters per hour of travel. You roll under a certain number on percentile dice or you have an encounter. The guys kept getting encounters no problem, but there is a second step where you roll for the disposition of monster encountered. It's like every one of them were friendly. First, you bizarrely think a friendly rhino?  That leads you to thinking, 'What's a rhino doing in the desert in the first place?' They ran into bandits, a rival party, the rhino and an actual army all friendly and all leaving the oasis camp of the thief  'Allah Akbar'. I guess he was quite the charismatic thief to have so many prominent visitors. There was a huge monster called a 'Sand Golem' on the list that would show up if you rolled a '100'. Of course they roll a '100' eventually...it has to be. He wasn't friendly...only 'indifferent' and the party was wise enough to let him walk on by. Its current whereabouts remain unknown.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 21

August 21: What was the funniest misinterpretation of a game rule in your group?

My groups have always been fast and loose with the rules that's for sure, but for some reason or another I've never had an experience that I can remember wherein we were too far off base. That means diving back in to the pool of alternate questions:

What is your preferred method of character improvement and why?

No matter what system I'm playing, I focus on getting my Armor Class (or its equivalent) as high as I can. Almost nothing will get through my armor, so I don't worry as much about hit points. 5E is especially good for me in that regard because I can max out the DEX and bring the AC up at the same time. Then there are so many other things that can be used to further boost the defensive capabilities. If you have resistances to certain damage or the parry or duelist abilities the AC effectively keeps going up. It is rare that I'll take damage at all. Of course, if the DM really wants to kill me he can bring up a powerful monster and my AC doesn't help much with traps, but all things being equal, I think a strong defense is best.

A really short one today.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 20

August 20: What is the most challenging but rewarding system have you learned?

I'm going to go way back to Heroes Unlimited by Palladium Books. I suppose that this would apply to any title by Palladium. I remember my brother and I went from TSR's Marvel Superheroes--a very easy game that I think still holds up--to Heroes and we didn't have a clue about the complexity. As a kid/teen I read through the book over and over again even when we weren't playing. We eventually bought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness and After the bomb. After several moves I lost all of these books, and I wish I still had them. You could create practically and superhero that you wanted although I remember the book specifically shunning the guy with the 'S' on his chest and the 'god' characters, but if you tweaked things a bit you could still make similar characters.

If these questions have taught me one think it is that I am old. I played a "recent" game of heroes as an adult...realizing now that was nearly twenty years ago. The character creation was so complex and the powers at hand so detailed with minutiae that I'm sure none of my current group would want to play, but my friend made one great character:

In a time before mobile phones Sweet Daddy Sweet was one of the most successful pimps in all of Atlanta.  A man with such a large workforce and clientele list couldn't afford to miss a single call, so he loaded himself down with multiple pagers to make sure he was available 24-7. Everything went smoothly until the fateful night when his entire roster of ladies decided to check in at once. Every single pager and beeper went off at the same time ravaging Sweet Daddy Sweet's body...and when he was unable to return the calls?....they all paged him again!! This led to him gaining all of the powers of vibration and he became the Vibrating Pimp. My own character was a homeless man with a sonic scream, super speed and flame powers. So he was just a crazy homeless man running and screaming while on fire. It was good stuff. I wish we could have played more of it.

About a year ago I played RIFTs for the first time. It was a one shot at a convention. I'm glad the GM provided prebuilds because the system sure didn't get any easier. Very good game though once you learn the rules.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 19

August 19: What is the best way to learn a new game?

Short answer. By playing it. I'm sure that this will be a popular response, so I'll elaborate a bit.

* The GM needs some familiarity with the rules and his players:The GM should at least read through the quick start rules if any, and have a decent grasp of the setting and the system. He should make sure that it is something that his players will be interested in and that the system is easy/intuitive enough that most of the table can follow it. For instance, I would love to play Mouse Guard or The Burning Wheel, but I go cross-eyed trying to read the rules. I see no way that I could easily summarize them into something playable. I could lend out the rules or find a PDF to share, but I know the guys, and they don't have the time--and probably not the desire--to read up on such complex systems.

*Watch a Game Demo: It used to be that you needed to find a test play at the local game shop or at a convention, but now YouTube has  many test plays available to watch. You won't find EVERY system being played, but most have at least one vid that someone has posted. If you use Roll 20 you can ask to sit in on a group even if there are no player spots available. Seeing the game in action will give you ideas on what to do at your table and further help you decide if it's going to be a game that is worthwhile for your particular group.

*Visit the Game Website:  This is gold. The company website usually has links to FAQs, Printable character sheets, premade characters and even light rules for the game. This was impossible in the pre-internet days and remained almost unheard of until fairly recently. We do have it today and we should all take advantage of it.

*Do the best you can:  The rulesets for these games can get very complex. Like with everything else just make sure it stays fun. The game police aren't going to come around and make sure you are playing the RIGHT way. If you or your rules lawyer finds that there is an official way of doing things you can adjust accordingly if that's what you want to do or keep playing it as you like. The old folks know that once you buy these games you can use them any way you like. Just make it fun for the table.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 18

August 18: What innovation could RPG groups gain the most benefit from?

I have to say the biggest innovations in recent years have been the online virtual tabletop games. I use Roll 20, but I hear that there are other options out there too--each with their own pluses and minuses. In this post I'll try to make this one interesting but the short version is that Roll 20 is the next best thing to a live table and anyone who wants to game and has an internet connection should give it a shot. Eventually, you will find a group. The service is very easy to use on the player end. I haven't run my own game yet, but I plan to at some point and I'm currently watching the Dawn Forged Cast video tutorials on how to set up a campaign. If you are a DM and can run the software, you will be spoiled for players. The long version of my history with Roll 20 I submit to you below.

I hope I'm not contradicting my earlier blog post, but at approximately age 27 I had to give up the RPGs. It was sad, but between gaming and night shift work I felt that I would never be able to get a girlfriend let alone get married. So, I dropped the hobby. I put my energy into winning the heart of a girl...and I did get married at age 29...just barely beating out my self-imposed sell by date of 30. We kicked around as newlyweds for a year or so with me still working the dead end jobs, and the wife looking for work. Eventually, we decided that I should go back to school. So, I  worked part-time and went to school full-time including summers and I never got to game at all. Including internships it took me roughly five years to earn a Bachelor's in Secondary English Education. Finally, I was able to start gaming again with my old friends and....nope! I had to find a job. We were right in the middle of the so-called 'great recession' and I couldn't find a thing. I was very nearly going to keep working at my old movie theater job only now with a degree. Luckily, I was watching a show called 'Locked Up Abroad' and this episode was about an American teacher who taught English overseas and was locked up for selling hashish. I figured if some druggy could get a job teaching abroad that maybe I could too. That's how I found myself overseas, I taught my first class at age 35 in Taiwan where I stayed for one year. Afterwards I moved to the United Arab Emirates where I have been teaching for the last six years. Unfortunately, I still had no one close to game with. As I covered in an earlier question, this eventually led to me seeking out Roll 20. 

The first time I tried Roll 20 was with a 13th Age one shot. I enjoyed it and wanted a regular group to play with. I started playing with a regular group that ran OSRIC. I played with them for a few months leading to the release of 5E. The DM and his partner just didn't want to run anymore, so we disbanded.  I hooked up with a second group--the one that ran the Ravenloft NXT conversion--and I stuck with them for over a year. It also had co-DMs but when John Sun left the group ran on fumes and got flakier and flakier. I find that to be one of the drawbacks to using the online system. It's a lot easier to opt out of a session when you don't really know your online pals personally. After breaking up with the second group I stayed offline for over a year, but I eventually landed in my current group--flaky as ever, but as long as they don't disband I'll stick with them. I have played so many games online and met so many different people that I find it hard to imagine that the gaming community went so long without it.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 17

I gave serious thought to the main question for Day 17--the fictional character that might fit well in my most current group--but in this case I can't think of anything clever or insightful. It would be a good chance to game with Judge Dredd or Batman--or better yet to bring Sailor Mercury or Lara Croft to life--Does Ric Flair count as fictional or real? In any case not much to say here, so I'm going alternate today.

What are good ways for the group to support the host on game night?

Here are some things that can help the host--and everybody else by extension--that should be self-evident but for some reason or another are not always.

* Bring All Play Materials: Just like work or school. Bring all of your stuff and don't assume that the host has a bunch of extras for you to play with. Everybody forgets things from time to time, but at least you should have dice, pencil and character sheet.

*Update your character before the session: Unless it's session zero and you have no clue what you are doing, you should do all the maintenance on your character at home. Even if it is a new campaign you should try to have a general idea of the setting for the game and the type of character that you want to play.

*Help new players when you can: I'm assuming the 'host' is the GM. That's not always true. I have to run games at the host's venue because I live far away from everyone else and there is a baby in my house. In any case the GM has a lot to do already. If you have never run a game, give it a shot and you'll see. You can help the GM out whether he is hosting or not by helping new players. If you know the game well, then sit with a newbie and help him/her. It will make the session go much more smoothly. 

*Chip in for food or bring snacks: If food is being ordered then chip in--if nothing else bring some drinks which almost anybody can afford. If you really are short--let somebody know in private. I've never heard of any group shaming someone who can't afford to buy in, but if they start to assume you are a moocher it might bring some tension to the group.

*Be on your best behavior/know your surroundings: Some places are better for loud, boisterous gaming than others. If non-player wives, babies--or parents for you youngsters--are living with the host, then you had better be quiet or expect to find a different venue. If you are playing in a coffee shop or non-gaming specific bookstore don't act in a way that gets you kicked out.

*Clean up: Finish the session with enough time to clean up. If you are running long then be prepared to stay late. Don't leave any kind of a mess--especially if the mentioned above wives and/or parents are around--even if the host protests and says it's okay. Trust me, on the long term you had better keep it clean.

*Be responsible for your material: Keep an eye on all of your paraphernalia. The stuff isn't cheap. A lot of people are very protective of their stuff. Be sure you keep track of everything that belongs to you. If your stuff comes up missing; it often leads to resentment. Make sure you have everything before you leave the session. Who knows what may accidently get thrown away, vacuumed up or eaten in a household full of wives, moms, babies, and pets that don't know any better.

That's my story for today--We're better than half-way through, and I haven't missed one yet.

Yeah, she wouldn't want to play at the likes of my table anyway...plus, even if she did the wife wouldn't allow it.

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 16

August 16: What historical character would you like in your group? For what game?

I'm sure that there will be a deluge of answers from people clamoring to play with Hitler, but I'm going to buck the trend and choose someone nice. His name Fred Rogers from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I'm not the first person to notice this and I have nothing to do with the little meme below, but I think Mr. Rogers would kick ass running any game. First, he had the coolest set pieces: minis  that could be played with at the table and even better the full size props for LARPing. He was always clear and patient making sure that everyone knew what was going on. He gave plenty of opportunity for player input. He had several story props that would come out from time to time and Picture Picture and the Trolley would give visual and audio clues respectively alerting the players to the beginning and ending of each session. Mr. McFeely was always dropping off more stuff for Rogers--I assume it was all from Amazon and Kickstarters that he backed--so that things stayed fresh at his table. He even had girls playing. Admittedly, things went gonzo really quick with purple pandas, the bizarre relationship between Henrietta Pussycat and X the owl, and Lady Elaine Fairchilde always freaked me out, but you can just tell that he'd run the gaming table like a boss.

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 15

August 15: What types or source of inspiration do you turn to most often for RPGs?

It's music. Whenever I'm playing online I've got all sorts of different music streaming from YouTube in the background. I usually pick from the genres that I like 80's music, electronic music, J-pop, older country music and older music from Western movies, there's a group called Post Modern Jukebox that I like a lot, and Genki Rockets--even when it doesn't match the genre that I'm playing. I think the closest thing to what's going on in my head would be the old Grand Theft Auto,  Bioshock or Fallout videogame commercials or maybe the old movie 'Christine'. I hear a song and it helps me to get into a game. When I'm coming up with a live table game scenario that I want to run or creating a character that I want to play as I'll have the music going on in the background, it seems to make me focused and helps me to pass time during  the more chore-like aspects of the hobby. Oddly, I don't play music when I'm running. I'm not sure if it would enhance the game for anyone but myself as everyone likes different genres of music, and it always seems to become one more piece of cumbersome paraphernalia to keep track of.  A short one today, but that's the way it is.

RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 14

August 14: Who would be on your dream team of people you used to game with?

Fourteen days in a row...not quite half-way there, but nearly. I'll really be tested in the last week when I go back to work. Today's question is interesting, but it's another one of those wherein we'll be dropping names that none of you 12-16 folks reading my posts know...but most of them can be found on FB or YouTube lest you think I made them all up. Imma pretend that I'm a player in this thing I have four all*stars with me and a DM running the show. 

First, what do I bring to the table? As a player I'm a good listener. I usually don't say much, but I'll throw in a joke or two when appropriate, and I keep old fashioned notes about what's going on in the party. I'm no 'rules lawyer' or 'power gamer' but I have a fairly good grasp of the rules and I try to help out when I can. I'm the type who doesn't care so much if my character dies or does the smart thing as long as he/she acts the way that I think that they would. 

Next, at the DM's chair I'll throw out a shocker and say, John Sun. He was a Roll 20 DM. During the D&D NXT playtest days he built a Ravenloft scenario from the ground up that was excellent. I have yet to play a finer online game. He was in the medical field either working or as a student. I forget which but after the Ravenloft campaign he moved on due to the career if I remember correctly. I wish that I could have played more games with him. The sessions are still up on YouTube if you have the time and need something to put you to sleep, but I had a lot of fun playing as the elf ranger: Sylinn Blackleaf. 

https://youtu.be/xr1cMrJj_dM

One of my players will come from that same group believe it or not. I might be wrong, but I think his screen name was David, if you are foolish enough to actually watch the videos, you'll see who I'm talking about. He played his character to the hilt and was one of the "good" rules lawyers. I think you always need one of those in the group. It saves time looking up rules and it helps to smooth out any arguments that might arise. I'm oldskool so the DM's word is the final decision, but when a player is saying '..yeah, but...' with his reasons, it's awesome to have a guy with a good grasp of the rules to push the argument one way or the other. 

Next player will be an emotional choice for me as it is my own little brother, Shelton Markham. I started playing with him be it with He-Man or GI Joe. Our first RPG proper was D&D back when the D&D cartoons were on, but we were really too young to understand how to play. Eventually we played Choose Your Own Adventures, and Fighting Fantasy books that gave us a better grasp on what we were doing. Marvel Superheroes was our first successful campaign. We also made up our own wrestling game using the M.U.S.C.L.E. toys--the little pink guys--and lastly played the HeroQuest board game. He grew out of such things, but back in the day he was creative and funny like his big brother. I don't think he would have the time or patience for it today, but maybe someday we'll play again. 

Third player on the list I've talked about before he's my current DM, Jeremy. He runs the main campaign for my current group, but he's a player when I run things. He's very cleaver and comes up with original ideas to solve the problems that the group is having. This is a pretty good group with several that should probably make the list, but I give Jeremy the nod because he presses the limits/thinks outside of the box in what the character might do with the powers at his disposal. 

Finally, I have to give my old DM Lem Eubanks a spot at the table. He's the one who has influenced me the most in how I play. If we lived in the same area--or if he embraced Roll 20 like I keep telling him to--we would still be playing to this day. When last I played with him...possibly 15 years ago or more at this point--WoW! Answering RPG a Day Questions make me feel old!--he was still on top of his game. 

And that's my all-star team. If we really could do this I think it would be something. I'd like to see how my oldskool table top guys, current table top guys and recent online guys interacted with one another, but that's as much a fantasy as the games we play. 

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 13

August 13: What makes a successful campaign?

This is a doozy. In my thirty or so years of gaming, I can probably count completed campaigns on one hand. It's happened to me with several groups both at the live table and online. We play many episodes that build and build. Our characters continue to grow and we get used to them, but then something happens. I'll list some of the things that have stopped our campaigns: players moving, players getting married, players having a new baby,players having a long term illness, player's loved one with a long term illness, player's loved one passing, player passing--that's a campaign killer for sure--, having a new edition come out, having a new game system come out, general boredom with campaign or current characters, the odd TPK that nobody wants to come back from (although technically that did complete the campaign), work/school schedules changing, longer than expected hiatuses (holidays and vacations), and another biggie--inconsistent players.

I've come to the realization--at least for me and my groups--that as long as everybody is having a good time in the process that it really doesn't matter if we 'complete' a campaign with a beginning, middle and end. I look at my games as multiple one-shots. I do try to keep a consistent plot that connects everything, but if we end before that plot is completed, it really doesn't hurt anything. I seem to be dodging so I'll make a quick list for a successful campaign:

1. Consistent Players--most of the ups and downs of real life that I mentioned can be weathered with enough planning and compromise. Sometimes that compromise is leaving the campaign, but that's better than being flaky. Keep the communication open at all times, and don't even start up if you know that your schedule will constantly conflict with game times. Most groups are okay with having a one-shot pallet cleanser from time to time if you just ask. Getting to play once a month is better than not playing.

2.Game System/Game Setting--The best campaigns are the ones where both the players and the DM/GM are in agreement on which game that they want to play. If the players hate westerns or if the DM is clueless about running 13th Age it may not be the best system/setting to play. Again, I'm a fan of the one-shot/multi-shot pallet cleanser. It's fun to play new systems/settings as a break from the main campaign. RPGs aren't exclusively D&D or Medieval Fantasy y'know...give the new ones and old ones a chance. Just make sure the main campaign is a system/setting that everyone will enjoy playing. A good 'session zero' is essential.

3.Venue--Like the best sessions question from earlier. There must be a good place to play with little distractions. If you want to play, then be there in body and spirit to play. If you want to come over and watch movies and eat, then that's good too, but let's all agree for it. In as much as we can we should try to play through each session so that the story can move forward. If you are in an online campaign try to have a good connection if at all possible, and treat everyone as if you were at a live table. I've found the flakiest players online--of course some of those guys are no nothing high school kids, so I'll let it slide. If it comes between playing with us or going out on a date...take the date...but at least give a notice :) 

4.Management--Usually a DM job, but not always. This is a wide net that encompasses all of the items I listed  above and below. Known hiatuses should be taken into consideration. I play primarily with fellow teachers and college students. We know when winter/spring/summer breaks and holidays are coming, so we plan our games accordingly. When the break ends, the DM needs to start reigning the players back in too. I hate hiatuses from the game...I'm fine with long hiatuses from work. If there are true problem players--like that total racist dude we encountered--then DM really has to step up and address that problem one way or another. Usually, the quicker the better. If fatigue is setting in then the DM may want to delegate authority or let one of the other players run a session or two--yeah, my pallet cleanser again. DM is like the quarterback of the campaign...right or wrong he's the man...and traditionally you are playing at his house with his stuff anyway. As adult players behavior is usually a non-issue, we don't have enough time to act like assclowns, and we've been around long enough to know not to get kicked out of a group because there aren't that many groups around.

5.Fun--Just to repeat the most important factor is that everybody--including the DM--has fun. Personally, if the players aren't having fun in my campaign I like to know. Nobody wants to sit around bored. Sometimes a setting or a campaign just doesn't click the way you thought. Sometimes a preset module becomes a slog and you have to end things prematurely or find some other way to freshen things up. There is nothing wrong with that in the least. For the most part even the youngest players these days have only so long that they can play. We've made the choice to play with each other so we had better make it the best time that we can. Make it fun and keep it light.

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 12

August 12: What game is your group most likely to play next? Why?

My current group is made up of a lot of teachers, the husband of one teacher and a couple of off and on college kids who play with us when they can. As such we are now on hiatus for summer break. A summer break that is quickly falling into its death throws. This time next week the air will be filled with the sounds of wailing and gnashing of teeth as our final week of vacation will come to an end. On the plus side, we should be back into the gaming swing of things that same week. 

We kind of rotate DM/GM duties in this group. The main GM is my friend Jeremy he'll usually run the bulk of the time, but when he's getting worn out or lacking in material--I usually take over. We both are currently somewhat running D&D 5th--he's doing an Underdark campaign while I'm running The Curse of Strahd. We both ran intros to our newest campaigns late this Spring trying to anticipate who would be back for the new year. We know that we are losing one player for sure and that one of the group got married, so there's no telling how strict the wife is going to be. Either she'll reign him in to staying home everyday or maybe he'll be able to pull her to hang with us. That means that although we were being careful--there's still going to be some fallout. Which leads to today's question...

There are two games that I'm going to try to run this year, both of which I hope will further differentiate my campaign from my partner's. First, since we are going into the Halloween season and since we've already played the campaign intro I'll be sticking with the Ravenloft  setting and Curse of Strahd, but with a twist. I've decided to run the campaign using Dungeon Crawl Classics rules. I got turned on to this system over the summer and have read a great deal of the book. I especially like their magic system. Converting monsters to DCC looks like it will be fairly easy and I've already found a conversion system for the 'funky dice'. Don't let the size and the initial look of complexity about the system fool you. Once you get to reading you should find that the tables and the like are mostly for flavor. The core game mechanics are very simple--maybe not D&D5 simple, but certainly not Pathfinder complex either. Honestly, depending on how the guys play, there is more than enough material in Curse of Strahd to last the whole school year, but if we get tired of playing or if we get a TPK and the guys want something different, from my end that something different will be The 7th Sea. I backed the Kickstarter for this one and it looks great. My hard copy text arrived this very day and all of us backers have had access to the PDF version for quite some time. I ran the playtest version of the rules a while back with a few of the guys and they all liked it. Again, playing this system will give the guys a different set of mechanics to work with and in turn (hopefully) keep our 5E play fresh.

I recommend that everyone take the time to play different systems--old and new--whenever they can. They make for good palette cleansers between campaigns or a good one shot anytime. You may find a system or a game mechanic that you like and you can incorporate it in your regular games.

           

     

The RPG a Day Blog 2016 Day 11

August 11: Which gamer that you have played with has most affected the way that you play?

I would almost take a look at the alternate questions for this one. It's not that I don't have an answer, but I assume that naming names won't be all that interesting to people who don't even know the friend that you are talking about. My good friend Lemuel Eubanks--he's also real and on Facebook--has consistently run games from elementary school up to this very day. He was the DM of my main group from about '92 to '01~'02ish. In '92 I would have been 18 years old and a fresh high school grad.

I would tell you of the glorious times of those years. We would play AD&D, World of Darkness (old versions), RIFTs, Deadlands, various titles from Palladium and others. On top of that we also had a Blood Bowl league, Warhammer Fantasy and 40k, and video game tourneys and anything else that we could get our hands on to play or read. WCW and WWE were appointment television during this time. I once had over a dozen of the guys (and a couple of girls?!) watching PPVs in the bedroom of my parent's mobile home. I developed an unhealthy obsession with the Sailor Moon anime--ah, sweet Sailor Mercury the best of the sailor scouts--This didn't even count the partying or the fact that a lot of the guys were also playing in bands--not me I'm not musically inclined. Most of us kept regular jobs too...when I think back on those times like I'm doing now, I realize that we were a lot more productive than I gave us credit for. Things started to "fall apart" as they often do because we got older. I didn't want to be single for the rest of my life, so I started being proactive in terms of looking for a wife and...for better or for worse...that just won't happen if you are spending all of your free time at the gaming table. Maybe it's getting better for some of you young single gamers nowadays, but it wasn't going so great fifteen years back. The upshot is that I pretty well missed all of third edition D&D while I was on hiatus, but I did manage to gain the wife that I wanted, so I have no regrets there. I've since had a great renaissance--some details of which have already been blogged about earlier-- and I play more consistently each week than we ever did in our prime.  

Enough of that...back to talking about my once and (hopefully) future DM, Lem. Nowadays there are many innovations and refinements to playing that those of you who are not oldskool won't appreciate. The games often took an adversarial tone between the DM and the players. Some still run this style today, but most have concepts like 'fail forward' or 'player narrative' and 'encounter balance' that just didn't typically fly back in the day. Lem was doing that sort of thing before it was cool. He literally let us get away with just about anything that we wanted to try and yet the narratives ran fairly smoothly. Most of the time the other players and I were--unintentionally--wrecking the game.

I remember a time when we were hired by an NPC fighter and his halfling friend to explore some old ruins...as soon as we got down in the dungeon...My PC crushed the halfling's head with his warhammer...the rest of the party then killed the NPC fighter...we were far too chaotic. We searched around on our own and found a necromancer sitting at his desk. He wouldn't look at us and never attacked. He pretty much just told us to bugger off. We couldn't attack him either and had no idea what to do...this taught us all a lesson. It isn't that you need to be "railroaded" as PCs, but if you want a story to make sense, you should go along with the DM on logical things. It makes it more fun for everybody. He was also the type of DM that would let individuals go off on tangents...he never killed a character who didn't deserve it, but that's not to say it never happened. All of the guys remember an 'Orange' D20 that Lem had. It was a killer of many PCs across many different game systems. He had kept it for years and it's a part of our group lore. He finally lost it during a recent move, and we think of it as the one ring...biding its time in the shadows somewhere waiting for the perfect time to show up again. I hope to play with him and the guys and get the band back together someday, orange D20 or no.

  I had to post this comic from a couple of years ago. Not that there's anything wrong with Pathfinder, but it isn't The Old Testament. Play a real oldskool game and Pathfinder becomes more like Scientology. 

The RPG A Day 2016 Blog Day 10

August 10: What was the largest in-game surprise you have experienced?

I'll go back about twenty plus years ago for this one. It may be a standard story that you've played through before, I have no way of knowing, but if so just skip to the last paragraph. 

My good friend, Don Tibbitts ran a session of AD&D for me and our mutual friend James R Howard--look for them on Facebook. Our characters ran into a sad Ogre sitting on an old tree stump. He was forlorn and in no mood for a fight, in fact he wanted to hire us to do a favor for him. Nasty little goblins showed up in the middle of the night and quickly stole his club and all of his treasure. He could not pursue them because they were able to sneak into small places that he simply couldn't get into, and he had no weapon to fight them with in any case. If we would take the job and bring his treasure back, he would split half of his gold with us. We took the job, and long story short we were able to get the treasure chest and the club back to its proper owner. The ogre thanked us, promptly used the club to break the lock off of the chest and then opened it up. He pulled an enormous set of false teeth from the chest and inserted them into his mouth. He then reached in and pulled out his one gold coin and bit it in half. He gave the 1/2 GP to the two of us along with his undying gratitude for our help. SURPRISE!

So, it turned out to be a one shot game for the pair of us. I've run a similar scenario a few times, and I'm surprised that nobody has ever picked up on what is about to happen. If you want to try I would suggest to keep it short and funny, so that the players don't get upset for 'wasting' time on the joke. Don Tibbitts is currently all about the board games and he has a YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5v8uRCMdzHXgEOZC4rtbXg

A lot of funny playthroughs and unboxings, but no too many viewers. Give him a look. 

James R. Howard is a freelance comic artist that you guys may also enjoy:

https://www.facebook.com/Frankenart-animation-275284909179829/?fref=ts

Enough of that I'm just showing the 14 or so of you who have read my stuff that these people are real. :)

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 9

August 9: What things are a part of your ideal session, other than the actual game?

At a live table the first thing I need since I live out in the remote area of the Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi is a venue that is relatively close. There was a time when I was travelling six hours every weekend just to play. It was still worth it to me but I knew it would be something that couldn't be sustained. Three hours up, a three to four hour session, and three hours back does not make for a happy non-gaming wife. Beyond that the ideal session needs to have pizza and soda. I find that my groups really don't drink alcohol too much during sessions. It's never been banned or anything as a house rule and we will have beer and wine access from time to time, but it doesn't seem to turn up so much. I like having lots of room with little distraction. Although "the game" isn't the only thing we do each week, we are friends and colleagues and we all like to shoot the breeze about real world stuff for a bit, but gaming is the main reason that we are there. We only have around three hours max each week, so we really do push to fill most of that time with gaming. Personally, I prefer sessions that keep the non-player visitors to a minimum. Observing friends are fine if they are tying to learn to play or just getting some entertainment out of our antics, but I'm not as fond of people milling around watching TV or having deep conversations while the game is running.

My online sessions have slightly different requirements. I prefer to play in groups that don't use webcams. I currently play with guys that use text chat only, but I can go with voice only if needed. By choosing this option I can sit and play in my underpants, and no one will be the wiser. It's just like when I type these blogs. I like to get up extra early in the morning while the wife and baby are asleep. Crying baby and nagging wife can ruin a game. I play my favorite 80's and J-pop from the youtubes and I make lots of coffee and eat lots of snacks. If I'm lucky and quiet enough I don't have to share with anybody. My books are all nearby in case I need to rules lawyer and clean up is quick and easy. That'll do for today. 

#RPGaDay

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 8

August 8: Do you prefer hardcover, softcover, or electronic books? What are the benefits of your preference?

It will be a short one today. My preference is hardcover. Hardcover books are in it for the long haul. They are durable and I like being able to flip to a certain section quickly. I like using physical book marks and post-its. It just has a better feel for me. The downside is that they are heavy, expensive and take up a lot of space.

Softcover comes in second place for me. They are lighter and sometimes cheaper, but I find that they take up just as much space and are less durable. There are occasions when a full-sized softcover is very nearly the same price as a book with a nice hardcover.

Last but not least, electronic books. I don't like them as much because I'm old and like the feel of physical copies in my hands. I find that it is still easier to flip to a section in a printed copy than it is to scroll through to a particular section. The device has to be charged and sometimes that charge doesn't last as long as you would think. If you change devices, you have to transfer all the data, and that can take a while. There is always a chance that you can lose data as well...or the files might be corrupted. On the plus side, most downloads are going to be cheaper...at least they should be. You can bring many volumes with you on a tablet or smartphone and it's easy to access out of print materials. Anything that can help to lighten the load and lessen the paraphernalia can't be all bad.

...and that's all I've got for today.

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 7 #RPGaDay

What aspect of Roleplaying Games has had the biggest effect on you?

For day seven--and this has been one quick week to be sure, two more weeks of vacation and then it's back to work for me--we have a very interesting question. My response is that roleplaying, among other things, has taught me to be more open to making new friends. This goes both for online and in person. If you want to play you need to have players, and preferably one of those players needs to be GM. I'm going to paint with a broad brush here, but quite a few of us RPG enthusiasts are naturally introverts. That makes it a lot harder to get a new group together. As a kid I ran games for my brother and his friend. I later latched on to a gaming group right after graduating high school. These were friends of friends that eventually became friends with me--but in every case, I had never gone in "cold". My friends and I played for years and years when our schedules meshed up well enough. Some of the guys were more outgoing than others, but for the most part we were a closed group, and nobody got in...especially not girls, and nobody wanted in...especially not girls. I was well into my 20's before I got over my shyness and most of the credit for that goes to my wife. Surprisingly, all the guys have been married at least once at this point, but it was touch and go there for a while. As an aside, I'll never bad talk RPGs. I've been playing literally 30+ years now, but if there is one drawback to playing, it is that even today for the most part it's all male. So, single guys need to beware and single girls need to recruit more female players. I intend to teach my daughter to play as soon as she's old enough. To go by the nightmare stories that I've read in blogs, I've been lucky with new people. There has been only one encounter wherein a friend of a friend brought a guy over to a session and he was totally racist. I'll never forget him because he looked like the lost Ramone and he was just going nuts. Slur after slur, and not in a locker room "this guy's a jerk, but he's kind of endearing" kind of way either. He was ugly both literally and figuratively, but we're going to talk about positives.

I teach English to ESL high school boys in the United Arab Emirates. I won't go into great detail about this because we are, as I said, trying to stay positive--two weeks and they drag me back in!! You can probably guess that among my RPG playing group of friends I was the only one who decided to seek his fortune abroad. When I arrived I had a hard time finding anybody to play with. My fellow newly arrived teachers wanted nothing to do with it, and weren't even open to giving it a go just to humor me.I did try to play a little with my students; small group of guys, interactive storytelling and interesting dice to roll? We had a shot, but they were more for roll playing instead of role playing. Once they were bored of the polyhedrals I had to drop it. I still wanted to play, and I knew it would mean going in 'cold'. I remembered that it was the internet age and I started looking there. I was surprised to find that right here in the middle of nowhere--relatively speaking as Abu Dhabi and Dubai are actually world renowned, I'm the one who lives in the sticks--that there was a very active group of players on Facebook called the Gulf Roleplaying Community. It turned out to be a very diverse group with expatriates from many different countries and even a few locals. It was shocking. I've been a member of the group for five years now and it hasn't ceased to amaze me that so many from the Middle East are engaged in RPGs that aren't rocket propelled grenades.Even more shocking is that there are a fair amount of female players and even GMs. This past May I played my first live table with a female GM. She went all out with terrain and everything. These are friends that I would have never met if not for a shared love of RPGs. Love of playing > Fear of strangers.

Isn't this the way we all learned how to RPG...or was it just me?

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 6

A little late with my entry today as far as United Arab Emirates is concerned...but better late than never. I hope to answer every question this year, so on with today's entry:

August 6: What is the most amazing thing that you know a game group has done for their community?

On a weekly basis the best thing that my group does for the community is to be absent from it for three hours. Reports of deviltry and debauchery drop at least 20% between the hours of  5 P.M. to 8 P.M. each Sunday while productivity throughout the community increases.

There is a big group that does a lot for kids called generation On http://generationon.org and right now until August 19th you can support them  and get a My Little Pony/Dungeons and Dragons mash up T-Shirt:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/dungeons-dragons-teams-my-little-pony


It's something you can do and you can get a nice shirt....but you have to hurry.

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 5 #RPGaDay

August 5: What story does your group of players tell about your character?

So, we're into day five and I get to tell you about another character. Probably my favorite player character is my female, gnome bard named Nissa Fumblebuck. Originally I created her for a Roll 20 13th Age one-shot, but I liked her so much that I brought her into my D&D games as well. I have run her in two roll 20 games--including one I'm in now--and I did my best to recreate her in Neverwinter for XBone, but she had to be a halfling rogue in that one. I don't know if any of my online friends tell stories about her or not, but from the start her gimmick was to sing anachronistic songs for her magic attacks...many lols were had at the expense of one Mr. Justin Bieber. Fortunately, for the other players and the DM these were text only affairs. This and her name seem to go over well whenever I play her. 

I eventually got to play as Nissa with a live table. The DM had me sing one time--extra exp I couldn't say no--and that was enough for everyone involved. The guys at the table remember Nissa most for her pet white rat named Baldric (named for the Black Adder character). All forest gnomes can talk to small animals, and Nissa had the rat because of the street urchin background. Whenever we came to an impasse the whole party allowed Baldric to be the arbiter. The DM was good with it, so I'd roll a % die and the stronger he felt about which way to go or what to do from the options that Nissa gave him we'd all follow. Now those sorts of situations pop up in the current campaign the guys wish that Nissa and Baldric were there.  

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 4

Day 4: Best thing another player's character has done!

I'm going to continue talking about the campaign from yesterday, and the character of Akemenos. Akemenos, a male, tiefling wizard, had--and continues to have--a hard time in this campaign. The party found two potions and a ceremonial blade in an altar to Lolth. At that time my character, Krusktina, the newly female half-orc/drow hybrid that I mentioned yesterday, showed great interest in all of those items. Akemenos wisely tried to keep them from her. The only other party member present for this exploration was a male, half-elf rogue named Fox. The two dwarf fighters had yet to join the group.As a half-elf Fox immediately distrusted Krusktina, but for whatever reason both he and Akemenos felt that she should accompany them back to the surface rather than leave her behind.

The next morning at camp Krusktina went off to perform a ritual to Lolth while Fox tried to catch some fish. This left Akemenos alone and he decided to investigate the loot...rolls a successful check on the white potion which he learns is a potion of life...rolls a '1' on the black potion and collapses. Krusktina beat Fox back to the campsite. She took all of the items, but poured the black potion down the wizard's throat. <she didn't know what either potion did so we rolled random and black was the choice>. This potion left Akemenos somewhere between life and death. A little bit like the old Weekend at Bernie's movie. When Krusktein went bats and left the party to become an NPC (as detailed in yesterday's post) she took the ceremonial blade and white potion with her. Akemenos was thought dead, so he was buried in the town cemetery, he had to dig his way out of the grave, and in doing so he nearly gave the human undertaker a heart attack. Eventually, the reformed party--including my new character set out to find Krusktina and the white potion which Akemenos knew to be a potion of life. 

Krusktina was tracked to an old dwarven mine which had long since been infested with trolls and other beasts. Akemenos eventually found himself in a wizard's study and began to experiment with some of the equipment...rolls a '1'....the DM essentially gave him a mulligan because a fumble with this equipment would cause an explosion that he couldn't survive, so you know....he rolls a '1'...fate of dice and all that...Akemenos is blown to bits and all of the skin and internal organs are burned from his body. Yet, because of the potion he is still in a state between life and death. We took his skull and carried it around for a while trying to find a new body for him. The skull could still talk and cast verbal spells. We were eventually able to get his skull grafted into the body of a slime...and that's where he remains to this day, but he's still holding out hope for an upgraded body soon.

The RPG a Day 2016 Blog Day 3

Day 3: Proudest In-Character Moment  #RPGaDay


Krusk a generically named male half-orc ranger had the best moment for me this year. Krusk--like many half-orcs was the product of a sexual assault. Krusk's Orcish mother, whom he never met, had her way with his human father forcibly and after the gestation period left him on his father's doorstep. He grew up to be an outland ranger who made his living by hunting and selling furs. All the while he hoped to find his long, lost mother. Father, who was a meek accountant, did nothing to dissuade the young Krusk as he and most of the townsfolk felt the less they saw of Krusk the better. That was all background when he hooked up with the party they ended up finding a Drow stronghold. Through a series of unfortunate events Krusk developed an Oedipus relationship with Lolth herself. He started performing rituals every night and getting more and more strange. The party eventually fought with two mummified female thralls of Lolth. Krusk dropped to his knees and refused to fight. Instead he took one of the mummy's hands and placed it over his heart. The DM decided to fuse the characters creating a hybrid Drow/half-orc female...who became known as Krusktina.

I held on to her as a PC for one more session. The remaining party members were willing to continue adventuring with her and gave her a turn at watch when we set up camp. When they woke up all of their items were gone, the two dwarves in the party had their beards sheared, and the tiefling wizard was in a state somewhere between life and death that to this day we haven't been able to fix. The DM made Krusktina an NPC, and I had to roll up a new character after that madness. We've run into her a couple of times since then, but currently she is still at large. It was strange that in a year when transgender issues were all the rage, that we ended up having a transgender/trans-race character and I assure you we weren't even trying. 

The RPG A Day 2016 Blog Day 2

August 2: What is the best game session you have had since August 2015?

Over the past two years I've been lucky enough to be a part of a group than can consistently have weekly sessions. We are all expatriates in the United Arab Emirates. Most of us are English teachers but we have one house husband and a couple of university students that play as well. Between this group and Roll 20 I've been able to play more games than I have in the past thirty years of off and on gaming. That brings me to today's question and what was the best session of the year.

We have had some very memorable sessions. Sometimes I run and sometimes I play. I'm going to be a narcissist and choose a session that I ran. We started The Curse of Strahd campaign just before summer break. I didn't want to get too far into it because we would soon be on hiatus, so I ran the Death House. ******SPOILERS FOR DEATH HOUSE******The party was a dragon born paladin, a human monk, a dwarven cleric, a halfling rogue, and two gnomes--sorcerer and wizard. There were a couple of moments of real tension--the railroady mists of Barovia pushing the party forward as pursuing wolves howled in the distance and the encounter with the Durst children in their bedroom brought borderline scares to the grown men. The part with Walter Durst and his nanny was so disturbing as written that I decided to soften it a bit to give a "happy" ending. From the combat perspective the adventure could have been a TPK if that's what I wanted. The Animated suit of armor very nearly killed the cleric and the halfling rouge pressed her ear right up against the mimic door to near death results. After the encounter with the ghouls I had to give the guys an extra rest or just kill them outright. It resulted in the ghast encounter being a little anticlimactic, but I just didn't think they could survive otherwise. The most memorable part for me was that the party manged to remain loyal to each other...at least so far. Throughout the adventure I had Strahd targeting the paladin and the cleric each time they used their divine powers. He also targeted the halfling because of his weakness for the ladies. I passed several notes between these players asking them to sacrifice one of the gnomes in exchange for partial rulership of Barovia. I left the monk to his own devices until he ended up touching the altar toward the end of the story--at which point I gave him a note also. In the end, nobody chose to 'Make Barovia' great again and all of the characters managed to survive...although the gnome sorcerer wasn't conscious to enjoy the victory. #RPGaDay

The RPG A Day 2016 Blog Day 1

I only created this blog to give more detailed answers to the #RPGaDay questions for 2016. I might talk more about RPGs, Wrestling, anime and corrupt Clintons as time goes on but largely this is just for RPG A Day.

Day 1: Do you prefer to use real dice, a dice application or program, or use a diceless system?

Real dice is the way to go because they are visually and kinetically satisfying. That makes for more fun than pressing a button on a phone. We're looking at phones and screens all the time, so let the real dice roll.

That's a short entry but as the days pass the questions get more complex...and everybody is just dying to know what someguy thinks about RPGs.