RPG a Day 2018: Day 11...Wildest Character Name...

I usually give my characters punny names or else give obscure references that only older people may "get". I'll give you a few of my better efforts with an explanation for the reference if needed.

Coco Lopez: She's a Mexican-American news reporter in my Cyberpunk 2020 game. She's named for a popular coconut flavored drink mixer.

KiraKira: She was my Ryuujin character from the Japanese RPG, Ryuutama. One of her forms was a pixie. If you read one of the earlier entries from this month, you'll know that KiraKira is the Japanese word for glitter. Glitter was the name of a little pixie in the 80's cartoon Kidd Video. There's the connection

Gnissa Fumblebuck: She is a forest gnome, street urchin, rogue for D&D 5E. I gave her a little mouse pet named Baldric. I had never heard of Minsc and Boo, but we were doing much of their shtick. 'Stumbleduck' was a suggested gnickname for gnomes in the PHB, but I think mine goes one better, and the obvious silent 'g' in 'Gnissa' is a longstanding thing for gnome gnames.

Amber "Spade" Spayed: Another race from D&D with nicknames are the Tabaxi. Amber was a rogue with the scout background from unearthed arcana. Spade was a cool nickname for a rogue...and spayed is what you do to control the pet population among cats. She was also billed as being from the Heath Cliffs.

Kendall Ling: Red Dragonborn Monk. kindling is related to making fires and Ling sounds like an Asian name.

Darville Frostbeard: He was a mountain dwarf and a bootlegger of fine ale. Darville is of course the surname of Bo "Bandit" Darville in Smokey and the Bandit.

Syllin Blackleaf: A female wood elf fighter. Blackleaf was the name of a character in Jack Chick's infamous 'Dark Dungeons' gospel tract.

Mabaho Ako: from the anthropomorphic animal game, Iron Claw. I had a female skunk named 'I stink' more or less when translated from Tagalog--my wife's home language from the Philippines.

Caladium Araceae: Yet another female this time a Pixie ranger from D&D 4th. Toward the end of 4th they released Heroes of the Feywild marking one of the few times a Pixie was officially stated as a player character. The pun here is Caladium which is a poisonous plant from South America that means Angel Wings...it also means Elephant Ears, so she had big ears to be teased about.

I'm sure there are others and I haven't even started with NPCs yet, but I think that's enough for today.

RPG a Day 2018: Day 10...How has gaming changed you?

It's therapy day on RPG a Day for 2018 with the prompt 'How has gaming changed you?'

Before I go into what gaming has done and continues to do for me, I will first give credit to God, my Christian upbringing and my family--mom, dad, and younger brother back in the old days--without which no amount of gaming in the world would have saved me. In spite of the fact that my dad was working all the time, we never a lot of money growing up. He worked all of his life and really never got ahead. However, he did have a successful marriage, and raised two boys who are at least somewhat functioning members of society. Ultimately, Dad was able to retire happily for a few years, before we lost him back in December of 2010. I love him, respect him, and wish that he was still here today, but some of his financial and "career" choices set the family back for years. We made a lot of moves--some lateral and some for the worse--meaning going to different schools in different towns and never getting to form "lifelong friends". Adults from a certain era--my parents were born in the 40's--didn't understand how important it was for a child, especially an introverted one, to develop strong social skills. I'm sure they were more concerned with keeping us in food, water, clothing and shelter, but it didn't make the time any easier. It's hard to go through high school with little or no friends--depending on what year it was. I more or less missed out on everything that an American high school student expects to do aside from the graduation ceremony--and I wouldn't have even done that had my parents not insisted. It doesn't bother me as much now, but I still remember the feeling at age 44 and if I live long enough I'll remember at age 104. So, aren't we supposed to be talking about RPGs...yeah, and here's the abridged version of how they've been around like the "life long friend" I never got to make in Elementary School.

Firstly, lets talk about the preteen years. These were stable times for the most part. I lived in Georgia in the States attending 1st grade all the way to the beginning of grade 7, so as a "kid" kid things weren't so bad really.When I was only nine years old apparently, my interest in Dungeons and Dragons started with the animated series. I was also into the Choose Your Own Adventure books especially a series called Time Machine. I was crazy about the dinosaur one. At some point here my brother and I did buy a D&D book of some kind as I remember it, but since my parents weren't into it and neither were any cousins or anything like that, we had to experiment on our own. I thought it was the AD&D Thieves Screen, but that wouldn't be for another ten years. Damn that Mandella Effect. At any rate if we really had such a thing, we were too young for it. We had He-Man and Visionary toys, but never got any of the D&D ones. Living in the South we did encounter the whole Satanic Panic of the 80's but it wasn't too bad. Mom and Dad were just glad we were reading. CHANGE: You can be a Christian and still be in to fantasy, horror or anything else. It's important that one knows the difference between fantasy and reality. 

Second, these are my early teen years. I was in fact just turning 13 when one of my Dad's bad moves happened. We left the schools we were used to and moved to Alabama. Now, it's nothing that's like a drive of a few hours, but it was horrible as I recall it and the start of a downturn in my life. My brother and I got into the Fighting Fantasy books and the lesser known Wizards, Warriors and You books from my new school library. The town we lived in called Jackson, Alabama was really screwy. Their high school started with 7th grade, so there were guys my age just turning thirteen, going to the same campus as guys who were eighteen or better. It wasn't a great time by any means. My brother and I also came up with a wrestling game for our M.U.S.C.L.E. toys. These were small pink wrestler toys from Japan. They were relatively cheap and we made a rudimentary RPG with them. CHANGE: Seeing my brother as a collaborator and friend...although he'd outgrow almost all of our hobbies including RPGs. The Alabama experiment lasted for a year and we were back in Georgia, but another different town where I knew no one. I did get to make one nerdy friend and his dad had the first edition D&D we tried to play it, but it was too tough for us. Had his dad been available to teach we would have probably gotten into it. CHANGE: You can make friends through gaming. Things were quiet on the RPG front for about two years when my dad decided it was moving time again. At some point during this my brother and I finally hit the big time. We went to the Atlanta comic-book convention known as Dragon Con. This led to me playing and running games of Marvel Superheroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other Strangeness, After the Bomb and finally Heroes Unlimited. This was the time that I also bought my first set of dice. I ran for a couple of years sometimes only for my little brother and other times with him and one of his friends. I remember specifically playing a Marvel Superheroes session with the whole family. Of course, Mom and Dad were just humoring us I'm sure--and Dad's actions with Marvel's 'The Thing' from Fantastic Four would have gotten him banned from all social media if he had pulled it nowadays. CHANGE: Gaming can be fun for all ages.

Third of all, a peek at my late teens and early twenties. As far as switching schools was concerned, I finally had enough and as clearly as I could explain, beg, and threaten, I told the 'rents that I would drop out if we switched again. I just couldn't be the new kid anymore. We did move yet again, but I didn't switch schools. Not that I liked my school. In deed I hated it for the most part. No gaming was to be had in those years unless it was my brother and I only, and if I remember, he'd already started to turn at this point. I got my fix through video games. I really enjoyed the game Wizardry on the old NES and I fell in love with reading the strategy guide. I wish I still had it. I would bring it to school almost everyday and one of my classmates started calling me 'The Wizard'. For the most part I muddled through my high school career and finally graduated. CHANGE: In a pinch you can have fun reading about games and systems even if you never get to play them. Video Games are not the equal to a live table top, but they are a suitable replacement if you have no other choice...they're also pretty fun. So, after graduation I ran into one of the few friends that I had made over the years at  a showing of Batman Returns. We got together and through them my gaming hit at what until that point was an all time high. We played: AD&D,  Vampire the Masquerade, Deadlands, GURPs, and more Heroes Unlimited. In addition we were going nuts with the board games like Blood Bowl and Warhammmer (in all its guises including Quest) CHANGE: You can use games to make friends II and there is a great variety of games, systems and genres available. If you can get people to play games with you, then you can expand to other interests and make lots of friends. This went on for years and years throughout my early twenties, and I remain friends with these guys to this day. We're mostly Facebook friends, but we still keep in touch and once in a while we get a chance to see each other, but those chances are few and far between and they usually don't involve gaming.

Fourth, we'll look at my late 20's up to the 30's. So, we were in gamers' paradise there for a bit, but you'll notice that one thing was lacking...girls. CHANGE: Man cannot live by games alone. If you game too much--even today I might add--you are unlikely to encounter romance. For all the Satanic Panic and witchcraft worries this is the real danger in gaming. You are 'investing' lots of time and possibly lots of money into the hobby. People in my day, and to a certain extent to this day, see RPGs as a weird thing. If you look like a basement dweller odds are against any girls following you home to your basement to play, it's just a fact. Nowadays, with Roll*20, streaming games, and the geek is chic thing going on, you may have better luck than guys of my time had. If so, more power to you. If not, you may have to break away like I did. I pushed hard to get a wife--even then in a geeky way having found her via the web browser on my Sega Dreamcast during the infancy of internet dating. She isn't a gamer as far as RPGs go--she doesn't understand a game with no winner--and she doesn't like cartoons, but at least she'll watch scary movies with me. CHANGE: Gaming can get you so far, but not everybody likes it, and that's okay. So, having now obtained a bride I had to start focusing on things to have a successful, continuous marriage. I went back to university and got my teaching degree. In those four years, all I could do was to fall back on video games, but Roll*20 and a great change was just ahead.

Finally, and I should give milestone level up to whoever reads this far, how are things today? I got back into RPGs while teaching because I remembered how much fun I used to have playing and I thought it would be an interesting way for the students to get into reading...it didn't work. As I had already learned, it's not for everybody. I had to drive a long way, but I managed to find a small group to play with in the UAE, eventually got hooked up with the large Gulf Roleplaying Community--which is still too far away, but I check in from time to time, got into Roll*20 where distance doesn't matter, and helped to start up a small group much closer to home that will be entering it's fourth active year. CHANGE: If you think something is worth doing, find a way to do it. Somewhere along there I managed to obtain a daughter who will soon be four years old. I have every intention of introducing her to the hobby and she's already good at Role Playing without dice.

The biggest change RPGs brought to me was self-confidence. I went from a guy who would barely speak--and who to this day would still prefer to be silent--or even look anyone in the eye to making my living by standing up in front of people day in and day out. I try to play a role in every professional situation that I'm in...sometimes I pull it off better than others, but its a skill that I am fairly good at. In social situations, gaming is a very good icebreaker. Once you've gamed with someone, it opens the doors to talking about all sorts of other subjects and enjoying other activities together. Gaming has helped me to think critically, and imaginatively. This is very useful for spending time with my wife and daughter as we think of new ways to enjoy our time and enrich our lives. Gaming certainly isn't the only thing that's gotten me through this life, but with all the positives it has brought to me, I can't help but to preach it when given the opportunity. 

RPG a Day 2018: Day 9... How has a game surprised you?

This will be a short one...plus a little late for my side of the world. What surprises me the most about playing any RPGs is how fast the time goes by. I've been involved with this hobby in one form or another for at least thirty years. I've been playing on Roll*20 for five years now--just over 1000 hrs of play, my current live table group--with roster changes here and there--has been getting together for four years now, and I've been a member of the Gulf Role Playing Community--an RPG club that has conventions and Facebook discussions where I live in the Middle East--for eight years. Whenever I play a session be it at the live table or on Roll 20 they go for at least three hours and we're usually having weekly meetings and wish we could do even more. All of this for what is essentially a group of people sitting around with books, paper, pencils and random number generators--you might get a mini or map or two thrown in, but for the most part it's just the friends sitting around together. With so many other distractions in the 2000's the fact that people want to get together to do such things is pretty surprising, and it's a nice surprise. 

RPGaDAY 2018: Day 8...How Can We Get More People Playing?

I'll quickly address today's prompt, "How Can We Get More People Playing?" by first saying that most of the companies today are doing exactly what they need to do to get more eyes on the product. Some of the most well-funded KickStarter projects are in the RPG genre. Both Wizards of the Coast and Paizo have made their products easily accessible both by posting free, simplified rules online and by publishing "beginner version" sets for what are the best selling RPGs in the United States. In general, from the launch of Dungeons and Dragons 5E, there has been a resurgence in gaming--this has extended to board games as well as traditional table top RPGs. The media--as much as I hate them as a card carrying deplorable ;) -- has been kind to RPGs for the most part in recent years with celebrity players such as Vinn Diesel and Stephen Colbert making their love for the genre known, and of course shows like Stranger Things--and earlier examples like Community and The Big Bang Theory--reaching more people--potential players--in a single episode than the entire marketing department for most game companies. Also, the advent of virtual table-tops like Roll*20, streaming campaigns like Critical Role and the synergy from video games such has grown the pool of potential players. I think the popularity of streaming games is responsible for removing much of the "mystique" that has always surrounded the hobby. When someone sees regular guys...and even girls?!...just like them playing and enjoying gaming, they'll most likely want to give it a shot. It doesn't look too difficult or scary.  As I mentioned in an earlier entry, today, I get to run Cyberpunk 2020--a game with its origins in 1990--largely because of interest in the upcoming video game, other groups streaming sample playthroughs, and having a place like Roll*20 to run the game. In summary, it's a great time to be a gamer.

What can WE do then to keep this potential audience and transition them from being curious in playing or observing a one-shot to being a full-fledged lifetime member of the gaming hobby? A few tips:

1.  If you have the time to run a game...do it! Too often we'll complain that there aren't any games to join, but nobody wants the big chair. As a teen, I ran some games for my younger brother and one of his friends, but after that I didn't GM for years. In my defense, opportunities even to play were few and far between, but nevertheless, I am guilty of being a player exclusively from age 18 until age 39. Now that we have Roll*20 and other services, there isn't any excuse. If we want the hobby to grow and even survive, those of us with experience should be running for the greenhorns.
2. Be patient, open and welcoming: Not everyone coming in will have the same experiences that you do. Watching a playthrough won't answer all of the new player's questions nor show them proper gaming etiquette. At least give them a chance to get their legs under them before kicking them from the table. It was a bigger problem back in my day, but, for example, if you have a female member of the opposite sex at your table, and she thinks its a good idea to talk with the dragon instead of run from and/or try to kill it, then let her try. She's bringing a different perspective to your game.  I only say this because a lot of the time--especially in the old days--the very basement dwelling geeks who should have been welcoming any girl they were lucky enough to get at the table,  would instead run them off and keep it a "boys only" hobby. I'm sure no tree-hugging, soyboy hipster, but diversity at the table is a good thing. It also keeps me from having to play female characters all the time. 
3. Participate in the wider community: Attend the cons, support the products and participate in things like RPGaDay or possibly even stream or post video of one of your own games...and it should go without saying that you should try to recruit your family members and friends as gamers, but sometimes that's easier said than done. Be careful of recruiting coworkers as some may still view RPGs as a tool of Satan and come at you with a torch and pitchfork. 

To wrap up, I am a partcipant in many nerdy hobbies and for me, playing RPGs is the most satisfying. Unfortunately, even with all the resources that are available to the initiate these days, RPGs are still kind of hard to get into without a helping hand from an experienced RPG aficionado. I think this is almost essential to gaining a new, long-term player, and it's where we can help grow the hobby. I'm not one who's going to specifically sell anyone's book, product or game system--except if it's Ryuutama, because it's so cool--but the activity itself is worth preserving and proselytizing for.

  

RPG a DAY 2018: Day 7...How Can a GM Make the Stakes Important?

If you're playing in a setting like Ravenloft, Worlds of Darkness or really any game with vampires you should give the stakes a bonus to damage and make them hard to get. Maybe they need to be blessed or made from a special type of rare wood...oh, not those kind of stakes...

How can the GM make the other kind of stakes important? The players have to have some "skin in the game" as our IRL saying goes. The epic story that you've written or the awesome module--do we still cal them that?--that you have found and want to run may have plots and villainous schemes with universal implications for your entire campaign world...But: What does a pirate care about that? He wants treasure, rum and a lady....What does a punk street urchin care about the big corporate war? She's already living at rock bottom and just wants her next fix and to survive another day...No matter how good of a job Jeremy Irons does at chewing the scenery, what does a barbarian half-orc care about warring factions of mages fighting among themselves to see who can control badly animated CGI dragons? Even if your story is actually good and had less Wayanses in it, this half-orc only cares about what's in front of him. He's not on real good terms with any of the political powers that be and couldn't care less which side won.

How can you make the players care about the epic badness going on? It has to affect them on a personal level. Have the self-righteous mayor impound the pirate's ship and close all brothels and taverns. Show the unfair, overly harsh treatment for criminals caught smuggling. Have the greater of the two evil corporations start cleaning up the streets of undesirables...by disposing of the "dregs" of society with extreme measures. Once some of her contacts are dead or these street sweepers come after her, then she'll have a reason to care. Maybe corporation X sucks, but at least they aren't lacing drugs with cyanide. As for the half-orc, maybe the only village that ever showed him any kindness is burned to the ground by that bald headed guy with the blue lipstick. Very few people can live their lives in a complete vacuum, even a savage, barbarian half-orc may have people he cares about...and if those people are taken away, then he'll be going on the warpath even if it means a trip to the big city.

Obviously, there are limitless ways that the GM can get the players to say, "This time it's personal", and that's really all you want. Find out what the PCs hold as important and then threaten that or take it away. Once they're motivated, you can then go into all those awesome details that you wrote or read that were so cool in the first place. 

RPG a Day 2018: Day 6...How Can Players Make a World Seem Real

For Day 6 and Week #2 the theme is 'How' and today's prompt is 'How Can Players Make a World Seem Real"

The biggest things are to show up consistently and be prepared to play.

Some of the potentially worst sessions are when a character suddenly has to go catatonic for a session because their player couldn't make it. Of course, we live in the real world and most of us have responsibilities in one way or another but when a character is a major part of the story and the player is hit and miss with showing up, it makes it hard to involve her center stage. When playing a more realistic game--such as I am now with Cyberpunk 2020--there isn't a spell or device that lets the missing character join up with the rest of the party out of nowhere. Sometimes the party may be split up by hours of travel. The alternatives are to bring the character in from the start and let them sit there like a mannequin, run the character as another NPC or to let a different player take over for the session. None of these are good options and the PC loses their "voice" in one way or another no matter how it's handled.

In my most recent case, I had to move on with a "main" story plot twist although much of it involved a missing player as I had already side-quested the group and had them spinning their wheels for the past two or three sessions. I'll write the whole frustrating scenario--week X the player is present and the wheels of the plot twist are in motion, week X2 player couldn't make it so the group got roped into a side quest, week X3 player makes the session and rejoins the group as they (nearly) complete the side quest, and week X4 player is missing again doesn't participate in the finish of side-quest and I wasn't about to rope the group into another, so I took over the character and presented the plot twist without the player.

Also, a player should be prepared to play. In my case, the campaign is on Roll*20 and I write a weekly recap in the forums. Players should at least try to give that a read even if they're not up on all the lore of the system setting. Players should certainly know what their own characters can do even if they aren't aware of the abilities of their friends. At least one of the players should make note of group money, equipment and contacts. Those contacts start getting too numerous and I'm thinking of making a document to list them all, but that's on me. The bottom line is that after the first few sessions, a player should at least know what his character can do, and be prepared to act on his/her turn so that things move at a decent pace. Keeping focused on the game also helps with that. If it's a live table, the TV and smart phones should definitely be put to the side. We are either there to play or we're not.

It might look like I'd be a hard person to play with, but the opposite is true. I'm laid back as a GM and player. Side conversations, stopping for snacks and drinks and making jokes are all a part of the fun of playing RPGs. If we have to look up a rule or if GM or Player forgets plot points, it's not a big deal really, but the world will be a lot more engaging and realistic if everyone tries to show up and pay attention when they are there.  

RPG a DAY 2018: Day 5...Favorite Recurring NPC

The hits keep coming. It won't be a short one today as I talk about a favorite recurring NPC. I talked about one of my own creations yesterday, so today I'll talk about a favorite from a campaign wherein I was a player instead of the GM and one made by the professionals over at John Wick Presents.

One of the other guys was running the weekly live table D&D game when he created this one. It was a male halfling barkeep named, Spittle. He earned this name because of the special drink he served to patrons on the cheap. Every night whatever drink wasn't finished in the glasses and mugs went into a big barrel. On the rare occasion that a wine was tasted rather than drank...the spat out wine would find its way into the barrel as well. As there wasn't typically much ale left in the tankards at the end of a given night, well water and maybe left over soup or hogwash may have been added for consistency's sake. On the plus side those who could stomach it got drunk fast and it only cost 2 coppers a serving. Much money was made in side betting as to whether or not someone was stout enough to keep it down. Spittle was also able to get his hands on rare items that we needed from time to time and he even invented a device that when attached to a person's legs extended his height by a few feet. Unfortunately, it only worked on halflings. Weeks later in a different town we found another 'Spittle's Tavern' that was run by a kobold...We weren't exactly pleased to learn that this location also carried the drink special.

The other favorite recurring NPC comes from the 7th Sea 2nd edition by John Wick Presents. that came out back in 2016. As previously mentioned I ran a Roll 20 Campaign from October of that year all the way until May of 2017. That campaign fell apart before this villain got her proper comeuppance, but that happens sometimes.

Her Name is Lotje Abbing. I'm going to paste a summary of  her story for you, and tell you a little about playing 7thSea.

The game takes place in the age of pirates on an alternate world with nations and events that mirror our real history. However, there is also magic and quite a few monsters. Lotje Abbing is from Eisen the systems version of Germany--but it's like Germany by way of Ravenloft.

History:
"Lotje Abbing was born during the War of the Cross to a minor noble family with extensive forested lands at the feet of the Drachenberg Mountains. She was raised strictly and indoctrinated into the family tradition of hunting the bandits and monsters that threatened the family lands.

As a young girl, Lotje savored the hunt. After fighting in the War, and mastering the versatile Drexel
zweihänder style, it became more important for her to not simply catch and slay her quarry. Instead, her enemy had to know he was beaten when she delivered the death stroke. She realized humans, more than any other creature, were able to appreciate their doom with exquisite clarity.

The War killed all her family save her twin brother, Lothar. Inseparable, the two kept each other alive
through all the horrors that beset Eisen, and they returned home set on rebuilding. Lothar assumed
the lordship, and assumed Lotje would support him.

Instead, she arranged a Grand Hunt in his honor, releasing a majestic stag, and while he celebrated over the body of the stag, she shot Lothar and took his head as a trophy.

Now Lotje’s home is a menagerie of pelts, taxidermy and trophies both exotic and ghastly. She has hunted all over Théah to bring its predatory marvels back for her enviable collection of the monstrously macabre.

Hidden from prying eyes, her private suites hold the mounted skulls of her human prey, with Lothar in pride of place. Someone who proves their dedication to the hunt, convincing her they are her equal—without being a threat—could get quite the tour of this collection, and solve many unexplained murders.

Despite her bloodthirsty tastes, Lotje is fiercely protective of the Bauern on her lands. While punishment for crimes is becoming the prey in one of Lotje’s hunts, the Bauern who follow their obligations to their lady are treated with grim respect.

Though neighboring lands still suffer hardship, and frequent missing persons in the forest, she and her huntsmen bring back enough meat to keep her own people surprisingly well fed.In return for this safety, her baueren report to her any vagrants, foreigners or other strangers that pass through.

Some are invited to stay, and some are even seen again. Her public reputation has been maintained
with care, and an invitation to her estate to hunt is still considered a treat by many (subjects), despite
the occasional unfortunate accident." (John Wick Presents: 7th Sea: Heroes and Villains pg. 164)

I don't know if I remember how to do that correctly or not, but it's best to always give credit where it's due in as best as one can. Anyways, who wouldn't want to play as a villain like that? In this game the villains get schemes that they should try to complete to gain their own experience, but you know it's all about the heroes and I would have let her go down had my duelist player stuck around for the final confrontation...but alas, these young college girls let their education get in the way of gaming. Such is the fate of a poor, old GM.