RPG a Day The End

My computer has had issues, so I have a new laptop so I am finishing up in a single post.

Most memorable encounter: Not sure which is most memorable.

Favorite RPG website/ blog: Dysons Dodecahedron and a whole bunch of others

Rarest RPG owned: Unusual, but in the day of pdf's it is hard to say any are specifically rare.

Favorite RPG playing celebrity: Not that I know many. I really like watching Acquisitions Incorporated, and Tabletop, and Titansgrave.

Favorite RPG of all time: It is a toss up between Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars D6 by West End Games

RPG a Day 28

Scariest Game you’ve played: I avoid scary games, so not really applicable.

Favorite game you no longer play: I consider that any game could come back around so not an issue really. Recently had a Star Wars D6 one shot, so they come back.

RPG a Day 27

Game you would like to see a new / improved edition of: I really don't have one in mind.

Favorite idea for merging two games in one: I am working on an adventure using random tables and ideas from several sources, Maid RPG, Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Dungeons and Dragons. More content not rules, but I have considered using a modified version of traveling rules from Ryuutama in Dungeons and Dragons. I also am considering using boardgames maps to help define some game locations such as the Gardens of Alhambra pictured above.

RPG a Day 26

Coolest Character Sheet: Oooh rabbit hole, I am a sucker for any well designed character sheet.

Favorite Inspiration for your game: Anything and everything

this post was longer but failed to save, oh well.

RPG a Day 25

Favorite RPG no one else wants to play: It is more a thing of getting people together with time to play than which game.

Favorite Revolutionary Game Mechanic: Revolutionary is a strong term. I quite like the advantage and inspiration mechanics of 5th edition dungeons and dragons. I like the stunts mechanism of Fantasy Age (I forget what the similar thing is called in the new Star Wars RPG).

RPG a Day 24

Most Complicated RPG owned: Pathfinder, I only own some PDF's but it is extremely crunchy

Favorite House Rule: Rule Zero, and make it up as needed.

I finally ran an adventure in my new campaign setting with my wife, son, and two nephews. It went rather well but I had to make stuff up on the fly. Because I had a sense of the overall history of the setting, the fact my one nephew wanted to be from the future and the other a companion to a time traveling meddler wasn't too disruptive.

The crew meet in the city of Independence, the capitol of the Conclave of Equals. One of the newest nations and certainly not stable or effective with it's tri-cameral legislature and a committee for an executive branch. So far that has not come into play yet, but a gnome is hiring hands to help with a crashed shipwreck. They jump at the chance and find themselves near a druid ship smashed against some rocks. By the end of the adventure they have battled an incubus over a merfolk chest and a dozen merrow(squid like merfolk), and that still doesn't explain how the gnome knew that stuff was there or why there was an incubus involved at all. Perfect for some followup adventures.

RPG a Day 23

Coolest looking RPG product / book: Art is one thing I love in RPG's. Many have great art.The old Basic series had great evocative art. The new Dungeons and Dragons has great realistic style art. A Red and Pleasant Land has great quirky style art. Blue Rose has a fantastic cover art, but I have not bought it to see the internal art. Ryuutama and Golden sky stories also have great artwork.

Perfect game for you: There is no perfect game, just games that fit the time and people.

RPG a Day 22

Best secondhand RPG purchase: I don't have my original Star Wars D6 book, so getting a new copy was the best I can think of.

Perfect Gaming Environment: I would love a geek chic table and a room with tons of bookshelves.

More to come later.

RPG a Day 21

OVA: Anime Roleplaying game image

Favorite Licensed RPG: The only two I have ever played are Star Wars and Wheel of Time. Star Wars is better. Which would I find fun to play in?

Favorite RPG setting: Most of my favorite settings are my own. A few I have played in include, Forgotten Realms, Golairon(sp?) and Shadowrun.

Others I like and have read, but never played in, include; Spelljammer, Red and Pleasant Land, Planescape, and Dragonstar.

RPG a Day 20

Will still play in 20 years time: Well the red box set I got sometime around the Seoul Olympics era. So that was well over twenty years and I pulled out the included adventure and re-ran it partially recently. So what might happen with my current stuff in twenty years.

Likely it will be Star Wars D6. It has lasted better as a mechanics system than the BECMI Dungeons and Dragons. Likely I will also pull out the weird and nostalgic. Fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons seems like it will have some staying power in a smaller more flexible rule set of that game.

Favorite Horror RPG: No, no, no. Horror is not for me. Mystery is good, but that may be a good thing to look for in an RPG.

RPG a Day 19

Favorite Published Adventure: You mean people play these straight and not just mine them for ideas? No probably my favorite I have run was a portion of the Adventure published with the Wheel of Time campaign setting, perhaps that was because I was devouring the available book while the game happening.

Ones I would like to run or play in. Princes of the Apocalypse by Wizards, old school modules such as Ravenloft or Temple of Elemental Evil. It would be fun to adapt the Red and Pleasant Land as well.

Favorite Supers RPG: Never really played one. Marvel and DC are interesting but tangential to most of my interests. 

Anime has over the top hero's and characters and I have played BESM once, and would be interested in playing OVA in an over the top campaign.

Crazy Hair Random Table

Roll d10 for color  (d4 for common colors) 1. White 2. Blond 3. Brown 4. Black 5. Red 6. Blue 7. Green 8. Purple 9. Orange/ Yellow 10. Rainbow

Roll d12 for Style or Quirk (you may roll twice, d6 for more normal) 1. Straight 2. Curly 3. Short 4. Long 5. Shaved 6. Roll twice 7. Braided 8. Spiked 9. Swooped up 10. Constantly Moving 11. Super Bangs 12. Huge If you roll two things that contradict great. A mullet is someone who rolled short and long.

Note: I have found Pinterest to be of use when bookmarking. I tend to be visual so seeing an image is quicker recognition of the link. So I do try to include an image in each post. Most are generated by me if not credited, and by generated I mean either in a graphics program or by a camera. Museums are great when they have diorama's to photograph.

RPG a Day 18

Favorite Game System: Same as what I mentioned yesterday. While boring perhaps, I still like Dungeons and Dragons, in large part due to familiarity in play.

Favorite Sci-fi RPG: My favorite is West End Games D6 Star Wars. I think that sounds like a broken record. I also quite enjoy the ideas presented in the setting of Dragonstar by Fantasy Flight Games.

I do also look forward to more playing the current Star Wars RPG.

RPG a Day 17

Backdated post as I missed posting on time.

Funniest Game you’ve played: Probably the one Today. I decided to run my nephews through an adventure in my new campaign world. My one nephew wanted to be the apprentice of a time traveler magician, the other nephew the descendant of that time traveller.

Initial sketch of the continent

Perhaps I think it funny because of the characters, and the bombastic stylings of those at the table. My son and wife also played characters and we ended up winging it through an adventure in my sandbox campaign. Overall it went well.

The cast was (all 4th level as that is where they wanted to start)
- A human technomancer from the future, with spell "apps" on his iPhone like device.
- A dragonborn bard, with some lost memories and knows a time traveller and thinks he has travelled in time, a bit fuzzy though. And a penchant for singing song snippets through the game.
- An Elf warrior
- A dragonborn shaolin monk


Favorite Fantasy RPG: Hmm. Dungeons and Dragons continues to be my favorite. However that is a bit boring to note. I haven't played many, but have read many but until I play them they don't really count.

Some I think would be fun to play would be Ryuutama and Fantasy Age.

RPG a day 16

Game you wish you owned: at the moment I am good. Between my brothers and my neighbor we have a ton of material between pdf and physical. Most of the things I want I can purchase, but much of my time is hunting down ideas and writing my own stuff, so not a ton is driving my interest at the moment.

Longest game session played: one year a bunch of cousins and I played for something like 5-6 hours in camp chairs in the middle of the desert while camping.

When last I posted I mentioned how my currently developing campaign is being put togeather. Once I had the concept of 9 planets in a binary star system that are habitable. The other thing of interest was basing a campaign off a world with mysteries, with xp awarded for the standard dungeons and dragons things, but also for completing personal goals and discovering mysteries.

While I have not finished how to create random mysteries in addition to world and national mysteries, it remains a compelling ingredient to my campaign. I am compiling interesting tidbits, like this interesting flask I saw at the ren faire.

 

RPG a day 15

Today's questions are very boring. Having never played a convention game nor had campaigns last longer than a month, there is not much to tell.

Favorite convention game: none

Longest campaign played: 1 month

So instead let me talk about how I have started my current world building. Over many years I have had disconnected ideas never used, then when drawing with my kids they took my paper and put a bunch of random dots and told me to do something with them.

So I did. One of the things I added was a location called The Cradle, next to the great barrier nebula.

Then my thought was to make it a place of mystery, and locate some of my various ideas there. While this is where it started, my only focus has been the fantasy setting in The Cradle. A binary star system with 9 habitable planets, makes for a great place for possible spell jamming style adventure and more.

 

RPG a day 14

Best convention purchase: I have been to half a dozen anime conventions, one steampunk convention, but never a gaming convention. As for the conventions I have been, to I really like my LastWear Neo-Hakama pants (sadly they are out of business), there are just far too few opportunities wear it.

Random tables for you on clothing

Multiple Clothing Styles (d4) 1. Everyone wears the same thing 2. Class distinction in clothing 3. Gender distinction in clothing 4. Class and gender distinctions	Clothing Material (d6) roll 1d2 times 1. leather 2. cotton (d2 1 fine/ 2 corse) 3. linnen 4. felt 5. wool 6. unusual fabric	Clothing Cut (d4) 1. loose cut 2. fitted 3. bifurcated 4. un-bifurcated
Clothing Patterns (d12) 1. small border patterns only 2.muted Large central patterns 3.muted all over patterns 4.vibrant large central patterns 5.vibrant all over patterns 6.wild clashing patterns 7.nature patterns 8.no patterns 9.gradient patterns 10.embroidered patterns only 11. roll twice 12. roll for specific symbol here	Clothing Traits (d8) 1. revealing 2. conservative 3.vests 4. pleats 5. gathers 6. tied 7. clasped 8. asymmetrical	Clothing Colors (d6) roll 1d2 times 1. tans 2. browns 3. blacks 4. off white 5. 1d2 bright colors 6. 1d6 bright colors Bright colors (d6) 1. red 2. yellow 3. orange 4. blue 5. green 6. purple

Favorite RPG Accessory:

My favorite right now is my newest. The RPG bookmarks set shown above. Good bookmarks are a lot of fun.

RPG a day 13

Most memorable character death: Most of the time I have played as the Dungeon Master and really I have no most memorable death of my characters. When young we rotated through characters so frequently they rarely saw a second adventure and many survived by the fact alone.

Favorite RPG Podcast: I don't really listen to many, but I have enjoyed the the Acquisitions Incorporated Podcasts.

As todays questions don't really provoke anything very interesting here is a map I am creating for a new campaign. The Bellflower and Bamboo is my tentative title.

This the the political map, I am still working a bit on it. The legends are ugly still and the terrain and names have yet to be added. As this is a vector file, I also have a ton of data on trade, exports, imports etc on another layer. So here is another view of some layers of the file, I am also trying to develop the architecture, clothing, adventures etc. I have a randomly generated feature per hex. (Hex's are 72 mile hexes and could further be broken down into 6 mile hexes as needed.

Imports and Exports listed as red and blue icons, the relationships of where they would export to are then mapped. The composite trade routes would be next. What each nation produces influences their behavior, style, and what is going on.

RPG a Day 12

Old RPG you still play/ read: I have mentioned it before, West End Games Star Wars D6 system comes out every few years to read or play.

Favorite RPG illustration: This is a hard question as I like a lot of different styles and artworks. Larry Elmore and the red dragon cover of the Basic set was one of the first that really captured my imagination.

Others are numerous and varied. I have a ton favorited on Deviantart, and I lurked a ton around elfwood back in the day before deviant art (which is still kicking around apparently).

RPG a Day 11

Weirdest RPG owned: Maid RPG, not because of strange alien vistas or bizarre rules, but just a very different mind set. First of all, it is more Slapstick comedy as genre which is weird for an RPG. Secondly it is the parody of the concept of French Maids in Japanese culture, translated to english. Which is a bit brain twisting if you haven't watched a lot of Japanese Anime etc.

Which for my kids won't be an issue given they want to go as Naruto, Hinata and Sakura for halloween.

Sora trying on a Sakura costume

after making a mess in the front room.

Favorite RPG writer: Monte Cook ranks up there. His Numenera setting and his alternate players handbook in arcana evolved is amazing. Kamiya-sensei also has some great RPG's that have recently been translated to english. Golden Sky Stories is one I am working on playing with my kids.

RPG a Day 10

Favorite tie-in Novel / Game Fiction: I really like the Eliminster books. I do realize he is quite a Mary Sue character, but fun nonetheless. Lord of the Rings, not so much a ti-in novel but the basis for multiple RPG's has never made the transition well. Lord of the Rings is just not the kind of setting I have felt comfortable messing with, and the reverse is true. With the exception of Dungeons and Dragons books and Legend of Zelda Manga, I have never really been a fan of game first then book second type media tie-ins. Not sure why that is.

Favorite RPG publisher: I don't have strong feelings either way. I am at a point I identify with the creator's more than the publisher. Having said that, one of the biggest ways a publisher is able to differentiate themselves (the designer being in charge of content) is layout design and graphics direction.

While Paizo and Wizards use many of the same artists, I am more impressed with the art direction of Wizards more than Paizo. I also must say Monte Cook's works are lovely is both art and design. Other books are wonderful with minimal artwork, but pleasing layout. Red and Pleasant Land has both wonderful unique art and beautiful layout and design, while Yoon-Suin the Purple Land is not nearly as well laid out or visually appealing. Primeval Thule is a mixed bag in terms of design. Their choice of background saturation and header fonts confuse me at times.

So long story short. For evaluating designers I look at game content and mechanics, for publishers I look at layout design and graphics. Not that the graphics need be expensive or detailed, just evocative of the setting, theme, or content. So perhaps Paizo is correct in picking art of overloaded characters with fiddly bits everywhere, as that is representative of the complexity, equipment stacking, and bulk of the 3.75 system.

Rpg a Day 9

Favorite Dice/ Set: My recent favorites have to be some custom six sided dice. Two from the Table Top indigogo campaign, and a dozen from the OVA kickstarter.

OVA: Open Versatile Animation RPG

Favorite Media you wish were an RPG: There are so many systems any media could be put into a game system really. As for a licensed version, The legend of Zelda would make for a very fun tabletop Roleplaying Game. Perhaps one that allows solo play, as most are not really suited single player.

RPG a Day 8

Favorite Character: Oh boy. I am quite fond of Dex the Dormant my current Wizard in 5e.  Fond of sleeping in trees, he is an acrobatic wizard wearing pants not a robe and mostly having stole his instruction in magic by hiding in rafters of wizards as a street urchin. In my background, while an orphan I am somehow related to someone with a symbol of an opinicus dormant.

So of interest on the Opinicus:

Image from wikimedia

From Wikipedia: A type of griffin with the four legs of a lion was distinguished by perhaps only one English herald of later heraldry as the Opinicus where it also had a camel-like neck and a short tail that almost resembles a camel's tail.

From Mythology Wikia: An heraldic opinicus is shown as a male creature, whereas the winged griffin is female.

From Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: An opinicus appears to be a mixture of monkey, camel, lion, and eagle, with prehensile forepaws.

From Me: In my game I would run it as a combination of the above. the description of monkey, camel, lion and eagle. But I would make it the male counterpart of the griffin, where mating happens rarely and most of the time they live apart. While the female griffin are proud warriors, the male opinicus is a creature of magic and perceptive thought. Both speak the same language but only the males have a written language, which is written with their prehensile monkey tails. The griffins have instead a sign language and limited memory transfer abilities.

Another Aside:

Previous to that character, as in back in junior high and early high school. I had created a large family tree of Jedi for a Star Trek/Star Wars crossover adventure using West End Games Star Wars D6 ruleset, of whom I made a pair of twins to play as I was the game master (it is hard to play with only one other player, my brother). While the campaign consisted mostly of making up our own story lines and arguing about stats for ships, the characters were interesting. Even if we changed their names several times.


Favorite Appearance of RPG’s in media: Tough one. Perhaps Dungeons and Dragons in E.T. I didn't even remember it as a salient feature, it was just obvious. Until years later when re watching it and I realized it was an unusual reference.

RPG a Day Post 7

Most intellectual RPG owned: Ok, so intelectual. I think all RPG's are intellectual by nature.

As this was the 2014 question, please wait while I look up last years responses from other people to help me know how to answer this question.

...
...
In terms of complexity I would have to say Pathfinder. There are in many cases to many options, and it is a bad RPG to start someone out on without a constant buddy to explain the rules as they come up. In terms of clever mechanics, I have to say that Numenera and the Strange would be the most clever, even if I have yet to play either.


Favorite Free RPG: At this point I would have to say Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition Basic rules. I don't have many that are free, and most are based on Dungeons and Dragons previous editions. All around good ruleset and a good starting point.

RPG a Day Day 6

Last year I thought about doing the RPG a Day but did not do so. So this year I will and will answer questions related to both last year and this year.


Favorite RPG never get to play: Many of them really. I think one that I really like from a character build point of view is Maid RPG. However to play it seems to require some knowledge of Japanese Maid culture and how the RPG lampoon's it. It is romantic comedy in flavor and really would be hard to find a group to play with. I love the tables that have you describe your character's physical and mental insecurities, and color scheme. It also introduced me to d66 style tables, which are a great way of using common dice for random tables of more than 6 things (36 to be exact)

Imports/ Exports (roll 2d6)

	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	wood	metal	stone	salt	chemical	animal
2	education	leisure	transport	communication	soldiers	medical
3	metalwork	woodwork	paper/books	clothing	fabric	leather
4	grain	meat	sugar	vegetables	fruit	oil
5	alcohol	fermented foods	preserved foods	dairy	eggs	tools
6	specialty items	beurocrats	soap	pottery	art	roll twice

Most Recent RPG played: Star Wars: Edge of Empire. I recently mentioned that I believe. 

I have a nice set of coins to use for credits to.


As one of our group just had a new baby come to the family, our schedule is a bit in flux for regular game nights. Hence part of the discussion of buying Fantasy Grounds. While my brother lives near town it is still a 30-40 minute drive each way, and with kids and babies that becomes more time than is easy to allot on a regular basis.

Day 5

My most old school RPG owned: Well Star Wars d6 is old school Star Wars, but most of the time this is referring to the OSR (Old School Renaissance of Dungeons and Dragons editions). I have downloaded several rule sets but have not played any. I do really like 5th edition and would much rather convert old school to 5th edition at this time.

However when it comes to adventures, blogs and other materials. I do quite enjoy some of the off-beat stuff in the OSR realm. Most recently A Red and Pleasant Land. While the author was the center of some controversy shortly before I really got involved seriously in Roleplaying again, I do find this book a fantastic cohesive idea. While most modern RPG's cast a wide net, this is focused, interesting, compelling and weird. The monster of Guests is especially awesome in it's variety and random tables.

Which is something I have always loved. Random Tables. So here is one I made for developing aspects of new cultures in an exploration game (never used in play, yet but to aide in world creation). Originally implemented in a python random generation program, it was not die based, but for your pleasure it is here.

Popular Type of Art : (d20) 1- Statuary 2- Tapestry 3- Jewelry 4- Dance 5- Plays 6- Novels 7- Poetry 8- Song 9- String instruments 10- Percussion instruments 11- Wind instruments 12- Calligraphy 13- Painting 14- Freezes 15- Martial arts 16- Pottery 17- Masks 18- Carvings 19- Headdresses 20- Clothing

Common Representations in the Art: (d8) 1- Animals 2- Specific Animal (pick 1d3) 3- Symbols 4- Specific Symbol (pick 1d3) 5- Geometric 6- Curvy 7- Symmetrical 8- Asymmetrical Note Specific Animal can include Human, Elf, Oni, Manticores etc. And likewise symbols can include body parts, arm, leg, heart, forked tails, dragon scales etc.

As I have been answering questions from both the 2014 RPG a Day and 2015 there are bound to be overlaps and things that don't apply. So the second question was a question posed yesterday. What is your most recent RPG purchase. However as that remains the same, I will instead mention my next expected purchase: Fantasy Grounds.

With all my current group except one, we have kids, wives and jobs. It makes it hard to get together. So by using an online tabletop this is much simplified. Also it allows us to include old friends in remote locations at times. So I would have bought it recently except I have yet to decide how. Fantasy Grounds has two licenses. One is the basic license, and one the ultimate. The ultimate can allow free unlicensed copies to join a campaign (and as such is the cost of about 5 basic licenses). The question is with 4 of us willing to DM who gets which license. To complicate there is a package on steam that is 4 licenses for a reduced bundle price, but then is tied to Steam. Grrr why can't decisions be easy. Either way I will likely purchase this week to start playing with it and trying to modify content etc.

Day Four of the RPG a day

Day Four of the RPG a day

My most recent RPG purchase would have to be dice. Both a standard polyhedral set and a set including unusual dice such as d3, d14, and d30. Prior to that purchase I had purchased some really cool RPG bookmarks from Nord Games. I missed their Kickstarter, so I will get the bookmarks after the others ship, but who can resist a good bookmark.

The other question is what is my most surprising game. Perhaps it is Star Wars: Edge of Empire, it was surprising due to the fact that the weird dice mechanic wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It still takes several good hours to get used to for people used to playing RPG's.

Newness in Roleplaying Games RPGaDay

For Day 1:

- First RPG Played
The first RPG I ever played was the Dungeons and Dragons Red box set.

- Forthcoming game you are most looking forward to.
At the moment it is Titansgrave, as I am enjoying the show by Wil Wheaton.

Favorite Game and First Purchase

Favorite game of the last year: any I actually get to play. So far this year I have played Star Wars D6, Star Wars Edge of Empire, Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.

First game purchased: while the first games I played were purchased by my parents for me, the first I saved up and purchased was the West End Games Star Wars, the second edition book with the blue cover and Darth Vader.

Dungeon Master and Kickstarter

Day 2

First RPG game mastered: Basic Dungeons and Dragons. Mind you most of my life there have been few dungeon masters, so I have been Dungeon Master more than player.

The game most happy to have backed on Kickstarter: I think it would have to be Sojouner Tales but that is not an RPG. So for an RPG product it would have to be Golden Sky Stories, Largely because it is so different. It was originally published in Japanese and is entirely non-combat related, which makes it hugely different from most I have ever played. It also has no randomization, only a resource management system.