(Translates as: I was inspired by Zak's questionaire thingie so I made my own questionaire thingie.)
Do Not Ignore Me!
1) What is the most common type of environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
2) What is the most exotic or unusual environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
3) What environment or terrain type have you never used but always wanted to? Why haven't you?
4) Do you have a combat rule or mechanic from another game system you are using in the game system you currently play, played recently or generally play?
5) In your opinion, what genre has received too little attention in regards to RPGs based on that subject?
6) If a quality RPG on the aforementioned neglected genre came out tomorrow, what would make you buy it? What would prevent you from buying it?
7) Do you find it easier to learn the rules of a game by reading the rule book or by sitting down and just playing it?
8) Name a currently available artist not normally associated with RPGs who you'd love to see do some RPG work.
9) What one book, movie, video, etc. that is not an RPG that you think should be.
10) Can you think of an RPG you've run or played in which the GM (be it you or someone else) used/referenced non-game related books to run the campaign more often then game related books?
Have a great weekend if I don't see ya,
AD
Barking Alien
1) What is the most common type of environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
ReplyDeleteDry Plains (which is actually a joke, because it came up a couple of times in a row, now whenever I start to describe terrain, people ask if it is a dry plains.)
2) What is the most exotic or unusual environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
Cloud Castles of the Sky Giants
3) What environment or terrain type have you never used but always wanted to? Why haven't you?
I've never done a swamp or bog to good effect- meaning doing some research and having some elements to throw at them.
4) Do you have a combat rule or mechanic from another game system you are using in the game system you currently play, played recently or generally play?
We play a homebrew and are pretty consistently making tweaks and adaptations to it. Most recently we've integrated the FATE approach to aspects and tags. Having scene aspects has helped the players visualize and make use of the environment.
5) In your opinion, what genre has received too little attention in regards to RPGs based on that subject?
Maybe Courtly affairs, politics? Perhaps romance? I'm not sure.
6) If a quality RPG on the aforementioned neglected genre came out tomorrow, what would make you buy it? What would prevent you from buying it?
Good reviews and/or people associated with it with a proven track record. Prevent: high price point to content ratio, bad art or design, or bad reviews.
7) Do you find it easier to learn the rules of a game by reading the rule book or by sitting down and just playing it?
Probably the latter is easier, but the former's more common.
8) Name a currently available artist not normally associated with RPGs who you'd love to see do some RPG work.
J.H. Williams
9) What one book, movie, video, etc. that is not an RPG that you think should be.
Brust's Jhereg series.
10) Can you think of an RPG you've run or played in which the GM (be it you or someone else) used/referenced non-game related books to run the campaign more often then game related books?
yes- for the homebrew Star Wars campaign I ran I didn't use any rpg books. Instead I used the various "Essential" Star Wars books. The Galaxy Guide, Jedi vs. Sith, and Guide to Alien Races were particularly useful.
I didn't answer Zak's, because I'm ever a modest blossom. But here goes nuthin'.
ReplyDelete1) What is the most common type of environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
Swamps. And more swamps.
2) What is the most exotic or unusual environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
Different colored swamps.
3) What environment or terrain type have you never used but always wanted to? Why haven't you?
Desert. I've always wanted to run a full-on Arabian Knights-themed campaign, my player base was never all that thrilled.
4) Do you have a combat rule or mechanic from another game system you are using in the game system you currently play, played recently or generally play?
Other than some fun random "flavor charts", no. (I LOVE the stuff at The Dungeon Dozen blog.)
5) In your opinion, what genre has received too little attention in regards to RPGs based on that subject?
Funky 1970s insane badassery. Correspondingly, Damnation Decade is in my Top 3 fave game books of all time.
6) If a quality RPG on the aforementioned neglected genre came out tomorrow, what would make you buy it? What would prevent you from buying it?
The subject alone almost guarantees a sale, but if it was outright ugly (like, say, the SOLID! blaxploitation supplement for d20), I'd be resistant. But I'd still probably get it, yeah.
7) Do you find it easier to learn the rules of a game by reading the rule book or by sitting down and just playing it?
I have to slang dice to get it.
8) Name a currently available artist not normally associated with RPGs who you'd love to see do some RPG work.
I got nuthin'.
9) What one book, movie, video, etc. that is not an RPG that you think should be.
The new comic Witch Doctor, which is essentially "What if Dr. Gregory House battled the supernatural?"
10) Can you think of an RPG you've run or played in which the GM (be it you or someone else) used/referenced non-game related books to run the campaign more often then game related books?
Not sure if it counts, but in all my years of GMing superhero games, I almost never used villains or heroes from the official sourcebooks. I used comics for inspiration instead.
Posted on my blog...FUN!
ReplyDeleteERIC!
@Eric - Thanks Eric. I love to spread the love.
ReplyDelete@Lowell and Justin - You guys should really put your heads together. Justin, Lowell could really use your help with swamps which seems to be you specialty and then he can help you dry one out for a change of pace, lol.
Also, I too am a fan of 1970's funkadelic, motown mayhem. Used an influx of that vibe in my one-shot blaxploition, sword and planet game a while back entitled, 'Supernova Brown - Funky Space Ranger!'
You go one with yo bad selves.
Happy to oblige by answering your questions:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theskyfullofdust.co.uk/?p=1788
Thank you so much Simon and welcome aboard! I checked out your answers and found them quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy your visits!
Hey B A, put my answers up on my blog: http://wp.me/pylJj-W6
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting exercise.
You are more than welcome! Interesting answers I must say.
ReplyDelete1) What is the most common type of environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
ReplyDelete19th century urban: the majority of the campaign has been set in Victorian London, although they recently took a trip to equatorial India.
2) What is the most exotic or unusual environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign?
An abandoned temple in the centre of a jungle oasis, located in turn in the middle of an arid plain. Geographically not very accurate, but neither were most "penny dreadful" writers!
3) What environment or terrain type have you never used but always wanted to? Why haven't you?
Rocks floating in fantasy space (and other fantastic voids, such as might be seen in Planescape or Spelljammer). I plan them, but they never seem to actually happen!
4) Do you have a combat rule or mechanic from another game system you are using in the game system you currently play, played recently or generally play?
I've pulled a modified version of the plot point rules from Cortex into my Savage Worlds game: players can spend a benny to specify some detail of the current scene, a recent event or a scrap of knowledge possessed by their character. Not many uses of this so far...
5) In your opinion, what genre has received too little attention in regards to RPGs based on that subject?
I'm not sure there are any that would actually work as an RPG. I love reading mystery fiction, but I can't see it working as an actual game (as opposed to a scenario-type in other games). I think actual military-type stuff doesn't get much interest these days, but there were some good lines a few years ago. I keep thinking a decent cinematic espionage game would be interesting (especially if you could vary the time and setting) - again we have Spycraft here, but not much else.
6) If a quality RPG on the aforementioned neglected genre came out tomorrow, what would make you buy it? What would prevent you from buying it?
Military-wise, probably nothing - I wouldn't get many people to play it! Espionage, I would probably buy anyway. Generally speaking, if it has some level of cinematic action I'm interested - thrown in flying ships and I'm often a dead cert (I love Mage: Sorceror's Crusade). I get put off by bad writing, bad art and bad systems - dodgy grammar in the introduction is enough to cancel a sale.
7) Do you find it easier to learn the rules of a game by reading the rule book or by sitting down and just playing it?
It really depends on the complexity of the game and the quality of the writing. If it's fun to read, I'm likely to read it - but I'll still need to play it to understand it! On the other hand, I recently tried another read of 4th ed D&D - I gave up after a dozen pages out of sheer boredom.
8) Name a currently available artist not normally associated with RPGs who you'd love to see do some RPG work.
I'm no expert on artists - I couldn't name any outside of the RPG world, unless you could get a few of the old TTA artists into action again (Fred Gambino, Colin Hay, Peter Elson and so on). Having said that, several of them have died - they were most active in the 70's.
9) What one book, movie, video, etc. that is not an RPG that you think should be.
Avatar might make a good one - although, ideally, it should be combined with Alien and several similar franchises for a more varied setting. I know there was an Aliens RPG, but the system was awful - width of setting-wise it would make a good example though.
10) Can you think of an RPG you've run or played in which the GM (be it you or someone else) used/referenced non-game related books to run the campaign more often then game related books?
Most of my recent ones. I often use game books for rules and character creation, but build the world from other sources, although I will use game materials as part of those sources. I still love fantasy game worlds and enjoy reading them, I just don't seem to use them much!
Late posting as I often read blogs a week or so after they're published - sorry!
ReplyDeleteI happened across your survey and answered it here: unclemattsplace.blogspot.com. Sorry in advance if this is a duplicate post.
ReplyDelete