RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Bonus Round

Noting my dissatisfaction with some of the questions in this year's RPGaDay Challenge, my good friend, and fellow rebel pilot WQRobb let me know that Zak (of Playing D&D with Porn Stars fame/infamy) had created some RPGaDay questions of his own.

I notice that Robb has taken it upon himself to answer said questions, so I figured I might as well do the same. 

Here goes nothing:

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1. Worst game you ever played

Ever played? As a player? So many bad ones it's hard to think of a worst. One reason I prefer to GM and dislike playing so much is because of a lot of my early experiences with other people as GM were not great to say the least.

My first time playing AD&D 1st edition went very badly. I was invited by a really good friend to play with his pals who were all a year or two older than me. I played an Elf and everyone else was Human. In addition to the Elf abilities in the Player's Handbook, I noted that Elves are immune to the paralyzing touch of Ghouls.

I was made fun of by the other players, mocked for trying to be a munchkin or power gamer and just generally given the 'check out the dumb newbie' routine. I apologized, saying I could have sworn I saw it in the books somewhere. They went all rules lawyer on me, reading chapter and verse from the AD&D Player's Handbook. They made me feel foolish, unwelcome, and small.

Following that one session I went home to find my Monster Manual, which clearly states the Elves' immunity under the Ghoul entry. I didn't game with those guys ever again (thank goodness). 

It was the beginning of my disinterest in D&D, where rules knowledge or a lack there of was a point that divided it's players, not something that united them. Whether or not you knew the rules took away from the fun instead of adding to it.

2. Interesting rule embedded within an otherwise baleful game

While I don't necessarily think the game is baleful, my players hated Encounter Critical. At the same time we all agreed that the idea of needing to accomplish something related to your class to go up in level is pure genius.

In others words, in order for the Pioneer to raise in level he or she must discover a new land or a new secret of the wilderness. For a Warrior to raise in level she must defeat an opponent of equal or greater power than herself.

That is sweet.

3. Game you never played but you knew it sucked just looking at it

Hmmm. I've guessed that a lot of games would suck before playing them, just by looking at the book, but I played them anyway in case I was wrong. 

Never played but knew it sucked? No. I just don't do that. I have to play it once.

4. Game you most wish didn't suck

Wow. Where do I start?

Decipher's Star Trek game. Goddamnit! There is no reason that had to be bad but it is. It's like a third rate, hackneyed copy of the LUG version. Awful.

ICONS. I want to like that game so much, but it's just a slightly less smooth Marvel Super Heroes/FASERIP. And I don't like that game either!

Dungeons & Dragons.

This could take a while...

5. Game about which you have the most mixed feelings

Shadowrun. I had so much fun with that game but it's so not me. Especially not anymore.

6. Old game most in need of an upgrade

Hunter Planet. And I will be the first in line to pick up the new edition if they make one.

7. Game you can run with the least prep

Star Wars D6. I don't even need the rulebook really.

I like doing a lot of prep for it but I've run it on the fly so many times with nothing but dice, pencils, and paper.

8. Game with awful art (and who you wish you could hire to fix that)

Sorry to say this, but Mekton. I would hire an actual Japanese manga artist to do it. Two actually. Heck, I would hire any one of the non-pro fan artists on pixiv, the Japanese equivalent of DeviantArt. One for the Mecha images and a character design artist for pictures of characters.

I've always said in regards to Mekton, Toon, and Superhero games, "If your game is essentially about an visual entertainment medium, it should look like that medium.

Anime/Manga themed games have no excuse for not looking good anymore. 

9. Best houserule you've seen in action and now use in your own games.

I gotta go with what WRobb said on this one. I already answered this.

See the original RPGaDay entry.

10. Game you've most changed your thoughts/feelings about

Classic Traveller. I went from hating it the first time I played it to having it become one of my all time favorite games. I love it to the point where all the other versions pale in comparison (with the exception of MegaTraveller).

11.  Game you'd use to run just about any setting if you had to

I tend to believe the game system should match the setting. A one size fits all game doesn't really work for me.

That said, my modified Teenagers from Outer Space game, nicknamed Advanced TFOS, is the closest thing to a generic, universal game I can think of. I like it a lot.

12. Game that haunts you and you're not sure why

Haunts me? In what way? How would I not know why? I...no idea what this is asking.

13. Game that would probably be most fun to play a bee in

Toon or the Bunnies and Burrows campaign we had in the early 80's. Damn fine game.

14. Best Star Wars game?

Star Wars D6, 2nd Edition by West End Games. This isn't even a question. 

15. Game that's good in theory but you're kind of on the fence about it to be honest

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

It works, it's fun, and I even like it but I can't see it as my go to game for Superheroes. Considering how much I like the Superhero genre for gaming, why then would I bother grabbing MHR? That is, if I know it won't sustain a long term RPG campaign, what is to motivate me to use it for anything but a one-shot or at a con.

Not bad. Some interesting, and fun questions. Thanks Zak, and thank you Robb.

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In conjunction with WQRobb, and Lord Blacksteel , I am looking to have the three of us create some questions of our own for next year. Stayed tuned for updates.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Day 29

 

This one is tough, and for all the best reasons.

In the 7 years that my own blog has existed (Seven years? Holy Moley), I've come across some really excellent blogs, as well as helpful websites. I have also seen some fantastic blogs, and bloggers, come, and go.

I've made the acquaintance of a number of my fellow bloggers who I'd actually call friends, though we've never met in personal. Likewise, I have met a couple in person, and those were pretty great experiences.

When trying to identify a favorite however, that's when things get difficult. Choosing among my friends? That I simply won't do.

Instead, here is a list of favorites, alphabetically by author:


Charles Atkins' Dyvers Campaign

Lord Blacksteel's Tower of Zenopus

Lowell Francais' Age of Ravens

WQRobb's Graphs, Paper and Games

Zak Smith's Playing D&D with Porn Stars


In addition, here are a few that qualify more as websites than blogs, to me at least, but some of them have blog elements:


Plot Points - Resource for the Marvel Heroic RPG.

Rancor Pit - Forum for Star Wars D6 and general Star Wars RPG material.

TrekRPG.Net - Forum for all thing Star Trek RPG related.


Finally a special shout out to WQRobb of Graphs, Paper and Games. We seem to be of a kind he, and I. Although not identical in our preferences, it's nice to know there is someone out there who likes what you like. In our differences is where we learn from each other, and improve our craft.

I want to also say to those not listed up there in the top five, that not being listed doesn't mean I don't love you. Oh, no. I simply have a lot of favorites, and can't list them all, so I picked five.

It has to be said that I don't randomly add every gaming site I see to my blog roll. You might notice that compared to some blogs, my list of followed bloggers here on the right side is pretty small. If you're on there it's 'cause I think your blog, and your ideas, are something special.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody!

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Barking Alien

Long Term Goals

I was hoping after the move things would calm down a bit for me, but such has not been the case.

I have been working my butt off this week to get the place looking, and feeling like a real home, yet sadly I haven't gotten very far. I'm also working on a slightly different time schedule with my job due to travel distance, and the fact that it's been a relatively busy period (thankfully).

Each day it gets better though. A new, and happier normal is right around the corner.

Now then...

I get it. I do. Not everyone's life is like mine.

People have [even more] complex work schedules, kids, other family obligations, and all manner of reasons why they can't assemble for more than three, or four hours at a time, and probably no more than once a month.

What can I say? That sucks. Alright maybe that's a bit harsh, but it does seem to be something of a bummer. As noted by good ol' WQRobb in this response post, desire is one thing, reality quite another. He notes "[But] short-term gaming is better than no gaming, and can be good in its own right." I'm going to agree on the grounds I can't rightly disagree. At the same time, a lot of gaming is better than short-term gaming, and while I am able, I want to get in as much as I can.

As often happens when I am especially passionate about a subject so very personal to me, I'm not sure I explained why a session that is shorter, or happens less often, or both, doesn't work for me. My previous post conveyed by point of view, but not my reason for it.

*Why I Prefer Long Campaigns*

 

By Which I Mean

Long Sessions, Fairly Often, Over a Long Period of Time.

I generate a lot of material if I am interested in, and excited by, the campaign I am running. It bothers the heck out of me when I create all this stuff for a game, and the players/PCs don't see to see much of it.

Having less 'screen time' means I either have to stifle my creativity, or pick and choose what I'm going to use more often than I otherwise would.


I like layers, and depth, and I want them to build organically. I don't force deep characterization of the PCs, and NPCs, but over time it comes out. Often, especially with new players, or players new to gaming with me, it takes longer as they are less familiar with my approach, the other players, etc. Maybe they feel silly role-playing out certain aspects of the character, or story until they see others do it.

Less time to game means some of the slow building depth, and characterizations get short changed, or cut out entirely.


Combat takes time, and I like to give it time. Combat in my games is usually very fast paced, yet it can still take up a significant portion of a scenario. It is not unusual for my combats to involve multiple tough opponents (or a large number of lesser ones), difficult environmental, and terrain conditions (fighting in the snow, during a rainstorm on a hill side, or while leaping from floating platform to floating platform) , or occur concurrently with another sequence of events (during a chase scene, while one member of the group is trying to hack into the enemy's security system, or aboard an aircraft plummeting toward the Earth).

Although fights move fast in my games, that doesn't mean I want them to feel rushed. Combat, like everything else, needs the appropriate amount of time to develop it's feel, and pacing. Furthermore, I want sessions to be filled with more than just combat. When I here someone recapping their group's session, and the entire thing was just a big fight, it irks me so much I can't tell you. It shouldn't. There is no reason it should bother me, but it does. It's like a pet peeve. Largely because I know if I were a player in that game it would drive me nuts.

A longer session means you can get into an epic fight, and still get non-fighting things down (and vice versa).


The title of this post is Long Term Goals. So based on 'Why I Prefer Long Campaigns', what are my goals when it comes to GMing long term games?

Taking a look at my own preferences, I'd say:

• Generate a lot of material, and get the chance to use it.
• Allow time for the characters, the plot (and subplots), and setting to develop.
• Allow time for action, be it cinematic, and rapid fire, or methodical, and tense.
• Have the campaigns elements come forth, and develop organically.

Do I always achieve all of these elements? The answer, I am happy to say, is yes. Yes I do. With the following caveat...I do when I have the time to do so. When a campaign runs for dozens, and dozens of sessions, at 8 hours a session, yeah, I am able to do all of the things I love to do for my games.

In a three session story arc, lasting 4-5 hours a session? No, not always.


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Barking Alien

Thorough Thursdays : DC HEROES

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned DC HEROES, Mayfair Games' officially licensed , 1985 role playing game of the DC comic books universe, in a single blog entry before this one, and it wasn't the focus of the entry. 

That's just wrong.

Cover of the 1st Edition Box Set

By George Perez.

I don't think you heard me. I said, "GEORGE F*^$ING PEREZ!"

Great minds think alike they say, and proof positive of this is the fact that WQRobb of Graph, Paper, and Games posted about this very game just a few days ago.

His post mentions how this game - which was well received by both critics, and fans when it came out, had numerous supplements, and three editions - receives so little love from bloggers who devote a considerable amount of their time to discussing, running, and playing Superhero RPGs.

 He asks the questions, which I hope to answer in this post of my own, and I quote:

"So what gives?  Is the game a dog with fleas when it comes to the rules?  Are DC-based games just cursed to be badly written (I'm looking at you, DC Universe...)  I need my RPG nabobs to fill me in here. "

First, I would like to point out that not all DC Comics based games are badly written. DC Adventures by Green Ronin, compatible with 3rd Edition Mutants & Masterminds, is excellent.

Second, a little background...

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Imagine it's 1985, you're a 15 year old boy, and the only things you enjoy more than Star Trek are Role Playing Games, and DC Comics.

Low and behold, what should come out at your FLGS, but the box set pictured above.  The heavens open, sunlight shines down on the game, and an infinite number of angels in colorful, spandex tights dance before your eyes.

Having not yet encountered Champions*, DC HEROES was my first experience with a 'point-buy' system (or at least the first I can really recall). It may also have been the first game I played with Hero Points, but I am not certain. In addition, it had a very cool mechanic built into it for handling Subplots. While the main story is going on, each PCs would be subject to romantic entanglements, problems in dealing with their secret identities, and day jobs, your hero's relationship with the media, and normal citizens, and much more.

It was, in short, an excellent game. A streamlined, well thought out, well supported game with some truly innovative approaches for it's time.

I ran several campaigns with it of varying lengths, the longest, and best two were written up as pitches to DC Comics itself. One almost made it, but that sad tale is for another time.**

So what happened? Why don't I talk about this game more often? How come I'm not still running it now? Why did this great game, which featured my favorite comic book milieu, simply fall by the way side?

Well, unfortunately, there were several factors. Largely, it boils down to timing. And timing, as they say, is everything.

The boxed set for DC HEROES came out just before the series Crisis on Infinite Earths, but only by the slimmest of margins. Crisis would significantly alter the make up of the DC Universe, from continuity elements to power levels. This meant that as soon as DC HEROES really caught on, all it's information was basically wrong.

Other drawbacks, at least among the group I gamed with, included the fact that DC HEROES came out not long after Marvel Super Heroes, the original FASERIP game by TSR. Sadly, many of my friends were bigger Marvel fans than DC ones, and a lot of them were already playing the Marvel game. Not only was I more of a DC fan, but I really didn't care for the mechanics of Marvel Super Heroes. More often than not, the compromise when it was time to play a Superheroes game was Villains & Vigilantes, a tried and true favorite of all parties involved.

Within a year or two of DC HEROES' release, a number of games were published that would end up being among my all time favorites. In 1986, West End Games released Ghostbusters. In 1987, they would release Star Wars D6, while R. Talsorian put out both Mekton II, and Teenagers from Outer Space. That was also the same year that the first edition of Ars Magica came out, although I don't really recall playing it until its second edition in '89.

That's a lot of really strong competition for my attention, not to mention the attentions of my players. Add to the fact that I was graduating from Junior High to High School in '86, and the make up of my group was in a state of flux as well. DC HEROES ended up lost in the shuffle.

In 1986-87 (or thereabouts) I started playing Champions under the greatest GM I've ever had the pleasure to game with, my friend and HERO System mentor, William C.. It would be a year and a half of play before I knew the rules to the game, but I was pretty much hooked early on. After the two to three year stretch of campaign he ran that I was part of, Champions came out with it's 4th edition, and that became the go-to game system for all our Superhero games going forward (until Mutants & Masterminds came out that is).

As you can tell from previous posts to this blog, even after trying out, and enjoying, many other great systems such as M&M 3rd Edition, and Marvel Heroic, I still tend to fall back on Champions 4th.

There you have it. DC HEROES was very fun, but it just never beat out those games that were even more fun. It was like a competition where all the participants are talented, and skilled, but in the end, someone has to be in last place. That ended up being DC HEROES.

I've thought about trying her out again one of these days, just to see how the old girl has stood the test of time. Maybe I will, if I can get the gang to shelve their biased towards Champions for just a session, or two.

Truth and Justice Everybody, Truth and Justice,

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Barking Alien

*I had actually encountered Champions in my FLGS long before I played it. I took one look at the numbers, and the crunch, and put it down. Never gave it a second look. Amazing that I ended up loving it so much.

**One of these days I will tell the story of how I submitted a pitch to DC Comics for a 'Justice League Earth' story (one-shot, mini-series, or series), and how I almost got it through, and had my dreams horribly crushed by an unfeeling world. Ahem. OK, maybe not, but it sucked that it never happened. DC's loss.

When Not Preaching To The Choir

I've got a few things I want to talk about in the fields of Science Fiction (Our Traveller campaign!) and Supers (Our upcoming, brand new Champions campaign!) RPGing, so I hope I have time available to do so this month. At the moment, things are looking to be pretty busy.

February was, as I noted recently, pretty low on page views, very likely because it was also pretty low on posts. A real bummer and a little bit of a surprise since the posts I did make were largely focused on Traveller and Supers, two things that usually bring a lot of people 'round the campfire. Ooh, s'mores are almost done! Where was I? Ah yes...

I did get more comments than usual and that's a good sign but my goal is to get a little more of both. I want a lot of people to come visit, stay a bit and talk. It's lonely here in this orbital pod all by myself.

Moving along...

As recent as yesterday morning, I was having a conversation with Erin Palettle about some material she created for a Traveller game she is running. The conversation inspired me to post something about the particulars of Jump Drive 'In My Traveller Universe' (IMTU TM*), which differ a bit from the traditional canon of the game.

I would prefer to post my material after she posts hers, so I am going to hold off on that for the moment. Instead, I will address something of the Superheroic persuasion, which I feel is of interest to gamers in other genres as well, although I've seen it in Supers more than anywhere else. This posts inspiration comes from conversations I've had with a fellow you may know as WQRobb. If you don't know him, well, consider what you're missing out on!

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A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans.

I will amend that statement slightly. A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans and you are hoping for a Superhero Comic Book style campaign.

While it isn't too difficult to explain Dungeons & Dragons to someone who hasn't read Lord of The Rings or get someone who's never seen Babylon 5 into a session of Traveller, I would wish you good luck running Supers for someone who doesn't have a few dozen issues of The Avengers or Teen Titans under their belt.

With the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres, you can easily point to the medieval period of European history or an issue of Discover Magazine that discusses exo-planets and space travel. Fantasy goes back to fairy tales and the time of kings and knights. Science Fiction looks toward the future and the What If? of where we are going with technology and culture.

Supers is a strange bird (no, it's a plane...no, it's Super...ahem). It postulates an impossible now in which certain utterly ridiculous constants are common place and excepted.

For example...

One running gag in our previous Champions campaign was that one player refused to have his PC wear a costume, when all the other Supers of the world thought of it as not only normal but a given. Decked out in his leather jacket and shades he viewed himself as looking way cooler and more logical than any of the colorfully garbed, spandex lot. Unfortunately, all the NPCs, from fellow Supers to the Police to Reporters failed to understand why he dressed so strangely for an official Superhero. Many times our SHIELD-like organizations (PRIMUS and UNTIL) would tell him to get out of the way and get to safety, thinking he wasn't supposed to be at the battle.

PRIMUS Officer: "I'm sorry sir. This is a restricted area. There is a superhuman battle going on. All civilians must get to a safe distance."

ARCANE: "I'm a member of Project: UNITY. I have superpowers." (Shows Officer his ID).

PRIMUS Officer: "Oh I see. Sorry. Why aren't you in costume? How is anyone supposed to know?"

It was viewed as normal to wear a costume and a mask if you were a Superhero. It was tradition. Otherwise you're just some metahuman yahoo or worse, a poser.

On a related note, here is something that gets me (mini-rant warning)...

Sometimes, you have a group of players, all about the same age, who ARE big comic book fans. They've read and like a lot of the same comics and talk about what's happening in different titles all the time. Then, when you get together to create characters for a Supers RPG (Yes CREATE, not Generate, as the most popular Supers RPGs, Champions and Mutants & Masterminds, are both point-based systems that let you create the character you want to play) you get characters you would almost never see in an American Superhero Comic.

Why?! Please someone tell me why this is! It defies all logic. I get it if some of the players are familiar with comics and some aren't but when you gather a group of comic book fans and get un-comic book like characters...well...What the Hell?! Seriously.

(End rant)

I have tried to run Supers RPGs for those who don't know much about or even aren't into comics and it never goes well. It has gone less-than-horribly a few times but rarely close to what I would deem 'really good'. Maybe once but I got lucky, I had great players.

Why is this? That is to say, why is Supers hard to comprehend for the non-comic reader? Aren't comic books and comic book heroes the modern myths, filled with present day Daedaluses and Dianas? If you can understand a Wizard battling a Dragon why is Superman striving to fell Chemo so hard to wrap one's head around?

I honestly don't have an answer for this since I get it.

What do you all think?

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Barking Alien

*There is no actual trademarking going on here. ;)