RPGaDay Challenge 2019 - FIRST

The first prompt on the first day of RPGaDay 2019 is FIRST. How meta.

I've already posted so many Firsts on this blog that I am not sure which First to talk about first. I am not even sure I need to discuss all my Firsts again when I first discussed them in the past. Quite a conundrum.

There was the first time I played a Role Playing Game and my first character. You can see that here.

There is the first campaign I ever ran. That story is here.

My first Star Trek campaign occurred in 1982, when the FASA game came out. It's mentioned here.

My first Star Wars campaign was run before there was an official Star Wars RPG. Check this out.

There was the story of the first Traveller game I played and the first character I made for that game. 

My first Villains & Vigilantes character (and the ones that never were) are here.

Oh wait, you'll love this - the first time I came up with the idea of a Muppets RPG and what happened after. Take a look here. 

I mean...damn. That's already a lot of firsts. I could probably spotlight another dozen. As I noted in the beginning, the Barking Alien blog is big on firsts. 

But now I wonder...if this first post for RPGaDay 2019 was about First, and Firsts, that is the first time I've done things, is the first thing I thought of, did I miss an opportunity to do or say something new for the first time?

Oh well. First things first.

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Barking Alien

Strange Days

It's that time again Barking Alien fans (and once again I thank the five of you for being here)!

Tomorrow I begin The RPGaDay Challenge for 2019!

This is my sixth year participating in this exercise and I am intrigued by this year's alternative approach. Check this out...

Instead of the traditional questions, RPGaDay 2019 consists of thirty-one, singular word launching points designed to serve as the impetus for a blog post, piece of artwork, YouTube video, a song, or whatever you wish related to the term in question. 

Participants are encouraged to interpret the word and its relation to gaming in any way they see fit. My intention is to read the prompt word and just go with the first thing that comes to mind. 

In the past I have been a bit critical of some of the questions, though always with a sense of humor and a real appreciation for Autocratik and the people who put the RPGaDay event together.

I have felt that sometimes the questions as worded were unclear and vague, without a sense that they should be. This is a wholly different approach. This is open-ended, not vague. That is something I can absolutely get behind. 

I am really looking forward to this year's challenge. As with every year for the past five years, the RPGaDay event gets me out of my Summer blogging slump. I could really use that.

Tune in tomorrow!

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Barking Alien

Just OK Is Not OK

Have you all seen those AT&T commercials in which someone employs a company or person who is, well, thoroughly mediocre at their job (at best)?

One of my failings as a Gamemaster, one truly bad habit my friends and players have told me I have, is that if the first few sessions of a campaign aren't quite right in my opinion, I'm likely to scrap the whole thing and start developing something else.

I acknowledge how annoying this can be for many gamers. You may have gotten behind the campaign premise, invested in your character, and after a few sessions (or even one session), the GM calls it quits saying it didn't really work for them. That can really turn one off to that particular GM, especially if it's happened more than once within say a few months or even a year. 

I do this. Guilty as charged. I completely understand if this pisses any of my players off. I am truly sorry. I wish this weren't the case.

However...While I will endeavor to be more aware of it, I am unlikely to change. 

If I am running a horror game, I expect it to feel frightening and suspenseful. If I am running an Anime/Manga style Giant Robot game, I am expecting it to feel like my favorite Mecha shows. If the feel or style is off, if the characters don't fit the setting, if the mechanics turn out to be more cumbersome than helpful, I would much rather cut my losses, the group's losses, and put my energy and efforts into something that will be more successful. 

I know I could run a game and if I felt it wasn't working, just make some changes and then run it a few more times to hammer out the problems. That makes some sense but it isn't how my head works. If a game doesn't feel right I don't want to wait until I'm a dozen episodes in to realize its not good. I would see that as a colossal waste of time if I could have nipped it in the bud early and dedicated my efforts towards a better experience. 

A common critique is that I am a perfectionist. If the game doesn't go exactly as I planned or foresaw it, I have to start over. This simply isn't true from my personal perspective. That's not how I look at it. I am not a perfectionist. I am not expecting it to be perfect. On the other head...remember the commercials I mentioned?

Other people might be happy if things turn out to be just OK. I like them to be the best they can be. Sure, I could be lazy and just chuck something out but for me it's both a pride thing and a dedication thing. I try very hard to make each game I run the best game I can produce. I don't like to do it cheap, cut corners, or say 'whatever, it's fine'.

Fine might be good enough for the things you make. It isn't good enough for me. Just OK, is not OK. 

I didn't get a reputation as a great GM by producing OK campaigns.

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Barking Alien

The Eagle Landed

On July 20th, 1969, the United States' Apollo 11 became the first Human crewed craft to land on the surface of the Earth's Moon. 

I was born on February 12th, 1969.

I was 6 months old when Neil Armstrong made his 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Held by my Mother, we watched the event on television.  From the very beginning, space travel has been a part of me. 

The fact that we, the flawed and all too often foolish Human race managed to travel from our birth world to it's natural satellite is nothing short of amazing. It is the culmination of the pioneering spirit that came before it and the inspiration that fueled all the intrepid journeys that came after it.

Happy 50th Anniversary to Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and all those who made the dream possible. 

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Barking Alien

Satisfy My Soul

I am in the process of re-organizing my gaming schedule.

To be more precise, I am thinking of dropping one of my regular gaming days in order to free up more time to work on material for my remaining games and possibly add one new one that would occur less often. 

It goes like this...

I run a weekly game on a weekday evening.

I run a biweekly game every other Friday night. 

I play in a biweekly game every other Friday night I'm not running mine.

I run a monthly game the first Saturday of each month. 

I run a second monthly game one Sunday a month, the specific day of which changes. 

Of these games, the weekly one is the toughest for several reasons. First, it is during the week and though relatively short I still feel really tired the next day and that's no fun. Not so tired it effects my job or anything so serious, but I don't always feel completely rested as I move into the weekend. 

Another issue is that while I like that game and the players, it's not really keeping my interest. I am losing enthusiasm for it as it were. It's a Fantasy game and while I am occasionally (if rarely) in the mood for Fantasy, it's hard to stay in the mood. I get bored of Fantasy settings and stories very quickly, even when I really like them. 

Lastly*, and most unfairly to said weekly endeavor, I am so much more interested and excited about my other campaigns that I'd much rather be spending time working on them instead of the Fantasy one. The night I run the weekly game and the effort I put into doing research and creating stuff for it is beginning to feel like time I could've spent adding to my other projects. That's a lousy feeling because it mixes creative frustration with guilt. Never enjoyable. 

Now, once this game ends, which incidentally should be soon, I could just run another one, something in a different genre, or perhaps someone else could run that night but I am feeling more and more like I could just take that night off and do other things. Of course by other things I mean prep and design material for other games. In fact, by not gaming that night I could free up enough time to devise...another monthly game.

One of my best buds just got a new job that frees up his weekends. While mine aren't totally free, they flexible during the Summer, so I could pick out one day a month and do another campaign with a floating day to be announced when we figure out who's free. 

Just some thoughts going through my head right now. The success of my FRONTIER campaign has really revitalized my love of gaming and Gamemastering, though a particular style - my style - that I am just not able to bring to all my tables at present. 

If I can do more me, why not do so?

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Barking Alien


*My 'last' reason noted above is not really my last reason. There are other reasons the weekday game isn't doing it for me, some of which are hard to convey. Suffice to say I would much rather produce a new campaign similar to FRONTIER than continue or create one in the format of the aforementioned weekday sessions. They just aren't quite scratching the itch.