RPGaDay Challenge 2021 - FLAVOR

 

Flavor is a favorite word of mine because boy oh boy, I love Flavor. 

I'm a bit of a foodie, especially picky about my coffee and craft beer (currently obsessed with Sours), and can't eat the same thing two meals in a row. Seriously. If I have chicken tacos for lunch, dinner needs to be beef or pork and not Mexican food. I just can't do that to my taste buds. This is in spite of the fact that I love Mexican food. 

I need Flavor diversity. I need my coffee strong, nutty, and with a mild chocolate or caramel finish. I like my sour beers of the sweet and citrus variety but I am extremely open to trying something new. When it comes to ice cream, hell, what have you got? I'll try practically anything. 

I am the same way with RPGs. I can't understand those who play only a single game and even less so those who've only played that game for years and years. With all the different Flavors our there, why limit yourself to just the one? 

I also don't get playing different games the same way. I have personally encountered players and [to a lesser extent] GMs who approach every game, regardless of setting or system, as if it were D&D. Be it Ars Magica, Cyberpunk, Star Trek, or Champions, it's all about killing enemies and looting bodies. Why would you do that? It takes all the Flavor out of the meal. Would you cook every dish by boiling it in water with a little salt? That works OK for some vegetables but I wouldn't want these same gamers to make me a hamburger or fried pork chops. 

Fried food doesn't do well boiled in water. 

Embrace and enjoy the spices and textures that make each game unique! Challenge your RPG palate! What well aged Combat System pairs well with a bold, real world simulation Superhero game? Find out!

Now if you'll excuse me I am going to savor a vintage Action/Comedy RPG. Mmm, 1986! A very good year.

Entry 6 - Flavor.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2021 - THRONE

 The first thing that came to mind with the word Throne was the stuff of Fantasy - Kingdoms, Queens, Courts of Intrigue, and other things that honestly rarely play into my campaigns. It's not that I never bring these themes into my games but rather that I don't run or play in a lot of games where these things are addressed in any detail.

That said...there are Thrones beyond Fantasy and the prompt could easily conjure thoughts about Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars or the Padishah Emperor, 'Emperor of the Known Universe', in Dune. There's Emperor Strephon and his numerous predecessors ruling the Third Galactic Imperium of Traveller.

Somehow though, none of these feel quite right when trying to come up with a post about Throne. Could it be because these are usually either background characters in their respective settings or reflect conceits similar to those of their Medieval Fantasy counterparts? Are all Thrones the focus of their own 'Games of Thrones'?

Tales of a Throne and what it takes to seize one just don't do anything for me. They are nice to have to add flavor to a setting but I don't want to tell tales of Dukes and Duchesses, Baronesses and Lords.

Mine are usually the stories of common folk or those whose celebrity is self-made. The center seat on the bridge of a Starfleet vessel is my kind of Throne. No noble blood need to sit in such a chair. 

Entry 5 - Throne

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2021 - TACTIC and WEAPON

 

These two entries are connected in my mind so I will address them in a single post. 

When I think of all the amazing Weapons and impressive Tactics I've seen in genre fiction and RPGs over the years - from the Death Star's planet destroying turbo-laser to Wolverine and Colossus' Fastball Special - I realize there is one thing more dangerous, more powerful, and more versatile than all of them...The Human Mind.

After all, the brain is the near limitless source from which all Tactics and Weapons arise.  

I am very much a fan of RPGs that understand this.

I am less enamored with choosing the 'right' Tactics or Weapons at the 'right' time, I do not get particularly excited about the stats of a given Weapon or the usefulness of Facing or some other Tactical mechanic. 

As with Maps in my last post, I'll note that I don't run War Games or games with heavy Tactical elements. Combat is definitely a big part of many of my campaigns but it isn't [generally] the focus of them. The Phaser and the Lightsaber are definitely cool, as if the Proton Pack and Sting. None of these are what actually wins the battle.

With intelligence and creativity, you can take down an army with a pointy stick. At least, you should be able to. 

Entry 3 & 4 - Tactic and Weapon

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2021 - MAP

I love Maps. I just don't love using them. 

Let me explain...

Maps are, for me at least, a very beautiful but very specific form of art.

They are [generally speaking] depictions of places, ranging from the interiors of buildings to the geological and topographical features of planetary bodies. The most wonderful thing about Maps in my humble, personal opinion is that these places need not exist. Since they are works of art, they rely primarily on the skill and imagination of their creators and therefore may be real or fictional.

This means that while they are certainly a useful tool for determining where one is and how to get where one want to go, Maps are equally impressive for showing use the relationship between several points that need not be anywhere in reality. Images showing us where the Misty Mountains are in relation to Hobbiton and how far Tatooine is from the Core Worlds of Coruscant and Kuat are of just as much interest to me as the GPS that tells me how to get from my apartment to my favorite restaurants in the Midtown Manhattan. Likely more so. 

When it comes to gaming, I don't use Maps for the purpose of showing my players where their PC is standing, how far the opponents is from them, how many 'spaces' or 'hexes' it is to the door or anything like that. My games aren't war games and I usually don't bother with range unless there is some narrative or dramatic reason to do so. 

I use Maps to say, 'Look at this World Building! Look how cool this place is!' I want you to see the setting in a way that intrinsically makes it more real because as Humans we are trained to understand that if there is a Map to it, it must be a place. I couldn't care less if a Map depicts how many weeks of overland travel it takes to get from one adventure to the next but I do want the visual that says, 'This is far. This is going to take some time and go through so spectacular terrain.'

Maps are fascinating to me but distances less so.

Entry 2 - Map

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2021 - SCENARIO

What an excellent first prompt.

A quintessential element of Tabletop Role-Playing Games and one about which I and likely many other gamers have definitive thoughts about. 

It's probably no surprise that I approach Scenarios a little differently from the majority of my fellow Gamemasters. Before I address exactly what goes into my Scenario design, I think it's helpful to define what a Scenario is.

First, what is the actual meaning of the word independent from its RPGaming connotations. According to Dictionary.com, Scenario means:

• An outline of the plot of a dramatic work, giving particulars as to the scenes, characters, situations, etc.
• The outline or the manuscript of a motion picture or television program, giving the action in the order in which it takes place, the description of scenes and characters, etc.
• An imagined or projected sequence of events, especially any of several detailed plans or possibilities: 'One scenario calls for doubling profits by increasing our advertising, the other by reducing costs.'

What I find really interesting about these definitions is that all of them sort of relate to how RPGs use the term but there isn't a single one that nails it exactly. Don't get me wrong, that totally makes sense as these meaning weren't intended to be used by gamers. They were meant for normal speech by regular people. Game-Speak is a whole other animal. 

A gaming Scenario is essentially an Adventure intended to be played through by a GM and a group of players that consists of various combat encounters, discoveries, role-playing scenes,  and other bits that challenge all involved. 

The key thing for me is that all of the above definitions use terms like 'outline' or 'imagined or projected'. This fits with my idea of making sure Scenarios in my own campaigns aren't rigid, inflexible, or even overly specific. My Scenarios tend to have a more general, big picture overview, with the details and specifics being variable.

For many of my games I don't really write Adventures or Scenarios in the traditional sense. I have ideas as to which NPCs are up to what, where they are located now or where they are headed, and then sprinkle in various means and ways the PCs can find out about all this. As such, I am totally open to the players/PCs checking out other people, places, and ideas found in the world setting. PCs can go off script in my Scenarios because, simply put, there isn't a script. 

Entry 1 - Scenario

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Barking Alien.