Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Q is for Questions, I Know How to Pick'em


Turning the tables on my readership (stop laughing, there are people who read my stuff regularly. Like...there's...that guy. Y'know him), I'd like to ask the fans some questions about their gaming as it relates to some of the stuff I enjoy and discuss. Feel free to answer as many or as few as you like but please post something...

 






What was the first game you played other than D&D (Or any of its variants, clones, derivatives, etc.)?
 
How long had you been playing D&D before trying this other game? What did you think of it?

Note: If D&D was not your first game, how long had you been playing that other game before trying D&D? Did you try D&D?
 
If D&D (Or any of its variants, clones, derivatives, etc.) disappeared tomorrow along with any memory of how to play or even that it had ever existed, what game would you play instead?

How long did your longest lived character live (game time and 'real time')? How long did your shortest lived character live?

What happened to them, or what state were they in, when last you played them?

What was the most successful campaign you ran or played in that was based on a licensed product and what was the IP (Intellectual Property)?

What was the most successful comedic campaign you ran or played in?

Note: This question is aimed at games that were supposed to be comedic, or humorous from the start.

If you could turn any IP into a professional RPG game tomorrow what would it be?

Curious to see the results of this...


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12 comments:

  1. Oh, now I'm coming in second to that guy? :P

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  2. I notice you haven't answered any of the questions...

    ~_~;

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  3. 1) My very first rpg was Gamma World 2e, at age 10. Up until that point, my only experience with D&D was listening to all the older kids tell their gaming stories on the bus. (Even after almost 30 years, I still remember the two worst. a) One player bragged about how he had been fighting Thor in Valhalla, and cast a Push spell...which made Thor fall all the way to earth, and die from the impact damage. Player got Mjolnir that way. b) Above guy's group played through White Plume Mountain 5-6 times, just so each character could get their own Blackrazor sword.) Anyhow, I convinced my mom to take me to the local bookstore to pick up a boxed set, and I thought Gamma World looked snazzier...so I bought that, and the Famine In Far-Go module. It was love at first sight.

    2) I'd play Champions/HERO System, because those rules are pretty much burned into my brain.

    3) I've been mostly a GM over the decades, so the longest I've played one character was about 18 months (it was a superheroic game). During play, he did die, but ultimately got better--turns out my evil duplicate from the anti-matter universe had secretly replaced me, and he bit it instead.

    Shortest run? I've had too campaigns crash and burn after only one or two sessions to count, but the characters involved didn't actually die.

    4) I've haven't run licensed properties since TSR's original Marvel Super-Heroes game. I got a few months out of that, before shifting to my own made-up world using Villains & Vigilantes.

    5) I guest-GM'd a friend's Teenagers From Outer Space game, and everyone loved it so much (including the original GM) that they made me take over permanently. I think we got a summer's worth of gaming out of that.

    6) I'm almost sure that there's been an official game invented for every one of my pop-cultural interests. Your Muppets work was the final one to check, methinks.

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  4. What was the first game you played other than D&D (Or any of its variants, clones, derivatives, etc.)? What is you first game? If not, how long had you been playing D&D before trying this other game? What did you think of it?

    The first game that I ever played/owned was Shadowrun 2nd Edition. Something about elves and orcs with guns really appealed to me in middle school, though I don't think I ever really used the rules as written for any of the games I played, except for the general "Here's a target number. Roll that many successes" kind of guideline.

    If D&D (Or any of its variants, clones, derivatives, etc.) disappeared tomorrow along with any memory of how to play or even that it had ever existed, what game would you play instead?

    I would probably be playing my anachronistic action western game in Savage Worlds, like I'm planning. :)

    How long did your longest lived character live (game time and 'real time')? How long did your shortest lived character live? What happened to them when last you played them?

    I've had games that have lasted less than a session, so that's probably the shortest it's been for me as a GM. My longest lasting character was a petty criminal named Garrett Moss in a PbP zombie apocalypse game on the RPGNet Forums. We played that game for about 8 months before fallout set in.

    What was the most successful campaign you ran or played in that was based on a licensed product and what was the IP (Intellectual Property)?

    I ran my most successful PbP game ever in the Black Lagoon universe. Running over the top gunfights and car chases was a blast and I really appreciated the loose criminal framework of Roanapur. I really felt like we made the existing world our own and I would gladly revisit that setting again, either in person or online.

    What was the most successful comedic campaign you ran or played in? Note: This question is aimed at games that were supposed to be comedic or humorous from the start.

    Probably every game of Inspectres I've ever run.

    If you could turn any IP into a professional RPG game tomorrow what would it be?

    Young me would have gone with Redwall, no contest. Current me would really want a One Piece or similar shounen adventure game. Kids at the library would come crawling out of the woodwork for that one.

    I guess I feel like I could run most other IPs that I'm interested in with existing systems.

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  5. I'm not a D&Der in the first place, so this may not be that useful, but here goes.

    A1: My first game was the multiplayer version of Fighting Fantasy. I played that for a bit, but had no access to other rpgs, so moved on to Games Workshop games until a friend introduced me to Shadowrun second edition.

    A2: Call of Cthulhu, probably. Or Savage Worlds. I want to try the Dragon Age game, but my group are happy with D&D for their fantasy, so maybe if the latter went away, I would have a chance.

    A3: My longest-running character would be my Shadowrun decker, JJ. I ran him for about two or three years, but I don't recall what he did in his last outing, as that campaign sort of sputtered out. I know that he didn't quite achieve his goal of wooing the waitress with whom he was smitten. My shortest-lived character was probably a dwarf in a very rare game of D&D, who died in the first room -- at the hands of another party member -- and so didn't get a name.

    A4: If Horror on the Orient Express counts, then it's that. If not, probably my Rogue Trader campaign from last year, which ran for about fourteen weekly sessions.

    A5: The only comedic game I've played is Paranoia, and we only played it for one afternoon, but what an afternoon!

    A6: Probably Final Fantasy. I know there have been various fan games and a number of professional serial-numbers-filed-off titles, but I'd like to see an official game.

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  6. I can't answer these but I wanted to let you know that I did read your post, even though I'm not that guy, or even that second guy.

    Happy Weekend :-)

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  7. Happy Whisk, you, like Erin, are better than that guy. You're that gal! lol

    A lot of interest responses. Thanks everyone. I will give you my answers in my next post.

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  8. lololololol, I'm that gal. I'll take it.

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  9. I remember playing around with Star Frontiers, but I don't remember if we ever actually ran a game. The second RPG I remember playing for sure was Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, 1st ed.

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  10. First of all, you've got more followers than me. Now for the questions:

    1) The first RPG I ever played was a session of Legend of the 5 Rings. I can't recall the edition, but it was in 1999

    2) If D&D went away, I've still got plenty of games on my shelf that I haven't played yet and have been meaning to for a while. The trouble is picking one.

    3)My longest lived character in any campaign was Konrad the Barbarian. It was so long ago that the main thing I remember was he made it to 14th level, but not how long it took. My favorite thing that happened with Konrad was when the DM ran us through Ravenloft. He had a +1 undead bane warhammer that was a tribal relic and the DM decided that it was actually the SunSword that you need to kill Strahd. So the DM describes how the hammer turns into a sword. Konrad's reaction? "Stupid broken hammer! It doesn't hammer anymore!"

    4) My two major standouts in terms of using existing IPs are Oz (the subject of my own RPG) and Star Trek (I once ran a GURPS Prime Directive campaign in which the players decided to style their characters after the A-Team). I've recently developed an itch to do a campaign based on The Greatest American Hero, but it hasn't come to fruition yet.

    5) I've played a session of Paranoia, as well as a somewhat more extended foray in Oz, to which I added ninjas among other silliness.

    6) Most of the IPs I would be interested in gaming have already been adapted. Though the Red Dwarf RPG was rather lackluster.

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