RPGaDay 2026 - DAY 3 - POISE

POISE

Poise isn't a word that commonly appears in my vocabularly, either written or spoken. It isn't something I think about and few of my characters are ever developed with their 'Poise' in mind. How does Poise even apply to RPGs Let's see if we can get an idea from the definition...

According to Merriam-Webster it means 'to hold or carry in equilibrium'. Isn't that balance? Are they synonymous? Hmm. Turns out they are in fact synonyms. That doesn't really help me though and it isn't what I think of what I think of Poise. What else is there?

Ah, Google has the definition of 'graceful and elegant bearing in a person'. OK, yes, that's more what I was thinking of. Like a princess. Like a Space Princess? A Psychic Space Princess!

YES!

I'm going with a Space Princess with Psychic Powers for this one. With that in mind, it is my honor to introduce her highness, Princess Yume Nebular of the Miraisekai Empire.

As lovely, charming, and diplomatic as she is enigmatic and, if rumors are true, dangerous, Princess Yume is the youngest member of the Nebular Royal Family and the heir to the Throne of Visions. Her elder cousin Kowai is next in line should something 'happen' to her. 

While accidents and direct attempts on her life have been made by forces unknown (shhyeah, right) none have been even remotely successful. Like many members of the Nebular Royal Family, the Princess possesses Psychic Abilities, one of which appears to be Precognition, the power to see the future. It is very difficult to rid yourself of a target who knows when, where, and how a threat to them is coming. 

Unbeknownst to all but the closest of family members, Princess Yume's personal scepter, the Infinity Stave, is an ancient artifact from a highly advanced though long extinct civilization that enhances her powers while she's in contact with it. 

Princess Yume always goes about with an air of Poise and a sense of calm confidence that can only come with being able to see events that have not yet occurred. This does not make the young royal invincible of course. Just because you know a catastrophe is coming doesn't mean you can stop it.

Luckily, she has the forces of the Miraisekai Empire at her disposal and a lot of friends who can help her escape a potentially deadly situation, including the Alien Explorer Gidget Starseeker and Asatira the Space Amazon.

Yume Nebular is built on another custom/combo Archetype, this one merging Princess and Esper into my own creation, Psychic Princess. I know, I know, we're workshopping the name. 

With this entry I focused on how she might function in an adventure or overarching plot, so things like Weapons and Adventure Gear and the like were kept to a minimum; I only gave her what I thought she needed her potential role. In an ongoing campaign I might flesh her out further if my players and their PCs responded well to her. 

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Looking ahead, some of the future prompts, those towards the later half of the month, are little lacking in 'energy'. Few of them are, how shall I put it, 'action' words. Still and all, better than previous years. I may have to get creative. We'll see how it goes.  

*The name Yume isn't a name per se but a word; it means 'Dream' in Japanese. Her rival cousin Kowai's name mean 'Scary' or 'Frightening'

Likewise, the 'Miraisekai' Empire uses the Japanese words for 'Future' and 'World/Society/Civilization' to form the Future Society Empire. Is their Precognition that powerful or could they actually be from the future? Don't know yet but its fun to imagine the possibilities.

This character, her Empire, and many other aspects were inspired by the Jurai Empire and related characters in the Japanese Anime Franchise 'Tenchi Muyo'. 

RPGaDay 2026 - DAY 2 - STATURE

STATURE

The word Stature implies prominent and even imposing physical size. It also related to importance or perceived important due to ability and achievements. The word makes me think of something Science Fiction is noticably lacking in these days...Space Amazons!

Asatira 176 is an Amazon Warrior Woman from the planet Astart (Astart Sagitarri II) and a renowned interstellar adventurer. Like all the women of her world, Asatira is descended from a group of genetically engineered super soldiers who colonized the planet a few centuries back. 

Not long after arriving on the planet a terrible plague wiped out the Male population and only the Females survived. Now, over 300 years later, their society thrives as a Matriarchal Direct Democracy - One Woman, One Vote! The Astartians are much sought after as allies because of their martial prowess but are not yet members of the Galactic Federation, prefering their independant status.

Elena 225 and Asatira 176 showing variants in Astartian Battle Armor aesthetics. 

Asatira is, as you can imagine, a big woman. She stands just over 7 feet tall and weighs roughly 250 lbs. The gravity of Astart is heavier than Earth-Galactic Standard and the people are adapted to such conditions. In addition, her Stamina and Speed are as impressive as her Physical Strength; her enemies sometimes succumb to fatigue before she even breaks a sweat.

While skilled with various weapons, her favorite is a Plasma Energy based 'Ray Sword', seen here being used against a Robot Commando of the Ares Battalion, a renegade military organization originally from Mars in the Sol System. The Battalion and the Amazons of Astart are bitter rivals. 

I love this character. She just came to me upon reading today's prompt and I had to write her up. I gave her a Hoverbike and Special Gauntlets to show her people are technologically advanced and not just big barbarians. The number after her name is a hold over from the distant past when her people, being genetically engineered, were given a batch number or other such designation. Maybe they were clones? Who knows! That was a long time ago. How do they reproduce now? Hmm. Good question...

Here's her Character Sheet:

Instead of using the Amazon Archetype, I decided to do another custom one combining the Amazon and the Muscle, resulting in what I refer to as 'The Amazon Warrior'. 

I am really looking forward to running this game sometime soon and I am still considering do a Solo campaign as well. It's just a really functional system that emulates the genre of Space Opera particularly well and that is one of my favorite types of Science Fiction after all. 

I see Asatira as a sort of 'Big Sister' figure for Gidget, the latter wishing she was half as cool as this badass Space Amazon. Meanwhile Asatira is well aware Gidget is good at things she herself is not, like piloting Starships and understanding complex Sciences like Biology. 

What a team they'd make, right!

Where to next - or is it who to next - as we explore the denizens of Frontier Sector Zeta and the universe of Space Opera Heroes!

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*Asatira is a Female name of Swahili origin meaning 'History' or 'Legend'. Quite fitting if I do say so myself. 

Asatira's homeworld of Astart (Astart Sagitarri II) is named for Astarte, the Hellenized form of the name of the ancient Near Eastern goddess, Attart. Attart is a counterpart to Ishtar and a female diety connected to Beauty, Sexuality, Royal Power, Healing, and War.  

RPGaDay 2026 - DAY 1 - DISCIPLINE

DISCIPLINE

An appropriate first word, as that's exactly what I'll need and hope to have to get anywhere with this particular Challenge. My track record here isn't particularly good.

When I think Discipline I think of 'Officer' type characters, like those serving in Starfleet and many Superheroes; those charged with the defense and well-being of civilians, institutions, and their fellow officers. 

Introducing Captain Lacey Pepper, the Sector Commanding Officer of the Galaxy Police in my rapidly developing Space Opera Heroes campaign universe. 

A career officer who worked her way up from Frontier Traffic Control, to Subsector 'Beat Cop', to the top law enforcement authority at the edge of Galactic Federation Space, Captain Pepper is equally liked and feared by the officers under her command. She's tough but fair and has a lot more compassion than most people might expect given her by-the-book outward demeanor. 

Flag of The Galactic Federation Galaxy Police

Galaxy Police Badge

So what makes Lacey Pepper stand out among the great many officers who constantly put their lives on the line to help the citizens of the Galactic Federation through anti-piracy operations, emergency responses and rescues, and interstellar community outreach? Discipline! She has a clear moral code, she sticks by it, and she has organized her life and her work (which are basically indistinguishable) in such a way as to allow her to apply her principles to the universe around her. This only works because she pursues her goals with unparalleled focus and resolve.  

And her she is in Space Opera Heroes Character Sheet form. Pretty simple to write-up. Once again she is an original Archetype, this one really just a variant on Super Heroine but with some added Law Enforcement skills like Investigation and Search. Super Heroine actually comes with Negotiation, which is largely why I choose that as my starting point. 

OK, Day 1 is complete. On to Day 2...

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*Lacey Pepper gets her first name from Mary Beth Lacey, one of the two policewomen in the Female led Police Procedural Drama 'Cagney and Lacey', played by the incomparable Tyne Daley. It was a ground-breaking and Emmy Award winning series that ran on ABC Television for seven seasons, between 1982-1988. 

Before Cagney and Lacey there was an even more pioneering show, Police Woman. Starring American television icon Angie Dickenson as Sgt. 'Pepper' Anderson, the series lasted four seasons and ran on NBC between 1974-1978. It was one of the first police/crime dramas to focus on a Female lead, proceeded only months before by 'Get Christie Love!' starring the beautiful and talented Teresea Graves. That show is itself remarkable for having a Black Actress as the star of a Detective/Crime series.

RPGaDay 2026 - An Actual Challenge?

Next month, August of 2026, marks 49 years that I have been in the Tabletop Roleplaying Game hobby. Next year will be 50 years, the big Five-Oh!

I'm going to start celebrating early with yet another attempt to complete the annual RPGaDay Challenge which looks...huh...actually interesting this year. Maybe even...dare I say it...truly challenging!

I skipped last year's RPGaDay because I often find blogging difficult in August for various reasons and the prompts tend to be rather uninspiring. The idea of the challenge has been, in recent years, more fascinating to me than participating in the challenge itself ever is. This year might be different, with prompts that are not so obvious or direct in their meaning, at least as they apply to RPGs.

There are some words here I can already tell I'm going to have a lot of trouble with; poise for example (Day 3) isn't a word that comes up in my vocabulary very often. I don't usually think about poise and certainly haven't said the word in recent memory. There are a few others like that but given the nature of the RPGaDay Challenge, perhaps my brain will come up with some way to interpret these term in a gaming related way once I get the started. 

All in all, I definitely feel these prompts are an improvement over those of the past years.

UPDATE: Re-reading the RPGaDay home site AUTOCRATIK, it would appear that Runeslinger, who created the prompts for this years outing, suggests the words be used to create characters, making this a Character Creation Challenge instead of the usual, less 'intentioned' approach to the RPGaDay events. 

This certainly makes some of the terms easier to picture but I'm not sure I want to create a month's worth of characters, given that I'm much more of the 'Forever GM' type. Also, January sees the 31 Days/31 Characters Challenge and I don't necessarily want to muscle in on that event's turf, so to speak. I'm not 100% against the idea either though.

Hmm. Tough call here. Going to have to think about this.

A heartfelt thank you to F. Douglas Wall of There's More to Oz Than The Yellow Brick Road, as it wasn't until I read his post on the subject that I realized what the original creators were going for. 

Join me for this next month won't you? I can't wait to see what I decide to do!

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RPGaDAY 2025 - Challenge Denied

I've done the RPGaDay Challenge for a number of years now but I rarely finish.

I usually get overwhelmed with work, family stuff, actually running and playing games, and other Real LifeTM  distractions that force my August blogging to take a back seat. Another major factor is that the supplied questions/prompts are often uninspiring. Sometimes, especially most recently, they've been downright boring. 

I'm being a bit harsh perhaps but most of the words and inquiries have simply not generated a strong desire in me to talk about the subjects suggested. Therefore, with everything else going on, I rarely feel truly motivated to complete the challenge.

This year?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be passing on the RPGaDay Challenge for 2025. I have some other things I want to discuss this August that are more interesting to me than trying to come up with responses to essentially random prompts [such as my planned Cities series]. I'd much rather devote my time, energy, and passion to created material I really care about.

Sorry RPGaDay. Maybe next year.  

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Failing Forward

As you can see, I am not going to be able to complete the RPGaDay Challenge for 2024. It simply wasn't in the cards this year for a variety of reasons.

My real life personal and work schedules were much more unpredictable and irregular than has been usual for a typical August of the past few years. 

When I have had time to think about gaming my thoughts were focused on very specific topics and not the general subjects some of the RPGaDay prompts might suggest.

I still haven't gone back to my 31 Days/31 Characters Japanese Pop Culture Edition Challenge and that's frustrating. So much so that I keep thinking about that project more than this one.

In conclusion, I'm sorry I wasn't able to best the challenge this year but also not so much as I had to create my own prompts just to kinda be into it [given everything I mentioned and the extremely lackluster official prompts].

I expect to be a bit more prolific with my posts in  September as I have a lot of cool ideas and new game experiences to share. Get ready for discussions galore and a return to some of the previous endeavors I've left uncompleted.

That's all for now.

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RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 15

'All the Universe is full of the life of perfect creatures.'

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Scientist. One of the 'fathers' of modern astronautics and rocketry. 

I love animals and I love Science Fiction, so it isn't surprising that one of my favorite aspects of the latter is alien critters. The field of exozoology would definitely be my calling if I lived in a distant future akin to Star Trek or Traveller. 

Art by Nicholas Ferrand

I love considering what kind of animals might live on the planets I create for my Science Fiction RPGs, even if they don't necessarily play a major part in the adventure I'm running. As mentioned previously in the post on WORLDS (Day 13), a creature that is both strange to the players but squarely fits its environment can add a sense of 'realism' to an otherwise largely fantastical local. 

Shy by Alexander Ostrowski

Dragon Magazine #123 (July 1987) had a Star Frontiers article in it titled, 'The Whole Earth Ecology' that discussed just this very subject. While the article was not an in depth bio-sciences analysis of life on other planets, it did what many great Dragon articles did back in the day; it made easily forgotten things into points to remember. It caused the often overlooked to stick out in your mind and as such, it inspired ideas. 

Art by nao70shark

Like a lot of articles from the old Dragon, I've read and re-read this one over and over, each time getting charged up by the very idea of populating distant worlds with new life forms. I couldn't wait to flex my creative muscles and create creatures that would challenge and interest my players and create a believable ecosystem for the world around them. 

The Sardu Reef by Alex Reis aka Abiogenesis

As you can see from the images accompanying this post, visuals play an important role in my use of creatures. I really like having or making pictures of the creatures I am referring to during a game. Sometimes the visual of the critter comes first and it inspires the biology and stats. Sometimes its the other way around; I envision an alien beast, write it up, and then I search for or illustrate what it looks like. Either way, a picture really enhances the introduction of a new extraterrestrial animal. 

Art by Ben Mauro

With that, I don't really have much else say. I just love me some cute and cuddly creatures like the fellow above. Heheh. I'm sure I'll have some inspired revelation tomorrow but that's the way it goes. 

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 15 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

Hmm. You know which characters have great gear? Starfleet characters and Ghostbusters. 

I might have mentioned this before but playing these two games, along with Star Wars, really shook up my outlook on how to run an RPG. Starting the characters off with some seriously awesome hardware not only feels right for the settings in question but also adds to the idea that gear is cool but not the goal.

The objective isn't obtaining more and/or better weapons when you start off with a Phaser or Particle Thrower. The Tricorder and PKE Meter are the right tools for the right job in their respective settings. You've already got the best toys. You're free to dig a little deeper and search for something more meaningful. 'Course you could still be in it for the money in Ghostbusters and Star Wars I guess. Oh well.

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 14

This is tricky to answer as it's difficult to pick my favorite campaign setting.  

I could easily go with Star Trek and explain why even after 42 years of running campaigns set in that universe, I still love to do so and probably will for 42 more. Honestly, I feel like I've discussed the subject before or I am very likely to do so in the future. It's also...too easy. Too expected. 

Instead, let me tell you why I don't generally like Medieval Fantasy but I do enjoy running my D&D-But-Not setting of Aerth, the world of The Winghorn Guard.

First created in 1982 for a campaign called 'The Winghorn Guard', the main idea behind the game is the same reason it remains special to me. The concept was simple, 'Run a Dungeons and Dragons campaign using the Gamemaster advice from a Superhero game'. Instead of planning to do a Medieval Fantasy game using ideas from the Advanced D&D Dungeon Master's Guide , I based how to go about running the game using what I'd learned from years of reading comic books like Marvel's Avengers and DC's Legion of Superheroes. Eventually, when I purchased Villains and Vigilantes [2nd Edition], I used the Gamemaster advice in that game to supplement what I was already doing. 

Giving Dungeons and Dragons 'Four Color' Superhero Comic Book elements allowed the game to have a unique identity and feel. I was able to focus on aspects of world-building and adventure design that emphasized the heroics, ethics, and emotions of the PCs, while de-emphasizing the murderhobo approach. The money, violence, and quest for power normally attributed to traditional D&D PCs are what the bad guys are concerned with on Aerth.

My objective was to inject Medieval Fantasy and Folklore with something I understood a lot better and that, at the time, was Silver to Bronze Age comics. The results were very successful and continue to be four decades later.

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 14 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

What about them, eh? What makes a character compelling?

That's definitely a subject that could take up an entire post (good job official challenge!) and may be too broad a topic for a 'BONUS FEATURE' entry. 

I'll say this; it isn't always clear at the onset what will make for a compelling character. Often times players write multi-page backstories for their PCs not thinking about the fact that what they (really the player) might find really interesting is something they hadn't considered or didn't even know about when making up the character. 

As an example, my Hogwarts/Wizarding World PC, Frank Pellgrove, was created with an eye toward making him less interested in and effective at casting spells or brewing potions but really good with Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. These were two things I knew most other players wouldn't give much thought to.

At some point during the campaign he helped birth a Hippocampus (mythological fish tailed horse) in the Hogwarts lake and became especially interested in aquatic beasts thereafter. In follow up sessions he would take an interest in boats, other sea creatures, and it was suggested to him that he might someday get a job as the Wizarding World's equivalent of a Marine Biologist.

These were profund moments for Frankie and ones that intertwined with and challenged his sense of self. Now, after roughly 6 or 7 years playing Frank, he's a much more compelling character than I ever would have expected. 

Bottomline is don't limit yourself to what you think would be compelling. Start with a basic concept, an outlook on life, and then through play allow yourself to be compelled. Give it a try!

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 13

"Impressive. They can make planets."

-Maltz

I consider myself a 'World-Building GM'. 

What does that mean exactly? Well, according to a definition by Merriam-Webster world-building is, 'the creation of a fictional world (especially within the science fiction and fantasy genres) that is believable and consistent within the context of the story'. Solid explanation I'd say. I would add that [good] worldbuilding creates a setting that feels alive as if it exists, or could, in some other time, place, or alternate universe.

As a World-Building GM, creating the setting and breathing life into it is my favorite part of the job. The best part of the TRPG hobby experience overall for yours truly is when one of my players shows interest in some element of the setting and decides to actively investigate it. 

Since I run a lot of Space Adventure Science Fiction, it isn't uncommon for me to create a lot of worlds. A lot of a lot. Consider my Star Trek Adventures campaign Star Trek: Prosperity. This is a bi-weekly campaign with a multi-role Starfleet vessel that visits a planet, spends two or three sessions on that world (on average), and then visits another planet in the next adventure. The campaign is in its 8th year now. Even with holidays, sick days, and other cancellations and skipped sessions we must have gone to literally hundreds of planets by now. 

Now most of these aren't fully fleshed out the way my Medieval Fantasy/Dungeons & Dragons-esque world of Aerth is. Aerth is over 40 years old and has been the setting for roughly a dozen campaigns (likely a little less than a dozen). There are people in the real world who know the layout of the streets of Rae-Uhn, the food of the island-continent of Corindel, and the location of the Cornerstone of the World. The cultures and history of the Elves, Dwarves, Ancient Humans, and even the Dragons have been explored. 

People have 'lived' on Aerth. People will live there again. They will find that past events and the actions of previous Player Characters have had an influence on the people and places that they have interacted with. Likewise, their activities will effect those that come after them. If even one of them remembers this world and their experiences on it fondly later in their real life, I have successfully built a world.

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 13 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

Wow. I actually like this prompt. Fits with mine in a way. Cool. 

I am big on evocative environments. When creating a game world I like to have a few interesting 'set pieces' not matter where the PCs go. These visually distinct environs serve as both background color.and interactive terrain.

Background color translates to the players being able to 'see' where their PCs are and how it informs the atmosphere of a sequence. A cloudy evening with light rain over a vast plain surrounding your small farm invests the scene with loneliness, melancholy, and perhaps a tinge of fear. Soaring high above the shimmering sea on the back o a dragon during a beautiful sunny day generates a very different mood. 

Interactive terrain is an environment the PCs can use or which could be used against them. Think about snowy hills on an icy planet or in the deep winter of medieval europe. There is ice to slip on, banks of snow to hide behind, sliding downhill on your shield as a quick escape, and throwing snowballs makes for a great distraction. 

Anyway, I highly recommend switching up the environment around the PCs to something other than a stony underground corridor or the same old Eurasian forest. Shake it up!

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 12

I'm looking for some information. I've been told you can help.

Bards, Information Brokers. Informants, Intelligence Operatives, Sages...Bartenders.

Every genre and setting have those in the know who are willing to share their knowledge for a price. Some put a numerical value on the knowledge, while others trade for favors or an exchange of information.

I've had lots of these kinds of characters in my various campaigns, with some becoming reoccurring NPCs that the PCs looked forward to visiting and not just for the intel. Solid examples of this type of character include Ipperius Witspear and some versions of Barkley himself. Another particularly strange and fun one is Mr. Carver the Fall Bearer, The Ghost of Rottinghume Manor. 

So, who can I point to here? Who do you guys not know about yet. Wait...how about...

Eavesdrop Eddie

Anyone familiar with the game Crimefighters by Dave Cook? Not many I'd wager. Listen here see -  it was a Pulp Era RPG written up in an issue of Dragon Magazine by none other than TSR in 1981. My friends and I got a copy of a year later and gave it a whirl. The PC heroes were of the Spirit and Doc Savage variety with 'The Spider - Master of Men' a major influence on the campaign. I ran it as a blend of Pulp, Film Noir, and early Superhero Comic Books. While looking through old files I came across the game for the first time in years and I remembered this fellow; perfect for today's prompt...

Edward 'Eavesdrop Eddie' Eckleman was a struggling, small time Private Eye with a most unusual gift and curse. 

Eddie was born with a severe ear infection that threatened to render him deaf before his first birthday. Doctors, from Specialists to Quacks, were all at loss to figure out a cure for the baby's affliction. Finally, the day before his first birthday, the Ecklemans were visited by a Filipino woman who claimed to have been saved from her burning home by Edward's father during the Philippine-American War. She had tracked him down to thank him and 'got word' of his son's malady.

She applied medicinal herbs and oinments to the boy's ears and then released a small swarm of insects into the room which proceeded to bite both of the baby's ears mercilessly. She was shooed away by the parents and then they brought Eddie directly to the hospital as the child's ears began to swell to horrible size and redness. Hours later the doctors informed the Ecklemans that the infection was completely gone and the boy totally healthy. While the swelling had finally subsided, Edward's ears remained unusually large and have ever since. 

From that point forward 'Eavesdrop Eddie', as unkind schoolmates had nicknamed him, found that he possessed an amazing sense of hearing. He could clearly hear the quietest of whispers across the expanse of a theatre, even while the entire crowd made idle chatter. He would winch in discomfort at the unheard sound of a dog whistle. He would cover his ears at the wailing scream of a police sirem but uncover them to note which direction a criminal's footfalls were heading. Over time he learned to pick out each instrument in a piece of music such that he could tell you the name of instrument's manufacturer if he knew it. 

Unfortunately, he can't turn it off. No, Eddie lives all his days and nights jarred by the slightest creak of staircases, the pitter-patter of mice in the walls, and the drip of a leaky faucet two apartments away down the hall. He gets little sleep, commonly gets headaches, and often appears to be a man at his wits end.

Still, he somehow manages a sad smile and a friendly 'How are ya' to everyone he passes. His positivity, which sometimes seems strained to its limits, is nonetheless earnst. He loves music, from Classical to Jazz, and can play the piano remarkably well (one might say he has an ear for it). He likes his Scotch neat, avoids Tea and Coffee ("I got enough trouble sleepin' as it is"), and is especially fond of the company of quiet people. The unnervingly silent presence of the crimefighter 'Phantom Midnight' is something Eddie very much looks forward to.

After overhearing various gangmembers planning a heist while in Little Italy, Eddie became the go-to guy for picking up info on the streets thanks to his incredible auditory abilities. Eventually he decided to put those talents to use as a Private Detective but he isn't necessarily the best at all aspects of the job. He is a friend and invaluable source of intelligence in New York CIty, especially South of 14th Street and his home turf of 'Alphabet City' on the Lower East City. 

The character is a gestalt of two late actors, comedians, and singers, the incomparable Eddie Cantor and the great Jimmy Durante. 

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 12 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

Seriously? And you wonder why I came up with my own prompts.

No clue. As with my last post I've heard good things about the ALIEN and Star Trek Adventures pre-fab campaigns. Are they well supported? Beats me.

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 11

Psst. *Whispering* Hey. Yeah you. C'mere. *Looks around* Can you keep a secret?

 

Players love their Secrets don't they? 

Player Character backstories are always full of checkered pasts, tragic childhoods, and embarrassing relationships to the big bad. Don't worry about remembering it all as it's explained in great detail in the ten page character write-up the player has given you. The thing of it is, for the time being this forbidden knowledge is known only to the player and you the GM. By no means should the rest of the group know or even be aware of any of it. Those secrets are to revealed later.

But when is later?

In my mind, secrets are best handled in the same way as mysteries. I've stated it before but what is the primary purpose of a mystery? To have it solved. A mystery that can't be solved lies somewhere between frustrating and meaningless. Secrets are very much the same. A secret no one is aware of beyond the Player and the GM might as well not exist. At some point that secret should be hinted at, then alluded to in a direct manner, then revealed.  Some excitement and drama stems from keeping the secret but even more can result from uncovering or confessing to the truth. 

This can get tricky if the player whose PC holds the secret is reluctant to divulge the information they've been keeping under wraps. You don't want to give it away too soon but the longer its held the harder it is to have it come out. Now I don't mean hard as in the reaction will be more intense, though it might be, but rather its more gets difficult to let go of what has become a well guarded and even coveted piece of a character's lore. If the others learn your secret, then what makes your character special now?

Well, lots of things probably (hopefully) but the expoxing of a PCs hidden information doesn't lessen the character, it simply changes their dynamic, their place in the narrative, and maybe even the narrative itself.

For me it all works best if the secret starts as an unknown, then trickles out into the campaign in the form of small clues and curious interactions or events, until eventually release of the knowledge into the wild becomes unavoidable. This could take half a dozen sessions, a dozen, two dozen, or even more but all relative to the length of the campaign itself. I don't have an exact number or percentage. I'd play it by ear personally. However, the key is I would wing it with an objective in mind - somewhere is trying to keep a secret and the universe is trying to reveal it. 

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 11 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

From what I understand, according to gaming friends who use pre-made one-shot adventures, Star Trek Adventures and ALIEN are big winners in this category. Both Modiphius and Free League seem to put out fun, short adventures that work very well as one-shots. 

I don't have any first hand experience so I can't really speak on it beyond this. 

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 10

 Here's a toughy...

Is there a genre I've never played or run? Never? I honestly can't think of one. Hmm.

Comedy - Ghostbusters, Paranoia, Teenagers from Outer Space, Toon.

Crime/Detective/Thriller - Crimefighters, Gangbusters, Justice Inc. 

Cyberpunk - Cyberpunk 2020, Metal Head, 

Fantasy - D&D (Various Editions), Pathfinder, Runequest, Sword World.

Historical - Wild West (Boot Hill, Savage Worlds), World War II (Recon). 

Historical Fantasy - Ars Magica, Bushido, Pendragon.

Horror - ALIEN, Call of Cthulhu, Chill. 

Post-Apocalypse - Aftermath, Apocalypse World, Twilight: 2000. 

Science Fantasy - Gamma World*, Metamorphosis Alpha*, Shadowrun, Star Wars.

Science Fiction - Space Opera, Star Frontiers, Star Trek, Traveller.

Steampunk (with or without Fantasy) - Castle Falkenstein, Gear Antique, Space: 1889. 

Superheroes - Champions, Godlike, Golden Heroes, Mutants and Masterminds, Villains and Vigilantes.

*Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha are too fantastical to be considered really Post-Apocalypse for the purposes of this list IMHO. 

This is just a handful of the games I've run and played (mostly run). It doesn't even cover Espionage (James Bond, Top Secret), Mecha (Mechwarrior, Mekton, Wares Blade), or Modern Day Action (Feng Shui, Burning Spirits, Streetfighter). 

I really questioned myself into a corner here didn't I? 

Can anyone think of a genre I didn't cover?

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BONUS FEATURE: Day 10 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

See on TV? Like...in a commercial? Do people still watch network TV? I don't understand this question. 

If you mean in a fashion similar to Actual Play videos on YouTube I still couldn't answer as there is a thing called YouTube. That's where these play. I'm not really into watching them unless its to learn how a game is played when I'm having trouble grokking the rules. Beyond that, I don't really care for Actual Play. 

Now if you mean a show based on a TRPG, well I'd love to see a big budget, well done Traveller series on Netflix. That'd be prett cool.