31 – When did you first take part in #RPGaDAY?
It’s a good thing that I have this blog to refer back to — turns out my first participation was in 2016!
…and that’s it for this year. Thank you if you followed along, and apologies for the spam if you didn’t!
30 – What should #RPGaDAY do for its 10th anniversary next year?
Good question! You have eleven months to think of something — do your best! 😛
29 – Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDAY?
Nope, I’m not going to pressure or ‘tag’ anyone. By now anyone reading my blog knows that RPG-a-Day is going on, and if they want, they know they can join in.
28 – Style Sunday: Roll 1d8+1, tag that many friends with your favourite RPG cover art.
You know we’re not tagging anybody. And I don’t know if I have a favourite piece of RPG cover art as such. There are some artists whose work I really, really like, and some of that work ended up on covers.
First is Angus McBride, whose paintings of scenes in Middle Earth were on the cover of (almost?) all of the MERP books. He really defined the look of that line.
Jon Hodgson likewise illustrated a Middle Earth game, but he was much more involved: he was the art director for the first edition of The One Ring. His sombre palette really evoked the idea of heroes struggling to spread light in an era of gathering darkness. You can see some of his pieces on his site.
And then there is Jim Holloway, who illustrated many different editions of the Paranoia RPG. His whimsical and ironic style did so much to establish the insanity of the setting and to spur all kinds of madcap actions by the players. Everyone recognizes that little image of the smoking boot in a little pile of ash immediately.
27 – How has the character changed?
Neither Malorean nor Ruma have been around long enough to undergo some kind of change.
26 – Why does your character do what they do?
This is the first time Malorean is actually part of something bigger, so he wants to get to know his family and what they are up to. He has quietly been noting everyone’s power usage, and has been restrained with his own powers so far. Once he (thinks he) has his footing, he might prove to be a little less pliable than he seems at the moment.
Ruma is here for the adventure. There’s something about “your old friend asks you to investigate strange lights in those ruins” but it’s a dungeon crawl — it doesn’t require deep motivations at all.
25 – Where has the character been?
Malorean has been out in Shadow, constructing strongholds to contain the psychic powers of his mentally ill father Osric. Most of his (half-)siblings assumed he was dead, and only recently Benedict (who knew the truth all along) made arrangements to relieve Malorean from that duty.
Ruma’s past is still shrouded in mystery — and maybe it will stay that way, because we’re crawling through dungeons, not getting into deep character-driven roleplay!
24 – When did you start playing this character?
Both very recently! Ruma the Goblin Zen Monk has only been in play for two sessions, and with one session every two weeks, that’s just over two weeks! I have not played a monk before, and I like how he really tears through enemies.
Malorean has been in play for only one session, also only two weeks ago. He still needs some more time to ‘solidify’ I think. The Amber DRPG has much fewer mechanics that dictate the flow of play, so there are fewer ‘guard rails’ to guide your character into a certain direction. I suspect that he will come into his own much more after a few more interactions with the other characters in the game.
23 – What situation are they currently in?
Ruma is currently fighting a bunch of Mitflits who are herding a Mudlicker Maggot (which is bigger than Ruma!) in a ruin somewhere.
Malorean is in a Shadow that is used by Llewella and Fiona to study some kind of dark crystal infection, and is ready to reach out to two other Amberites who had been infected, who might be in danger from being attacked by Chaosians forcefully shapeshifted into crystal-powered mecha powersuits…
22 – Who is your current character?
I have two, and I have only played one session for both of them.
In Pathfinder, I am playing Ruma, a Goblin Monk. I want to style him as a zen monk — we’ll see if that even comes up.
In Amber Diceless RPG, I am playing Malorean, son of Osric. After Osric and Finndo’s rebellion against Oberon, Osric went sort-of mad and Malorean had to keep him safe. Yasmin, Osric’s infant daughter and Malorean’s half-sister, was taken by Benedict and raised as his own. It’s kinda weird because Malorean was first an NPC, so the other PCs have already encountered him — so they know more about the character than I do, in a sense!
21 – Setting Sunday: Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy.
In Nobilis, the players create their Imperator (the god whose divine soul they share) and the Chancel (the manifestation of the Imperator as a place, which serves as a headquarters for the Familia) together. In my (now sadly defunct) Nobilis campaign, the Chancel was a very large library with a pneumatic tube communication system. An avatar of the Imperator herself, much diminished in power after being wounded, sat in a big room in the cellar of the library to make sure the capsules went to the right track.
20 – How long do your games last?
Session last about 2,5 hours, sometimes just a tad longer when we have some bookkeeping to do or want to finish a particular scene. That’s the sweet spot for me: we can start late enough that I don’t have to rush dinner, and stop early enough that I have a bit of time to decompress before going to sleep.
As for campaigns… who knows? Some fizzle out after a few sessions, some go on for a long time.
19 – Why has your favourite game stayed with you?
I’m not sure I have a favourite game that has stayed with me throughout the years. In the beginning it was RoleMaster, but I don’t think I’d use it for fantasy these days. I think the game that has stayed with me for the longest is actually the Amber Diceless RPG — in fact, last Saturday I played in a new campaign of it!
I think the thing that gives it such longevity is its strong setting (the Amber novels by Roger Zelazny), which has enough detail to give a solid foundation and enough ’empty space’ so you can do your own thing with it. The system fits really well with the source material, and it has aged well. It is also very easy to teach to new players, so the barrier to entry (as a player) is really low.
18 – Where is you favourite place to play?
The place I play these days is at my desk, behind my computer. Being the geek that I am, I optimized my setup for the way I work and play, with two screens, webcam on one screen and a ringlight next to it. I have the video call on one screen, and everything else (VTT, rulebook PDFs, text editor with notes) on the other screen.
17 – Past, Present, or Future? When is your favourite game set?
Purely historic games are not that interesting to me — there is always something added (cthonic horrors in Call of Cthulhu’s 1920s, magic in Ars Magica’s middle ages etc), which makes the setting not the past, but an alternate past that never was. I find that an important distinction to make — there is no ‘historic accuracy’ in RPGs because the setting is not historic. People who insist on ‘historic accuracy’ are invariably white dudes who seek to impose their own racist views on an RPG setting and should be shunned.
My favourite game set in a past-that-never-was is probably Ars Magica. I’m also interested in King Arthur Pendragon, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually played it.
My favourite game set in a present-that-is-not is probably Nobilis.
My favourite game set in a future-that-probably-(or-hopefully)-will-never-be is The Sprawl.
16 – What would be your perfect game?
My perfect game is a game with friends, with the rules supporting the theme of the game and a scenario that is fun.
15 – Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?
I don’t have a specific wishlist, to be honest. I do very much enjoy playing in a game of newly minted GMs. It is a bit magical to see them realise that this semi-mystical GM thing is something they can do, too!
14 – Suggestion Sunday: Roll 1d8+1, and tag that many friends and suggest a new RPG to try.
Instead of this, I am going to list RPGs that I want to play, and people who haven’t played those could get in touch and we’d work something out.
Agon – Play as Greek heroes on an epic quest! If you love the Odyssey, then this is exactly that.
Everway – It uses a Tarot-inspired card-based system to drive the kinds of stories that turn into myths.
Golden Sky Stories – Play as magical shapeshifting animals in a small mountain village, interacting with the children there. Completely non-violent, which is refreshing.
Monster Care Squad – Set in a post-capitalist anarcho-syndicalist society, you work as a monster specialist sent out to cure the various monsters and thereby cure the land. Also non-violent!
Nobilis – Play as a god in a society of gods!
Tales from the Loop – Cassette-tape retro-futurism where you play as a Kid confronted with fantastical technology.
Blade Runner – There was an RPG made out of this, and I have the quickstart, and those are often fun to do.
13 – How would you change the way you started RPGing?
Very good question. Maybe my experience would have been better with a more mature game/group? But on the other hand, it fit quite well with where I was at that time.
Maybe my experience would have been better if I had found local players instead of players that lived 45 minutes away? But on the other hand, I am still playing with people who I met at the RPG group I became a part of after that initial campaign.
So… I don’t know? I think it was the right thing at the right time in my life, with the right group of people.
12 – Why did you start RPGing?
I’ve already answered this, but basically: a friend from school told me that I should play in his campaign. And I didn’t understand the type of game at all, but I did understand that it had something to do with fantasy — and I loved fantasy. (Still do, but I used to love fantasy back then too.)
I think the reason I jumped on it, is that I did not have any friends that I really did things together with. Playing RPGs filled that hole. And still it’s something I do with friends that I would otherwise have more superficial connections with.
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