Not Dead - Just on Vacation

In case you were wondering why I haven't kept up with the RPGaDay questions - but were afraid to ask - I've been on vacation. Since it mostly involved trees and bicycles, you can read about the over on my bike blog:

What I Did for my Summer Vacation - the 2017 Edition - Part One

There was some gaming involved... but I'll post about that at the end of the month with my monthly boardgame round-up.

I was hoping to find the Astropolis II Kickstarter rewards had arrived when I got home, but alas, they have not...

In the meantime... RPGaDay Questions...

Question #13

Describe a game experience that changed how you play.

Yeah... I kind of drew a blank on this one. 

Changes in the way I play have been small, subtle, and gradual over the years. 

I think things that have changed how I game probably occurred OUTSIDE of actual play. Encountering a game system that gave experience for stuff OTHER THAN killing things and taking treasure was a bit thing... 

I guess one thing could be when I tried to kill Runkha... The first person I ever played with was my Dad. Because for the first bit it was just the two of us, he had two characters he played; Zadoc (a priest) and Runka (a thief). Once I encountered actual kids my age that played and had more than one player I kind of got it in my head that ONE MUST ONLY PLAY WITH ONE CHARACTER - but my dad insisted on playing with the two - even when playing with my other friend(s). I got annoyed by this and decided to kill off Rukha by having him attacked by a Ninja - hired by the baddies whose dungeon they were planning to attack... He looked so forlorn, I ended up saying he didn't DIE, but was so gravely wounded he'd have to stay at the inn while the rest of the party went and bashed the Dungeon. I realized right away it was a bit of a dick move and decided not to ever be a dick again... But I don't think he ever played a game again with me after that. 

Question #14 

Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play.

I think Traveller has worked really well for that… it is such a vast sandbox of a galaxy all laid out - but with lots of room for customization and tinkering. 

Mind you, I've used GURPS Traveller and I could just as easily use Savage Worlds or something else. I think the SETTING has as much (or MORE) to do with the ability for open-ended play than any particular role-playing game. 

Question #15

Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?

I had a lot of fun adapting SavageWorlds to all sorts of different settings – and I definitely have the most experience adapting it. Most recently I’ve been tinkering with the idea of minimizing rules to focus on actual ROLE-PLAYING and have been thinking a LOT about ways I could use something like Song of Blades and Heroes (or any of the games using the same basic game engine) as the basis for an extremely simple role-playing game. We shall see... 

Question #16. 

Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?

I think most RPGs I start out using as is - believing "Surely this will work out..." and then I always end up unsatisfied withe something and tinkering some how. I do like to at least TRY to play any new rule set - whether RPG, Miniatures, or boardgames - with the rules as is, to try and understand what the author(s) intended.

I'm reading through Tales from the Loop and the 40K RPGs right now (Rogue Trader and Only War) - and I can't see any issues with Tales fem the Loop and so I could possibly run it "as is", but after a few sessions who knows. The 40K RPGs...? Well, I can already imagine them bogging down in combat - so I'm already planning to use a streamlined combat system that uses elements of the 40K skirmish game to speed things up.

Question #17

Which RPG have you owned the longest by not played?

Actual role-playing games not individual adventures or supplements…

ALIENS? Bunnies and Burrows? High Colonies? All three I picked up in the late 80s when I worked at the Wizard’s Corner and never actually played… ALIENS and High Colonies I picked up when they first came out, Burrows and Bunnies I bought used off a guy…

I was a HUGE fan of Aliens back in the late 80s. I've probably seen that movie more than any other movie. So needless to say I was SUPER STOKED when I heard there was going to be an ALIENS role-playing game and I bought it the moment I set eyes upon it.... I remember reading the rules and being utterly underwhelmed by the whole thing... I don't recall exactly what it was, but just overall disappointed. I may have made characters, but I'm pretty sure I never got so far as to PLAY the game. 

It looks like High Colonies came out in 1988 and ALIENS in 1991, so I've obviously had High Colonies longer. I have a feeling I may have bought Bunnies and Burrows before 1987... 

Question #18

Which RPG have you played the most in your life?

Hard to say…. In terms of number of gaming session or actual hours spent playing? Or the number of years spent using it as your go-to game?  Probably Savage Worlds… or maybe GURPS…?

I played a LOT of Role Master in high school and a lot of Palladium games (TMNT, Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, etc – though I never really played Rifts…), Twilight:2000, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Battletech/Mechwarrior…. who could possibly tally all those hours at lunch time or after school?!

After high school I played a LOT of GURPS and ran various GURPS games for years.

Eventually I abandoned GURPS in favour of Savage Worlds and ran games every Saturday evening for years… I played it enough that I set up an entire separate BLOG for it!

I have played a lot of D&D (Basic, AD&D, and more recently 5E) – This was the first RPG I ever played, and played it exclusively for some time before moving on to other games (though for a while I still played it as my go-to fantasy game) – and more recently I’ve been playing 5E…

Stay tuned for RPGaDay2017 Question #19 - coming tomorrow!