Announcing #RPGaDAY2018

It's nearly August, it's time to officially get this year's #RPGaDAY underway! First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to me when I put out the last video. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, and your willingness to take part and get involved.

As always, time got away from me, and I completely neglected to get back to some of you who volunteered, and I'm so, so very sorry. I had big plans for this year's RPGaDAY and things crashed and burned, and there was a moment that I nearly didn't bother. It was all the voices out there who showed such massive enthusiasm that it lives for another year. And I can't begin to apologise enough to those who failed to reconnect with. Next year, I promise.

As with previous years, #RPGaDAY is all about positivity. About how great our hobby is, how it can bring people together, and give them a fantastic social experience that fires the imagination, gets us thinking, and can give us vital real world skills. Friendships forged in the heat of battling an army of orcs can stay with you a lifetime - I know they certainly have with me.

#RPGaDAY celebrates our hobby, spreads the word of how amazing it can be, how accepting, encouraging and downright entertaining it can be.

For each day of August, look at the question prompts, some of which have been provided by you - those enthusiastic gamers who have taken part in previous years - and use them as inspiration to write a blog post, record a vlog, or simply post a photo on Instagram. Share your experiences, and join in with the hashtag #RPGaDAY2018 and #RPGaDAY. The latter will be flagged by the website ( www.rpgaday.com ) and will be collated there. (Hopefully)...

Simply download the infographic below, and every day in August join in!

A high contrast version of the graphic can be found below...

If you'd prefer it in simple text, the prompts for this year are a follows:

1. What do you love about RPGs?

2. What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?

3. What gives a game “staying power”?

4. Most memorable NPC?

5. Favourite recurring NPC?

6. How can players make a world seem real?

7. How can a GM make the stakes important?

8. How can we get more people playing?

9. How has a game surprised you?

10. How has gaming changed you?

11. Wildest character name?

12. Wildest character concept?

13. Describe how your play has evolved

14. Describe a failure that became amazing

15. Describe a tricky RPG experience you enjoyed

16. Describe your plans for your next game

17. Describe the best compliment you’ve had gaming

18. Art that inspires your game

19. Music that enhances your game

20. Which game mechanic inspires your play the most?

21. Which dice mechanic appeals to you?

22. Which non-dice system appeals to you?

23. Which game do you hope to play again?

24. Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?

25. Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months

26. Gaming ambition for the next 12 months

27. Share a great stream / actual play

28. Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you’re grateful for

29. Share a friendship you have because of RPGs

30. Share something you learned about playing your character

31. Share why you take part in RPGaDAY

ALTERNATE PROMPTS FOR 2018

Most memorable character retirement

Most ambitious campaign idea achieved

Most innovative game of the last 12 months

Share playing a “temporary” character

Narrowest escape?

How do you prepare for a one-shot?

How do you prepare for an extended campaign?

What’s your favourite character “hook”?

What makes you want to GM?

What appeals to you about GM-less games?

Also, with many thanks to Michael L. Jaegers from https://jaegers.net, below is a translation of the questions into German:

What do you love about RPGs?	Was magst Du an Rollenspielen?
What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?	Was ist das erste, wonach Du in einem Rollenspiel schaust?
What gives a game "staying power"?	Was macht ein Spiel zu einem "Dauerbrenner"?
Most memorable NPC?	Erinnerungswürdigster NSC?
Favourite recurring NPC?	Bevorzugter, wiederkehrender NSC?
How can players make a world seem real?	Wie können Spieler eine Welt real erscheinen lassen?
How can a GM make the stakes important?	Wie kann ein Spielleiter die Herausforderungen bedeutend machen?
How can we get more people playing?	Wie bekommen wir mehr Menschen zum Spiel?
How has a game surprised you?	Wie hat ein Spiel Dich überrascht?
How has gaming changed you?	Wie hat das Spielen Dich verändert?
Wildest character name?	Kühnster Name eines Charakters?
Wildest character concept?	Kühnstes Charakterkonzept?
Describe how your play has evolved	Beschreibe, wie Dein Spiel sich entwickelt hat.
Describe a failure that became amazing	Beschreibe einen erstaunlichen Fehlschlag.
Descibe a tricky RPG experience you enjoyed	Beschreibe eine knifflige Rollenspielerfahrung, die Du genossen hast.
Describe your plans for your next game	Beschreibe Deine Pläne für das nächste Spiel.
Describe the best compliment you've had gaming	Beschreibe das beste Kompliment, das Du für Dein Spiel bekommen hast.
Art that inspires your game	Ein Kunstwerk, das Dich für Dein Spiel inspiriert hat.
Music that enhances your game	Musik, die Dein Spiel verbessert hat.
Which game mechanic inspires your play the most?	Welche Spielmechanik inspiriert Dein Spiel am meisten?
Which dice mechanic appeals to you?	Welche Würfelmechanik reizt Dich?
Which non-dice system appeals to you?	Welche würfellose Spielmechanik reizt Dich?
Which game do you hope to play again?	Welches Spiel hoffst Du erneut zu spielen?
Which RPG do you think deserves more recognition?	Welches Rollenspiel verdient Deiner Meinung nach mehr Beachtung?
Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months	Ein Spiel, das in den vergangenen 12 Monaten eine Auswirkung auf Dich hatte.
Gaming ambition for the next 12 months	Deine Spielpläne für die kommenden 12 Monate.
Share a great stream / actual play	Benenne einen großartigen Stream / Actual Play / Let's Play
Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you're grateful for	Benenne, für wessen inspirierendes Spiel Du dankbar bist.
Share a friendship you have because of RPGs	Benenne eine Freundschaft, die Du durch das Rollenspiel gewonnen hast.
Share something you learned about playing your character	Beschreibe etwas, das Du über das Spielen Deines Charakters gelernt hast.
Share why you take part in RPGaDAY	Beschreibe, warum Du am RPGaDAY teilnimmst.
Backup Questions / Alternatives	Ersatzfragen / Alternativen
Most memorable character retirement	Erinnerungswürdigstes Ende einer Charakterkarriere
Most ambitious campaign idea achieved	Ehrgeizigstes, erreichtes Kampagnenziel
Most innovative game of the last 12 months	Innovativstes Spiel der letzten 12 Monate
Share playing a "temporary" character	Beschreibe das Spiel eines "temporären" Charakters.
Narrowest escape?	Was war Dein knappstes Entkommen?
How do you prepare for a one-shot?	Wie bereitest Du Dich für einen One-Shot vor?
How do you prepare for an extended campaign?	Wie bereitest Du Dich für eine große Kampagne vor?
What's your favourite character "hook"?	Was ist Deine bevorzugte Masche eines Charakters?
What makes you want to GM?	Warum leitest Du gerne?

For the questions in Spanish, they have been very kindly translated by Roberto "Sunglar" Micheri.

1)  ¿Qué te encanta de los juegos de rol?
2)  ¿Qué es lo primero que buscas en un juego de rol?
3)  ¿Qué hace que un juego de rol perdure?
4)  ¿Cuál ha sido el PNJ (Personaje No Jugador) más memorable?
5)  ¿Cuál ha sido tu PNJ (Personaje No Jugador) recurrente favorito?
6)  ¿Cómo pueden los jugadores hacer que el mundo de un juego parezca real?
7)  ¿Cómo puede un DJ (Director de Juego) lograr que los elementos del juego se sean importantes para los jugadores?
8) ¿Como podemos lograr que más personas jueguen juegos de rol?
9)  ¿Como te ha sorprendido algún juego de rol?
10)  ¿Como te han cambiado los juegos de rol?
11)  ¿Cuál ha sido el nombre más descabellado para un personaje?
12)  ¿Cuál ha sido el concepto más descabellado para un personaje?
13)  Describe cómo ha cambiado tu estilo de juego.
14)  Describe un fracaso que se convirtió en algo asombroso.
15)  Describe una experiencia difícil en un juego de rol que, aun así, disfrutaste.
16)  Describe tus planes para tu próximo juego.
17)  Describe el mejor alago que has recibido mientras juegas.
18)  ¿Qué arte inspira tu juego de rol?
19)  ¿Qué música enriquece tu juego de rol?
20)  ¿Qué mecánica de los juegos más te inspira a jugar?
21)  ¿Qué mecánica de los juegos, referente al uso de dados, más te atrae?
22)  ¿Qué sistema que no utiliza dados más te atrae?
23)  ¿Qué juego de rol esperas jugar nuevamente?
24)  ¿Qué juego de rol consideras merece más reconocimiento?
25)  ¿Qué juego te ha impactado más en los últimos doce meses? 
26)  Con relación a los juegos, ¿qué ambicionas hacer en los próximos doce meses?
27)  Comparte un excelente juego que se transmita en línea.
28)  Comparte la excelencia al jugar de quién que te inspira y por la que te sientes agradecido.
29)  Comparte una amistad que has cultivado gracias a los juegos de rol.
30)  Comparte algo que aprendiste sobre jugar tu personaje.
31)  Comparte por qué participas de Un Juego del Rol Cada Día (RPGaDay).

And thanks to Sébastien Allard (Nolinquisitor) with the French version (with amendments by Mélisande de Lassence at d1000etd100.com):

#RPGADAY 2018

1. Qu’est-ce que vous aimez à propos des JdRs?

2. Quelle est la première chose que vous espérez voir dans un JdR?

3. Qu’est-ce qui donne à un jeu l’envie de le poursuivre sur une longue période?

4. PNJ le plus mémorable?

5. PNJ récurrent favoris?

6. De quelle façon les joueurs peuvent-ils aider à rendre un monde plus vivant?

7. De quelle façon un MJ peut-il rendre les enjeux plus importants?

8. Comment faire pour attirer plus de joueurs dans le hobby?

9. De quelle façon un jeu vous a-t-il surpris?

10. De quelle façon ce hobby vous a-t-il changé?

11. Le nom le plus fou de personnage que vous ayez vu?

12. Le concept le plus fou de personnage que vous ayez vu?

13. Décrivez l’évolution de votre expérience de jeu.

14. Décrivez un échec qui est devenu étonnant.

15. Décrivez une expérience de jeu délicate que vous avez appréciée.

16. Décrivez vos plans pour votre prochaine partie.

17. Le meilleur compliment que l’on vous a fait durant une partie.

18. L’art visuel qui inspire vos parties.

19. La musique qui inspire vos parties.

20. Quelle mécanique inspire votre jeu le plus?

21. Quelle mécanique de dés vous plaît?

22. Quelle mécanique sans dés vous plaît?

23. Pour quel jeu gardez vous l’espoir d’y rejouer?

24. Selon vous quel JdR mériterait plus de reconnaissance?

25. Jeu qui a eu un impact sur vous ces 12 derniers mois.

26. Votre ambition rôlistique pour les 12 prochains mois.

27. Partagez une bonne partie en ligne ou un « stream ».

28. Partagez une chose inspirante pour laquelle vous avez de la gratitude.

29. Partagez une amitié que vous devez au JdRs.

30. Partagez quelque chose que vous avez apprit en jouant votre personnage.

31. Partagez pourquoi vous participez à RPGaDAY.

Questions alternatives

– Personnage mis à la retraite le plus mémorable.

– L’idée de campagne la plus ambitieuse que vous ayez accompli.

– Jeu le plus innovateur des 12 derniers mois.

– Partagez la fois où vous avez jouer un personnage temporaire.

– Partager l’évasion d’une situation la plus serrée?

– Comment préparez-vous une partie unique?

– Comment préparez-vous une campagne à long terme?

– Quelle est votre thème préféré de personnage?

– Qu’est-ce que vous pousse à être maître de jeu?

With thanks to Douglas Santana Mota and Jefferson Pimentel for the Portuguese translations below:

#RPGADAY 2018 – PORTUGUESE

1 – O que você mais ama nos RPGS? 

2 – Qual é a primeira coisa que você procura em um RPG? 

3 – O que dá um “poder de permanência” ao jogo?  

4 – Qual o seu PnJ mais memorável?

5 – Qual o seu PnJ recorrente favorito?

6 – Como os jogadores podem fazer um mundo parecer real?

7 – Como um Narrador pode tornar as consequencias das ações mais dramáticas? 

8 – Como podemos ter mais pessoas jogando?

9 – Como uma partida te surpreendeu? 

10 – Como o RPG mudou você? 

11 – Seu nome mais maluco de personagem? 

12 – Seu conceito mais maluco de personagem?  

13 – Descreva como o seu jogo evoluiu. 

14 – Descreva uma falha que se tornou surpreendente. 

15 – Descreva uma experiência complicada do RPG que você gostou. 

16 – Descreva seus planos para a próxima partida. 

17 – Descreva o melhor elogio que você ganhou em uma partida. 

18 – Arte que inspira seu RPG. 

19 – Música que estimula seu RPG. 

20 – Qual mecânica de RPG te inspira mais? 

21 – Qual mecânica de dados mais te atrai? 

22 – Qual sistema sem dados é o seu preferido?

23 – Qual RPG você espera jogar de novo? 

24 – Qual RPG você acha que merece mais reconhecimento? 

25 – RPG que teve impacto em você nos últimos 12 meses. 

26 – Sua ambição para o RPG pelos próximos 12 meses. 

27 – Compartilhe um ótimo jogo real. 

28 – Compartilhe de quem você é grato por ser uma inspiração dada sua excelência no RPG. 

29 – Compartilhe uma amizade que você tem por causa dos RPGs. 

30 – Compartilhe algo que você aprendeu sobre como interpretar seu personagem. 

31 – Compartilhe por que você participa do RPGaDAY.

With thanks to Joonas Kainulainen here are the questions in Finnish.

#RPGADAY PROMPTS IN FINNISH.

Viikko yksi: MITÄ…
1 …Rakastat roolipeleissä eniten?
2 …Haluat roolipeliltä?
3 …Roolipelin tulee omata pysyäkseen tuoreena ja vuodesta toiseen pysyvänä?
4 Parhaiten mieleenpainunut NPC?
5 Kuka on toistuvasti tavatuista NPC:stä suosikkisi?

Viikko kaksi: KUINKA…
6 …Pelaajat voivat auttaa pelimaailman elävöittämisessä?
7 …Pelinjohtaja voi luoda tarinan panoksista paremmat?
8 …Saamme lisää väkeä harrastukseemme?
9 …Olet joskus päätynyt pelin yllättämäksi?
10 …Roolipelaaminen on muuttanut sinua?
11 Hulluin pelaajahahmo nimi?
12 Hulluin pelaajahahmo idea?

Viikko kolme: KUVAILE…
13 …Kuinka pelaamistyylisi/taitosi ovat kehittyneet?
14 …Epäonnistumista joka päätyi mahtavuudeksi?
15 …Kiperää roolipelaamis tilannetta josta nautit?
16 …Suunnitelmiasi tulevaa roolipeli seikkailua varten?
17 …Palkitsevinta kohtelijaisuutta jonka olet roolipelatessa saanut?
18 Millainen taide inspiroi sinua roolipelaamaan?
19 Millainen musiikki auttaa pelisi tunnelmaa?

Viikko neljä: MIKÄ…
20 …Pelimekaniikka innostaa sinua pelaamaan eniten?
21 …Noppa systeemi on sinulle mieleisin?
22 …Nopaton systeemi on sinulle mieleisin?
23 …Roolipeli houkuttaisi pelata uudelleen?
24 …Roolipeli ansaitsisi mielestäsi enemmän huomiota?
25 Millä roolipelillä on ollut merkittävä vaikutus sinuun viime vuosina?
26 Millaisia roolipelaamis suunnitelmia havittelet tulevana vuonna?

Viikko viisi: KERRO…
27 …Roolipeli netti streamistä, tai muusta hienosta pelistä jonka haluaisit jakaa?
28 …Kuka inspiroi sinua roolipelaamaan?
29 …Ystävyydestä jonka olet luonut roolipelien ansiosta?
30 …Hahmojasi pelaamalla oppimistasi asioista?
31 …Miksi päätit vastata näihin “RPG-A-DAY” kysymyksiin?

And in Polish, thanks to Maciej Jesionowski -

POLSKI
CO...
...kochasz w grach RPG?
...jest pierwszą rzeczą, na jaką zwracasz uwagę przy wyborze RPG?
...sprawia, że do RPG chce się wracać?
.
..wyróżnia bohatera niezależnego (NPC), do którego najczęściej wspominasz?
...robisz, aby Twój ulubiony typ bohatera niezależnego (NPC) pojawił się na kolejnych sesjach i kampaniach? 

JAK...
...gracze mogą wpływać na to, żeby świat wydawał się bardziej realny?
...Mistrz Gry może sprawić, żeby każde wyzwanie było angażujące?
...powiększyć grono osób grających w RPG?
...określisz to, co najbardziej zaskoczyło Cię w Twoich sesjach?
...wpłynęło na Ciebie granie w RPG?


...brzmiało imię, które z pewnością było tym najdziwniejszym podczas Twojej historii z RPG?
...opiszesz swoją najbardziej odjechaną koncepcję na postać?


OPISZ...
...jak rozwijało się Twoje granie w RPG?
...porażkę, która przemieniła się w coś naprawdę epickiego!
...najsprytniejszą zagrywkę, której doświadczyłeś na sesji.
...jakie masz plany na swoją najbliższą sesję.
...jak brzmiał najciekawszy komplement użyty przez Ciebie na sesji.


...lub wklej grafikę bądź ilustrację, która ostatnio Cię zainspirowała do zrobienia czegoś podczas sesji. ...sytuację i podziel się muzyką, którą ostatnio idealnie wpasowałeś w sytuację na sesji.


KTÓRA...
...mechanika jest przez Ciebie najchętniej wykorzystywana podczas sesji RPG?
...mechanika korzystająca z kostek najbardziej przypadła Ci do gustu?
...mechanika bezkostkowa najbardziej przypadła Ci do gustu?
...gra zostawiła w Tobie nadzieję na przynajmniej jeszcze jedną sesję?
...gra zasługuje, według Ciebie, na większą popularność?


...gra RPG miała na Ciebie największy wpływ przez ostatnie 12 miesięcy?


POWIEDZ...
...jakie są Twoje RPGowe ambicje, które chcesz zrealizować w w najbliższym roku?


...jaki jest Twój ulubiony kanał, na którym oglądasz sesje na żywo?
...czy jest ktoś, kto inspiruje Cię do coraz lepszej gry bądź prowadzenia sesji?
...czy masz jakieś znajomości, które rozpoczęły się od sesji RPG?
...czy jest coś, czego nauczyła Cię odgrywana przez Ciebie postać?
...co zmotywowało Cię do wzięcia udziału w polskiej edycji akcji RPGaDAY? 

Thinking Outside of the (Brain) Box

Before the madness that is #RPGaDAY starts next month (questions will be revealed next post), I wanted to talk about a revelation I had during a recent game of Tales from the Loop.

Our GM - Stoo - has been running Tales from the Loop for us for the last few months, and while I own the game I haven't read the adventures. I wasn't sure if I'd get to run it, so I haven't been spoiled for the major plot revelations.

However, sometimes, when that particular section of the adventure is over I go to the rulebook and have a quick look to see what was written about it to see how it was done.

Tales from the Loop is a strange beast when it comes to RPGs. The rules are surprisingly simple. Let's look - It's 192 pages for the corebook, The first 46 pages are introducing the world (both the Swedish Loop and the US Loop). Then you have 26 pages which cover character creation and the rules of the game. 31 pages of how to run a mystery, then 68 pages of adventure split up over four seasons ("The Four Seasons of Mad Science").

See? I told you it was simple. It's kinda reassuring as WILD is very simple in its actual system too, a lot of the game is going to be how to play in dreamscapes and setting information...

Anyway, I digress.

A couple of sessions ago we were playing one of the side investigations in the Mystery Landscape, one that only takes up a couple of pages of information in the rulebook, but has been keeping us intrigued for a couple of sessions at least. If you're familiar with Tales from the Loop, there's a plot involving dreams.

[MILD SPOILERS]

The game normally assumes you find a piece of technology that involves dreamsharing, and either destroy it, or the government sends in goons to stop it. However, one of our players decided instead to use the technology just to see what it does.

[END OF SPOILERS]

In a plot right out of WILD he ended up in a dreamscape, running through his childhood home and discovering things from his past that he didn't remember - major revelations about an older sister who died from an illness while he was very young, explaining why his father was a bit distant and a drinker...

To get him out of his dreamscape, we foolishly went in - full Inception-style - to try to lead him out, where my character had to experience the car accident that killed his mother, Debs' character had to deal with the feeling of being ignored in her own home - the least noticed of her many siblings, and the villain of the piece - the creator of the technology - confronted his violent father, aided by our characters encouragement. Instead of fighting the villain, we helped him stand up to his violent father in a dreamscape, and resolve a lot of his issues. All while dealing with some emotional and heartbreaking issues of our own.

It was epic, emotional, and absolutely none of it was in the rulebook. Most of it created on the fly by our awesome GM and the cool backgrounds that had developed for our characters over time.

--

It got me thinking. Mostly because this session was all in a dreamscape, it started me thinking about WILD. And I mentioned this to Debs the following day.

I realised, I wasn't imaginative enough to run my own game. The game I've been working on for the last seven (plus) years, I honestly don't think I can run it. I can write it, and I can give players and GMs the tools they need to run the most amazing game I can think of, but I honestly don't think I could run it and do it justice.

Then again, I've seen this happen with other games I've worked on. I've heard stories of Doctor Who games that people have run that have blown me away. Amazing tales of Cybermen attacking, Sarah Jane Smith uniting a school to help defeat them. And that's before we get onto the epic feat of storytelling that was Geek and Sundry's Doctor Who RPG series hosted by Eric Campbell.

--

I remember having this discussion with Jason, a friend of ours who first got me into Conspiracy X all those many, many years ago. He has worked for years with various mental health organisations and is now launching his own hypnotherapy business. One day he popped over and we started discussing WILD and the themes that the game could cover - delving into the unconscious and subconscious of the characters, and helping them to deal with recurring nightmares, as well as the other major plot elements (dreams invading reality, espionage, etc.). He said (and I'm paraphrasing) "You know, this game could not only be a good game, but it could also actually do some good - helping players come to terms with their own issues and complexes."

While I love the idea of creating something special that transcends the level of being merely a game, it's not something I think I could run. I felt really uncomfortable at moments during that Loop game - not because of the subject matter, but I just didn't think I was capable of being that "in the moment" emotionally and dealing with the traumas of my poor character's past.

I guess a lot of that is my problem and my mental state at the moment anyway. You never know, I may feel differently in a year's time if things improve a bit.

--

"Skip to the End" as they say in Spaced.

Basically what I'm saying is that roleplaying games are amazing and can produce a level of emotional involvement that is quite unlike anything else short of reality. Maybe it's close to method acting. It's a fantastic experience, and I'm always amazed when a game gets to that level of involvement - when you're really feeling what the character feels, whether this is fear, sadness, or joy.

These games can hit home, and sometimes that emotional attachment can help us to cope with things in our real lives.

I only hope that one day I'll be able to run WILD, or any game, that has that emotional resonance, again. Until that time, thank you Stoo and my fellow players for an astounding gaming experience, and thanks to the Tales from the Loop writers for giving us that opportunity.

#RPGaDAY2018 - This is A Call...

#RPGaDAY is looming on the horizon, and this year I was hoping to do something cool and a little different. I'll let the video explain everything...

If you can't bear to watch my stupid face, here's the basics...

This is the 5th RPGaDAY, and this year what I was hoping to do was to get the involvement of some of the coolest people around when it comes to RPGs. Writers, developers, artists, streamers, publishers... everyone. If you're involved in any form of the RPG industry and want to get involved, please get in touch.

Everyone who gets in touch can pick one of the questions from the previous four years' worth of RPGaDAY questions (the infographics are below so you can see what they were) and change it up a bit - to make it into a new question. We'll compile this into the new infographic for 2018, and unleash this onto the world in the very near future, ready for August.

Then, on the day your question is used, we'll host a short interview - whether this is text or as a video - just to answer some basic questions like who you are, how you got started gaming, your favourite game, and to answer the question you set.

If no one comes forward to join in, then Anthony Boyd (who has kindly volunteered to help again this year) and I will create the questions and we'll pootle along as normal.

Either way, there will be questions, there will be an infographic, and once again we'll try to spread the word of how great our hobby is, and combat all the negativity that pollutes the interwebs.

If you'd like to get involved, do get in touch - you can direct message me on Twitter @autocratik, or email me at dave (at) autocratik.com

Thank you everyone.

Stay Multi-classy!!

(Below, are the previous years' questions)

Second Best UK RPG Blog?

Seriously?

I'm not sure if that's really the case. There are times when I really wonder if anyone actually reads my rambling nonsense. I mean, it's not like I get thousands of hits on my blog every post. I'm happy if it hits three figures, as that's often a rarity, so surely there are sites out there with more hits than me?

Anyway, I'll take the compliment, and the little medal, and say Thankee Sai to Feedspot.

New post will be coming in the next couple of days detailing this year's #RPGaDAY... stay tuned, stay multi-classy!!

Magical Musings (Tales of Hogwarts 5)

Sorry it has been a while since the last part of the adapting of Fria Ligan's amazing Tales from the Loop to use as a Harry Potter game. Things got a bit on top of me, the cat was a little ill, major appliances broke, and I fell down the spiral of self doubt.

Part of the Harry Potter library... because, you've got to have reference material...

Where were we? Oh yes, we'd determined the Attributes - the four house Traits, and the Skills.

The character sheet so far
(Attributes in the Hogwarts Crest!)

The controversial decision I mentioned last week was not having a single "Magic" Skill, but splitting it into Supplementary Magic, Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The main reason for doing this is to (a) split the practical magic - the actual wand waving and so on - from the potions and herbology, and (b) to split the remaining practical magics so that there wasn't a single "god" skill that players would pump all of their points in to make them horribly over-powered.

Of course, we've already mentioned that I decided to untie the Skills from the Attributes, so that you could use Brave and Defence Against the Dark Arts if you were making an attack against a dark wizard, or Wise and Defence Against the Dark Arts if you were studying it for your homework, or researching a spell. You could even use Cunning with it if you were attacking in a particularly sneaky way, or even Loyal if you were using it to protect your friends.

What about those three practical magic skills?

I mentioned last week that they break down like this:

Charms - Charms are all of the spells that give the target new properties, whether that is light, levitation, fixing something, unlocking something, etc. For example: Accio, Alohomora, Lumos, Silencio, Wingardium Leviosa.

Transfiguration - Transfiguration classes are about changing the properties of a target, including switching, conjuring or vanishing. For example, Engorgio, Aguamenti, Incendio, Serpensortia, Reparifarge.

D.A.D.A. (Defence Against the Dark Arts) - while the class is about defending yourself against the dark arts and dark creatures, D.A.D.A. as a Skill also covers all forms of hexes, jinxes and curses, as well as defending yourself against them. For example, Expecto Patronum, Expelliarmus, Flipendo, Levicorpus, Protego, Rictumsempra, Stupify.

To make it easier, I've created a little table of which charm or spell is a "Charm", "Transfiguration" or "Defence against the Dark Arts"...

There are a few things to note on here. Reparo, and Revelio are odd ones. They could work as both Charms and Transfiguration - after all, they are both fixing and adding something to the object, as well as changing its properties. They're classed as "Transfiguration" in Hogwarts Mystery, but some of their choices are interesting to say the least. I'm undecided about those, but I'd be tempted to leave it up to the GM depending upon the situation.

The other thing to note is the inclusion of the three Unforgivable Curses (Avada Kadavra, Cruciatus, and Imperius). Player characters shouldn't have access to these, though it's not unheard of with more mature students in times of extreme stress and conflict. Using these should not be without consequences...

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When it comes to actual magic use, it's just a simple roll of the dice like any Attribute and Skill roll. Simple!!

If you're duelling or in a conflict, it's the same as the usual "Kid versus Kid" text from p70 of Tales from the Loop. If the target has prepared by using Protego beforehand, the difficulty is pushed up from Difficult (1 Success needed) to Extremely Difficult (2 Successes needed) so the winner would have to roll 2 Successes more than the target to win. Battling major villains is the same Extended Trouble (p70) for when you're fighting a Basilisk or trying to snatch an egg from under the nose of a Hungarian Horntail.

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I think that's about all you need to run a game. I had started to think about odd little things like increasing the difficulty when using someone else's wand (2 Successes) or using no wand at all (3 Successes) and odd little modifiers depending upon your heritage (Muggleborn, Half-blood, etc), but that's only really when dealing with muggle items (purebloods have it harder!). But those are little details the GM can add if they fancy.

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That's it for now. Next time I may have to bring up #RPGaDAY again to see if anyone's actually interested in spreading a positive message of gaming...  you've been warned.

Until next time, stay multi-classy!

Stupifying Skills! (Tales of Hogwarts 4)

Last week I continued my look at using the awesome Tales from the Loop roleplaying game as a base for the rules for a Harry Potter RPG, taking a closer look at how the Attributes worked in Tales from the Loop, as well as other games that use the same incredibly simple system (Mutant: Year Zero, and Coriolis).

The Hogwarts Crest - Designed by
MinaLima (c) WBEI

After some deliberation, I concluded that the four Attributes to be used in a Harry Potter version of Tales from the Loop should reflect the qualities of the four Houses at Hogwarts -

Brave, Cunning, Loyal and Wise.

I also decided to untether the Attributes from the Skills. That way, you free up the player to not only behave more like their House, but also to come up with imaginative ways of doing things.

It also means that you can work with the same low number of Skills and have them do multiple things.

Now we've brought up the topic of Skills, lets look at how they can work in the game.

SKILLS

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was look at the existing games with the same engine at its heart, comparing the fantastic Tales from the Loop with its sibling games, Mutant: Year Zero and Coriolis.

I was surprised to see that Coriolis broke the trend of having three Skills that tied to each Attribute (and expanded the list of Skills to 16). Even though I decided to break the ties between the Attributes and Skills, I really liked the idea of keeping to the simple list of 12.

As the Attributes have moved away from being Physical, Mental, Tech, etc. I couldn't have Skills that related to Brave or Loyal, but at their heart there were some similarities. I figured, like Tales from the Loop, to have a Physical batch, a Mental, and a Social batch of Skills. Tales from the Loop also has a group of three Skills that relate to Tech (Tinker, Program and Calculate) but as Tech is as far from Harry Potter as you can get, that leaves a batch of Skills to dedicate to Magic...

So, this is the way I'm currently thinking for Skills:

Force - This is basically the same as Tales from the Loop. It comes into play when you're lifting something, fighting physically (punching Draco on the nose, swinging the sword at the Basilisk, etc) or enduring strain, pain, fatigue, etc.

Move - Again, this is like Tales from the Loop and is used when you're physically moving about, climbing, running fast, balancing... anything that requires dexterity. Combined with Cunning it acts as Sneak as well.

Travel - This is a new one. This is for other modes of transport or moving, usually magical. Travel is used when you're flying a broom, apparating, using the floo network, riding a magical creature, as well as driving a car (enchanted or not), riding a bike, or even if a roll is needed with a portkey.

Investigate - This is similar to Tales from the Loop and is all about looking for clues, as well as researching and hitting the books in the Library.

Comprehend - Again, similar to the Tales from the Loop skill, it's about knowing the right thing and putting the clues together, or knowing where to look for something. It's also vital for understanding your studies at Hogwarts so you don't fail your classes.

Supplementary Magic - This Skill covers the studies that aren't done simply with the wave of a wand. This covers your studies in Potions, Herbology, Divination, History of Magic, Astronomy, etc. It's magic, but more academic and no less important. (Still pondering the name for this Skill)

Convince - This is like the Charm Skill in Tales from the Loop (but obviously we can't use Charm as a name for it) combined with Lead. It is used to charm someone, lie to them, convince them that they can do it, lead them as a group, or manipulate someone.

Friends - Like the Contact Skill in Tales from the Loop only with added effects. You can use Friends when you need to know the right person, or know who can help with a certain problem, but you can also use the skill when cheering someone on, or making new friends.

Empathy - is all about understanding what other people are thinking or feeling, helping when they are sad, scared or confused. Empathy is also a vital Skill for your Care of Magical Creatures class, knowing how to react and understand what the creature is thinking or feeling.

This leaves three Skills for magic use. Breaking down all of the magic in Harry Potter to three simple categories isn't easy, but hopefully it'll make sense...

Charms - Charms are all of the spells that give the target new properties, whether that is light, levitation, fixing something, unlocking something, etc. For example: Accio, Alohomora, Lumos, Silencio, Wingardium Leviosa.

Transfiguration - Transfiguration classes are about changing the properties of a target, including switching, conjuring or vanishing. For example, Engorgio, Aguamenti, Incendio, Serpensortia, Reparifarge.

D.A.D.A. (Defence Against the Dark Arts) - while the class is about defending yourself against the dark arts and dark creatures, D.A.D.A. as a Skill also covers all forms of hexes, jinxes and curses, as well as defending yourself against them. For example, Expecto Patronum, Expelliarmus, Flipendo, Levicorpus, Protego, Rictumsempra, Stupify.

Why have I split the magic like this?

Well, it's to avoid a "God Skill". If all magic use was one Skill, at character creation you'd put all of your points in it and it would quickly become the most used Skill-check in the game. Splitting it into three (hopefully logical) categories spreads it about a bit and produces some wizards and witches who are good at Charms, but not necessarily great in a duel, and so on.

I started a basic list of which spell works with which Skill, though it should be down to the GM to determine any disputes or make any decisions depending upon the situation. I'll look at magic in more detail next blog post, but hopefully it should make sense.

So that means that the Attributes / Skills section of the character sheet should look a bit like this so far...

It's a work in progress, and the rest of the character sheet will develop as these blog posts continue... Fill in the Attributes in the Hogwarts Crest, and the rest is as normal.

Next post I'll address magic, and continue building the Harry Potter RPG/Tales from the Loop hack!

Accio Attributes! (Tales of Hogwarts 3)

No Tales from the Loop game this week, but I have been continuing my thoughts of using the game system to run Harry Potter.

Many, many moons ago, when I first started thinking about Harry Potter as a tabletop roleplaying game, I started working out what Attributes and Skills would work the best for the game. After initially planning on using a simplified version of the Vortex system, the system I'd developed for Cubicle 7's Doctor Who RPG (Adventures in Time and Space), I thought about just having four Attributes - one for each Hogwarts House.

You can see from the initial character sheet I'd designed that the Hogwarts crest on the little "report card" didn't have the usual illustrations of the four house animals - they were blank for you to write the Attributes in! (Bet you didn't notice that the many times I'd posted that picture!!!)

The original idea for the character sheet was a report card - note the houses on the crest are empty to fill in values!

Originally, as you can see in the image, I'd thought of having Brave, Shrewd, Loyal and Wise as Attributes.

Let's come back up to date and look at how I've been stripping the Tales from the Loop system down to use for Harry Potter.

Tales from the Loop, and the other games that use the system, have four Attributes. I really liked the Mind Attribute to reflect how smart your character is, and the Heart Attribute that's used when you're being empathic or interacting with your friends...

Wait... A smart Attribute, and a friendship Attribute... sounding like I was on the right track all those years ago...

That leaves two Attributes. If you think of the physical things the characters in Harry Potter do, they're either being daring and brave - flying, punching Draco, heading into dangerous places, hanging out of flying cars, etc. Or, they're investigating - sneaking about, finding stuff, etc.

I'd already decided there wouldn't be a Magic Attribute (as it'd be the God Attribute that everyone would pump all of their points into and try to be the all powerful lord of magic). So that means that the remaining two Attributes would again be physical (but not entirely)...

But it's just what I had before. So now it's just a case of narrowing down names. So, to put it in Tales from the Loop terminology, the Attributes now look like this:

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Attributes

Your student is defined by four Attributes that help you overcome Trouble and continue your studies at Hogwarts. The Attributes are: Brave, Cunning, Loyal and Wise. Attribute scores range from 1 to 5.

Brave - is the student's ability to face danger, swing the sword of Gryffindor at the basilisk, punch the bully in the nose, run down a corridor when the ceiling is collapsing, fly a broom in a storm, climb, or hold your ground. This is the highest Attribute in most Gryffindor students.
Cunning - is the ability to sneak around the corridors at night, pinch vital ingredients from the potions class supplies, deduce strange puzzles, make a sneaky attack when duelling, bluff your way out of trouble, distract someone, or convince them to do something for your own benefit. This is the highest Attribute of most Slytherin students.
Loyal - is all about the student's relationships, understanding what they are thinking, making friends, know the right people, helping them to overcome their problems, and reassure them when they doubt their actions. This is the highest Attribute of most Hufflepuff students.
Wise - is about knowledge, learning and understanding. This is the ability to learn, study, deduce, solve riddles, understand clues and remember the vital information needed at the right time. This is usually the highest Attribute of most Ravenclaw students.

The highest Attribute you have at character creation (and therefore, when you are sorted) will determine the house you are sorted into at Hogwarts. Simply, if your Wise Attribute is the highest Attribute you have, you'll be sorted into Ravenclaw. It's not always the case, there are always exceptions to the rules (and Hatstands, as they are called). If a player really wants to play a Ravenclaw whose Loyal is the highest Attribute, as long as the GM agrees there's nothing to stop them. (Personally, I'd say that's what happened with Luna!)

That's Attributes "sorted" if you pardon the pun. Next time, we'll look at Skills...

Until next time, stay multi-classy!!

Breaking the Rules (Tales of Hogwarts 2)

Having one of those "What's the frelling point?" days today, looking at WILD and feeling like it's all nonsense and that no one will ever want to read it or play it. One of the problems sometimes of having too many ideas and not enough motivation or the means to go through with it.

The t-shirt I was wearing for last night's Tales from the Loop game -
Bonus points if you recognise the 80's movie it is from!

As a means of distraction, I've been continuing my thoughts of using the Tales from the Loop system to create a Harry Potter RPG. We had another excellent game of Tales from the Loop last night, resolving one of the plots of the many we'd uncovered in the mystery landscape.

Last post, I started discussing how the Pride and Luck rationing could be tweaked to better reflect the Kids' time at Hogwarts, rather than out in the field filled with bizarre technology and weirdness.

The next stage is taking a look at the Attributes and Skills used in Tales from the Loop and seeing what needs to be changed to suit Harry Potter.

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It's strange, but I had weird flashbacks to Star Trek. A couple of years ago, when I first started talking to Modiphius about working on Star Trek, they told me it would be done using their 2D20 system and I should take a look at that and see how it could be adapted to suit Star Trek.

The first thing I did was look at the 2D20 games they had published, or were in the works, to start "breaking the rules" - so to speak. Breaking the rules down into their components to see how it works. A sort of reverse-engineering.

I looked at Mutant Chronicles, Infinity, Conan and John Carter, knowing that they wanted a level of complexity in the middle of the range (if Infinity/MC was the complex end, and John Carter was 2D20 "lite"). First thing I did was make notes of what Attributes and Skills were used for each incarnation of 2D20, and see what related to what.

My original notes during the early phases of Star Trek Adventures development
looking at the various incarnations of 2D20

I also took a long look at the previous incarnations of Star Trek - the FASA, Last Unicorn Games and Decipher versions - and looked to see what they had considered essential skills and attributes in their interpretations of Trek.

More of my original notes, looking at the previous versions of Star Trek
and how they broke down the skills and attributes.

Eventually, I came up with six Attributes, and the six "skills" (which were basically the posts on the crew, two for each Star Fleet Division). The Attributes were Bravery, Control, Empathy, Presence, Reason, and Resilience. And the "skills" were Command, Conn, Medical, Science, Engineering, and Security.

Those Attributes changed shortly after I left the project, but you get the idea of where I was going with it.

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I started doing the same with Tales from the Loop. I knew the system was used by a couple of other excellent games - Mutant: Year Zero, and Coriolis - so I thought I'd look and see what Attributes and Skills were used for each of these games.

However, looking at the Attributes and Skills gave me the same feeling I had when I first started picking at 2D20 for Star Trek...

FREE YOUR MIND...

And by that, I wanted to take the ties off. One of the first things I suggested for Star Trek was to untie the relationship between Attribute and Skill. Sure, it means that some players will want to always use their strongest Attribute to do anything, but the situation will determine if a certain Attribute or Skill comes into play.

I used a simple example for this -

Say you want to lift a rock. Bear in mind, this is for the original Star Trek Attributes, not the ones they went for finally as I'm more familiar with my version...

If you want to lift a rock to hit someone with it, you'd use Resilience and Security (as it's combat).
If you want to lift a rock off of someone who is pinned, you'd use Resilience and Medicine.
If you want to lift a rock off of someone while lava is approaching, you could use Bravery and Medicine.
If you wanted to lift a rock to see what is underneath, you'd use Reason and Science.
If you wanted to lift a rock to by wedging something under it and levering it free you'd use Resilience and Engineering.

You get the gist.

Looking at the system used in Loop and the other games, the skills are firmly tied to an attribute... I'm quite keen to break those ties as the first stage.

I'd also like to use similar Attributes to Tales from the Loop - but Tech needs replacing. Next comes the big issue which I'll be pondering over the week - what should replace Tech? Would a Magic Attribute be too powerful?

Hmmm... I'm going to think about that, and look in depth again at the breakdown of Charms, Jinxes and Curses ready for the next post. (As well as going back to writing WILD - after all, there's a lot more chance of WILD seeing the light of day than there is a Harry Potter game!!)

Until next time, stay multi-classy!

Mysterious Beginnings (Tales of Hogwarts 1)

Another awesome game of Tales from the Loop last night had me thinking again of using the game to play in the wizarding world of Harry Potter...

Original ideas for character sheet for a
Harry Potter RPG

Instead of me just getting frustrated that the game doesn't exist, I just figured I'd pop my ideas down here in a "thinking out loud" way so you could see which direction I was heading in.

There are a few sticking points when it comes to tweaking the Tales from the Loop system to working with Harry Potter. Of course, the big question would be how magic works, but I'll come to that later. 

First of all, the basics.

Luck

In Tales from the Loop, the older you are, the more experienced you are and the more capable you are of doing things. Age means you've learned more, can do more, and sometimes people take you a little more seriously. You also get more points to put into your Attributes. As you grow, your Attributes increase too.

To balance this, the characters have a "Luck" stat which allows them to reroll when they've failed. Your "kid" (as the characters are called) is aged between 10 and 15 years old, but your starting Luck is equal to 15 minus your age. So if you're 10 years old, you have 5 Luck points, etc. My character in the game we're playing at the moment is 13, so has 2 Luck Points at the beginning of each session.

In Harry Potter, we follow the characters longer during their time at Hogwarts, so the easiest option for this is to allow more Luck Points (mostly because they will not have the benefit of an "Iconic Item" - more on that later). So, I'm going with your Luck being equal to 8 minus your year at Hogwarts. So first years start with 8-1 = 7 Luck Points at the beginning of each session, and a fourth year starts with 8-4 = 4 Luck Points.

Pride

Pride is a really interesting stat in Tales from the Loop. It's something that gives you a boost, makes you feel strong, or awesome. It's usually something that motivates the character, but it is also used to give you an automatic success if you think your Pride comes into play in a particular circumstance in your game. You only get it once per Mystery, but using it also means you get XP.

Instead of Pride, I figured you could replace it with House. The pupil's House in Hogwarts is important, and a source of pride. You could list the descriptors for each house as follows -

 

Gryffindor - Bravery, Chivalry, Courage.

Hufflepuff - Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty.

Ravenclaw - Wisdom, Creativity, Originality.

Slytherin - Cunning, Ambition, Leadership.

If your student acts in keeping with their House, they can use the benefits just like Pride.

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I'll follow this up in coming weeks with a look at tweaking the Attributes and Skills to suit the wizarding world.

Before I finish though, I thought I'd share a little document I found on my hard drive. Over a year ago (the date on the file is January 2017) I'd had another surge of determination about the Harry Potter RPG. I'd started to think that maybe the game could get to the licensing stage if the words "roleplaying" were omitted from any pitch. 

That in mind, I started to think of the game as a mystery game, with components that basically acted as character sheets and so on for a traditional roleplaying game, that could be promoted and marketed as a family mystery game. Players control pupils at Hogwarts, and attend classes, learning the skills they need to solve an overarching mystery. Expansions could add further years and more lessons and mysteries...

Nearly a year before the mobile game with a very similar name would be announced I created this document for Harry Potter: Mysteries of Hogwarts game. I've posted a copy below so you can see what I had in mind...

Click to enlarge, this is the pitch I started in Jan 2017...

Until next time, be excellent to each other.

- Dave

Tales from the Wizarding School

It has been a while since my last post - I'm sorry. A combination of actually doing work on the WILD RPG (tweaking the Attributes and Abilities) and being convinced that no one actually reads the blog.

I haven't really had much to talk about on here for a while, but recently my mind has been wandering back to familiar territories thanks to a couple of games.

Tales from the Loop RPG

Our epic Star Wars: Force and Destiny game came to a suitably awesome end, and recently we've started playing Fria Ligan's Tales from the Loop. You'll have heard about it by now - it has won many awards (deservedly so), based upon the amazing paintings of Simon Stålenhag. Set in an "80's that never was" this is Stranger Things meets robots, time travel, dinosaurs, mind control, and super-science, all in small town Sweden (or wherever you want to set it) with kids riding around on bikes and investigating stuff.

I've been wanting to play this for ages, since reading the rules months ago and finding them so simple and intuitive that it really appealed - especially as I love simple and quick rules systems.

Not only does the game encourage characters to have a "Drive", a "Problem" and a "Pride" which all come into play in the way the characters act and are motivated, but it also has a proportion of the character sheet and character creation dedicated to "relationships". You define how you know each other, and other people in the town, and you gain experience for putting yourself at risk to help your friends.

Within a session we were running around, bickering like thirteen-year-olds, and coming up with bizarre plans and pissing off the teachers from the school. Brilliant!

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You know what else has teenage kids at school solving mysteries?

Harry Potter. Yeah, had to get back to my little gaming obsession. I got thinking about how the friendships and relationships from Tales From the Loop would work with Harry Potter (and a lot of the rest of the system to be honest).

A lot of the core of Harry Potter is the central friendships between Harry, Ron and Hermione. There's a real sense of this in the way the players are interacting in Tales from the Loop, but it got me thinking about taking it further. With the relationships having a value that could change and evolve over time. Just look at Year Four - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ron and Harry have a real falling out at the beginning of the story, when Ron's convinced that Harry has put his name in the Goblet of Fire. They don't speak to each other, even using Hermione as a go-between (much to her disgust, rightfully so). While this is resolved, it's great to have a mechanic that represents the relationships of the characters.

With a few tweaks, Tales from the Loop would be a great system for Harry Potter.

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Bearing that in mind, thinking about the way friendships work in roleplaying games, I was pleasantly surprised by the mobile game - Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery - that launched last week. It's received a lot of criticism for its energy management (encouraging that impatience to complete tasks and lessons to urge you to spend real money to help speed things up). However, the friendship mechanics have been a real eye opener.

My character (on the right), looking like a young me (when I had hair and no glasses), in Charms Class
in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, you play a character of your own creation attending Hogwarts in the 80's, before Harry is old enough to attend but after Voldemort has "vanished". You have a past of your own (a brother who was expelled for trying to access the Cursed Vaults under Hogwarts) and you make friends, encounter bullies, go to classes and everything you expect from attending Hogwarts.

However, time is taken to make friends at the school, whether this is over a game of Gobstones or chatting over food in the great hall. Talking to friends is handled in a similar way to classes, and you can answer in positive and negative ways to increase your "relationship" with some of the students.

It's not the complete, branching relationships we've come to enjoy in the Telltale Games like The Walking Dead or Batman, where our decisions really shape the outcome. I don't think in Hogwarts Mystery you can tell Ben to go home when he's worried about being at Hogwarts and him actually leave. Seems a bit mean, but I'm not your archetypal Slytherin.

Merula gives us Slytherins a bad name....

The friendships being such a part of the game was a really nice surprise, and along with Tales from the Loop has reaffirmed by belief that it should be an integral part of a tabletop Harry Potter experience.

I know it's probably impossible, and will never happen...

However, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is certainly a step in the right direction. After all, it uses established characters - not only professors like Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall, but also young incarnations of Tonks and Bill Weasley! Something I didn't think any game would do short of adaptations of the books/movies.

The interesting thing is the timeline that recently appeared on Pottermore:

It seems to imply that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is set on an alternate timeline? Almost like the Kelvin-verse of the Wizarding World. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this? If it is, what's the problem with allowing tabletop gamers to play in an alternate timeline after the Battle of Hogwarts, but before the events of The Cursed Child?

One day... One day my dream of writing an official Harry Potter tabletop game will come true...

You can read my lengthy treatise on Harry Potter roleplaying on this blog here.

Until next time, keep dreaming.

Done, Done, Onto the Next One!

I've been a bit quiet on here recently - sorry! Been busy. I had a writing project come in - not a huge one, but it was a major one for me - and I was already a month or two late in delivering what was promised.

Why was it a major one? Well, that's two-fold.

In a strange way this is almost the anniversary of my stepping back from the Line Developer role working on Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures. A dream job, working on a license I love. I didn't want to withdraw my involvement, but circumstances meant that if I didn't I would have made myself seriously sick - certainly mentally, if not physically. I was doing too much and I just wasn't handling it as well as I should.

Backing out was hard, but necessary. Afterwards I kept questioning myself, asking if I'd done the right thing? And then came the desert that was writing work. It just wasn't there - I started to worry if word of my failure had spread, and now no one would hire me to work on their games. I'd shot myself in the foot, no one would touch me. Gone were my chances of ever helming another game, let alone my dreams of writing Harry Potter...

The other major thing about this writing job was that 60-70% of the gig was an adventure.

Back when I started trying to get into RPG writing, back in the late 1980s, the only thing I thought companies wanted was adventures. I wrote a couple of adventures for WEG's Ghostbusters RPG, which got some pretty positive responses - though they never saw print. Just wasn't suitable (I foolishly steered a little close to other movie copyrights). I started work on another Ghostbusters adventure, and a Price of Freedom one, but then life got in the way - I went to work in cartography and archaeology, and the worlds of gaming faded to the background for a while.

When I tried to get back into game writing again, it was with Eden Studios. The first thing I wrote for them was a sample supplement for All Flesh Must Be Eaten called "Summercamp Stalkers and Unstoppable Evil" - there was a sort-of adventure at the back of the book. More a setting for teens to run around and avoid a horrible undead nemesis. Not really a proper plotted adventure with a story, as such.

From there, everything I did either had adventures written by other people or didn't need adventures. Even for Doctor Who I got a handful of more qualified adventure writers on board to come up with that section, and I'm glad I did. I've always been a bit crap at coming up with adventure ideas.

This reluctance to write adventures (because I'm convinced I'm crap) even lead to my turning down one of the most high-profile adventure writing gigs around - Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave. I know... what a dumbass.

So I was cautious when it came to the new gig. I hadn't written for a while, and the last plotted and storied adventure I'd worked on was around 1989... But, the subject was fun, and I couldn't turn it down.

And I'm glad I worked on it. I just sent off the completed thing this evening. Now it's onto edits, revisions, layout and illustrations. I'm sure I'll mention it a lot in the following months, especially when the Kickstarter begins.

I hope the company likes it, and I hope you like it when you see it. I had a blast writing it, and it's reassured me that I can not only have a go at adventures again in the future, but also that I can actually finish something. That was a big part - actually finishing something. With WILD taking so many years and failing to get anywhere I was starting to think I was incapable of doing anything anymore.

Anyway, I can't say what this project was, I'm sure it'll be announced soon. But, thanks to it, I'm back on the horse.

I think we must expect great things from you... 2018

...as long as they're not terrible.

I started writing a lengthy "end of year" blog post, filled with the usual "I didn't get this done" and "this is what has happened" nonsense. I even started thinking about my films, games and TV of the year. And you know what? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I thought of the year, what movie I thought was good, or any of it.

What matters is what YOU thought of the year.

More importantly, what matters is what you make of the new year.

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Reflecting on 2017, I just wanted to thank some people.

Thanks to Chris Birch and Sam Webb at Modiphius, for letting me play in the Star Trek universe for a bit. For giving me the opportunity to work with cool Trek people like Dayton Ward and Scott Pearson, and for letting me shape the game a little. Many, many congratulations to them for how the game turned out and for the critical response to it.

Thanks to Dominic McDowall and Jon Hodgson at Cubicle 7 for putting up with my stupid emails.

Thanks to Anthony Boyd for his hard work and dedication running 2017's #RPGaDAY, making it the most far-reaching and successful campaigns spreading the positive message of RPGs to the world.

Thanks to Eric Campbell at Geek & Sundry for hosting some of the coolest actual plays around online featuring the aforementioned Star Trek Adventures and, before it, the game I designed for C7 - Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space (or Doctor Who Roleplaying Game as it is now). The exposure of the Twitch streams have sent the popularity of both of these games into the stratosphere.

Thanks to all my friends and family who have put up with my constant crap all year, and especially thank you to my lovely wife, Debs. Together, we're going to grab 2018 by the proverbials and show the world what we can do.

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2018 is a big year for me. I just hope I can make it even bigger by doing something really special.

Take care of each other, roll well, stay multi-classy and as Neil Gaiman said - "make good art."

I am a Jedi, like my father before me...

Today would have been my father's birthday, and I thought it apt (especially with a new movie recently released) that I posted about my life with Star Wars.

My earliest memory of Star Wars is thanks to my dad. It didn't happen often in his line of work, he worked as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, but there were a couple of instances where he went away for training or something. I was too young to really know what he did, but in 1977 he went off for a week for work somewhere, and when he returned he brought back gifts for my mum and me. He gave me two action figures from a film that the toy store clerk said would be big, called Star Wars. We'd not heard of it, but I was thrilled to receive these figures - Chewbacca and R2-D2. The original UK production run from Palitoy, with the illustrations of that first wave of figures on the back.

My parents had a great sense of value of things, and while I was encouraged to take the toys out of the blister packaging to play with (after all, that's what toys are for), my mum suggested cutting the top of the blister carefully with a knife so that the figure could slide out, and I could put it back when I'd finished. Brilliant.

The Star Wars oversized comic adaptation (part 1)
Marvel produced in 1977. 

Then there was the feature in 2000AD in one of their summer specials with some stills from the movie, but it wasn't until my local newsagents stocked the Star Wars Special Edition Marvel comic, in its oversized format, that I really knew what was going on. I have fond memories of laying on the floor in the living room absolutely devouring the comic, mentally shutting out the outside world until I'd finished it (though it was only the first half of the movie, and left it all on a horrible cliffhanger!)

Up north, the nearest cinema that was showing Star Wars when it was released was really the only cinema showing Star Wars. The Dorchester in Hull had been closed for years, but reopened just to show Star Wars. And that was all it screened. Three times a day, every day, for over a year.

It had one screen. A huge screen, with a balcony seating area. But you had to book weeks and weeks in advance. I remember my dad asked his brother in law to get us some tickets as we rarely went into Hull. The earliest we could get was about three months away, but the day came and as a family my mum, dad and I went to the cinema one afternoon and witnessed the movie that would change my life.

My mum was in a wheelchair, so we sat right near the back on the ground floor. The balcony almost obscured the top of the screen, but not quite. However, when the first crawl had finished, and the Tantive IV entered the frame, followed by the Star Destroyer, my mother nearly shot out of her chair, convinced they'd come from the balcony above us.

From that moment on, I was obsessed. I went to see it again with my sister and brother-in-law a few months later, and collected the figures, and read the novelisation and the comic over and over again.

(L to R) Me, my Dad, and Tom in 1978

I have particularly fond memories of our town carnival in 1978. My obsession with Star Wars continued, and my dad was just as enthusiastic. He loved dressing up every carnival and joining in the parade, and we quickly decided we'd dress up as characters from Star Wars. My dad loved Darth Vader, and we searched everywhere to get a Vader helmet, but it was both incredibly hard to find and also well out of our price range. We couldn't afford the £50 for a helmet back in the late 70s. So we ad-libbed.

The photo shows me in my Luke Skywalker outfit (more on that later), dad as Darth Vader, and my best friend at the time, Tom, dressed as Han Solo.

Dad's outfit was basically black clothes, a cape which he already had, and my lightsaber (though we couldn't afford a licensed one, my parents kindly bought me what was sold as a "Force Beam"). The helmet was a work of genius though. A black balaclava with a black bucket with the front cut out stitched onto the top. We'd found some black plastic grilling, and cut a rectangle of it (which we added buttons to) to make the chest controls, and cut a triangle of the grill and stitched it to the front of the balaclava. Then my dad put on his glasses, and clipped on some sunglasses, and bingo!

I think we even did the shiny shoulder piece with a bin bag.

Mum made my outfit, and we borrowed the white wellies from a friend of the family who worked at a fish processing factory.

I don't think we won the fancy dress competition, but it didn't matter. We had fun, my dad was the coolest with his Darth Vader outfit, and I got to be Luke Skywalker. While everyone I knew thought Han Solo was the coolest character in Star Wars, I just wanted to be Luke.

Luke was everything I wanted to be. Especially when he underwent his training and learned the ways of the Force. When Return of the Jedi came out, when I didn't have to wear school uniform I started wearing all black because Luke wore it in Episode VI. I remember one of our gaming group (Crud, sorry about the nickname) calling me "Jedi" like it was a derogatory term. It's what I wanted to be. Peacekeeper, honourable, brave, never attacking.

--

My parents didn't get to see the sequels. My mum was in a care facility for months before she died in 2012, but she insisted that she had a copy of the Star Wars trilogy on DVD while she was in there. I don't think she ever watched them though.

But, thanks to my parents introducing me to Star Wars, I can't help but think of them when I see the movies, new or old.

Mark Hamill returns as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Needless to say, Debs and I went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi on its opening day, and we loved it. I know there have been criticisms from whiny fans about how different this one is, but I really enjoyed it.

I loved The Force Awakens as well - brilliantly merging the old characters with new. My only disappointment with that one was the lack of Luke Skywalker. The Last Jedi makes up for this with plenty of Luke screen time.

Yes, this is not the Luke Skywalker we're familiar with, but there are notes and nuances that tug at the heart and remind you that even though Luke has shut himself off from the Force and the rest of the galaxy, deep down he's still the hero I wanted to be as a kid.

Debs, in her infinite wisdom, pointed out as we walked away from the cinema that his film was all about consequences and sacrifice. The archetypes of the characters are thrown on their heads, and the courageous acts that would normally save the galaxy are revealed to be foolhardy and put people at unnecessary risk. It's a great movie that really turns what we expect from Star Wars around, and we'll certainly be watching again after the festive season is over.

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Talking of the festive season, this is probably my last blog post until afterwards, so I'll take this opportunity to say have a merry Yule. Until next time, stay safe, and may the Force be with you...

Mornings are for Coffee and Contemplation...

It's been a while since I posted on here, and there's been a good reason. I've been writing! Hurrah!

No, it wasn't NaNoWriMo. It was a bit weird. I was in that limbo that I mentioned a couple of posts ago, wanting to do something and feeling a bit lost, and before you know it, I'd been given a quick gig.

I can't say much, except it's under the working title of "The Spirit of Manhattan" and is really is a blast to do. It's only short, though I do seem to be dragging it out a bit (always the way this time of year with the dayjob and family matters) but it is a really cool bit of gaming archaeology for me. Digging back to my gaming roots, so to speak.

There will be more info soon, once it's a bit more complete and it's properly announced.

Typically, it has sparked off lots of creative thoughts about WILD, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to it.

After that post I mentioned, where I was desperately clamouring to work on those licenses, I had a moment of clarity. It snuck up on me, but I was watching "The Conjuring" (of all things) and I suddenly thought of how it would work with WILD.

And then I thought about Stranger Things, how I was complaining that there should be an RPG of Stranger Things, and I realised... it works with WILD.

And I thought about Twin Peaks (God, I love Twin Peaks), and how I wanted a Twin Peaks RPG, and I knew, deep down, that it was easily compatible with WILD.

I realised, that I should stop worrying and just get on with WILD.

So that's what I'll be doing. I'm going to finish "The Spirit of Manhattan" (hopefully this year) and then in the new year, unless someone hands me the keys to a cool license, I'm going to get back to WILD.

I'll hope to post again before the end of the year, but in the meantime, hug your loved ones, stay safe, and stay multiclassy.