Sorry! Hopefully tomorrow will be more successful.
The ones that really leap out are all from Crooked Dice Game Design Studio - they do some really cool minis that are heavily influenced by some great genre movies and TV series from my past. One that really got me far to overexcited was when they announced their "Alien Invaders" range of humanoid aliens (that may secretly be lizards if you know what I mean) and their iconic red jumpsuits. I have fond memories of playing West End Games' 'Price of Freedom' RPG only with the Soviet forces switched out for the same lizard-like humanoid aliens.
So when they showed off the range of minis that included this little beauty...
The other one is this little beauty... They do one of the flying thingies (which I won't name) as well as the tanks... Flippin' gorgeous. I'd want some cool glowing paint for it though...
I haven't used a screen for many years - mostly because I haven't GM'd for many years. I do remember the sudden realisation and revelation that screens were no longer 3-panel portrait, but 3-panel landscape, and that just blew me away. All of the information you need on a sturdy screen (like those produced by Modiphius or Cubicle 7) in a format you can easily see over, while still protecting your notes. Brilliant.
However, when it comes to superb screens, the winner has to be the one our DM (and current DM for our D&D game) used back in the 1980s. Made from two panels of what must have been 3ft x 3ft chipboard, the screen towered over the table and completely obscured any of the notes and maps that he wanted to keep secret. When he wanted to check on rolls, he'd have to stand up or lean around the screen to see what was going on. It was so sturdy, and so secretive, that one of our players (I think it was 'Crud' - not his real name) hacked away at part of the screen to try to see through it, using a propelling pencil. Over many months, he eventually broke through, like the Shawshank Redemption, only to discover the following session that the hole had been filled by a mass of Araldite epoxy resin that set in a mass of weird Giger-esque forms. The screen was completely impractical as a way to communicate with the players, but perfect for keeping secrets, and will always be firmly fixed in my mind.
Day Twenty-Five of #RPGaDAY2024 is all about desirable dice. I love dice. I have far too many dice. I went to a games convention yesterday and saw some of the most beautiful dice I have ever seen - a deepest blue that was like gazing into the very heavens themself, with accents of the most remarkable gold. They weren't cheap, but they were amazing.
However, the problem is, I'm old, and lazy, and I'd just settle for some nice coloured dice with the most incredibly clear numbers on them so I don't have to pick them up and squint at them to see the result.
Just a week to go after today for this year's #RPGaDAY, and I'm once again slipping behind. Time for a quick catchup...
Day TWENTY-THREE is about a Peerless Player. Tricky, but I'll answer that with a couple of responses. One would have to be my lovely wife. Debs doesn't like rules and can't be bothered reading them, but when something doesn't work or could be made simpler, she lets me know and that's a valuable resource for play testing. The other answer would be the partner of one of our regular players. I won't embarrass them by naming them, but she's really big in the LARP scene and plays in loads of games (LARP and TTRPGs). We played a game of The Walking Dead RPG near New Year and her approach to gaming is far more 'in character' than how we're used to playing that it really stood out how cool and in character she was. Kinda blew me away and I don't think I could ever be as cool as that in a game.
Okay, Day TWENTY-FOUR is Acclaimed Advice, and I really can't think of any great advice that I've been given. I guess back in the late 80's I received a great response to my first submission for a game adventure for the Ghostbusters RPG published by West End Games. It wasn't advice in itself, but it was an encouragement to keep writing, keep trying, and keep submitting stuff. I never forgot that, and I kept trying. When my teachers told me not to bother going to university (I still went, after a couple of intermediate courses), when the opportunity to write for another company (Eden Studios) appeared, I remembered that letter from West End Games and just went for it. Thank you to those who told me to try, and not to give up.
Those cool little sucker-fingers were perfect for working the tech, and also for extracting orangey snacks from the bags. It did mean that during any covert operation against the Empire we had to ensure that the little orange spice-dust wasn't all over the control panels and screens.
Daraka became so popular in our group (along with Lumsk the Trandoshan) that we played a side-mission with Daraka as a PC. I can't remember if he survived or not... poor Daraka.
Yes, I've been a bit slack with #RPGaDAY2024 at the moment. My meds have really kicked me in the guts (literally) over the last few days and I've been using what little energy I had left to do my day job. But things seem to be improving a little, so let's take this opportunity to catchup with where we were in this year's #RPGaDAY initiative!
DAY EIGHTEEN: Memorable moment of play - I think this would probably be either the Tales from the Loop game we were playing a while ago where we got into a very moral argument between the characters (and the players) about how far we should go to test if someone was a robot infiltrator. It would probably be a tie between that session and the recent Aegean game where our druid turned herself into a mouse and jumped into the mouth of a particularly despicable tyrannical Yarl (we're playing as Vikings rather than Ancient Greece), and then turned back to human form. It was gross, explosive, and certainly one of the most memorable moments of play!!!
DAY NINETEEN: Sensational Session - I always have fond (if I can call it that) memories of GMing Kult with my current gaming group, though this was easily 25 years ago... the tension in the room was almost tangible, and I can't even remember what was going on. All I remember is that everyone was very involved with their characters, the stakes were high, there was some weird time-magic going on, vampires, and something, but it was absolutely buzzing in the room. I don't think I'll ever capture that feeling again.
DAY TWENTY: Amazing Adventure - Rather than talk about a home-brew campaign or adventure, I'm going to rave about a game I was involved in making, but had very little creative input in. The recent Doctor Who Second Edition Starter Set has an amazing set of adventures in it - The Timeless Library, which leads into the longer Echo Chamber, and then the Hermit's Lantern (which sets up the party with their own time travel device and lets them continue in the Doctor's universe). I remember getting the manuscript back from the writer, Eleanor Hingley, and being simply blown away. I think I got a little emotional when I read it. The plots, the NPCs (and there are loads of really cool NPCs) and the way it all is structured to introduce new players to the game. It's just awesome. Eleanor really got the brief, and really understands the message behind Doctor Who.
DAY TWENTY-ONE: Classic Campaign - I've not really played any big published campaigns. All of our longer campaigns have been multiple shorter adventures strung together, though I guess the Blade Runner boxed adventures are supposed to join to create a coherent campaign. As I haven't really played in any big published ones, I'm going to mention one that I really want to play, and that is Call of Cthulhu's Masks of Nyarlathotep. I really want to play that. Or run it. Maybe that's what gets me back into GMing again. That or Horror on the Orient Express. One of those big Cthulhu campaigns. Maybe I could run it as modern day? Hmmmm...
Okay, that's me back up to date.
Stay safe everyone, and stay multi classy!
Starting to slip behind on #RPGaDAY2024 here, but hopefully I can catch up now. Okay, so Day Fifteen asked about Great Character Gear and Day Sixteen asked about games that are Quick to Learn... and my answer for both of them is Ghostbusters.
There, that was easy. I mean, West End Games' Ghostbusters RPG is still a work of genius. The way equipment worked was by having the equipment on cards, and you could carry as many cards as your Muscles Stat (if I remember correctly, it's been a while) which was kinda realistic, because by the time you'd strapped that Proton Pack on, you really couldn't carry much else besides a PKE Meter or similar. It meant that each member of the team, much like in the movie, carried something different, whether it was a trap, Ectogoggles, or even the legendary Beach Gear with its oversized boombox.
It's something I tried to replicate in Doctor Who, and the first edition of the game even had equipment cards (mainly for those cool gadgets like your psychic paper or sonic screwdriver.
When it comes to the rules, there are so few rules in Ghostbusters you can pick up just about everything you need to know in a few minutes. Heck, in the first edition boxed set there was even a rules summary sheet for quick reference, though I don't think anyone needed to look at it after the first session. Super-simple and easy. And just great fun...
I still love that game... one day, when I get that lottery win, I'll bring it back in all its glory, first edition rules, new adventures, updated to the new movies...
Day Fourteen of #RPGaDAY2024 and we're looking at compelling characters. I have to admit, the ones that really stayed in my head long after playing were my Zabrak Dark Side Force user who had tried to redeem himself and turn to the Light Side. His story was kinda epic, starting with a group at the Jedi academy, Order 66 happening, going into hiding, then striking back against the Empire.
The other character who leaps to mind is my Tales from the Loop character - the daughter of a couple who ran the seaside amusement arcade who ended up battling her own mutated mother and time travelling back to the 80s to prevent the apocalypse. Epic stuff!!
For me, it's easier when I'm playing a licensed game, so I can mentally visualise where things are. If you tell me I'm in a sleazy cantina on Coruscant I know exactly what you're saying. Possibly why I'm not great at fantasy settings, especially ones that aren't based upon works I'm familiar with.
So for me, the most evocative environment is something I'm able to mentally picture, whether that's the middle of London, the deserts of Tatooine, the domed city on Gallifrey, Brakebills University, or the bridge of the Enterprise. If it's not somewhere I'm familiar with, give me pictures. Lots of pictures. Evocative pictures like Broken Weave or Tales from the Loop.
As a companion piece to yesterday's one about One-Shots, today is all about Campaigns (I really should have moved these to be the weekend prompts, shouldn't I?).
I guess everyone is going to immediately go for WFRP's The Enemy Within, but I've never played it (I'm not really that into fantasy as a tabletop setting, sorry).
I'd like to mention that Tales from the Loop have a number of excellent campaign books - Our Friends the Machines, Out of Time, and They Grow Up So Fast. I love to see this sort of content, as I'm not great at coming up with adventures or long form content like this. I mean, when I have an idea, it escalates and gets huge, but if I don't have that idea to begin with, I'm stuck.
Doctor Who had a great multipart campaign recently called A Stitch in Time, which is 10 episodes that connect like a great RTD season with an epic season finale where it all comes together.
But, the obvious choice to massive, well supported, campaigns is Call of Cthulhu. One day, I'll get to play or run Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Horror on the Orient Express - both of which can take years to complete. Sounds amazing.
It's the weekend again, and I didn't have the opportunity to type up yesterday's response. So here goes!
Day Ten asked about an RPG you'd like to see on TV. I must admit, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a setting or something from an RPG turned into a TV series, or what game you'd like to see being played on TV? I think the former is probably more interesting, so let's go with Conspiracy X. You know I'm a massive fan of The X-Files, and the setting for Conspiracy X, with it multiple alien species, supernatural weirdness, multiple government conspiracies, psychic powers, and nanotech. It'd be great.
Also, I had a weird dream of WILD being turned into a TV series. Parallel plot lines of Carter creating the technology, and Clarity trapped in the dreamscape trying to escape... but most series I've watched about dreamscapes and dream sharing haven't lasted long (Sleepwalkers, Falling Water, Reverie, etc.). Heck, I even had a cast sorted out in my head, with Peter Outerbridge as Carter...
Day Eleven asks us to think about an RPG that has well supported one-shots. I must admit, I'm not much of a one-shot person, though I've had a couple of really cool games of Fiasco, and there have been a couple of great one-shots of All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I mean, Cinematic Alien is almost designed for one-shots (or rather three-shots) I think the ruler of one-shotdom, would either be Fiasco, or Grant Howitt's ever growing range of one-page games (Jason Statham's Big Vacation stands out for me).
