#RPGaDAY2018 Day 4: Most Memorable NPC

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 4. Moving right along!

Today is Most memorable NPC

So many over the years.  There was the annoying assassin Kirkroy that plagued my characters for years.  I have used a vampire, Mal Havoc, to do the same to others.

I think my most memorable one had been the evil necromancer Magnus.  He was the big bad of my 1st ed games, constantly appearing to either taunt or try to kill the PCs.  He also, at times would help them, if it also helped himself.

I have been dying to bring him back someway. 

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 3: What Gives a Game Staying Power?

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 3 let's do this!

What Gives a Game Staying Power?

For me at least, it how many times can I go back to it and tell new stories.

Dungeons & Dragons has staying power.  WitchCraft has tons of staying power.
I mean seriously, how many times can I go to the Keep on the Borderlands?  Well, at last count at least 8-9 times.

After nearly 40 years of doing this I can get a lot of mileage out of most games.

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 2: What is the first thing you look for in an RPG?

Here we are, #RPGaDAY2018 Day 2!

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

While my introduction to RPGs was a book of monsters, my first love is Magic.

I always look at the magic system first.  I love new and different magic systems and I love to try them out. Whether the system is fantasy, modern or horror, it's what I look for.

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 1: What do you love about RPGs?

To get my posting muscles working aging I thought I would participate in Dave Chapman's annual #PRGaDAY for 2018.

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Today's topic is What do you love about RPGs?

For me, I think it is the endless possibilities of worlds unexplored. Of stories yet untold.  And it's also about sitting around the table with friends having a good time.

I have great RPG-related memories.  Some of those are the actions of real people, others are the actions on in our minds. And even more deal with the actions in and around the table that had nothing to do with RPGs directly.

RPGaDAY2016: Day 31

What is the best piece of advice you were ever given for your game of choice?

I am not sure who told me this, but I remember is was early into high school.
At the time I was learning to game it was more important for us to have fun than it was was to play by the rules.  Then I went through a period where I only played by the letter of the rules. I used weapon speeds and every little encumbrance rule I knew of.   If it was not in the books, or our specially sanctioned set of house rules, then we didn't do it.

I was talking with a friend (or maybe it was the older brother of another friend) and I was told this.

Don't memorize rules. You can't memorize them all anyway.  Focus on the basics and having fun. Everything else can be looked up.

Turned out to be good advice. It's also the same advice I give.

I tend to make the rules an abstraction.  Like in most newer editions of D&D it's "roll a d20 vs. a specified number. If the number is not specified use 10, 15 or 20."  In Unisystem it's "roll a d10, add skills and abilities and see how much higher than 9 it is."  Everything else will flow from that.

We are here to have fun, not defend a dissertation that someone else wrote.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 30

Describe the ideal game room if your budget were unlimited.

I am not sure about *The* ideal game room, but for *my* ideal game room I am already pretty damn close.

Here are a few posts about it.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2016/08/pop-culture-league-challenge-shelfie.html
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2013/02/game-room-walls-meme.html
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/08/rpg-day-2015-day-22.html
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2013/08/where-do-you-create.html

I need plenty of light, easy access to my books, a good table with chairs and lots and lots of pencils.

Right now I could get a better table. Nothing wrong with the one I have, I think a "gamer table" would be nice.  I just have not found one yet that I like enough to buy.



http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 29

If you could host a game anywhere on Earth, where would that be?

Hmm. I think I answered this one, a little bit, on Day 27 with "a haunted* house".

But I suppose a "haunted*" castle would be more fun. Or even just a real castle we could explore first and then game.  It would have to be a weekend thing. Or a week.

I think that would be a blast.


*"haunted" because I don't actually believe in ghosts.

RPGaDAY2016: Day 28

What film or novel would you be most surprised that a friend had not seen or read?

I have to admit I am always very surprised when someone in RPG circles tells me they have never read J.R.R. Tolkien.

To me it is so integral to what I consider my own RPG experience.

Now I am not surprised when I hear people have not read H.P. Lovecraft.  I find that more people talk about his works than have actually read them.

For movies.  I am in shock when I hear that someone has never seen Star Wars.  That is also so central to my own RPG upbringing.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 27

Describe the most unusual circumstance or location in which you have gamed.

Ok.
Anyone remember the old TV show, the Newlywed Game?  One of the standard questions was "strangest place you have ever made 'whoopie'?" which was conservative America talk for having sex.  

Yeah.  That's what this question reminds me of.

I don't know really.  We use to play on the school bus in Jr. High and High School, but honestly that doesn't seem so odd.

I always wanted to run a horror themed game in a "haunted" house. That would be fun I think.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 26

What hobbies go well with RPGs?

Which ones go well?
Well reading obviously, but it is hard to consider that one a hobby. Kinda like saying breathing and eating are hobbies in my mind.

Collecting RPGs is one that gets tied up in playing RPGs a lot.  Long ago I knew I would never, ever be able to collect every game I wanted so I have just focused on a few things I have wanted for my collection.

Curious to read what others say on this.


http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 25

In your opinion, what do you need for a satisfying character?

All I need is a good concept I want to explore.

In particular when creating a character I might have some archetype or even some stereotype I want to explore.

Currently, the character I am working on is an NPC for various project. She is a witch (of course, but so are my projects), but comes from an ancient line of witches.  Something like the Mayfair witches from Anne Rice, but a lot less incest.

Tanith Winters is a member of the ancient Winters family of witches.  She might be the powerful one yet, no one is sure.  But I plan to find out.
Like all of the Winters witches Tanith is pale, with white hair and favors darker clothing.

I am basing her look a little off of Taylor Momsen, the actress and lead singer of The Pretty Reckless. Yes she was also "Cindy Lou Who" in the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie.

The name is a nod to both the novel "Tanith" by Jack D. Shackleford and the author Tanith Lee.

Lately for characters, I have been putting together Pinterest boards to collect ideas, mostly images, about the character.

Here is Tanith's:

Follow Timothy's board Tanith on Pinterest.

I also have boards for other characters as well.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 24

What is the game you are most likely to give to others as a gift?

It kind of depends on the situation.  If I am trying to introduce someone to our hobby, but I think they need "training wheels" of a sort, then I am most likely to give them Dungeon! because it is easy to learn and does not require a game master.

Though if I think they are ready for the plunge I have a couple of other options.

My go to in most cases is the D&D Basic set of whatever the most current or popular version is.  So over the last few years I have given away copies of the 4th and 5th edition Basic/Beginners Sets and the Pathfinder Basic Box.

I also love to give out copies of Basic Fantasy with a set of dice.
It is cheap and everything is in one book and easy to learn.  Typically anytime I make a big Amazon order, I'll throw a couple of Basic Fantasy books on and always have them on hand.  Sometimes I also throw in a copy of my Witch book.

Maybe what is needed is a nice cheap book that is designed to get people into the game and has everything they need to get going.  Something like "OSR Basic".

Hmm....I wonder how much it would cost to print up just the basic information from the D&D 5 SRD?
But not just rules, something to really bring new players into the fold.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 23

Share one of your best 'Worst Luck' stories.

I mentioned this one a couple years ago for "Most Memorable Character Death" but it also falls under best "Worst Luck" since the poor guy was at the receiving end of some truly diabolic dice rolls.

I have played exactly 1 ninja my entire  gaming life.  His name was Oko-nishi (horrible I know).  My lame attempts at a Japanese sounding name.  In my defense at what I knew was a bad name, I made him a half-orc; because I could then blame his orc parent.  It must have been around 1984-5 as I made him using the Oriental Adventure rules.  My then DM and I had worked up a D&D combat simulator on the Color Computer 2 and we plugged him in with 9 other characters.  He was attacked by a Black Dragon (or Red, cant recall) and killed. The dragon kept attacking him and only him.  We had not worked out all the errors. In the end, he had been reduced to something like -70 hp.  My DM offered to let him be ok, or keep him dead. We enjoyed watching it so much and getting the mental image of this dragon jumping up and down on my dead ninja that I felt it was a waste to say it never happened.

I never played a ninja or a half-orc again.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 22

What are some random events in your games that keep happening?

We have been going through the "Greyhawk Classics" series of modules and other adventures from about the same time.  There seems to be an inordinate number of wealthy elvish princesses captured in dungeons.  Yeah I know it has a lot to do with the time the books were written (late 70s early 80s) and the audience they were geared too (teenage boys), but it is getting silly enough that even my youngest is like "who is keeping an eye on these girls? not their parents, that's for sure".

Appearing almost as much is the "helpless captive, who is really a thief".  So much so that I have taken to use the same mini for this character in a half-baked idea that it is in fact the same thief that keeps getting captured.  Just need to come up with a name a little bit of a back-story for her.  She has managed to steal quite a bit of loot from the characters already.

I am thinking something like Autolycus the Prince of Thieves, played by Bruce Campbell on Xena. Pure comic relief.

Could be fun really.


http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 21

What was the funniest misinterpretation of a game rule in your group?

Funniest?  No idea really.

The only rule misinterpretation I recall was back in the days of Basic I saw the wizard XP and thought ok, he needs 2,500 to get to level 2 and then 5,000 to level 3. So I got 2,500xp, went to level 2 and erased the XP and started at 0 to work to level 3.  By the time I was level 3 I had already earned close to 8,000 XP.

Not really fun I know, just kind of youthful misunderstanding.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 20

What is the most challenging but rewarding system have you learned?

I don't find many systems to be very challenging to be honest.

Back in the day I would have said Chill or Call of Cthulhu just because they were so different than what I have used in the past.



http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 19

What is the best way to learn a new game?

No shock or surprise with this answer.
The best way to learn is to play.

That's not just true for games, that's true for lots of things. Almost everything in fact.

Sure you can get more detail reading, but doing is the best.

Let me ask you this.  Are you going to get into a airplane with someone that actually has flown and landed an airplane or someone that has only read about it?


http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 18

What innovation could RPG groups gain the most benefit from?

Hard to say since I don't know exactly what other groups are doing.

The biggest obstacle or complaint I have seen is being able to find a time everyone can meet to play.
But for this situation I have seen some great tools online that allow people to meet when they can.

I have nothing profound here.


http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 17

What fictional character would best fit in your group? Why?

Hmm. Too much like the last question really.

ALTERNATE QUESTION TIME!

If could relive your gaming years so far, what would you want to do more of?

I am pretty happy with the way things went in my gaming career.
Right now I am doing all the things I wanted to do then and then some more.

But I suppose that when growing up in the 80s I would have tried to play with more different groups.
I think part of that is really thought kind of a "the grass is greener" phenomena.  Not that those groups were in fact doing things better, just different.

My desire is to experience that difference as it was and appreciate it for what it was.
Which of course is the problem, I want to experience it as a kid, but appreciate it as an adult!

Best to just do the things I want now.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

RPGaDAY2016: Day 16

What historical character would you like in your group? For what game?

This is an odd question.  I like history and I like reading about it, but there isn't anyone from history I want at my gaming table really.

I have used plenty of historical people as characters in games though.

As a former psychologist I would love to have a game where Sigmund Freud makes a cameo appearance.  That would be a lot of fun.


http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/