#RPGaDAY2024 RPG Evocative Environments

 Evocative environments. Well. There are quite a few really. But one really stands out for me right now.

That is the Solar Frontier of Thirteen Parsecs.

Webb's First Deep Field

In Thirteen Parsecs the Solar Frontier is as far as humanity has gotten in space at that time. Why? Well there are a lot of reasons. We have many "Solar Frontiers" detailed in the book. Mine are Space Truckin' and Darker Stars.

In Space Truckin' the Solar Frontier is as far as we have gone due to technology. To get goods and service past the Frontier, and into what are known as The Hazard Lands, you need the services of the Space Truckers! What out for the CHiPs (Colony Hyperspace Patrols) and "Lot Lizards!"

In Darker Stars the Solar Frontier is a border between what we know of as "Normal Space" and the weird, science defying space of the Old Ones. It is space exploration meets cosmic horror.

Now, as of this writing we are in layout of Thirteen Parsecs (and let me just say this, Jason has OUT DONE himself on it!) BUT one of those Solar Frontiers will not make it to the final book. No worries, if you were a Backer then you still get both, just one as a PDF.

The one that does not make it will be expanded on and released as a stand-alone product.

I can't wait to get this all to you!

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 RPG with well-supported campaigns

 This one is pretty easy. Probably the best supported campaign setting anywhere is the Forgotten Realms for Dungeons & Dragons.

There are plenty of well-supported campaigns, but few have spanned multiple editions of their game, even through rule changes.

Sure, there is the "Arkham" setting of Call of Cthulhu and whatever the setting is for World of Darkness. But those are largely "our world, but different." The D&D settings take on a bit more work, and few have done this as well as the Realms have. 

Not to mention the support of novels, board games, movies, and video games. It's all rather impressive, really. 

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDay2024 RPG with well-supported one-shots

 For this I am going back to the dawn of the OSR to pick Basic Fantasy.

In truth Basic Fantasy can work for any "Well Supported" item. One shots, adventures, supplements, you name it. The community is rich, vibrant and engaged. Their Downloads section is loaded full of things you can get for free and are constantly updated.

This includes all their adventures.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 RPG You'd Like to See on TV

I am not 100% sure I know what this is asking. An RPG played on TV or an RPG translated to TV.

In either case, I am going to say NIGHT SHIFT.  

If it is the RPG translated to TV then I'd want it to be something like a horror anthology like The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt.

That would be a lot of fun.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 An Accessory You'd Like to See

 An accessory I'd like to see? I think in general I would like to see some more ethically trained AI apps, both for art and text. I love the potential of AI. Despite all the time I have spent trying to find ways to deal with AI-based plagiarism in my day job, I still think there is something powerful here.

The problem I have with AI right now is largely two-fold.  The current databases are filled with material that is in reality owned by someone else and they never got paid for.

But even if you remove all the art or text from the databases the algorithms were trained on that data, so even that is somewhat tainted. This why you should never believe someone when they claim that they are using ethically trained AI, most people don't know enough to do that. 

I have used many AI products, but all of them have issues. I'll use them on my blog here, but not in any published product unless there is an ethical way to do so. 

Until then it is traditional art for me. 

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 An Accessory You Appreciate

 There is one accessory that I have to say has helped me more than any other when it comes to my games. That is Wikipedia. 

Wikipedia first went online on January 15, 2001, and was created by Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales and Larry Sanger. As of July 2024, English Wikipedia hosts approximately 6.85 million articles and has about 47.68 million registered users, of whom 114,409 have made at least one edit in the past month.  As of early 2024, there are over 1,300 articles on Wikipedia related to "Dungeons & Dragons."

While I don't use Wikipedia for my "day job" as an academic, it is great for D&D and other RPGs.  I would not use it for an academic paper of any sort, but I will go there to get a summary of something. Or if I need to know something like when were sewers introduced in Europe or how a flying buttress was made.  It is also great for RPG and D&D specific information.

I started as an editor back in September of 2007 and I have touched a majority of the D&D articles over the years as an independent fact checker and source finder. I helped get a few articles to "Good Article" status like Drizzt Do'Urden, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and Bunnies & Burrows. I even got a small grant for that last one.  Even better, I got the Ravenloft and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks articles to Featured Article status. 

I don't edit there as much as I used to, but I still check in on various articles and provide support where and when I can.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 RPG with 'good form'

 Not 100% sure what is being asked here, but to me there are a couple of RPGs that can fall into this. Though admittedly, I could be confusing "good form" with "good formatting."

The first ones to come to mind are Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and Old-School Essentials.

Both for the same reason. Their layout facilitates laying the book open at the game table with all information needed on facing pages. 

OSE takes this a step further, with all the information needed on a particular topic fitting on just two pages.

So much so that I took it upon myself to get a spiral-bound copy made of Old School Essentials Classic.

It's not an easy task getting all the text to fit like this but the results are impressive.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY2024 RPG that is easy to use

 When it gets right down to it, you can't get more basic than Basic D&D.

Like many of the RPGs I am going to talk about this month, this one is so easy that everyone can go from no knowledge to playing their new characters in a matter of minutes.  I know people have very fond memories of the Mentzer set and I personally got my start with the Holmes Basic set, but it is this one I consider my first "real" D&D.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY RPG with great writing

This one was a bit harder since there are so many well-written RPGs, many with well-designed rules and others with well-crafted narratives. But the one that ticks all those boxes for me is CJ Carella's WitchCraft.

I talk about this game a lot here, and with good reason. It is one of my all-time favorite games. 

Mere words can't express my love for this game. Though I have tried many, many times. This is the game I come back to. This is the game that I hold up as my Gold Standard of Games.  Not that it isn't without its own issues, of course, but nothing I can't work around or even with.  I have often said I wrote Ghosts of Albion as nothing but a giant love letter to the WitchCraft RPG.

WitchCraft was the game that pulled me back into RPGs. I was ready to give up until I found this game. I have never looked back.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY RPG with great art

 So many, especially today. But one I keep going back to for the art is Green Ronin's Blue Rose, AGE Edition. 

It is one of the many reasons I keep coming back to this game.

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I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDAY Most often played RPG

 I don't think this one is even a contest. That would be Basic-era D&D. 

What treasures in such a small box!

The Moldvay Basic set was more than just an introductory set to D&D. It was an introduction to a hobby, a lifestyle. The rules were simply written and organized. They were not simple rules, and re-reading them today, I marvel that we all conquered this stuff at age 10-11. It may have only covered the first three levels of character growth, but they were a quality three.

I bought the Expert Set for my birthday in 1982. For the longest time, that was all I needed. Eventually, I moved on to AD&D. I discovered those Little Brown Books and even picked up my own real copy of Holmes Basic. I love those games, and I love playing them still, but they never quite had the same magic as that first time I opened up that box and saw what treasures were inside. I did not have to imagine how my characters felt when they discovered some long-lost treasure. I knew.

Today, I still go back to Tom Moldvay's classic Basic book. It is my yardstick for measuring any OSR game. Almost everything I need is right there, just waiting for me.

Holmes Basic, also called the "Blue Book," was my start. Sort of. The rules I used back when I began were a hodge-podge of Holmes Basic and AD&D, particularly the Monster Manual. This was fine, really, since, at the time, 1979, these game lines were a lot closer to each other. I have talked about this in my "1979 Campaign" posts.

Edited by Dr. John Eric Holmes, this book took the original D&D books and re-edited them to a single cohesive whole, though limited to 3rd level, as a means to get people introduced to the D&D game.  The Original Rules (see "O" day!) were an eclectic collection of rules that grew out of Gary Gygax's and Dave Arneson's playstyles. Debate continues on who did what, and I am not going to provide anything close to a definitive answer, but the game sold well but had a steep learning curve to others who were not part of that inner circle or came from War Games. The Holmes Edition attempted to fix that.

Mentzer Basic, or the BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortals) rules, was published after the Moldvay Basic, Cook/Marsh Expert sets. The rules between the B/X and BECMI rules are largely superficial (I will discuss this more), and the BECMI rules go past level 14 into the Companion rules (more on that tomorrow).

There is evidence that the Mentzer Basic set, also known as the "Red Box," was one of the best-selling editions of D&D ever, even outselling the flagship line of AD&D at times. It was also sold in more countries and more languages than any other version of D&D. If you recall Sunday's post, the D&D Basic line was in play for 22 years, covering the same time period as AD&D 1st and 2nd Edition rules. And it is still widely popular today. 

Basic books from England, the USA, and Spain

Basic D&D has great online support regarding books from DriveThruRPG and other "Old School Renaissance" creators. But it is an older game. One of the oldest in fact. So, some things made perfectly good sense back then that would cause people to scratch their heads at the various design choices (Descending Armor Class? Level limits?), but that doesn't detract from the fun. Finding a Basic game or even people to play it with will be harder.

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDay2024 Most recently played

 Most recent played?

That would have to be my AD&D 2nd Edition one set in the Forgotten Realms with my oldest.  We play a little here and there when he gets off of work (usually around 11:00pm to midnight).

We have not gotten very far. An hour or two here and there, but we have had a blast doing it.

This is the one where I am running my Sinéad as a DMPC. She is a Bard, so she is always just a support character, and she is the DM mouthpiece on Realms lore. It has been great since I remembered how much fun I always had with Bards.

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

#RPGaDay2024 First RPG bought this year

That was a tough one to figure out. I bought a lot of RPG-related items this year from adventures to minis, but I think the first full RPG I bought this year was the Spanish Language version of CJ Carella's WitchCraft RPG.

The Spanish Language version from Edge most resembles the Eden Studios 2nd Edition. The text is the same and the art is the same.

The difference, of course, is this new Edge version is in Spanish.

I am happy to have this as this was one of the other "Holy Grail" items for my Spanish collection of RPGs. It was also the last CJ Carella WitchCraft book I am likely able to buy. 

I am pleased that I was able to read a lot of it. Granted, my Spanish is still very limited, but I know this book very, very well. 

My collection of Spanish Language RPGs is not huge, but it covers my favorite games and about 85-90% of the games I like to play.

Not a lot, but enough to keep me busy for a while.

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

 Since it makes sense, here is Roberto Micheri's Spanish translation. You can find Roberto (and me often making a fool of myself with my pre-school-level Spanish) in the Puerto Rico Role Players Facebook Group.

Si es tu primera vez, todos los días de agosto mira la sugerencia y escribe, haz un blog, vlog, podcast, dibuja, haz manualidades o lo que sea como respuesta. Si no te gusta la pregunta completa, por ejemplo, en el Día 3 la pregunta es "RPG (juego de rol) más jugado", la palabra "más" está en negrilla y puedes usar sólo esa palabra como respuesta si quieres hablar de otra cosa. 

También hay una opción alternativa al final, por si acaso. Si no te gusta ninguna de estas sugerencias, sigue leyendo.

1. Primer RPG comprado este año
2. RPG jugado más recientemente
3. RPG más jugado
4. RPG con gran arte
5. RPG muy bien escrito
6. RPG fácil de usar
7. RPG con "buena forma"
8. Un accesorio que aprecies
9. Un accesorio que te gustaría ver
10. RPG que te gustaría ver en televisión
11. RPG con “one-shots” bien respaldados
12. RPG con campañas bien sustentadas
13. Entornos evocadores
14. Personajes fascinantes
15. Gran equipamiento para los personajes
16. Rápido de aprender
17. Una comunidad RPG cautivadora
18. Momentos de juego memorables
19. Sesión sensacional
20. Aventura increíble
21. Campaña clásica
22. Notable personaje no jugador (NPC)
23. Jugador sin igual
24. Aclamados consejos
25. Dados deseables
26. Magnífica pantalla
27. Maravillosa miniatura
28. Excelente artilugio para “gamers”
29. Impresionante aplicación (app)
30. Persona con la que te gustaría jugar
31. Juego o jugador que echas de menos

Alternativa - Una anécdota sorprendenteSi no te gusta ninguno de estas sugerencias, ya sé que son de última hora, puedes optar por un conjunto de temas para #RPGaDAY completamente diferente. Sugeridas por Skala Wyzwania, estas ideas son muy divertidas e incluso hay un gráfico muy atractivo para esta versión. 

Sólo tienes que mirar el día a la izquierda, elegir el tema y tirar un d10 para descubrir qué deberías hacer con ese tema ese día. 

Genial, gracias Skala.

1. Runas
2. Bosque
3. Demonología
4. Cosmos
5. Hadas
6. Portal
7. Ciudad olvidada
8. Experimento
9. Héroes
10. Steampunk
11. Invasión
12. Mundos paralelos
13. Zombis
14. Despertar
15. Genética
16. Mazmorra
17. IA (inteligencia artificial)
18. Maldición
19. Holograma
20. Batalla 
21. Desastre
22. Espacio interdimensional
23. Ritual
24. Antiguo
25. Mutante
26. Tatuaje
27. Transformación / Cambiar de forma
28. Mimeto (Mimic)
29. Caballero
30. Trampa 
31. Dragones

Cada día tira un d10 para seguir la sugerencia

Resultado

1. Describe un monstruo
2. Crea un personaje no jugador (NPC)
3. Escribir una misión para el tablón de anuncios
4. Inventar un objeto
5. Escribe una leyenda o un rumor 
6. Crear una tabla al azar
7. Crear una mecánica sencilla
8. Presentar una idea para un encuentro aleatorio
9. Escribir un diálogo escuchado a escondidas
10. ¡Dibuja!

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#RPGaDAY2024 for August

 I know I have been really quiet here for a bit, trying to wrap up everything for Thirteen Parsecs. But I am taking a break to let you know I will be participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. I have done it in years past and this looks like a good list of prompts.

Here are the text prompts.

1. First RPG bought this year
2. Most recently played
3. Most often played RPG
4. RPG with great art
5. RPG with great writing
6. RPG that is easy to use
7. RPG with 'good form'
8. An accessory you appreciate
9. An accessory you'd like to see
10. RPG you'd like to see on TV
11. RPG with well-supported one-shots
12. RPG with well-supported campaigns
13. Evocative environments
14. Compelling characters
15. Great character gear
16. Quick to learn
17. An engaging RPG community
18. Memorable moment of play
19. Sensational session
20. Amazing adventure
21. Classic campaign
22. Notable non-player character
23. Peerless player
24. Acclaimed advice
25. Desirable dice
26. Superb screen
27. Marvelous miniature
28. Great gamer gadget
29. Awesome app
30. Person you'd like to game with
31. Game or gamer you miss
32. Alternative - Amazing anecdote

There is also an alternate version from Skala Wyzwania. who I do not know but seems to be a name in the Polish RPG scene. Here are her prompts.

Text version of the alternative campaign:

1. Runes
2. Forest
3. Demonology
4. Cosmos
5. Fairies
6. Portal
7. Forgotten City
8. Experiment
9. Heroes
10. Steampunk
11. Invasion
12. Parallel Worlds
13. Zombie
14. Awakening
15. Genetics
16. Dungeon
17. AI
18. Curse
19. Hologram
20. Battle 
21. Disaster
22. Interdimensional Space
23. Ritual
24. Antique
25. Mutant
26. Tattoo
27. Shapeshifting
28. Mimic
29. Knight
30. Trap 
31. Dragons

Each day roll d10 to go with the prompt:

1. Describe a Monster
2. Create an NPC
3. Write a Bulletin Board Quest
4. Invent an Item
5. Write a legend or rumour 
6. Create a random table
7. Create a simple mechanic
8. Present an idea for a Random Encounter
9. Write an Eavesdroppable Dialogue
10. Draw!

I am not sure if I'll do just Dave's, both, or a combination.

In any case, it should be fun.

#RPGaDay2023 FAVOURITE RPG of all time

 This is a tough one. I have had so many favorites over the years. Each one representing a different point in my life and gaming.

Most of these will be known to readers here.

Basic (B/X) D&D - not the one I started with that would be the Holmes Basic, but the one that got me deep into the hobby.

AD&D 1st Edition - This is the one I played the most in those early days. The Monster Manual was my gateway drug to RPGs coming from Mythology.

Chill 1st Edition - This was either my first or second RPG after D&D (tied with Traveller) but it was my first horror RPG, and it spawned everything after.

Call of Cthulhu - Not my first Horror RPG, but one of my favorites. Really set the bar on what a horror RPG should be.

Masque of the Red Death - not an RPG by itself, and a bit wonky, it did something I always wanted: it brought my AD&D 2nd ed rules to Gothic Victorian Earth and Horror. Ravenloft brought some of this earlier, and both were my game of choice throughout the 90s until D&D-burnout set in and I went to my next big thing. 

CJ Carella's WitchCraft - I can't overestimate how much this RPG changed things for me. The world was close enough to that of Chill, Call of Cthulhu, and Masque of the Red Death that my ideas for those games gained new life under Unisystem. I loved the game so much I pestered the publisher, Eden Studios, to let me write for them. The result was my next favorite.

Ghosts of Albion - while this might be self-serving, it is my favorite for a reason. Everything I wanted in a Unisystem game is here. Victorian era, magic, horror, and Unisystem. I would have happily written for Unisystem for ever if I could have.  Which leads me to my last one and the top of my list.

NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars - Again, a little self serving but NIGHT SHIFT is everything I have ever wanted in a game. It combines the best mechanics of all the games above along with a play style I love and in a world, or more to the point worlds, I enjoy.

If I only get to pick one, then it will be NIGHT SHIFT.

I have had the luxury and the privilege to work on a great number of RPGs over the years. Some of which were dream jobs and dream games. I consider myself lucky. But of all of those, NIGHT SHIFT is not just my favorite game, favorite rules, and favorite setting; it was also my favorite writing experience. Only Ghosts of Albion and my various Witch books come close.

Thank you, Dave Chapman for hosting this again! I had a great time.

#RPGaDay2023 OBSCURE RPG you've played

 I have a soft spot for Obscure RPGs. But I think one of my favorites, warts and all, is Lee Gold's "Lands of Adventure."

The game has some flaws, but it is such a fun concept and a great idea. Plus, the art and design are fantastic. 

I reviewed it a couple of years ago but have only played once or twice since then. It really is an old-school gem from the ancient days of Dragon Magazine.