#RPGaDAY2018 DAY 12: Wildest Character Concept

Day 12!

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So for wildest Character concept.  Hmm.

Wild is relative I think.  But the oddest mix is one of my current characters, Rowan.  She is a dual classed Warlock and Paladin.  Now you might not think those work together, but they do in the Old Faith.  Her paladin part is a Paladin of the Old Faith. Her warlock pact is a fey Pact of the sword.
She is like a witch guardian or a green knight.

So far she is working out great!

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 11: Wildest Character Name

Day 11!

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So for wildest Characters name.  Hmm, hard to judge what "wildest" means here or for anyone else

But the odd name I like the best belongs to my youngest son's gnome bard "Erky Timbers".
Great name for a great character.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Domina Magica - A Magical Girl RPG

Back from Gen Con so lets look into a game you might be playing next year!

And it looks like fun.

Domina Magica - A Magical Girl RPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1445739002/domina-magica-a-magical-girl-rpg#

The game has all the tropes expected with a Magical Girl game, so that is great, but it also just looks so damn cool.

The character sheet is also damn near fantastic.  A major trope in Magical Girl anime is the transformation sequence.   Well, this captured in the real world by this cool character sheet that you flip over for your Normal or Magical form (you will need to provide your own them music).

Sheet not final

The Cootie Catcher, the Dark Energy Circle...it is obvious that designer Emily Reinhart is in real life a Magical Girl herself.  I hope she does not get into trouble with whatever powers gave her her powers.  Co-designer James McClure also proves that unlike Tuxedo Mask he is an important part of the team.   Both come to the table with enough street cred to make this a hit.  Indeed since I first heard of this and now it has been funded.

The art looks great and there are some fantastic stretch goals too.

So do yourself a favor and check it out.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1445739002/domina-magica-a-magical-girl-rpg#

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 10: How has gaming changed you?

Day 10 and I see we are not going light on the questions.

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The question today is, How has gaming changed you?

Wow. Where to even start on this one.  There are friends I have made over the years, many life-long good friends.  There are the skills I have picked up and then later perfected; degree in statistics, a job in instructional design that is not all that different than game design.

RPGs have helped me improve my writing, my math skills (or at least keep them from withering away) and my online social skills.  I used to be pretty introverted.

I have been playing for so long that it would be difficult to extract a non-RPG-player version of me from myself.

One thing is for sure I do think I am better off with RPGs in mylife.

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 9: How has a game surprised you?

Today is Day 9 and the question is How has a game surprised you?

I don't get too many surprises anymore, but occasionally something happens.

I am usually surprised when a system or game can capture the feel of a setting well. Like Call of Cthulhu or Dark Places and Demogorgons.

It's the little things I guess I look for,

Gen Con Gaming: Shrine of the Kuo-toa and Vault of the Drow

I have not talked about my Gen Con games yet, so let's get on that.

We got down to Indy a day early so we could have some extra time on Wednesday, but it also gives Tuesday to Saturday to play at night.

The Order of the Platinum Dragon continued their trek through the underdark.   A few random encounters including a run-in with Evelyn (and it was so satisfying to put her mini down on the table!) the party entered the Shrine of the Kuo-toa.

Of course, I had to make my own Blibdoolpoolp statue.  Though I will freely admit I spent more time on making her than she saw in the game.

To clean out the shrine of the fish people took a couple of nights.

The Order worked their way through the Underdark where they defeated Belgos and Silussia who nearly took out the entire party.  They finally entered the Vault of the Drow and the City of Erelhei-Cinlu.

Saturday, our last night we started really early and got right down to it.   After spending some time in the city and avoiding a cult of hobgoblin assassins the Order managed to get to the Fane of Lolth where they were able to stop a ritual. 

The trouble is the ritual, while keeping out the sun, was also keeping Lolth away.  Oopps!

They defeated Lolth, at least on this plane,

The Order was all sucked into the Abyss and now they are all seperated from each other.

My kids wanted to do something different for their next level, 14 to 15. So I split them up. 

I am going to run a series of one-shots all set in the Abyss.   I am not sure what they will all be yet, but I know one now.  The group's paladin and fighter are going to spend some quality time with Liberation of the Demon Slayer!   It's now a realm trapped in (or near) the Abyss and should be a lot of fun.
I had always known I wanted to use this, I just needed an excuse.  Well, Venger himself gave me an excuse when he put it up for free.  Oh an read my original review of it here.

This is going to be great.

Facebook reminded me that it was today, 4 years ago that we created characters for this campaign.  No records were broken for advancement, but it has been a great 4 years.

#RPGaDAY2018 Day 8: How can we get more people playing?

Today is Day 8 and the questions is How can we get more people playing?

Big question really.
I just got back from Gen Con.  I saw a lot of families bringing in the next generation of gamers. But that is largely the current generation bring their kids.  So unless you are having kids, you are not helping this particular issue.

I saw an absolute ton of new gamers that appear to be attracted to RPGs from "Critical Role".  I can't tell how many times I heard "is this the game they use on Critical Role?" and then watching the same people drop $250+ on a game.  They are young, they have some disposable cash and are willing to learn.

The biggest way through is this.

We need to stop being a bunch of Gate-keeping dicks.

Seriously.  Everything from pointless edition wars to telling people they are playing "wrong" to telling fans of the game they are not really apart of the game.

Look. I get it, there is a badge of honor to be able to say "I played when the Satanic Panic was at it's height" or whatever.  I even do it.  But looking down on people that started after you or *gasp* don't give a fuck what you do should not be derided.  Don't like Dragonborn? Fine, don't play one.  But don't tell me or others they are somehow "doing D&D wrong" because they do. 

I have seen a lot of people come into this hobby.  And I have seen a lot leave because the gamers around them couldn't stop being dicks for ten minutes.  I saw it this last Gen Con in fact.