Question 12: Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art.
There’s a ton of games from the last several decades that have some great pieces of art, so I’m going to pseudo-cheat/avoid overthinking it by saying:
It doesn’t even have very much art but as soon as I saw it I pretty much had an entire campaign setting mapped out in my head.
Also, I initially wanted to buy it just for the cover.
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Question 11: Which ‘dead game’ would you like to see reborn?
As many others have pointed out (ten days ago, when this answer was actually due), there’s no such thing as a ‘dead’ game.
Obviously from a production and support point of view there are games that have been abandoned as companies and individuals move on (hopefully) to Other Stuff. But the games that existed are still there, in the second hand shops or on the shelves. No-one is going around buying up and destroying all of the old copies. I hope. Obviously I have my doubts about Dark Continent.
So, yeah, you can still gather the group around you for a short burst of GURPS Recon or a Dune-like interstellar campaign using Space Opera.
A few other issues spring to mind:
Whilst I can remember enjoying many games of the past, would their systems be suitable for my current method of running things or my gaming group’s style of play (if they even have a style)?
Then again, it probably wouldn’t matter given how little attention I paid to systems back then, and my penchant for messing them about now.
Also, would the notion of ‘rebirth’ bring something unwanted to the table. Some sort of leeching of whatever spirit of the game attracted me in the past? You know how things go with gritty-reboots, or the ‘now designed for the casual gamer’ fiddling around the edges.
Who knows. I vaguely recall the relaunch of the Marvel Super Heroes game was a bit of a damp squib. The thought of someone doing that again, properly, and bringing in all the modern MCU business kind of appeals.
But, if we’ve stopped playing a particular game that inspired and entertained us in the past, maybe there’s a reason for that.
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Question 10: Where do you go for RPG reviews?
Various websites (Drivethrurpg, RPGnet, some blogs), ancient issues of White Dwarf for the older games, recommendations from friends and fellow gamers.
These days if I’m not picking stuff that’s been around for two or three decades, I’m buying things off Kickstarter before the reviews are even in.
It’s going well so far.
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Question 9: What’s a good RPG to play for about 10 sessions?
(I’ve let things slide a bit over the last few days, time to catch up a little)
As I don’t tend to use scenarios at all–more inclined towards making-it-up-as-we-go or setting out a vague series of events with which the characters can interact–games typically go on (and on) until we reach what seems a suitable point to pause.
In the supers game the player characters killed a persistent enemy and stopped a nuclear detonation. Perfectly respectable to take a break after that.
In the Stars Without Number campaign of rambling space adventure, they’ve stopped off at a remote planet to help an escaped recording artist lay down some tracks for her new album.
No idea how many sessions it took to get to those particular points.
I’ve never really thought about ‘timing’ for games unless they were really short “this’ll take a couple of sessions, tops” sorts of thing.
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Question 8: What’s a good RPG to play for sessions of 2hrs or less?
In most cases I’m not sure ‘good’ would be the word; adequate might be more appropriate.
That said, something like Fiasco doesn’t seem to need too much time to play through, with the right group and the right set-up.
I guess that’s the key. If you’re prepared for a Very Short Game you can do pretty much anything. Maybe a slight new thing, or some specific scenes from a pre-existing game; a day in the life of one of the characters, but ten years previous, for example. Why such-and-such doesn’t like you. That time you robbed that guy/found this thing/buried that security van.
Something else that might work: I recently played in a quick session of Soth (from Steve Hickey Games), which is all about small town cultists doing evil and murder to summon forth their dark and terrible god. It’s one of those games were building up the setting and the character relationships is where (for me) most of the fun lies. It’s good, but can obviously tend to be a tad stark and grim. I guess it depends on your mood. There will be blood.
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Question 7: What was your most impactful RPG session?
Some things that happened, at various levels of impactful to the character or player, some of them with little or no context that I may or may not expand on later.
The amazing amount of world upending twist that was applied prior to the utterance of a single word: “Before?”
A bunch of werewolves intend to murder-rampage through a small American town in search of one of their own, my Vampire character holds them off by saying: “Give us the night, and you can have the dawn.”
The end of the 1st edition AD&D scenario Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth in which Drenzla (in our version) the vampire daughter of Iggwilv, charmed my character Nilok (simpler times) and then got kidnapped. Which led to a ten year long epic campaign of search and attempted rescue, with Nilok—the Slayer—lone warrior, blighted and tormented, dead and reborn, dragging friend and foe alike to endless conflict and ruin. And they all lived happily ever after.
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Question 6: You can game every day for a week. Describe what you’d do.
A few times in the past various groups I’ve been involved with have done vague ‘seasons’ of a specific genre of game. Everyone taking turns to GM a crime game, or a military game, or whatever. So a week of gaming would probably involve that.
Also, it would probably be an ideal opportunity for running ‘team conflict’ games where you have two (or more) groups of players in different rooms and the GM goes between them as each group heads for the same ultimate objective.
Mostly it would just be whatever gaming we’re doing now, except more of it.
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Question 5: Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game.
Setting aside all the tv/movie tie-in games where they can’t really go wrong with the covers (Doctor Who, James Bond, Star Trek), most covers haven’t made much of an impression over the years.
I guess the following would be high on any list:
Call of Cthulhu 1st edition. There’s a spooky house, it’s night, you’re woefully ill-equipped for the task at hand.
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Question 4: Which RPG have you played the most since August 2016?
The group has had a number of games on the go since then. The standard procedure is to have two games running on alternate weeks; with the opportunity for some random stuff if people can’t make it, need a change of pace, whatever.
There was a lot of Lamentations of the Flame Princess; in a 17th century London milieu/melee where the characters are investigators on behalf of academia. A GM plan for us to complete all of the Lamentations scenarios one-after-t’other has resulted, in approximately half a year of gaming sessions, with one whole scenario done and dusted. Let’s say we’re very methodical. Still, onwards and upwards, eh?
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Question 3: How do you find out about new RPGs?
These days, seemingly at random.
As others have noted, there seems to be a lack of the old-fashioned sources for such things (gaming magazines like Dragon, White Dwarf, Imagine etc), and also the new sources seem a little disjointed and not exactly coherent (endless numbers of blogs and websites all burrowed into their own little niches).
So, mostly it’s whatever comes up on Kickstarter, whatever latest-new-thing is appearing from creators/publishers that I’m already following, a few blogs, some word of mouth from people in my gaming group who are more in tune with what the wider ‘gaming community’ is doing any particular month and, very rarely, things that I might encounter entirely by accident.
And of course not forgetting whatever Runeslinger is currently talking about playing or is unboxing on Youtube.
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