Just to keep in
practice, but I am doing them all at once, because I am a rebel-
Forthcoming game I
am most looking forward to:
I can't really think
of any game that isn't out yet, that I have heard of that I want- so
I am going to say the print copies of White Star.
Kickstarted game I
am most pleased I backed:
I don't actually do
a lot of Kickstarters. I got burned by the Up Front Kickstarter, and
my disposable income has dropped significantly since my wife was
diagnosed with cancer. I am going to say anything from Kevin
Crawford.
Favorite new game of
the last 12 months:
James Spahn's White
Star, hands down.
Most surprising
game:
Again, White Star. I
was surprised by how much I loved it, and by how inspired I was by
it. I have a couple of different settings for it that I am tinkering
with, nothing I can publish (copyrighted IP), and I may not end up
ever playing in them (too little time, too few players), but I was
still surprised at how much this game affected me.
Most recent RPG
purchase:
The Spectre King for
the Pendragon game.
Most recent RPG
played:
Labyrinth Lord,
before I moved. I had decided to run a session of Stonehell with the
system it was statted for.
Favorite free RPG:
Delving Deeper- but
this was a toss up between retroclones. OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord and
Swords & Wizardry were all in the running too, and maybe on a
different day one of them would have been picked, but today it's
Delving Deeper.
Favorite appearance
of RPGs in the media:
I can't really think
of any, odd question, pass.
Favorite media you
wish was an RPG:
Falling Skies?
Favorite RPG
publisher:
TSR, they gave us
D&D. But for extant companies, I am going to go with New Big
Dragon Games.
Favorite RPG writer:
E. Gary Gygax, but
for living authors I'll pick Richard Leblanc.
Favorite RPG
illustration:
Tough call, too many
to choose from, old TSR stuff, OSR stuff, other games and companies.
I always was fond of Twilight 2000's photo realistic style. “A
Paladin in Hell” is certainly evocative and inspirational, as is
pretty much anything by Trampier or Otus- in different ways.
Favorite RPG
podcast:
I really don't
listen to podcasts with any regularity.
Favorite RPG
accessory:
What popped
immediately to mind was the Kara-Tur boxed set, but when I think
about it, I haven't really used it all that much, I used the module
OA1 “Swords of the Daimyo” way more. I haven't actually spent
enough time using any new stuff to properly assess their utility, but
I'd like to say the “d30 sandbox companion” or the “Wilderness
Alphabet” .
Longest campaign
played:
I'd have to say Tim
McDougal's Specularum based 1st edition AD&D campaign
from the 1980s was the longest running, and probably the most often
played campaign I ever played in. I DMed a pretty long running
campaign concurrent with that, mostly 1-on-1 with my next door
neighbor Scott Whitmore, but Tim's played more often.
Longest game session
played:
A 1-on-1 week long
Oriental Adventures sandbox with my friend Darryl Cook when we were
18 I think. I think I was unemployed at the time and he had a week's
paid vacation. We holed up in my bedroom at my parent's house and
never stopped for more than about 3 hours time to nap, which we did
maybe 7 or 8 times in 7 days. We ate at the game table, and only had
2 or 3 15 minute (at most) bathroom breaks. He played a Kensai and
kept really good notes about the whole game, I had those notes for
like a decade after that. I eventually lost them, probably in a move.
Favorite Fantasy
RPG:
Advanced Dungeons &
Dragons, 1st edition, pre-Unearthed Arcana (but including
Oriental Adventures). Runners up- 2nd edition AD&D and
B/X D&D.
Favorite SF RPG:
West End Games d6
Star Wars. Runners up- FASA's Star Trek, Twilight 2000 (1st
edition) and Gamma World (early 1980's edition).
Favorite Supers RPG:
TSR's Marvel Super
Heroes.
Favorite Horror RPG:
Vampire: The
Masquerade. I lost OSR cred there, but I stand by it, as it brought
way more people. especially women, to the hobby. I was in college
when it hit and the RPG scene exploded.
Favorite RPG
setting:
I am assuming
published, so I am going to go with 43AD. I know it's a stand alone
game, but it's really just a setting book for Zozer Game's d6 RPG
system. Plus, since I worked on it, I am intimately familiar with it-
a real bonus. Otherwise, probably a tie between B/X D&D's “The
Known World” AKA “Mystara” and EGG's own “World of Greyhawk”.
Perfect gaming
environment:
A large table with
comfortable chairs, good lighting, a small side table for the GM.
Temperature at a comfortable level (AC in summer, heat in winter-
these have been an issue in the past), snacks & drinks easily
accessible. Nearby bathroom facilities. Bookshelves stocked with RPGs
and their accessories are a plus. No distractions nearby- TV, radio,
computer, etc. Handicapped accessible would be nice too. Most places
I have gamed have met most of these criteria, few meet all.
Favorite house rule:
I don't know if it's
my favorite, but it certainly is the most widely utilized among
gamers I have played with- the nearly universal natural 20 equals a
double damage critical hit. How the critical hit is applied has some
minor variation- I double the number of damage dice, then add any
applicable bonuses (Strength, Magic), other people just roll the
normal damage dice and then double it, some people double bonuses
too. Runners up include the d30 rule and “Shields Shall Be
Splintered”, but they are forgotten too often at the table, and the
4d6 drop the lowest die x7, drop the lowest total, arrange as desired
stat rolling system.
Favorite
revolutionary game mechanic:
a 3 way tie of good
rules from the 3rd edition era- the 3 saving throw system,
the critical threat-hit system, and ascending AC. I don't use them
but I recognize their excellence.
Favorite inspiration
for my game:
History, followed by
literature from various historical periods(Norse Sagas, Chansons des
Geste), followed by historical fiction (I am a big fan of Simon
Scarrow's Macro & Cato series, Colleen McCullough's Masters of
Rome, and there are several series about vikings I like.), followed
by myth, folklore and legend, then lastly fantasy and science fiction
literature (I really liked Katherine Kerr's Deverry series, Dorothy
Heydt's “A Point of Honor”, Deborah Turner Harris's “Caledon of
the Mists” and it's sequels, of course Robert E. Howard's Conan and
more). They are all pretty tightly tied together for me. I guess
movies and TV are pretty inspirational to me too, HBO's Rome was
excellent, History Channel's Vikings ranges from OK to good. Gaming
fiction I find next to useless as inspiration, as it is usually
pretty uninspired itself. GURPS has some excellent supplements-
Vikings, Imperial Rome, Celtic Myth, Middle Ages. There are quite a
few books on adventure design that are pretty good whether you use
the tables or not- Wilderness and Dungeon Alphabets, Tome of
Adventure Design, even TSR's DM's Cookbook.
Favorite idea for
merging 2 games into 1:
There's a special
hell in which I have served too much time. Genre mashing is sometimes
OK, system mashing usually is not.
Favorite game I no
longer play:
I could be a
smart-ass and say AD&D, just because I haven't got a new game
going since I moved, but I'll go with Pendragon instead. I haven't
played that since the 1980's. Every now and again I buy new stuff for
it, but I never play.
Favorite RPG website
or blog:
Tough call, I read a
lot of gaming blogs, OSR blogs mainly, and each of them I have a good
reason for reading. Commentary, content, or news; they're all pretty
important to me in their own ways.
Favorite RPG playing
celebrity:
I haven't played
with any of them, and I don't know any personally, but I guess I'd
have to go with Vin Diesel. The man preaches the gospel of gaming.
Favorite non-RPG
thing to come out of gaming:
My marriage. I met
my wife because of gaming nearly 25 years ago, started dating roughly
22 years ago and we've been together ever since. Most of my oldest
friends I met through gaming too, so here's a shout out to my buddy
Darryl- we met at the junior high D&D club in the fall of 1981.
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