#rpgaday Twenty One

Favorite Licensed RPG

It's got to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Eden

This is not an easy decision, mind you.  Looking over the bookshelves in my study (which are only about half of my RPG accumulation), I own four versions of Star Trek RPGs, three Star Wars, three DC Comics, four Marvel, Ghostbusters, The Authority, Two Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire, Mouse Guard, James Bond, two Lord of the Rings, Deryni, Solomon Kane, Conan (two games), Atomic Robo, the Laundry, Leverage, Serenity, Battlestar Galactica, and the granddaddy of them all, Call of Cthulhu.  There are a lot of terrific games on that list, and a few not so great.  But I keep coming back to this one.

It’s a snap to GM and versatile enough (with Angel) to handle pretty much the entire range of Cinematic adventure.  One of my favorite campaigns that just didn’t take wing for a number of reasons was a Buffyverse/Lovecraftian mash-up that had a new Slayer beginning her freshman year at the University of Massachusetts – Arkham, aka “Old Misk.”  Sadly, it withered and died after about four sessions, but it’s one I’d resurrect in a heartbeat for the right group of players.

#rpgaday Twenty

Will Still Play In 20 Years’ Time

Man…I kind of don’t want to answer this one.  I mean, in twenty years, I’ll be 71.  I hope I’ll still be playing anything at all and not be residing in a 20-sided urn or a full-time rest home.  Depressing thoughts.

Of course, the answer is probably D&D.  I’m sure it’ll still be around in some capacity and if I have grandkids, I hope The Boy will have raised them properly.

#rpgaday Nineteen

Favorite Published Adventure


The one I wrote.

Art by the amazing Dan Houser

OK, so that's kind of a cop-out.  But it was a labor of love, and even though it needed one more editing pass, I'm extremely proud of it and will put it up against any other superhero adventure on the market, even the classics like Death Duel With the Destroyers or To Serve and Protect. It's my sole contribution to the hobby to date; it may be my only contribution ever.  So yeah, I'm going with this one.

#rpgaday Eighteen

Favorite Game System

If you go by the game system that dominated at least two decades of my career and takes up something like ten feet of gaming shelves (not counting notebooks full of notes and two plastic office boxes of other stuff), I’d say Champions/HERO System.  Thing is, I’m beyond burned out on it now.  Sixth edition was a bridge too far for me.

If you go by the game system I play the most these days, it’s D&D/D20/Pathfinder.  But my preferred versions of those games are either the older editions themselves (hello, 2e AD&D) or retroclones.  The new edition of D&D looks pretty sweet and I want to take it out for a drive soon, so maybe that'll be the one.

If you go by my go-to games for ease of use/hackability, it could be Feng Shui, Cinematic Unisystem, or Ubiquity.

If you're talking about what I'm running right now, Dragon Age (and theoretically ICONS, though I don't know if that's going to keep going).

Make of that what you will.

#rpgaday Seventeen

Funniest Game You’ve Played

Hmmm…this is a tough one.  I don’t seek out “funny” games.  Humor happens at the table, but that’s not a function of the game itself.  I guess maybe Paranoia (which I haven’t played in thirtymumble years) or Adventure Maximus.

#rpgaday Sixteen

Game I Wish I Owned

At this point in my life, I own a lot of games.  Like seriously.  I lost count ages ago, but they take up over 100 feet of shelf space in my study, bedroom, and garage.  So, at this point, the games I wish I owned tend to be rarities.  While it’s not high on my priority list, one I’d love to get my hands on was the first ever licensed Star Trek RPG (also, the first Science Fiction RPG, for that matter), Heritage Model’s Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier.  In high school, one of my best friends owned it; I borrowed it and actually had a photocopy of the rules.  It was, honestly, pretty terrible.  But it’s the sort of weird piece of gaming history I’d love to own.

 

I'm unfamiliar with this particular cover art, but that's the game

 

For what it's worth, I DO own the unauthorized reprint that Gamescience put out of it in the 80s, which uses art that's similar enough to the movie Trek to be recognizable, but not actionable, and strips out Star Trek terminology with generic terms like "Vulcan Science Officer," because no one would see that as infringement.  The reprint includes a set of rules for miniature spaceship combat that make Starfleet Battles look easy by comparison.

Either that, or a TSR version of Empire of the Petal Throne.  I’ve got the Gamescience reprint, which is a mostly faithful reproduction (square-bound instead of comb, no box).  The vinyl maps are awesome.