Games I've Always Wanted to Play

There are now great piles of games out there waiting to be played.  I've played quite a few in my time but there are still a number which I just haven't had the opportunity to try at the table. 

• Amber Diceless Roleplaying: the books were fascinating and I've never played a diceless RPG before.
• Arduin: I've been hearing about this game for years; I'm not even sure why I'm interested in it beyond the fact that I've been hearing about it for years, but I want to try it out.
• Ars Magica: My basic stance on RPGs is that fighters are boring.  This game makes it official by putting magic-users center stage.  It has some cool-sounding magic rules as well, so it's on the list.
• Mouse Guard: I'm amused by the idea of little mice having big adventures.  It also has some character rules which are intriguing.
• RuneQuest: Another major classic which I've been hearing about for ages but never found anyone playing it.  I'm more interested in the game world than the rules mechanics, which I've sampled in Call of Cthulhu.
• Seventh Sea: Okay, actually I think pirates are very campy but Seventh Sea adds in some other elements which are enough to draw me in to want to play it.
• Tribe 8: This is a really weird setting.  Probably the weirdest I've seen in any game.
• CthulhuTech: I've done some posts on this game before but the mix of Cthulhu and mecha is just brilliant.  Sign me up.
• DragonStar: This sounds like a really cool setting for sci-fi stories, but I could never quite see how it would work for an RPG campaign.  I'd like to see someone run it.
• Mutant Chronicles: I'm on the edge of joining the current Kickstarter for this game.  This looks like a great mix of sci-fi and occult in an interesting future setting.
• Robotech: The classic of classics of the mecha anime genre.

March Madness Non-D&D Blog Challenge: Day 4

What other roleplaying author besides Gygax impressed you with their writing?

Well, I wasn't impressed by Gygax as a writer.  I enjoyed the Empire of the Petal Throne by M.A.R. Barker a lot more.  That book was full of fascinating and inventive ideas unlike anything else out there.  Everything in it was fresh and unusual, totally breaking from the classic fantasy tropes.  I'd rather play EPT than any of the pre-AD&D version of D&D.  Other games I enjoyed just reading included Paranoia, which is still a fun read, and CthulhuTech.

March Madness Non-D&D Blog Challenge: Day 3

Which game had the least or most enjoyable character generation?

Least: Chivalry & Sorcery or GURPS, because of all the fiddly math

Most: Traveler because your character emerges as you make it; honorable mention to Gamma World

March Madness Non-D&D Blog Challenge: Day 2

What was the first character you played in an RPG other than D&D? How was playing it different from playing a D&D character?

Well, I actually started in fantasy RPGs with Chivalry & Sorcery (C&S) by Fantasy Games Unlimited.  My friend Gib introduced me to the game and I made an elf fighter type called Annaculwen.  I thought the whole thing was brilliant.  I also tried a session or two of OD&D with some other friends but thought the rules were crap; years years later I did short stints with AD&D 1E and 2E.  When Gib transferred to another college I became the default DM and went out and bought the C&S books.  (True Confession: I've never actually run a game of any official edition of D&D.)

In play it was probably pretty much like a D&D game.  Magic Users came in a huge range of types, there was no limit on how many spells you could know (but you had to roll to cast and burn Fatigue Points), there were no magic items pre-made, the monsters were drawn only from mythology and literature (no oozes, etc.), and character background stuff was built in.

Review: Dagger

Okay, so I just got a free copy of Dagger, Supplemental Rules for Classic Role-playing with Kids by Brave Halfling Press for entering Erik Tenkar's OSR Superstar contest over at Tenkar's Tavers.  The rules are a 14-page pdf of which 7 pages are the actual rules--and in this case the low ratio of pages with stuff vs. pages without stuff is very good news.

Dagger takes the already fairly simple OD&D rules and simplifies them down even further.  It's really all you need to get started--but note that it is a supplement and not a complete stand-along rules set.  It is designed to make character creation and play easy and assumes the DM is already generally familiar with OD&D.  For instance, there are no ability scores!  The major things missing from Dagger which you'll need to bring in from elsewhere are equipment lists, treasure tables, and magic items.

I think this set of rules accomplishes what it sets out to do and it would work not only as rules for young kids but older "kids" as well.

Thanks Erik! Just got my copy of the Dagger RPG

Okay, so Erik Tenkar over at Tenkar's Tavern held and OSR Superstar contest.  Contestants, including this plucky blogger, sent in one to three OSR magic items to be judged.  That sounded fun--and then more and more prizes were offered.  One of those was a free copy of the Dagger rules from Brave Halfling Publishing for all entrants.  Many thanks to Erik for organizing the contest and Brave Halfling Publishing for this generous entry prize.  I'll be doing a review of the rules in a bit.

March Madness Non-D&D Blog Challenge: Day 1

Okay, so I've decided to jump in on the blog challenge over at the Tomb of Tedankhamen.

What was the first roleplaying game other than D&D you played? Was it before or after you had played D&D?

That would be Traveler.  There was another game, which I seem to remember being called Tunnels & Trolls but which, from later reading reviews of T&T, was probably not.  Being introduced to Traveler was exciting because I had been a sci-fi fan for years.  The quirky character generation where you could actually die was cool and stupid at the same time (like, why does every tour in a job have to be exactly four years?).  I really enjoyed the planet generation rules--I immediately began making up sectors to game in.

However, it was quickly obvious that the default mode of play was a bunch of former something-or-others has this mortgaged ship, see, and they fly around buying and selling cargos and running into situations.  Either that or a bunch of former something-or-others who are thug-mercenaries for hire.  I wasn't excited about either mode and neither were my friends.

I still have a certain fondness for it and might run a session or two for nostalgia's sake,  But I really can't see running a campaign with it, at least not with out gutting and completely customizing.