#RPGaDay Day 9: What Media Do You Wish Was An RPG?

I would have said Witcher, but it's coming, even if I'm not a huge fan of the game system. Savage Worlds Conan would always be great, but that still doesn't count, given all the Conan games that have been available, plus the new edition on the horizon. I am going to continue to dither and give a couple of answers here, though honestly I become less enthralled with licensed RPGs all the time (as they all have the giant elephant in the room of your characters being secondary to the setting's big heroes, though some games address this in a satisfactory manner):

A tabletop game that does Darkest Dungeon justice would be fantastic. Characters would have to be capable of fighting and exploring but who are completely physically and mentally vulnerable to the wear and tear of their journeys. It would require troupe-style play, and folks couldn't stay too attached to any one character for long. I have heard that Dungeon Crawl Classics can emulate this pretty well, and I read recently that the Torchbearer RPG is supposed to be getting some Darkest Dungeon materials, and if so, I will probably cave and pick Torchbearer up. If you haven't played the computer game, I highly recommend it.

The second media that I wish was an RPG is a fantasy novel setting:

The setting is a low(er) magic setting in which Magiere- a self-styled vampire hunter - travels from town to town with her half-elf companion Leesil, who poses as a vampire, who she "kills" in order to bilk the town out of a reward. Their world turns on its ear when their travels bring them close to a town that's *actually* infested by vampires, and they are convinced Magiere is coming for them.

Now, The Noble Dead (like Darkest Dungeon) isn't something I couldn't bend one of my favorite systems to (Savage Worlds comes to mind), but the same could be said for most licensed RPGs and we still buy them anyway, don't we?

#RPGaDay Day 8: Favorite Depiction of RPGs in Media

Honestly, I don't really pay attention to stuff like that. I don't watch geek-focused comedies just because they pander to me, that sort of thing, so my selection here is pretty simple, as it made me laugh out loud when I read it.

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher starts off, as it usually does, with Harry's narration but something seems notably...off...about his descriptions. Especially when he starts complaining about how the spell someone else cast doesn't act like "real" magic and you find out that he was narrating his RPG character's action just like he does his own, until he felt his GM broke his suspension of disbelief by using magic rules that don't match "reality". Amusing stuff, but then, I'm a Dresden fan.

#RPGaDay Day 7: Favorite Free RPG

Day 7 of #RPGaDay is "Favorite Free RPG". Now, my favorite free RPG is one I bought twice, actually, once in softcover and once in hardcover. While there are some great free (and that includes Pay What You Want) RPGs out there, I have to give the nod to CJ Carella's WitchCraft, which had a short stint as my favorite game until the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG came along with the Cinematic Unisystem.

Witchcraft (especially with the Mystery and Abomination codices) was just about everything I liked about The World of Darkness with none of the stuff that I hated. While I can't really get excited about Classic Unisystem now (Cinematic Unisystem ruined Classic for me), there is still an amazing amount of content in those three books. Fun fact: I pitched a faction book for The Fellowship of Judas, but was turned down (mostly because I had no idea what the Hell I was doing at the time).

Witchcraft is available for free at RPGNow, so check it out.

While you are there, get Heaven's Shadow and Fate Core, which would be the other two games on my list (mostly trumped by Witchcraft because I have actually ran Witchcraft before).

Kind of a Big Announcement: My Bucket List Project

So, I have hinted around that I got to work on a BIG "bucket list" project. I subtly mentioned earlier in the year that I was contracted with Pinnacle. I even confirmed after GenCon that the project was Savage Tales of Horror, an adventure anthology. Now, I can go a step further...

The "bucket list" moment wasn't RPG writing, or writing for Savage Worlds or writing for Pinnacle...not quite, anyway.

The badass, awesome part is that I got to write an honest-to-God official adventure for my favorite RPG setting: DEADLANDS.

Things I can tell you:

- My adventure is called "Love on the Mountain".

- It  IS playable without any prior Deadlands knowledge or rulebooks (you only need the Savage Worlds rules and the Horror Companion...I am told this is true of every adventure that has ties to an existing setting, for maximum utility...meaning you could pretty easily use it in The Sixth Gun RPG as well, given the Weird West setting), but it is definitely 100% Deadlands compatible.

- You can run it as a one shot or drop it into a campaign.
- It is scheduled for release (as part of the anthology series) later this year.

- I get to share space in the book with John freakin' Dunn (who helped bring us Accursed, which is on one of my favorite Savage Worlds settings) among other great folks.

I am beyond thrilled to see this thing coming to fruition, and that I finally get to start talking about it just a bit.

So...not being sure if this was going to be my only "at bat", I swung for the fences. I hope all my fellow Savages enjoy what I (and all the rest of the amazing line-up of authors - humbling to be alongside the likes of Preston DuBose, John Dunn, Ross Watson and Shane himself) are bringing to your table.

...and believe me, you will know more as soon as I am allowed to share it.

Tommy

#RPGaDay Day 6: RPG You Most Recently Played

Both as a player or a GM, my answer is the same:

I have been running 5th Edition for almost a year now, but my last foray into gaming as a player before this was also in 5th Edition, as part of an online game using the starter set.

#RPGaDay Day 5: Most Recent RPG Purchase

You would think this would be less complicated than it is, but here we are...

The Kickstarter for Leagues of Gothic Horror by Triple Ace Games just funded, so they were the last ones to get my money...

But the last product that I spent money on, and actually own in some capacity (PDF format), is Shadowfell: Gloomwrought  and Beyond, which may be the only 4th Edition book I have bought...and it's getting dropped right into the middle of 5th Edition.

Now, they got the money for this a while back, but the most recent physical product that I purchased and received (and which looks damn cool) is Feng Shui 2 by Atlas Games. I had no real prior experience with the original, but this looks like a ton of fun.

No. I have no idea why I can't just answer a simple question.

#RPGaDay Day 4: Most Surprising Game

Of all time? Or the past year?

Honestly, I never expected to play D&D again, much less fall in love with it again, so I could give a nod to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

I could also mention Wu Xing, which combined some of my least favorite things in a deliciously over the top, playable package.

Ultimately, I probably have to go with Marvel SAGA. Having ran Dragonlance SAGA, I thought it sounded neat...I didn't know it would become my favorite superhero RPG in existence (and still is to this day!).

#RPGaDay Day 3: Favorite New Game of the Last 12 Months

Given that it has dominated my tabletop gaming since it came out, my favorite new game of the last 12 months is an easy one:

D&D 5th Edition is, to my mind, the best version of D&D yet, and is still holding up beautifully as the PCs in our game hit level 14 and we move closer to the end of our first campaign. It has been a fantastic job by Wizards that has won me over as a customer and fan over a decade after I had walked away.

#RPGaDay Day 2: Game You Are Most Pleased To Have Kickstarted

I have Kickstarted some great games: Age Past (which also features some short fiction by me), the Awesome Powers series for BASH which is going to be HUGE when completed, Deadlands Noir, The Sixth Gun RPG, Fate Core (which had a ton of great stuff with it, but I am still most likely to play the Dresden Files version instead)...heck, I backed Feng Shui 2 on a whim, and I think I'm in love. All that said, the game I'm most pleased I backed on Kickstarter is AMP: Year One (and the Year 2 book) for Third Eye Games, which has kept me very busy the last couple of months. There have been a few games that have tried to tackle the approach of "modern day, suddenly people have powers", but this one has easily been my favorite (and runs neck in neck with Wu Xing as my favorite Third Eye Games RPG period).

#RPGaDay Day 1: RPG You Are Most Looking Forward To

Hey all,

I'm gonna do that #RPGaDay, or try to, anyway.

Day 1 is the RPG You Are Most Looking Forward To. Well, thing is, most of the RPGs I'm looking forward to, I have at least in digital format, if not print. HOWEVER, there is one I'm particularly excited for that I don't have yet, even digitally...

Shadow of the Demon Lord sure just looks *neat*, and I suspect it's going to scratch an itch that D&D isn't doing for me already. Can't wait to see if this lives up to my hopes. All of the preview art has looked significantly twisted, and I'm not expecting deep, in-depth storytelling, but crazy, dark, twisted fun would be quite alright by me.