#RPGaDay2024

Thirty-one days in, and I am finally stumped. There are no games I used to play that I want to play now but can’t. I still get to play with gamers I loved playing with, including my best friend from high school.

It is shocking to compare the games available to me in the late 1980s and 90s to what is available now. The technology of RPGs continues to be upgraded. I miss nothing and am thankful for the ability to play so many games now.

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The list of people I’d love to play with is long, but only one stands out. On the list of people, I’d kill a goat to play with anyone on this list. I’d also LOVE to get more of them on my podcast:

Abukar Salim: A great actor from Raised by Wolves and House of Dragon. He started playing RPGs on Stream of Blood, and he is a natural since he’s been on Critical Role and the Glass Cannon Network—a fantastic and honest player.

Ross Bryant: Ross has been on the podcast. He was on The Good Place and is often seen on Dropout. He raises the play at every table he is on. He crushes on Game Changer on Dropout. I first saw him on Stream of Blood, but he’s since played on Glass Cannon.

Josephine McAdam: She takes over the table whenever she’s playing. I love her current run playing The Between on Ain’t Slayed Nobody. She crushed it as a Keeper on Good Time Society. I loved her in Graveyards of Arkham.

I could list ten more with ease.

I hope to run games with my 10-year-old daughter. She’s played Adventure Builder and Magical Kitties, but I hope she’ll play again with more mature systems.

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I love tabletop games that offer companion apps for mobile devices. However, these apps are not to be used in lieu of playing on the tabletop or required for play. I am not in love with those types of apps. I love an app that makes tabletop games easier. Apps to help me score at the end of a 3-hour Euro-style board game? Yes, please! An app that gives me character creation or even character sheet tracking while I play the RPG? Yes, please!

One of the better examples of this app style is the Mothership Companion app from Tuesday Knight Games. It has character creation, a die roller, inventory management, and status tracking. At the paid level, it has importing and exporting to PDF and one-click character creation. Mothership is a wonderful game, and the app is awesome.

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Do I love gadgets? If you look in my kitchen or at my collection of camping gear, you’ll see the answer is a loud ” yes!” If you look at my board games, I organize them all with containers and baggies to ease setup. There, I have a few gadgets. When I think about my RPG hobby, few gadgets can be found. I need to expand on what I consider a gadget and think about gadgets in-game mechanics.

I am preparing to premiere Sentinel Comics, the RPG, on the channel in December. I’ve run some practice sessions to familiarize myself with the mechanics. It is near the top of my list of grossly underrated games. It is the best superhero RPG I’ve seen. When you look at the credits in the book, it’s clear why. You have the people behind the excellent co-op card game set in the same universe, combining powers with clever designers like Cam Banks. The dice system has Cam’s Cortex in its DNA.

The gadget in the mechanics that is great is the Scene Tracker. Every great supers battle in the comics escalates. Does Hulk do his sonic power clap in the first panel? Does Johnny Storm go SUPERNOVA in the second panel? No. The Scene Tracker, at first glance, looks like a round tracker. Once everyone in the scene took their action, a box gets ticked. Not all boxes are the same, though, and there are a set number of boxes.

The early boxes are green, the middle yellow, and the final are red. When you take an action as a hero, you gather three dice. One is for your power, the quality (think skill) you will use, and the last is your status die. Each is a different size. You may use your d10 power and d8 skill and have a d6 status. You roll all three and typically use the middle value rolled as your effect die – the die that determines the impact of your action.

The die size of your Status die is set based on being a Green, Yellow, or Red Status. As your hero drops in health, your status moves from Green to Yellow to Red. Some heroes get better as they get hit (Their Red Status die is better than their Green). Some get weaker (Red < Green). Some are stalwarts and have the same die size for each status. Your abilities are also grouped into Green, Yellow, and Red. Your Yellow Abilities are better than your Green ones, and your Red Abilities are your big guns. Even if your Status die doesn’t improve as your Status moves to Red, your Abilities do.

Back to the Scene Tracker, your Status is determined by the farthest progress between your Health and the Scene. If you are unhurt (Green) as the Scene Tracker moves to the final round (Red), your status is RED! If you are beat up (Red) early in the fight (Scene Tracker is still Green), your status is also RED. The tracker escalates the fight as time passes in the battle. In the last few rounds, all heroes, even the unhurt, are Status Red and have access to all their Red Abilities, and their RED Status dies.

Seeing this in play perfectly emulates the genre. Now add to the mix that your environment has GREEN, YELLOW, and RED status. As the fight continues, the twists and threats from where the fight is happening escalate. Meanwhile, while in the Green Status, the First National Bank, where you are stopping a robbery, may add a twist of a blasting alarm, causing your hero to lose focus (a -1 hindrance on your next roll). The twist at red may be the entire building starting to collapse from all the damage and chaos from the fight!

What happens after the last box in the Scene Tracker is checked? The fight ends. If the villains are still up and about, they escape with the money from the vault. Their master plan to blow up City Hall succeeds, or they make off with the mayor!

The Scene Tracker helps create the escalating tension in a superhero battle. It is a beautiful gadget and a perfect example of mechanics that support play.

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I’ve played miniature games for almost as long as I’ve played RPGs. I get why people love battle maps and grids in their RPGs; I love tactical combat games. I get that “fix” from mini-games like Marvel Crisis Protocol, Malifaux, or Rumbleslam. I don’t need tactical grid combat in my RPGs –it pulls me out of the experience. My marvelous miniature for RPGs doesn’t exist as I play combat using theater of the mind (TotM).

I have picked up a few tips on handling TotM in your RPGs.

Put the initial focus on the environment.

A big reason why I prefer TotM to battle maps is that battle maps define and limit the environment. “Is there a crate in the corner?” isn’t asked, as they can see on the map if one is there. I want my table to engage with, use, and help define where the battle is happening. I start any combat with a level set on where they are relative to the other characters and what they can see. If your players don’t feel a sense of placement, you can lose them. Where is everyone relative to the other? Who else is there? What is around them? Give the table enough information to understand the “where” but not too much to limit what they can imagine.

It is all happening at once

Most RPGs use some turns or initiative. Fights happen fast, and everything explodes in seconds. One person doesn’t act, then the next one goes, then it’s the goblin’s turn to react. It helps give a sense of place and time; I will often do a short rewind and recap at the start of each character’s turn.

“Conan, you’re up. Sonya is to your right, standing on the table. She is slicing at the mutant, cutting across his chest, and blood is spraying on your right arm. The wolf is running towards you with its jaws open and ready to take a piece of your leg. The little tavern boy is behind you, screaming at the violence all around all of you.”

“I’m going to throw my spear at the wolf!” (rolls and determines success blah blah)

“The spear hits the wolf in its side and shifts to your left as the momentum of your spear pushes it off course.”

“Soloman, you’re up. You can see Sonya swinging at the mutant on the table ahead of you. The tavern boy is backing up towards you, moving away from Sonya and Conan. You can see the wolf veer to your left with Conan’s spear in its side. The window on the far side of the tavern breaks as more wolves break in, launching glass shards across the room.”

“I’m going to grab the boy’s arm and back him to safety while shooting my crossbow at one of the wolves coming in through the window.”

At the start of each initiative, I give the players context and a sense that the turns before them are in process and unfolding almost simultaneously. This helps provide a feeling of place and time and increases the tension and urgency. I encourage the table to ask questions to increase their awareness. “Is there a chandelier?” “Where is the evil wizard right now?” “Who looks like the most immediate threat?” We are all imagining this in our minds, and this process lets us all check in with each other to recalibrate and align on what is going on.

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Dog Might Games is no longer in business. They abruptly closed and online discussions hint that some customers and employees were not treated fairly. I have no first-hand knowledge of what happened. I do have several of their wood screens, and they are incredible. The panels connect with metal dowels and magnets. This makes taking them apart and storing them easy. On the interior are magnets where you can connect plexiglass screens to hold information or dice trays. The top of each panel is grooved to allow for initiative tracking with marker inserts.

The jewel in my GM screen collection is a gothic-horror-themed screen featuring art from one of my favorite tabletop gaming artists, Alyssa Menold. You can see pictures of this work of art at the bottom of the post.

I find myself running games with a screen less and less. I doubt I’ll ever buy another screen, partly because I use them less and have this incredible and versatile screen.

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I’m stretching this prompt to be desirable dice mechanics. This old man loves dice pools. I love simple dice pools like Year Zero, where specific faces are a “success,” or Blades in the Dark, where the highest die rolled is kept. I love dice pools where I get a handful of various dice like Sentinel Comics or Cortex Prime.

I love dice pools that explode like West End Star Wars. I love dice pools of funky dice like FFG Edge of the Empire, Shiver by Parable Games, or Two Little Mice’s Outgunned. I love mechanics that let me push pool rolls or add or remove dice because of conditions.

I loved rolling 3d6 in Something is Wrong with This House and keeping the highest unless you roll 666; at this point, excellent things happen for the monsters. I love how the dice pool reads in Forbidden Lands. You roll ability, skill, and gear dice, which are all different colors. A 6 is a success. Did your success come from your innate abilities, your trained skills, or the equipment you used? Which color dice gave you the 6s? All of this can help us narrate what happened. If I’m rolling Might for Shiver and get a Might on my dice for success, what do all the Luck and Stranges I rolled on the other dice mean? Was it just my strength that accomplished this? Give me games where the dice are exciting, rolled when it matters, and respected for their results.

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There is a shortlist of games I recommend to people, even if they never intend on playing them. I believe reading these two games will make you better at playing and running an RPG.

Blades in the Dark by John Harper was the game that blew my mind when I came back to the hobby after a three-decade hiatus. The chapter “Running the Game” significantly impacted me as a GM. How it framed the role of a GM and the goals of running an RPG challenged how I look at the hobby. It is where I first came across the idea of not plotting out sessions or campaigns. It started my exploration of tearing up the script and trusting that the play would allow a story to emerge. The simple concept of offering opportunities and following the players’ lead seems familiar now, but it was new to this old grognard. The advice in the book is critical for getting the most out of Blades in the Dark. It is also applicable to every game and every system. GM Principles on page 193 is worth the price of the book.

The second game that will make you a better player and game runner is Mothership by Sean McCoy. The Warden’s Operation Manual may be one of the best collections of GM advice. Sean presents step-by-step guidance on how to prepare for your first session. How do you construct a starting scenario so your players have a launching point? His advice on finding the horror in the game requires reading for any GM running any horror game. It outlines how to teach the game (more books should do this). The section on Interpreting Failure is worth the price of the game.

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This prompt begs for a name – a person who is a peerless player. I am a man of riches when it comes to players. I would put the quality of play on my channel against any AP channel – even the biggest ones. Naming one of them as peerless is not possible. What I can do is outline qualities I see from players on my channel that make playing with them unmatched. Here is a checklist of how you can be a better player.

Understand the assignment

When you sit down to play a game, understand the game’s “CATS.” What is the game’s CONCEPT? What is it about? Is it a game about superheroes in a late 1960s-style Jack Kirby world, or is it more of a 1990s Frank Miller superhero game? Maybe it’s not about superheroes but about teens and their relationships, like Masks, who happen to have powers. Less fun will be had if you and the table are not on the same page for the game’s concept. Know what the game is about. If someone didn’t tell the table, ask the question.

The table needs to be aligned with the game’s AIM. What are the players (and their characters) trying to accomplish? If I am running Ten Candles, I will make it clear the game’s aim is to survive as long as you can because everyone’s character will die. There is no winning in Ten Candles. One thing is promised: all the characters will be dead at the end of the game. If that isn’t clear, you are setting up the table for failure. If the table doesn’t understand the aim of Monsterhearts, you will likely create false expectations as they pick their monster playbook.

As a player, you need to know and agree to the game’s TONE. Are we going to be goofy and jokey in a game of Paranoia, or will we play through the dread of our Delta Green agents as they slowly lose their grip on the world and everything they care about? Don’t be the Paranoia player playing Delta Green.

Lastly, be on board with the SUBJECT MATTER. Understand what will be explored in the game. Are you comfortable with those subjects? Will exploring them be fun? If not, don’t fight the game or the table. Find a different game or even a different table.

Once you understand the CATS, you know what to expect of the game and what the game expects of you.

Freaking Play

You know the aim of the game, so don’t fight it, play. Watch for the moments where your character can engage the world. Don’t stay in the tavern because the outside is scary. Was the aim to play big damn fantasy heroes? Then play. Sometimes, this can mean you need to find a reason that works with your character to move forward.

I’m playing James, a disgraced cop, in a Trail of Cthulhu game. He was hired to investigate the death of the client’s father. It has become him facing inexplicable horrors. Why doesn’t James pack up his shit and get the hell out of here? Because I’m going to play this game. That means I must explore James and understand what drives him forward. Finding this in James is part of the joy of RPGs. By exploring our characters, we create layers, and our characters become more than a sheet of paper and a list of skills.

Push

RPGs should be a safe place to push your characters and yourself. If the safety tools are in place, you have the guardrails; everything inside them is fair play. Don’t be afraid to take chances, explore your character, ask questions of the other characters, and be the one who acts and reacts with honesty. Help the table by pushing yourself and the game. Would your character break down in this moment and do something rash? They go for it. Do you see another character doing this? Follow them as they blaze forward.

This isn’t permission to be the “but that’s what my character would do” person at the table. Push is in the context of the CATS. Push while staying aligned with the game’s concept, aim, tone, and subject matter.

I Need Help

When I look at the great play I see on the channel, they all contain one key element – every player is trying to make their fellow player characters awesome. When you are in your character’s skin, always think about what your character would do to make another character shine. Do you know another character is a tremendous social character with persuasion skills and charm? What can your character do to push things where that is precisely what is needed? Look for opportunities for your character to turn to another and say, “I’m not good at this; you are, and I need your help.”

Watch what happens.

If everyone is doing this, you have a table where the spotlight is flying around, everyone’s character is valued, and everyone is learning about your character and their character at the exact moment.

Compliment What You Want More Of

When you see your GM or another player do something that makes it a better game for you and everyone else, take the time to tell them, “Remember when you did X? I loved that.” It signals to everyone what you find fun. Listen when others do this and react accordingly.

Be Brave

This is tied to “Push”. Find the courage to push yourself to another level of play. Do you usually only play your characters in 3^rd person? “Conan is going to look around and try and steal the potion.” There is nothing wrong with this. Try playing in 1^st person and see if it works for you. “I stand and look around. I need to get that potion, and I can’t let anyone see me do it.”

Have you tried exploring your characters’ deeper emotional layers? How does Conan feel as he steals the potion? Exhilaration? Guilt? Justice served? Treat your character as a person and look for what drives and justifies their actions. Don’t be afraid to feel and emote what you find.

You will find that as you up your game, you’ll up the table’s game, and all of you will play something unforgettable.

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In yesterday’s prompt, I discussed Forbidden Lands and the Raven’s Purge campaign. One NPC in that world is the shape-shifting Merigall. They are a central player in what brought the lands to where it is and can be a big part of what will happen based on how the characters engage with them. Like many things in Forbidden Lands, the book gives enough information to sketch the character. I get to inhabit them and discover who they are through play.

Each character has a slightly different feeling for Merigall, ranging from zero trust and disdain to curiosity and affection. Merigall is complicated. Their goals are neither good nor evil, and their past is equally grey. This presents an excellent character for me to play. It has been several sessions since the characters connected with Merigall, and much has happened in that time – to the world and the characters.

If you are a GM, lean into complicated characters and worlds. Sometimes, RPGs can be too white or black when grey is more fun.

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I only own the classic campaigns like Temple of Elemental Evil or Masks of Nyarlathotep. I’m now playing in a modern classic, Eternal Lies, for Trail of Cthulhu. We all dream of playing or running the classic epic campaign that spans years, but few do.

The longest campaign I’ve ever run is one I am running still, Raven’s Purge for Forbidden Lands. Tomorrow, we play our 40^th session. Unlike some campaigns, Raven’s is structured as an open hex crawl with adventure sites the players may or may not find or come across. There are actions and drives for others, but the campaign doesn’t hinge on the characters taking the hook a certain way and heading in a specific direction. Sometimes, the characters are too busy exploring and trying to survive to get sucked into the plots of others.

Raven’s Purge allows me to play a campaign the way I enjoy. I am not worried that they missed what was on page 345 or that they don’t realize they’ll never move forward if they don’t explore the temple. I am watching the characters find their way organically, and, at the same time, the players are discovering who their characters are.

As the longest campaign I’ve participated in, Raven’s Purge may not be a classic for many, but it is for my table.

A day late but I’m here!

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The prompt brings images of Indiana Jones in a mine car or Ethan Hunt jumping from one helicopter to another. I will answer with something slightly different: one of the more meaningful sessions of an RPG I’ve played.

A few years ago, it was the fall Camping for Gamers trip. Twice a year, I and 10-20 friends meet in the woods with tents, meat, adult beverages, and games. It is a week where nothing must be done. There are no kids to take to dance, no emails that need to go out, and no Zoom meetings to join. It is a week of friends and games. Did I mention games?

Luckily, we had enough cell service to play Alice is Missing; an RPG played with only text messages—the characters are never in the same place at the same time. We play as our characters on our real phones, texting and group chatting with the other characters on their phones. I remember thinking this was an interesting gimmick, but a gimmick, nonetheless.

The game is about Alice’s disappearance, a high school junior in the small town of Silent Falls. It is timed, so play should take precisely 90 minutes. Card prompts move things along as we all search for Alice while slowly exposing who we are and what our relationship to her means.

We started slow. It is an odd way to play a game. In a second, it all came together. We are very comfortable communicating by text. It worked as well as playing with our voices because our characters are separated and communicating with text in the game.

The came culminates in us finding Alice. The last 10 minutes of the game was intense. Nobody was talking; everyone was frantically mashing thumbs on keyboards. The half-hour or so after the game was also quiet. The game punched above its weight and hit us squarely in the gut. The game had meaning and pulled up genuine emotions. We cared about each other and Alice.

I’ve since played it a few more times. I am stunned at its replay ability. I cannot wait to play it again with the new expansion that was just fulfilled from Kickstarter.