#RPGaDay2023 Answers

My answers for #RPGaDay2023. Since this year included a look back to 2014, when my answer would be different I have highlighted it. Satyros proposed a #30yearsofMage this month, some of my #RPGaDay answers tie-in to that. Because this website is currently the free version and can have ads, here is a PDF of the answers without ads.

Day 1 #RPGaDay2023 FIRST RPG played (this year)

2023: Mage: the Ascension

#RPGaDay 2014: Cyberpunk 2020

Day 2 #RPGaDay2023 First RPG GAMEMASTER.

If the Fighting Fantasy books count, then them J I guess this applies to many people, but also appreciate why that might feel like a lacking answer 😉 More interestingly I hope, the 1st GM that I appreciated, Julian Baldwin. That I respected and there games were always great, Peter Austin.

Day 3 #RPGaDay2023 First RPG BOUGHT (this year)?

Humble RPG Bundle: Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, yet to play but I do have 2 Rogue Trader games on the go.

#RPGaDay 2014: I didn’t buy any games that year, partly due to moving and having no room at the time. I did later buy The Strange & Demon: The Descent which had come out in 2014.

Day 4 #RPGaDay2023 Most RECENT game bought

I recently backed Trinity Continuum Aegis, but that’s not finished yet.

Most recent purchase was some PDF supplements for Mage: the Ascension off the Storyteller Vault.

The last physical RPG book I bought was Fight to Survive. #FighttoSurvive

Day 5 #RPGaDay2023 OLDEST game you’ve played

AD&D (1977), although I didn’t play it till 1987.

Day 6 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite game you NEVER get to play

I’ve been fortunate and I’ve been able to play a ridiculous amount of games, yet there are still many I’d love to try! The redesign and reboot of Trinity Continuum effectively makes it a new game. The old system and setting I’d played a chronicle for over ten years.

A high priority is to try the new Fight to Survive.

#RPGaDay 2014 Promethean: The Created had hooked me, but it was years till I got to play it. A fabulous game.

Day 7 #RPGaDay2023 SMARTEST RPG you’ve played

Some great replies for this question. 🙂 I’ll avoid a big essay about the many amazing games.

Trophy and WILD are both fabulous, focused designs, and game play experiences. 😀

Day 8 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite CHARACTER

John Jackson. John Jackson is many! Initially an Orphan in one of my 90s Mage the Ascension games, a broker of peace, neutral in the Ascension War and eerie coffee magnet. Years later for a new game, the player decided to make a new version of John Jackson, during play it was decided it was really the old John Jackson. Years later John Jackson returned, but this time tweaked again. Years later, I played the real/clone of John Jackson in another game. A year later, the original player was playing the old John Jackson in another game.

There is so much more to John Jackson, each is a bit different, but are they actually independent of each other. Maybe think of many clones, or parallel worlds, or Twin Peaks the Return and what happens with Dale Cooper, but neither of those quite apply since John Jackson is actually the original John Jackson. Eventually I started writing fiction about the story of John Jackson. The character that keeps on turning up, but each time, less sure of themselves, and feeling more paranoid and unsure of their own memories. Will the next time be the last?

2014: my answer would have likely been about one of my long running LARP characters, or an old SFRPG character. But in retrospect, it was clearly John Jackson as well…

Day 9 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite DICE

I’ve been having fun with the D1000 again this year, in particular Realms of Chaos Warhammer. So really the D10, because of its versatility, plus base 10 is the most common human counting system. Same answer for #RPGaDay 2014

Day 10 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite tie-in FICTION

I love fiction tie-ins, but I also love exploring a game’s setting without any framework or references. Fiction isn’t essential to me, like spice, different flavours for different meals. Whether LotR, Arthurian Legends, Mythos, Tales from the Loop, RTG’s Cyberpunk, Street Fighter, etc., we are spoilt for choices, which is fabulous! My vacillating answer would be WoD like: Revelations of the Dark Mother, The Fragile Path, etc. Fiction that resides in universe, but is also myth, so they definitely don’t constrain play.

Bonus – Player fiction can be a wonderful treat.

Day 11 #RPGaDay2023 WEIRDEST game you’ve played

Our fun, weird, plus not so little hobby, has so many wonderful games and experiences, weird and not weird is all good with me. Going with Weird, as in Fate. John Jackson back from the grave, a tool of the Lady of Fate, in Risen Fists. A game fusing Wraith: the Oblivion with Mage: the Ascension, but using Street Fighter combat.

Day 12 #RPGaDay2023 Old game you STILL play

This year I returned to 1st ed. Warhammer to play a Realms of Chaos narrative campaign, in particular the descent/ascent of Cruk Firepaw. It is great when shifting between TTRPG and wargaming goes well.

Day 13 #RPGaDay2023 Most memorable character DEMISE

I thankful I have several answers I could give, whether mine or other players. I nearly went with Andy’s L5R Crane’s last stand in the Shadowlands but my favourite is the Luckiest Character and their Retirement Party!

In the summer of 1990 we played a ludicrous amount of Cyberpunk 2020. Ian’s character, Max, was the manifestation of luck, just constantly, it was preposterous. For their 9D10 attribute roll, Ian rolled 87, little did we realise that was just the start of an amazing streak of luck. Throughout a summer of many long sessions, probably approaching 200 hours of play, Max kept surviving deadly encounters and big risks constantly payed off. By this stage they’d earned a lot of IP(XP), connections, favours, and gear. The other players in the party had lost several characters, but Ian’s was still going strong. Finally after surviving a trip to Crystal Palace, narrowly avoiding ending up in the middle of a Mega-Corp War, clearing debts, forming some decent relationships, the character was all set to retire.

The retirement party took place at Afterlife nightclub, no biggie, the character was well known, even respected. Several hours of celebration went by, fun times. As Max was leaving with his fiancé he finally started messing up. A failed Awareness roll, so Ian described how his character was a bit too drunk and happily talking with his fiancé as Max bumped in to some low level gangers. No biggie, but Max didn’t want any trouble, plus he also thought nothing of the situation. OOC the group laughed at the massive skill and equipment difference, you know like a Hobbit and a Dragon. Things escalated, Ian rolled low for his persuasion check and role-played Max politely dismissing the gangers, but they took offence. Initiative was rolled the gang rolled high whilst Ian rolled a 1, he was going last. One of gangers had a polymer one-shot and then managed score a head hit, and well, Ian’s Death Save was a 10. Everyone cheered as the luckiest character finally got a series of bad rolls, plus it also all fitted the change in the character, no longer on edge, now a soon to be retired family man to be. Ian was ecstatic, what a pathetic but also appropriate way to go!

Day 14 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite CONVENTION purchase

Suzerain: Mortal Realms (2000) by TreeHouse. I have a bit of a tale about this book and myself, if you’ll indulge me. In 1999 TreeHouse were visiting the smaller UK conventions to drum up interest for the 2000 release. So I got to meet the creators and try out the game at the 1999 TowerCon in Blackpool. Martin Klimes ran the game that some friends and I played in. The session, it was great; it wonderfully showed off both the system and the setting. Afterwards the design team provided feedback forms. They told me they were pleasantly surprised that I had written a detailed 2 page essay. I’d raised a few points of view they hadn’t considered before, which led to some chats about the metaphysics of the setting and how it all worked; thankfully many Mage: the Ascension and GURPS chats had help train me for that chat. Awkwardly they explained that they had already sent the manuscript off to be printed, so my feedback was too late to change anything. Further discussions with Martin and Damian resulted in being invited to do some freelance writing, to expand upon some of the ideas that I’d written about. However, it was a difficult time for myself, since I had developed problems with both of my wrists, but I agreed to explore the opportunity. At that time speech recognition software was starting to be effective.

In April 2000 I started working at KJC Games, so I had substantially less free writing time, but later that year I was invited to run demo games at Gen Con UK 2000 in Manchester. TreeHouse paid for my ticket and accommodation during the event. It was a little bit awkward preparing gaming sessions for a game that had not been released yet, but fortunately at the event I had a few hours to read my newly purchased Suzerain rulebook. The book itself came in a beautiful slipcase, and even had some colour pages within the book. When added to the all the plans TreeHouse had in regards to the setting, computer games, LARPS, it was an inspiring thing to be involved in. Unfortunately for TreeHouse, along with a lot of other RPG companies, D&D 3rd Ed was launched that year and the 3rd books were also impressive as well as cheap!

Back to Suzerain, I was relieved that we had plenty of players come and check out the game and try demo games. I even mostly was given positive feedback from the players that I ran sessions for, as well as managing to sell several of the rulebooks. We also got to run Suzerain LARPs in the evening, but that’s another tale. Some of the customers asked the designers in attendance to sign their book, amusingly one person insisted that I sign their book, even after I clarified I hadn’t contributed anything to the book itself.

Later that year, design work at KJC Games got more intense plus I was also studying coding at night college, so alas I stepped away from TreeHouse. Over the years I’ve had a few chats with Martin, but sadly too busy with my own projects to get involved in again. It’s great that Suzerain has gone on to be a Savage Worlds setting. As for the old Suzerain: Mortal Realms, I have played it several times over the years and the book still has a special place in my collection.

Day 15 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT

During a break at one of the TowerCons I was discussing different game options with some other players. The chat became about Mage the Ascension, those players hadn’t tried it yet, but they’d played many different cyberpunk games, so I proposed a different focused Mage game. The result was the PCs playing a team of Hit Marks sent to cleanse a Nephandi Chantry. The Hit Marks were prototypes, awakened and they had Rank 1 Spheres. The PCs had a list of rotes, but could also figure out new uses. A fun session and the players were surprised at how versatile Rank 1 Spheres were, plus wondering about the higher ranks! I have run this a few times, plus tweaked and run it in 2 Chronicles. Maybe one day I’ll edit it and submit to the STV.

Day 16 #RPGaDay2023 Game you WISH you owned

Despite not being a collector I have a ridiculously large collection of RPGs, whilst I don’t need the Invisible Sun Cube, it would be nice.

2014 nothing I particularly wanted, I guess old Ghostbusters.

Day 17 #RPGaDay2023 FUNNIEST game you’ve played

The fun of Funny haha & Funny odd, Warhammer campaign following the adventures of Chaos Champions. One ended up nicknamed as Goatface, who was rewarded with Temporal Instability. The player left for University, but Goatface stayed with the party, continuing to blink in and out existence. Goatface would typically appear during a quiet moment, just bleat something then disappear. Occasionally Goatface would appear in combat and assist the party, a bit like the Mysterious Stranger in the Fallout series, appear make a bleating noise then decapitate something then disappear. The end of that campaign, plus in other games, players would sometimes bleat, hoping for Goatface intervention, a great example of the fun laughs staying with us all for years.

Day 18 #RPGaDay2023 SYSTEM

I love how using a different game system can led to a different voyage of discovery. With some it is easy to mathematically convert between them, but even the subtle differences can still standout in gameplay, leading to some interesting chats & choices about what system to use and any tweaks.

E.g., my megadungeon campaign that fused GURPS, Mage: the Ascension, and Warhammer 40k. 🙂

It is extra special when the group navigates such an experience without getting lost or sunken by a system. Even adventures aboard custom ships, barely adequate rafts, or warp infused space hulks, can succeed, often empowered by system choices. 😀

Day 19 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite PUBLISHED adventure

This is possibly the day with the widest range of answers, so many choices! I have some fond memories of old D&D modules that, but apart from The Temple of Elemental Evil, I’ve only played/run them once. I’ve barely played any Call of Cthulhu published adventures, in part because I got told a lot about them by many of them players in other groups, particularly whilst working at my FLGS. Most of my Mythos experiences were player created.

Back in the early 90s I ran Awakening: Diablerie Mexico several times. It helped me convince some ‘D&D only’ players to try Vampire: the Masquerade. I’ve run the Giovanni Chronicles several times, a great framework, but as always not to be limited by. I’ve run Street Fighter High Stakes several times, it was always great, including one party that impressively quickly resolved things, which shows how open it is to player choices. Ceremony of the Samurai (1st Ed Legend of the 5 Rings), another adventure I’ve run many times, helping to show setting specific information.

I’m going to pick Alien Hunger (VtM). The many times I ran it, it always worked well in providing an introduction to the setting, as well as helping to initiate a Chronicle, partly why I had several Vampire groups running at once in the early 90s.

Day 20 #RPGaDay2023 Will still play in TWENTY years time

So many games, but two in particular. The 20th anniversary editions brought me back to the World of Darkness and Mage the Ascension. This led me back to Street Fighter. I’ve had a lot of fun with them both since, plus combining them. This month has been a celebration of #30YearsOfMage. I look forward to 20 more.

Day 21 #RPGaDay2023 Favourite LICENSED RPG

Another day with a wealth of answers! When two companies exchange IP, magic can happen. Capcom’s deal with old White Wolf resulted in the brilliant Street Fighter RPG, whilst Capcom had their Darkstalkers games. Darkstalkers is not the World of Darkness (WoD), but they did use the name and company logo for Vampire Savior: World of Darkness. An interesting version, not matched until Monte Cook’s fascinating take on the WoD.

If both companies had not been doing so well, and thus understandably focused on their big money earners, then who knows what could have been made?! Maybe the RPG aspect of SF6 would have happened decades earlier and we’d have had other big licenses tied in to SFRPG. The initial talks at White Wolf had included focusing on Mortal Kombat instead. Another what if. Considering how much money old White Wolf had access to for a while, maybe other big licenses could have resulted in a multi-reality setting, which the arcade fighters certainly explored.

The variety of fan made products is amazing, especially for what most would consider a niche RPG. Of course Darkstalkers, but also TMNT, Batman, King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, Jackie Chan, Double Dragon, and more. With its highly focused combat system, it is surprisingly more akin to the openness of GURPS or #Heroes, especially given how easy it is to adapt other Storyteller games. Street Fighter is a game that punches way above its weight. #SFRPG

Day 22 #RPGaDay2023 Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase

If I think of SECONDHAND, as in indirect I still end up at the same answer as the full question, curious. In the early 90s after playing Champions 4th I bought a 2nd hand copy of Hero System 4th. The Hero System was a major influence on my ideas in the 90s and later with my work at KJC Games and beyond. Plus when added to GURPS, the old fun of converting characters between systems was easier, since Hero<->GURPS and GURPS has a lot of official licenses, resulting in a sort of Rosetta Stone. Hero and me: https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/rpg-impact-5/

Day 23 #RPGaDay2023 COOLEST looking RPG product / book

So many choices, plus the more answers I read, the bigger the list became. Time to use the old #PieChartofIndecision

My answer would have been the crazy inspirational (+WTF) Mage: the Ascension 1st edition Screen. However, due to the wonderful range of answers I’m going to highlight Classic Traveller, in part because it might have a unique cover design!?

Thus, this interestingly is the opposite of one meaning of Coolest, as in Trendiest, why did others not copy Traveller? I appreciate it wouldn’t fit the image of many games, but no other games?

Thanks to Phil @thedicemechanic for highlighting this. The answer led to me doing a bunch of research, so bonus points. https://bsky.app/profile/thedicemechanic.bsky.social/post/3k5mr4lp4gb2g

Day 24 #RPGaDay2023 COMPLEX / SIMPLE RPG you play

Mage: the Ascension both Complex & Simplex, seemingly all things at once.

I found Trophy to be wonderfully simplex to explain and play, although I’ve not tried with people who are new to RPGs.

One then the other = Street Fighter. Typically complex for new people, a lot of things to look at during character creation, plus there are big decisions for future character development. Yet interestingly quickly the game is understood and is simple to play.

Day 25 #RPGaDay2023 UNPLAYED

In a long running game, a music tape, that the characters think might be cursed, has remained Unplayed. The characters figured out a way around playing the tape, via the fun of Spheres inverse logic gates, resonance, and 100% definitely not listening to the tape. A mostly Mage: the Ascension chronicle, with the rest of the World of Darkness joining in on occasion, plus Powerchords. Out sourcing sound analysis to a musical Pooka and a Wraith Chanteur, an attempt at a ritual focusing unplayed sounds through a Sluagh; the type of hubris Mage excels at. Keen for Keening. One day I’ll write up the details for the STV…

Day 26 #RPGaDay2023 CHARACTER SHEET

Amongst the great answers for today, I wanted to build upon a thought-provoking answer by Runeslinger, since it inspired me to write a new and more personal answer to the prompt. It has been decades since my experiments with character sheet design. With different games, seeing how I felt about information accessibility and prioritisation in play. From overly detailed, to minimal information D&D or Cyberpunk, leading to a few Vampire: the Masquerade games in 93 and 94, that just had a few descriptions, no actual stats. Those experiments were with curious player who agreed, not with tyrannical demands. In one game, the players hadn’t created their characters, so they never know their stats, but they did have a character overview and some backstory that fitted the descriptor. (I didn’t read Over the Edge till later, but later it was interesting to see that idea in a professional game.) This resulted in bleeding more towards a LARP style of sessions (multiple puns intended), which worked well for sessions focused on Elysium and Haven experiences. An experiment with Mage: the Ascension proved interesting, but quickly became a fixation on trying to determine their Sphere rankings, a bit too frustrating and comedic, but interestingly felt more like untutored Mages scrambling to make sense of a complex warp-able reality; this also made acquiring Rotes amazingly important.

No surprise, some players loved these character sheet experiments, and some hated them. Some felt set free, whilst others felt a bit lost without what had been a core game structure for them; fascinatingly, my chats revealed it wasn’t even a LARP versus tabletop thing. Which was all informative regarding those players’ preferences and sometimes revealing new things. Also of note, between gaming sessions, these experiments also had an impact. Some enjoyed discussing designs, whilst others wanted chats between sessions to be focused on character ideas, reminiscing and fun. A few players come to mind with their creative works, maybe something for a future blog post.

Nowadays I discuss sheet options as part of game discussion, with some players opting to have different character sheets. Returning to Runeslinger’s post and his closing comment, whilst people had different reasons for how they interact and relate to their character sheets, I likewise think there is something extra special about a character sheet that a player looks after and is lovingly cared for, regardless of its age. Whether they are the sheets of rare decade played characters, Investigators that have survived more than one Mythos mystery, or freshly created.

Day 27 #RPGaDay2023 Game you’d like a new EDITION of…

Street Fighter, but due to licensing that is unlikely, so I’m making my own.

EDITION: An answer inspired by https://thewatchhouserpg.blogspot.com/2023/08/rpgaday2023-27-game-youd-like-new.html The fun of making mini editions of newspapers for games, especially Cyberpunk 2020 screamsheets plus cuttings for handouts for a variety of games. This gave me practice for my later fanzine involvement and creations, plus early practice for me of being involved in collaborative projects.

Day 28 #RPGaDay2023 SCARIEST game you’ve played

SCARIEST (easily frightened; timid) I played a Sluagh LARP character for years that was quite timid, almost a coward, so they often became the assistant to whoever was the most powerful person in the room.

In 1991 Peter ran an Aliens campaign in Cyberpunk 2020. The first session was incredibly tense, soon escalating to scary. When the violence started, the fear didn’t go down, it went up! Masterful GMing and player buy-in all round, not bad for 15 year olds. Sadly RL stuff got in the way, we never completed that campaign, so myself and another player played a lot of Space Hulk.

Day 29 #RPGaDay2023 Most memorable ENCOUNTER

Thankfully far too many memories, but inspired by https://thewatchhouserpg.blogspot.com/2023/08/rpgaday2023-29-most-memorable-encounter.html I shall go with this answer that also addresses the prompt. 🙂

I ran a game in 97 that was about normal people in modern day. The PCs just had vague character descriptions instead of detailed stats (see Day 26). This campaign was created after a collection of wonderful player discussions; they wanted something initially mundane, then strange things to start.

When we started, each PC had an extensive prelude followed by the first group reunion, old friends at high school. The next day a 24 hour eclipse starts (sort of Dark Day from Palladium Nightbane), 80% of humans disappeared (a bit like The Quiet Earth (1985)). The next few days, some of the remaining people became quite violent; the PCs have to survive gangs and Escape from New York. A big part of the initial sessions was coming to terms with the violence, and how far the PCs were willing to go, plus the weird mystery of it all. The PCs have an urge to head west, a siren’s call to a place they knew would be a ‘Sanctuary’. As they travelled west the PCs start to develop Psi powers (Aeon Trinity), the further west, the bigger their power (idea from Monster Island – PBM). The campaign was great. Although we planned to run a 2nd campaign, two players moved away, the remaining players voted for other games. A shame, since the game was really a Mage: the Ascension campaign, the bigger mystery was about what rituals and errors had led to this global mess, and maybe how to undo it. 🙂

I’ve thought about a new version using Trinity Continuum

Day 30 #RPGaDay2023 OBSCURE

In one of my groups, Damian typically played strong & silent characters, but for the VtM Giovanni Chronicles, he made an obscure, impoverished nobleman, who often talked at length. The player did a great job of politically manoeuvring this character through the many chronicles, obscuring their motivations and making themselves invaluable to the various Elders & Methuselahs. This was all much to the confusion of the PCs, who were often surprised at Damian’s character deftly changing plans on the fly. Additionally, the character was a Lasombra, who despite having Obtenebration and later learning Obfuscate, only used their Disciplines in subtle ways. In a game about obscuring the truth of reality to the mundane world, a shadowy empowered character impressively navigated the dangerous vampire world, playing at a deeper level than most.

A bonus to this story, later, a player joined this group, but then complained to me that Damian (someone that they’d only known for a year) only played boring and incapable characters; I’d been playing with Damian since we were 12, so I know that wasn’t the case. I used the story of Damian’s Lasombra to help show that role-playing is more than memorising rules or playing charismatic characters, that a player does not need to always play a proactive and charismatic character, that sometimes the humble character in the party is doing more than the other characters, and even players, know. At the next session I mentioned the Lasombra, the rest of the group were buzzing with anecdotes. This helped the complaining player reconsider the current game of Aberrant, Damian was playing Gravitas (Strong & Silent), to realise that Damian had done more than they assumed; also to maybe talk with other people and check.

Day 31 #RPGaDay2023 FAVOURITE RPG of all time + FAVOURITE = “sport a competitor thought likely to win”

My tournament has a deep bracket, filled with all sorts of settings, rules, and genres. Against all the odds, the finale of RPGs comes down to two veterans that are always vying for my attention. Whilst both are showing their years, products of a different era, yet both do things few other games do, they are more than gatekeepers to me. Mage: the Ascension, a game that transcends its parts, vs. Street Fighter, the scrappy underdog that many assumed was just a joke. In the bout, Street Fighter starts using clever arena positioning then launches a devastating combo, forcing Mage back towards the arena edge, however, never underestimate a prepared Mage. Some might say it is cheating to be all things, whilst being neither a universal setting or engine, but apparently its fine in this tournament. The winner is Mage: the Ascension, by having Arete 10 and becoming one with all. Reality Warping Fighter

— #30YearsofMage #MagetheAscension #StreetFighter #SFRPG #Warhammer #WFRP #RealmsofChaos #SpaceHulk #TrophyRPG #ChangelingtheDreaming #PowerchordsRPG #Cyberpunk2020 #TrinityContinuum #AeonTrinity #Palladium #Nightbane #PrometheanTheCreated #WorldofDarkness

Fist 2 Exploring Mystical Fighting

I originally published this opinion piece in 2016 on Noobgrind, a computer game website, but since that has gone I’m posting it here. Whilst the original article’s focus was about computer games, this article is more about my influences, how old games led me to martial arts and my RPG designs. Part 1 = https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/way-of-the-exploding-fist-lookback/

Continuing on from my previous article about my favourite 8-bit fighter, the amazing Way of the Exploding Fist, or Fist for short. The follow-on to that gem is Fist 2: The Legend Continues (1986), which took the then brilliant animation and clean fighting system of Fist and made a quite different game. This new direction split the fans of the first game, since some people just wanted Fist with extra features and improvements. Thankfully for young me, Fist 2 was everything I didn’t know I wanted, adventure with some depth. Castlevania and Metroid were both released in 1986; interestingly Fist 2 can be considered a basic Metroidvania.

A crucial combat mechanic difference between Fist and Fist 2 was the introduction of a health bar; this was probably an influence from Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Otherwise combat had the same approach and depth as Fist 1.

Exploration had been added in to the mix of Fist 2. My young mind imagined that all the time I had spent playing Fist had really been preparation for this new game. That my character was now leaving the temple, exploring the wider world and utilising all that training to defeat real enemies. That the stakes were higher, the fights were not just friendly sparring matches. I am sure a lot of people can relate to the idea/feeling they got when playing games like the GTA or Souls series; the freedom of a sandbox world with some depth, plus also the visual depth and in particular the jump from GTA 1 or 2 to GTA 3 and later games.

Whilst it is true that there had been exploration games that included fighting before Fist 2, they were done in a limited way, such as the Bruce Lee video game on the C64. Okay, a quick tangent since I wrote in the last article that Bruce Lee hadn’t been a big impact as a kid. Firstly I didn’t see any of his movies until a few years later; then they had an impact. The Bruce Lee game came out in 1984, but it was really a platform game with two attacks. Even at the age of 8, the game’s plot seemed randomly thrown together, it was quite poor; granted back then the vast majority of computer games plots were not considered important, but a good one helped. The problems were: the game was too easy, lacked game depth, and was not really a fighting game. At least the movement of the character was good, feeling both responsive and quick.

In the playground at school, Bruce Lee’s name was used all the time, so I had a vague idea of who this person was, despite him dying the year that I was born. To have his name associated with what could barely be called a fighting game was odd to me, even considering how young I was. In these days we were used to the idea that games with film or celebrity tie-ins are nearly always garbage; this is often still the case. Considering how many things over the years have metaphorically sucked the Chi from the Bruce’s Lee legend, this game overview shouldn’t be a surprise. Given what I have learned over the years about Bruce’s diverse training, including with the incredible “Judo” Gene LeBell, who was effectively the first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, it is another reason why the Bruce Lee game was such a disappointment.

There were also several side scrolling beat ‘em ups over those early years, but they were not really exploration games. Whilst I did enjoy games like Kung Fu Master (C64 1985), Double Dragon (Arcade 1987), etc., I found them to be too simple, as they generally only had a few attacks. They were quite formulaic, because the opponents generally only did one or two things themselves, easily identifiable enemies allowed a player to recognise what attack type was incoming. These types of games were often about repeating the whole process to get a higher score and complete quicker; often completing the game quicker gave bonus points based upon how much time was left. Overall fun, but not as interesting as Fist 2.

Before my tangent I had mentioned exploration. For me, the idea that a good fighting simulator could form the foundation of an adventure game was amazing. A step up from the classic text based adventures such as The Hobbit, Zork, Adventureland (Vic 20), etc.; fun but not as visually immersive. The idea that you could find and fight nuanced opponents was refreshing, plus it seemed more like the TV series Kung Fu, or the few martial art movies I had managed to watch. Also these were not like a ‘boss fight’, requiring a specific set of criteria to be performed, which typically made all the normal attacks effectively useless. Each one-on-one duel felt legitimate, since they had the full range of attacks that my character did.

In addition to enemies there were certain zones that had environmental obstacles that required a character to have more health in order to survive. Special scrolls (trigrams) were hidden away throughout the game that made a character tougher. Also temples could be found that allowed you to heal through resting, plus were used to activate scrolls. Some temples were locked away, and these required that the character have already found a certain number of scrolls to gain access to them. So between the combat, environment, as well as locked areas, the game promoted exploration in regards to trying to become as tough as possible; hence the Metroidvania association.

Fist 2 map plus screenshot from Spectrum version.

It’s not that this game was innovative, it is more that this game was well done, as well as followed up on a game I adored and meant a lot to me. Fist 2 helped form a huge part of my lifetime interests. It was years till I played another good martial arts exploration game that had a big impact on me; that game was Oni, although that game received mixed criticism, I loved it. It was a few years later when another game hit that sweet spot for me, with Jade Empire. A special mention goes to Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, even though the core of that game’s design is stealth.

Whilst there have been lots of excellent games over the years fulfilling exploration and role-play, for some reason it is rare for those game types to be mixed with empty hand martial arts, and theme matters.

A few years after playing Fist 2 I went to high school, at aged 11 I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and the role-playing games (RPG) in general. I loved RPG, like most role-players in part because of reading The Hobbit and then Lord of the Rings. The many hours of fun of the books of Fight Fantasy, Choose Your Own Adventure, Lone Wolf. But, I also because I wanted to play the wandering unarmed martial artist, like in the TV show Kung Fu or the game Fist 2. This would lead me to one of my favourite games Street Fighter 2 (SF2) and later SFRPG.

From Way of the Exploding Fist to Street Fighter RPG 3 part series

Part 1 = https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/way-of-the-exploding-fist-lookback/

Part 2 = https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/fist-2-exploring-mystical-fighting/

Part 3 = https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/a-fist-full-of-dice/

5 Positive Role-Play Lessons

Continuing on from the previous articles that started at https://batjutsu.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/cyberpunk-rpg-and-crpg-style-and-substance/

Julian, the Dungeon Master from the high school lunch group I was in, introduced me to Pete I think in 1988. I’d been buying Skaven figures off another friend, who’d gotten them from Julian. They’d been painted by someone Beatties toy and model shop in Blackpool’s Houndshill Shopping Centre, where Pete worked on Saturdays. Even whilst at high school Pete was a great model painter. I don’t recall specifics about my initial conversations with Pete, but I recall that they were relaxed, and that it was easy to have a dialogue with him, as opposed to him dictating at me like the other older lads did.

1 Explain what something is, not its competitors

Pete explained the Cyberpunk setting well, and I don’t recall him saying bad things about other gaming systems. I grew to appreciate how important that is, focus on what a product is, not on differentiating between its rivals.

Typically, when someone asked about a new game system/setting, they‘d ask for some comparisons. Since I was being explicitly asked to compare, I did so. Whilst comparisons can help, even speed up the learning curve, it was all too common that the conversation would deviate in to negative critiques of other products. This could become quite a time sink, requiring further clarifications, dancing around the root of the question. Not only because it requires people to know the other systems, but also for them to understand what comparative point you are trying to make.

I have grown to understand that people are inclined towards defending how they’ve spent their time, it’s natural for people to feel they are being criticised for their choice of game system and setting. This is particularly magnified if they love a particular system. Some (most?) gamers chase their idea of ‘the perfect system’. Whilst I think perfection is something to aspire towards, I don’t think the end goal is helpful; I’m all for thinking and conversation about how things work and what affect each setting and rule choice does to a game. I often found that as we raise more points, things become ever more complicated. The original question can get lost amidst overwhelming information.

The above reasons are why I have found focusing on comparisons to be a poor approach. It can still prove to be an effective way of explaining things, but I’d suggest mentioning as few as comparisons as possible, avoiding specifics. These days I try to focus on more positive aspects, and to stay on target: explaining what a setting and system’s focus is, and its pros and cons.

2 Give things a try

One of the fascinating things about playing Cyberpunk 2013 was the emphasis on other things: how characters talking was typically important, the standoffs, trying to navigate prolific corruption, in a game world full of people in bad situations. With no clear sign of who was good or evil, the fact that so many people were armed and dangerous, plus the finality of combat, it was great to have a reason to talk first, but with the pressure of talking fast.

I appreciated how fun and focused the Cyberpunk games I played in were. This was down to the combination of being in a good group plus having a good referee. This is a lesson I have appreciated ever since, play in games you really enjoy. Years later I played in great D&D games, ones focused on more mature plots; it helped not being kids at school, which once again highlights that the group is the big factor in what makes for a great game.

Don’t be afraid to chat to the group about their play-styles. Try things out and negotiate about balancing your goals with the other players. If you don’t reach a satisfactory compromise, then consider moving on. Since fun is the heart of gaming, don’t torture yourself, or others.

3 Walking through the rules

Pete ran great games, we enjoyed ourselves, and I can recall some great moments even now. Pete explained rules as we went. There was no rush to cram things in to a single session. There was not even pressure to become experts in the long-term. Yet despite not being rule experts, the initial sessions still went well. The lesson I took from this links back to mentoring, which I’ve written about previously. Even if you are playing a simple gaming system, try to introduce the rules in parts, reveal the complexity at a rate the players can cope with. Determining how much is too much is a subtle skill; I’ll explain my opinion on this another time.

I think it is better to introduce things slower, rather than risk overwhelming players. Context is a key part of understanding, and it is hard to provide any depth during an introductory rules overview. Look at how some board or card games introduce rules over time, for example Dominion ignores curses at the start.

4 Letting Go

My first character was a Solo called Thermo, a cool streetwise mercenary with a minimalistic appearance, cliché but fun. Since I knew practically nothing about the setting, never mind the fact that I was just 14 years old, I went with the idea of the character being the strong silent type. Thankfully, it worked well enough, and also helped me learn the game system, whilst helping me to role-play what I had designed.

Similarly, my friends played interesting characters, a few I can still recall even to this day: Black Rain, Jack Deth, along with an NPC Netrunner whose handle was The Idol. Unfortunately, I forget the name of the Fixer played by Michael. This is odd since after playing for a while, Pete proposed Michael and I swap characters. Michael had been playing his character more like a psychopath; not sure the reason Pete didn’t have Michael make a new character, I guess it was quicker to swap.

Within a single gaming session Thermo, my old character had undergone a massive change. The character now had a red Mohawk, painted the back of his leather jacket to show a nuclear explosion surround by lots of flames, with ‘Thermo’ painted across the jacket top. The character was also now quick to resort to gun diplomacy. It was odd seeing my character played this way, but Michael was enjoying himself, so I didn’t tease or correct him. After all I had agreed to the swap, Pete was okay with Michael making the character his own, and I found playing something different to be fun. Crucially Thermo was his character now, I learned to let go.

5 PC Allies can help, just don’t let NPCs take over

A session I still recall fondly was that of the party going to a gun shop, but things quickly got out of hand. Black Rain and Thermo (now played by Michael) chatted with the person behind the security door, but they were giving the person attitude. I’ve forgotten the specifics, but somehow the confrontational chat escalated. Finally, a demand was made for bullets, so a gun was pointed through the security slit at Black Rain, who responded by using the poison dart in his cybernetic eye. Thermo and Black Rain then attempted to shoot through the door; frantic gunfire was exchanged between the shop and the party, but then this stopped. It seemed we had ourselves a stand-off!

Thermo then tried to breach the door with a fragmentation grenade. The thing was that Black Rain was still near to the door and not wearing armour; besides a frag would likely do nothing to an armoured door. Luckily Black Rain was warned of the grenade and passed his dodge roll. The party members took a moment to look at each other and contemplate killing Thermo, but we didn’t. Time passed, nothing was happening, the shock at the escalation oddly hit everyone, and the party become unsure of how to proceed, some still wanted to break through the security door, others wanted to leave before the CyberPsycho squad arrived.

Finally Pete suggested our characters could call The Idol, one of the party’s allies. The Idol quickly arrived and operated as a cleaner; momentum was returned to the game. Crucially The Idol didn’t take over the situation, instead aided, and then as we all high-tailed it, he returned to his own plans. We owed a favour, but the party got a bit of mentoring in-game without being made to feel like they were the sidekicks to an awesome NPC.

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Over many sessions the group somehow managed to get things done without drawing the ire of the Megacorporations. But I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve forgotten a lot of what else occurred in the game, it was just too long ago.

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I mentioned that Pete was great at model painting even at high school, so it was no surprise that he went on to become a professional artist and teacher. He runs Egg Head Miniatures, check out his work at https://www.facebook.com/eggheadminiatures/ and his shop is at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/eggheadminiatures.

5 Lessons from my first Role-Playing Session

Oddly I’ve not role-played for nearly a year; it’s quite odd considering how much I have played every years since I was eleven; amusingly my speech recognition thought I said “since I was elven”. Whilst I have been resting, trying to heal, I have been rereading my unfinished role-playing guide, as well as some old anecdotes. This article follows up on my role-playing introduction that I wrote about in role-playing and cyberpunk, I recommend reading that first.

I have written the following about my origin in role-playing to help explain why I emphasis certain aspects. My intent is not to be preachy about what people should do or prioritise; I long since stopped viewing role-playing as a competition. Whilst I have my preferences, I strive to adapt to different situations, other players’ preferences, and of course moods.

Mr Knowles ran the Warwick High School role-playing games (RPG) club. In 1987 most of the club members played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, and that is the system I spent the first few years playing. I was aware of other games being played at the club, such as: Traveller, Palladium, as well as board games such as Chainsaw Warrior or Star Warriors. Coincidentally, about 5 years later I got to know several of the older lads I had seen at the club, one became a close friend, and another became my boss when I worked at KJC Games.

During the first week of joining the club, several of us were allowed to play during our lunch breaks. We got to try out tiny scenarios, to learn mechanics with context. I got a bit more explanation about the concept of in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) from Mr Knowles, as the concept seemed paradoxically easy and confusing to my eleven-year-old mind. That week I also met the older players in the group run by Julian that led me to Pete, which I had mentioned in my cyberpunk article.

My 1st Campaign Session

On Friday the RPG club had its weekly official sessions. For my first Friday I took part in a game that was a big leap for a novice, I was given a level 7 Illusionist! I had barely learnt the core mechanics, yet I was being given an experienced character, and I was expected to know what my spell list was, what the character should memorise, never mind crucial campaign information like monsters and social knowledge.

In a busy science class room, a small group of eleven-year-olds were crowded round a long lab table; I wish I had a picture. We were being mentored by sixteen-year-olds, well more like tolerated. I vaguely remember later talking to a few of the players, trying to figure out why these older lads had agreed to be mentors when they clearly seemed disinterested in more than teasing our inexperience. Playing was more like being dragged along a semi-interactive cut scene, with random dice rolls being called out for the strangest of incidents, like an archaic set of quick time events.

Looking back now this first session had the typically bad introduction, the Dungeon Master (DM) listed off a bunch of made up nouns in quick succession, and no context was given. Even if we had been playing first level characters that we have made ourselves, we would have still struggled to grasp what was going on. I don’t recall there being a discussion about backstory, plot arc, personality traits, how this existing party dynamic worked. After all, we were given level 7 characters that had allegedly been played for years in the same group.

After a few random encounters the game resulted in our characters being stranded in the wilderness, in winter, on foot, whilst a blizzard was raging. The characters kept travelling, and soon they were days from anyway, they had run out of provisions for fire, and had no shelter. The mentors or DM didn’t have much of an explanation as to why we had been led into this blatantly bad situation; we had just been told that we had to move quickly to catch up with our target (insert random noun).

The phrase “Winter is Coming”, reminds me of this gaming session. A weak quirky association.

So, each IC day a party member took turns begging for divine intervention. A percentile role of 1, was needed, except the cleric needed a 2 or less. Obviously given the statistical chances required, the rolls failed.

A single 1% is hard enough, requiring several rolls?

Eventually after days of failing, and with the party members near death my character, I enquired as to whether my character should be praying to the pantheon as opposed to an Illusion God. The DM made a secret role and declared my character’s thoughts were perceived as blasphemy, a lightning bolt struck my character destroying all clothing, equipment and leaving on 1 hit point. My character then sacrificed themselves in an act of penance, to have a bonfire lit to save the rest of the party; I had been told my character would die in moments from exposure. The older lads were in hysterics, and apparently I had made a classic mistake?

“HAHA you died due to the DM rolling a dice for suspect reasoning!”

Afterwards I spoke with some other players, a few thought it was hysterically funny, which given the maturity level of eleven-year-olds wasn’t surprising. Thankfully a few other players were not mean, and in fact they thought the whole thing was ridiculous. It was highlighted that since my character was good and worshipped a good god, it was very odd that a good god would kill a character for a thought, never mind the fact that worshipping different gods in a pantheon should be normal.

Importantly this incident raises a key query: why was regularly pleading for divine intervention required? If it was common, then surely the population would have an idea of the types of results, and a level 7 character with high intelligence would have some understanding of their own culture, an every-person knowledge.

I’ll refrain from ranting about a DM having cognitive dissonance in regards to requiring a skill roll for a scenario that they made and are running, whilst claiming they are not involved in decision making. Never mind my thoughts about fudging results.

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This incident helped me learn about role-playing, both good and bad points. I will focus on the few key lessons that became a big part of my role-playing opinions.

1. The importance of IC and OOC knowledge.

I have been obsessed with this ever since, including working on my own program to aid in tracking it. Whilst working at KJC Games, a core part of the mechanics I made for Quest GME was about tracking the vast information in the different Quest game worlds. With paying customers to consider I prioritised this aspect of the game, since information is power in any scenario, with play by mail (PBM) games it tends to more so due to the heavier focus on strategy. However, I am lenient with myself and others in less professional games, without the tools to track things it’s no wonder that even amazing players can slip up.

2. Mocking players about character death.

Understandable a player that has lost a character is going to be upset, they really could do without the teasing/bullying on top of it. I appreciate that a character death is a big deal, and thus it is often discussed with a high level of emotional energy, but even in PvP at a big live action role play (LARP) game, a bit of respect should be considered.

3. Mentoring new players.

I think it is important to give a new player a good introduction to a game, a chance to immerse themselves in something new. At a small tabletop group level, letting someone join a game is not required and generally a rare event, so it is odd when DM/GMs don’t assist new people. At a large level, like a big LARP, well veteran players stopping a new player from joining is not possible, so why not help make a new friend and at least not make an enemy.

4. Being forgiving of ideas and actions.

This has served me well in all scenarios, from one of my local groups, running games at conventions, to receiving compliments from paying customers at KJC Games. One of my favourite incidents was helping to prevent a civil war due to a player using the wrong ID code on their ships targeting list, but I checked with the customer to make sure instead of assuming it was wrong, after all it could have been intentional. It is much harder to do this at LARP, but even in large LARPs there can be windows of opportunity to check things.

5. Plot Centered Around Multiple Fake Difficult Rolls

Not understanding statistics is a common human problem, the subject is counter-intuitive. I have come across a lot of role-players who do not appreciate the impact of dice rolls, or other random mechanics. Whilst a lot of gamers are good with numbers, statistics is subtly different. Thankfully I have met many gamers who are good with statistics, like with everything else, the population can be represented as a bell curve.

In hindsight I think the whole scenario of spending days in a deadly blizzard praying for constant divine intervention to be not just forcing deus ex machina, but doing so repeatedly? That’s some outrageous odds, and it turns out the whole scenario was fake, since the party was rescued by NPcs, more deus ex machina, and not very player-centric or heroic.