The annual #RPGaDay event ran, with Dave Chapman’s Autocratik and Runeslinger (Anthony Boyd) once again providing a collection of prompts. As always an event that focuses on positivity and creativity. The prompts were not restrictive. In addition, Skala Wyzwania provided a fun alternative collection of prompts and random word modifiers, which some participants used. This helps to make looking at the many answers more interesting.
In particular I appreciated how Roberto “Sunglar” Micheri used the alternate prompts to build a connected story. Each year Craig Oxbrow writes several answers for each prompt, lots of interesting things. I mostly looked at Bluesky, which had many great participants.
| Q1 First RPG bought this year? Humble RPG Bundle: Call of Cthulhu in January. |
| Q2 Most recently played? Solo Martial Blues, the follow-on to Fight to Survive by James Kerr |
| Q3 Most often played RPG? Lifetime, World of Darkness, closely followed by the various D&D editions & settings. In the last ten years, a great mix, but Mage: the Ascension, then Street Fighter. |
| Q4 RPG with great art So many answers for today’s prompt, lots of lovely art being linked. For me, even choosing a single piece of art, or artists was almost too much, there are countless great pieces! Simon Stålenhag’s epic & evocative art for Tales from the Loop. |
| Q5 RPG with great writing Like with the art question, people are giving quite varied answers for today’s query. Broken Compass seems to be a standout, I still need to check that out. In the last few years, Trophy, Ironsworn, plus good-old GURPS have stood out to me. |
| Q6 RPG that is easy to use Years ago I ran Feng Shui 2 for players who knew nothing about it and it was easy and fun, even though one player didn’t watch HKAT or any martial arts, they still grasped the game quickly. Trophy and Ironsworn both played easy. |
| Q7 RPG with ‘good form’ Beautiful games, covering a wide range of production scale, from small indies like WILD, Afterlife: Wandering Souls, Trophy, to more expensive productions like Degenesis or boxset beauties such Free League Publishing in general. |
| Q8 An accessory you appreciate A good large map, Cyberpunk 2020 Night City was always useful in games. Many games with great maps. An accessory I’ve used the most over the years is the Mage: the Ascension Tarot. |
| Q9 An accessory you’d like to see A database with all of the NPC stats for the Street Fighter RPG. I started solving my own request. Whilst not necessary, could be useful for some games. Thankfully for my old decade long Aberrant game, other fans had made a spreadsheet with a few details about all the Novas. |
| Q10 RPG you’d like to see on TV As Elric was a book series fist, plus the caveats that the medium matters and TV shows are complex with many people involved, staying positive maybe something as complex and grand as Mage: the Ascension. A sensible approach would be a limited series first, then build up. Maybe an Ars Magica troupe focus. Thankfully we have many shows and adjacent shows, like the fabulous Delicious in the Dungeon. Nice that Stranger Things showed people playing a TTRPG, so it had that extra level. |
| Q11 RPG with well supported one-shots These days, so many offer support, another day of wonderfully varied answers. Trophy Dark is my favourite, but I could have easily chosen several other games. It is great that our hobby promotes creativity. So, even though some might argue that some games don’t promote the idea of a one-shot, with a bit of thought, which games do promote, we can run anything as a one-shot. |
| Q12 RPG with well supported campaigns I’ve fortunately played several long campaigns. One of my favourites was a 10 year Legend of the Five Rings campaign, in particular the City of Lies boxset. Amusingly the Tomb of Iuchiban box was forever haunting the table, threatening with its mere presence… |
| Q13 Evocative environments An ongoing reality-fusion megadungeon, GURPS + Mage: the Ascension. The fun of the PCs figuring out the different reality zones/environments. Plus the connections between them that are sometimes Deathtrap Dungeon meets the Cube. |
| Q14 Compelling characters John Jackson, a character that became more compelling the more their identity changed and even when their identity reduced. Bonus, the joy of a new player to RPGs playing a compelling character. |
| Q15 – Great character gear Nice changing between games with a different relationship with gear. From the equipment heavy games like Cyberpunk, to personal like Foci in Mage, to the often ascetic characters in Street Fighter. Fun when a character successfully inverts the extremes, ascetic Edgerunners and gear-centric unarmed fighters. |
| Q16 Quick to learn I loved how quick the players learned the Trophy system. A few systems I’m looking forward to giving a try, I hope things go as smooth. |
| Q17 An engaging RPG community Having been involved with vast communities at LARP (Lorien Trust) community and running PBM games at KJC Games, I enjoyed taking a break for a few years and focusing on my local primary TTRPG players. For many years I appreciated the different online communities that shared their thoughts and games, but happy to stay passive. Then in 2019, the fun of becoming involved with online Street Fighter communities, in particular the busy Brazilian players. As well as the dynamic Mage: the Podcast community. Lastly, the regular contributors to #RPGaDay |
| Q18 Memorable moment of play Characters debating the pros and cons of a seemingly infinite time loop in a mini-realm, in Mage: the Ascension. Hours of flowing fun, resulting in many moments, before finally reaching consensus and the gaming session’s closing moment – Don’t stray too far from the path, nor the current time-stream. |
| Q19 Sensational session Ten years in to an Aberrant game, the PCs trying to persuade Gravitas (another PC) to leave Earth. Gravitas’s Taint rating was worryingly high and he’d once commented about rearranging the planet’s surface, and he’d recently developed outrageous levels of power. Gravitas started terraforming Mars. Several PCs’ personal plots were also resolved as the group decided it would be the last session for that group of PCs. Great when a long running game wraps up so nicely. |
| Q20 Amazing adventure Many that I’ve enjoyed. I’ll choose the one I’ve run the most. Book 1 of the Giovanni Chronicles many times for players that were new to Vampire. Always went great, plus two of those groups went on to do full chronicles. |
| Q21 Classic campaign Hardwired sourcebook linked adventures for Cyberpunk 2013. Runners having deadly fun, with Panzers and even without. Next was Night City Sourcebook for a ludicrous amount of play. Later a bit of When Gravity Fails, which added Vehicle Zen for more vehicle fun. |
| Q22 Notable non-player character Shinjo Mifune for L5R, a bastion of Honor and Glory. An NPC that strived to be perfect they were all too human. Mifune was popular with the party and was assigned to the group to aid with Emerald Magistrate investigations in Unicorn territory. A player from another of my groups joined the L5R game and asked to play Mifune. The other players agreed and delightfully, the other players soon celebrated the new player matching the previous portrayals of Mifune. The player said they had struggled with playing Mifune a few times, but overall they were happy. Bonus that the remarkable reputation of Mifune was protected. |
| Q23 Peerless player Bordering negativity here, but I am being positive… A shout-out to those players that have been inappropriately criticised by someone (complex topic), nonetheless the players handled with patience and continued playing the game. Bonus when those players later receive praise from those same people (usually with an apology). Empowered the game via play and patience. |
| Q24 Acclaimed advice Generally it is best to give advice when someone asks for it. Depending on the game, consider setting the example and invite advice for your character / game. |
| Q25 Desirable dice Years ago I was making some dice art, so I have far too many dice. Instead, a bit of word play and “If the dice are hot — take a shot.” I’m recalling an old Mage: the Ascension character using rolling the bones as foci. Playing the game of life. Bonus, an excuse to replay some Rush. |
| Q26 Superb screen The ludicrous image for the Mage: the Ascension 1st screen, simultaneously encapsulates the game, whilst for many it is confusing. I know people that are still debating its merits. |
| Q27 Marvellous miniature Last years I returned to one of my old loves: Realms of Chaos, Warhammer narrative skirmish wargames + WFRP. Shifting between TTRPG and wargames for different play focus, more time has spent playing as an RPG than as a wargame. The adventures of Cruk Firepaw were going great, but the warband got decimated in the last battle! I bought some fantastic miniatures from Fenris Games, in particular Wyrdworld and the Cauldron Warband, which have helped give a different look. Including non-GW helped make some of the games be less about the big 4 Chaos Gods, more about warbands lost in the warp. Sadly not yet painted due to hand problems, so I don’t have fabulous tabletop photos. |
| Q28 – Great gamer gadget Any gadget that enables someone to play, or makes things easier, be it disability related or not. For me, VOIP was a game changer. When someone is ill, they are at their home, but can still join in. |
| Q29 – Awesome app I have appreciated all sorts of software assistance. For those times I play GURPS, https://gurpscharactersheet.com/ is great. For me and in every game, from story to wargame, any type of office suite and file sharing, such as Google Drive, makes all games better. |
| Q30 Person you’d like to game with Some people I met at conventions decades ago. An old school friend who moved away. |
| Q31 Game or gamer you miss Ian, a high school friend moved away years ago. He’d been involved in many of my games. We had played through the Giovanni Chronicles books 1, 2, 3 and we had planned to do book 4, but he moved away. A few months later another player in this group also moved away. We eventually attempted book 4, which wonderfully turned in to a Mafia mortal game and became one of the favourite games of most of the players. |
In closing, many thanks to all who were involved. A good range of answers, with plenty of certainty and thought. Dave and Anthony’s annual summary for #RPGaDAY2024 Review and Thanks!
Batjutsu 