The first store that I bought a #TTRPG from was either the (long defunct) Games Cupboard in Belconnen, the #FLGS a couple of suburbs from where I grew up in #Canberra, or Alice’s Bookshop, the (equally defunct) secondhand bookstore in the building next door. Whether Alice’s knew it or not, they fenced a lot of new stock shoplifted from Games Cupboard, but they also boasted a far better back catalogue than the retail store. #GTKM
My favourite #TTRPG world? It's a cop-out, perhaps, but the real world has so much weirdarse #history and culture that you can mine for game fodder, and I play a lot in quasi-historical games like #CallOfCthulhu. Honourable mentions go to #RuneQuest's Glorantha setting and Eversink from #SwordsOfTheSerpentine. #gtkm
A published NPC who had a lasting impression on me. It's only a recent impression, but Margaret Blaine (from the scenario "First Prize" in #Traveller's Drinaxian Companion) certainly made a solid impact. Despite her unassuming appearance and demeanour, she's actually a legendary pirate queen, equally feared and celebrated by rogues and ne'er-do-wells across the Trojan Reach. She reminds me of my own grandmother. #gtkm#ttrpg
The first #TTRPG I bought from its creator was #Foresight, a sci-fi game largely unknown outside grognards from southeastern Australia. IIRC the author, then-Canberra-based Tonio Loewald, wrote it in response to shortcomings he found in SPI's Universe RPG, and based the game engine on a refinement of Victory Games' James Bond 007. Its two main settings were dystopian space opera, and near-future police procedural, but Loewald also wrote a supplement for low-tech and fantasy gaming. #gtkm
At the moment, #CallOfCthulhu is the #TTRPG I play the most—it accounts for over a quarter of my hours at the table, and I currently play in two weekly campaigns, as well as frequent one-shots.
Since I began roleplaying, though, it'd be #DnD, though which edition I've played most is an open question: #BECMI, #ADnD1, #ADnD2, or #DnD3e. (I've not played nearly as much 0e, 4e, or 5e, though.) #gtkm
My favourite #TTRPG character I've played was a half-orc bard named Puddlebutt, in #DnD4e and #DnD5e. His orcish family abandoned him at the edge of a human village, and he grew up amongst the humans to become strong, brave, and dim of wit. He carried a morningstar and played the triangle, and rode an evil-tempered camel named Horse. (Opinion was divided as to which of the two was the smarter.) #gtkm
This is a tough one. I play a lot of different games, and a single session would be sufficient to disqualify a given #TTRPG. I do have a bunch I haven’t played, but most of them are single-book or PDF purchases. My best guess, perhaps, for the most I’ve spent on a game I’ve never played would be #HeavyGearRPG. I love (and bought!) nearly everything Dream Pod 9 put out in its heyday, but this was long before online gaming, and I never could quite get a group together to play IRL. #gtkm
My favourite #TTRPG (for its art) is #ChangelingTheDreaming. Though Fabian’s work in #ADnD2e was phenomenal, I fell in love with #VampireTheMasquerade 2e when I saw its pages; Changeling elevated that to the next level: it was bold and bright, and Leif Jones’ art subtly surreal. Precious few other RPGs were printed in full colour at that time, and it set the game apart. (Honourable—more recent—mentions go to #Aquelarre and #RuneQuestGlorantha. Again, bold and bright and atmospheric.) #gtkm
@Mytholder is hands-down my favourite #TTRPG writer but he’s so prolific across so many systems that it’s impossible to choose just one game. To pick a system I think he hasn’t worked on, then, I’ll go with #UnknownArmies as my favourite for its writing. It’s cool and fucked up and dryly sardonic, a twisted reflection of all that’s wrong in the world, yet appeals to my humour, and still somehow has positive messages on personal responsibility and the futility of violence. #gtkm
Have I played a journaling game? Sadly not. I think I own Thousand Year Old Vampire (and a handful of solo or solo-able #TTRPG titles like Ironsworn), but solo gaming isn’t something I can fit into my schedule at present. Online gaming—with a group—scratches my itch, and the rest of my time’s divided between RL responsibilities and hanging out with my wife and cats. Macsen, especially, likes to watch TV, but lacks thumbs to operate the remote. 🙄 #gtkm
Have I played a hexcrawl? Yes—though not frequently. I play #TTRPG online and in discrete 3- or 4-hour blocks, and though crawling is a big thing in #OSR, it doesn’t lend itself well to those constraints. I’ve helped playtest a couple for #DCCRPG recently, but that’s all. I ran hexcrawls back in the late 80s/early 90s, though; even back then, it was sufficiently retro that many gamers found the experience novel. #gtkm
There are so many procedural generators and good free/PWYW resources online that I guess it's possible to avoid the task now.
That wasn't always the way, and I've met more than one #TTRPG designer who got into writing because most of the off-the-shelf options sucked, and/or were too expensive.
(By way of analogy, my wife grew up on a farm without electricity, and learnt to manually churn butter. It was something they had to do back then. 🤷🏻♂️) #gtkm
I like my #TTRPG with a bit of structure, and I find LARP a little too directionless. And I've never had the skill or money to costume as well as I thought LARP required of me. Lastly, my first encounters with LARP were in a pretty cliquish environment, and I wasn't one of the cool kids.
I was briefly a re-enactor, though. That was scads of fun, but I still have a dent in my skull from a nasty sword blow. Wear a helmet, folks. #gtkm
My favourite #TTRPG PC possession was a warm patch of floor by the fire in the pub around which one of @tinstargames' #SotDL campaigns revolved. Every night, it mysteriously cleaned itself; my orcish refugee, Chancre, often curled up in it, despite horrific nightmares it inflicted upon anyone foolish enough to sleep too close. It was some sort of very unfriendly fey portal that slowly sent Chancre mad(der), though I don't know that we ever resolved its backstory. #gtkm
A memorable relationship one of my #TTRPG characters has had. The PC I play in a #CallOfCthulhu Gaslight campaign has only very recently died (as in two days ago IRL), and some of his juicier relationships are still under embargo. Jkr-Dr Josef von Auerbach was a visiting reader in political economy at University College London. I can revealf—for now—that he regularly played chess in the park with an elderly Friedrich Engels. Yes, that Engels. #gtkm
One designer I do actively collect, though, is @zedecksiew. I'm in love with his A Thousand Thousand Islands #OSR setting (https://athousandthousandislands.com/), and can't wait for Reach of the Roach God to come out next year. #gtkm
Add comment