#RPGaDay2018 Day Thirty-One – Share why you take part in RPGaDay

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

#RPGaDay2018 Day Thirty – Share something you learned about playing your character

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

Nearly at the end! Sooooooooon, precious. I’ve talked a whole bunch about various lessons I learned from gaming, and how it’s changed me. I guess the thing I’ve learned from a few of my characters is that the line between rich backstory that informs the story and pointless trauma that you force on other players (or complain never comes into the game) is pretty darn fine.

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Nine – Share a friendship you have because of RPGs

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

Oh look, another emotionally honest post about love and friendship and nerdery. Whatever will I do? >> <<

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Eight – Share whose inspiring gaming excellence you’re grateful for

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

I swear, this year’s list of questions is conspiring to make me gush embarrassingly about things and people and rules. But hey, nobody comes to my blog for restraint. I considered picking one or more game writers for this – I’m inspired by so many fabulous game writers. But I’m trying to catch up on like six days this evening and I don’t have the time to hero-worship the way I want to. Besides, professional game designers have lots of fans, and have mostly reacted with kind bafflement when I’ve gone and made a fool of myself by fangirling them, so maybe it’s more powerful to talk about people who don’t have a platform like that already.

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Seven – Share a great stream/actual play

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

After some overly honest fears and hopes on Day Twenty-Six, I promise this is more light-hearted. I don’t actually like actual play that much. It’s surprisingly hard to do well, just like photographing live games. You don’t realise how much your own imagination fills in about a live game until you see photos of it. Sure, there are some great photographers out there and the costumes are often stunning, and there’s even likely to be some good set dress at times, but it just completely lacks the spark that makes a live game immersive. It ends up being photos of eccentrically-dressed people standing around talking, something I enjoy doing immensely but don’t really enjoy watching. Unless it’s, like, actual Shakespeare. The same applies to recordings of tabletop sessions, for me anyway. There are some podcasts and video channels that have turned actual play into a performance in itself. There are some I enjoy on occasion (OneShot, Dungeons & Dragons Live), some I’ve heard are great but haven’t tried (Critical Roll, Dragon Friends), and some I tried and I’m not into (which I won’t mention here).

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Six – Your gaming ambition for the next year

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

Ooh, good question. I’ve managed to do some things these last two years that I really wanted to – finishing our live game, running a campaign (two in fact, Masks and The Secrets of Cats), playing lots of cool games, reading new and exciting games, backing weird indie RPGs on Kickstarter. There’s always more, though, and I think this question does recognise that, for those of us who prefer intentionality to drive us forward rather than following where the road takes us, describing ambitions can be a powerful way of getting round to things. This one’s gonna get a bit oversharey emotionally speaking, kids.

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Five – Name a game that had an impact on you in the last year

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

As ever, across the last year I’ve picked up far, far more RPGs than I’ve read or will ever run, but one stood out above the rest for me: Bluebeard’s Bride. I backed Bluebeard’s Bride on Kickstarter, because there was no way I was going to miss the chance to own a Gothic horror RPG Powered by the Apocalypse. I wasn’t disappointed.

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Four – Which RPG do you think deserves greater recognition?

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

The obvious pick for me is, as ever, Cortex Plus (also mentioned in my posts on dice mechanics and toolkit systems).

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Three – Which game do you hope to play again?

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

There are so many games on this list. I’d really like to play or run Unhallowed Metropolis again, because I love the setting so much but the mechanics weren’t the best. I’d love to play or run Witch Hunter: The Invisible World, because I didn’t really know what I was doing when I first ran it. I’d love to play Masks: A New Generation, as I’ve run a lengthy campaign but only played a one-shot (I loved the character I played in that one-shot and really want to explore his story more). I’m in a constant state of wanting to play more Monsterhearts.

#RPGaDay2018 Day Twenty-Two – Which non-dice system appeals to you?

#RPGaDay Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY/) and Twitter hashtag (#RPGaDay2018).

Now this is the good stuff. I’m a sucker for card-based resolution systems, specifically ones that require creative interpretation to guide the story.