RPGaDay 15-21

So I’m still doing RPGaDay in 2022. Here’s questions 15-21.

15 - Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?

Me. Not that I think I’m a particularly wonderful GM, but I run the games I want to play. It would be great if I could also play in them.

16 - What would be your perfect game?

It’s less about the game, but more about the people. With the right group, RPGs are magical.

With the wrong group, they’re awful.

For me, though, the right group would be more focussed on telling a story and in-character banter rather than killing monsters or worrying about getting the modifiers right when rolling dice.

And plot—I do like a game with a plot.

17 - Past, Present, or Future? When is your favourite game set?

Present—I much prefer a present-day (or slightly historical setting).

I find when I’m playing fantasy (or some SF games) that I suffer from culture shock—I don’t understand the cultural norms or how society is supposed to work. (And sometimes GMs punish my ignorance, but that’s a different topic.)

I don’t get any of that with a modern-day game. I understand the world, the technology and what’s going on. Add an overlay of weirdness (vampires, secret aliens or whatever) and I’m in heaven.

So, give me Liminal, Monsterhearts, Call of Cthulhu and numerous others to D&D, Runequest, Ashen Stars or Starfinder. 

18 - Where is your favourite place to play?

At home—mine or someone elses. Around a table. With snacks.

Online is in second place—it’s very easy to get a game (no commute!), and I get to play with friends from across the country, but the social experience isn’t the same. 

Pubs and clubs and conventions—they’re okay, but I don’t enjoy having others around me when I play.

19 - Why has your favourite game stayed with you?

I find this really difficult.

My default go-to game is Fate Accelerated—but it’s not perfect (approaches need getting your head around) and I’m not sure it’s my favourite game. But I often find myself playing (or running) another game and thinking, “this would be so much easier if it just used Fate Accelerated.”

So maybe that does make it my favourite game?

At the moment.

Because my tastes change. For some years I would have said that Call of Cthulhu was my favourite game—I lived and breathed Cthulhu. And then I got into GURPS, at which point that was my favourite game. (And then I did freeforms and started getting very minimalist and I didn’t really have a favourite game.)

So if by “favourite” we mean “flavour of the moment”, it’s probably Fate Accelerated. Ask me again in a few years, and it may be different.

20 - How long do your games last?

A session is normally 2-2.5 hours online. In person maybe 3-4 hours. I like short campaigns, so somewhere between 8-12 sessions—enough time to explore the setting and come to a decent conclusion. 

I’ve never run or played a lengthy campaign, and I’ve no desire to—there are too many games to play.

21 - Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy.

The IISS Ship Files (Games Workshop’s 1981 book of starship deckplans for Traveller) suggests that jump drives interfere with psionics, and gave their Zhodani ship (the Tiafliet-class patrol frigate) a very distinctive elongated shape with the bridge about 80m from the jump drive. Sadly, I don’t think this idea was picked up anywhere else.

IISS Ship files - still my favourite deckplans