#RPGaDay 2017: Days 18-22 (Eclipse Edition)

My family and I will be traveling the next few days to see the total eclipse and do general sightseeing in Nashville, so I've decided to post my answers to the next few days' questions now.

18th) Which RPG have you played the most in your life?
19th) Which RPG features the best writing?
20th) What is the best source for out-of-print RPGs?
21st) Which RPG does the most with the least words?
22nd) Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?

18th) Which RPG have you played the most in your life?

This is an easy one: Dungeons & Dragons. I've been playing and DMing one edition or another of that game ever since I was first introduced to RPGs in middle school around 35 years ago. I played Basic and Expert in middle school, Advanced in high school, and 2nd Edition in college. I promptly adopted v.3.0 and v3.5 when they were released, but didn't care for 4th Edition much, so continued running and playing v.3.5 until my group decided to switch to Pathfinder a few years ago. Fifth Edition has won me back, and I'm running it for my kids so we can all learn the new rules.

19th) Which RPG features the best writing?

I'm not sure how to judge the "best" writing, but I would have to say that the Buffy and Angel RPGs are the two rulebooks that have been the most entertaining to read. Most RPG rulebooks tend to get pretty dry reading after a while, but very little of the Buffy core rulebook is. The prose is very conversational, and peppered with witticisms in the style of the TV series--but that casual, snarky style never gets in the way of explaining the rules clearly.

20th) What is the best source for out-of-print RPGs?

Given my shopping habits, I'd have to say RPG hobby shops and used book stores.

Many game stores will have a used game section, where items are greatly discounted. When I lived in Boston, my FLGS (Pandemonium Books and Games) had a rather extensive used game section, with most items marked at half the cover price. Some games languish on the used shelves because they just aren't good enough to sell even at a discount, but you can occasionally find a real gem among the dross. Pandemonium also had a "Black Hole" clearance shelf for items (both used and new) that hadn't moved in far too long; as time passed, those items moved to gradually more discounted shelves, ending at 90% off if still not sold.

Used bookstores will sometimes have role-playing games sections. Both Half Price Books stores in my area (Lexington, KY) have a full bay of RPG books, from a wide variety of games, both recent and venerable. Though none of the following were out of print, I scored a huge pile of Pathfinder hardcovers at HBP last year, and discovered the OneDice system there, which I bought for my kids.

21st) Which RPG does the most with the least words?

Fate Accelerated Edition. This 48-page book distills all the essential elements of the Fate system into a compact, streamlined game that can be used for almost any adventure genre.

This system is used in many of Evil Hat Production's recent games, like the new edition of Dresden Files. My one opportunity to play it so far was a short campaign using Do: Fate of the Flying Temple.

Best of all, the rulebook is available as a pay-what-you-like PDF from the Evil Hat website, or for only $5 in print.

22nd) Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?

BESM Third Edition and D&D Fifth Edition. I'm sure that I would find BESM a lot more work to run for any campaign that was not a solo game, but for that, it's served us extremely well.

I'm still learning D&D 5E, but the rules are far, far simpler than any edition since 2nd, and it still captures the classic feel of the game. Running published adventures for my kids (Lost Mine of Phandelver and The Sunless Citadel) has been pretty easy so far. And it's the first edition in a while that I would not feel completely overwhelmed using to run the massive and dangerous Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (which, as I've discussed here before, is a goal of mine).

#RPGaDay 2017: Day 1

It's August, which means it's time for #RPGaDay, all month long. These short Q&A posts will be in addition to my regular weekly content columns.

1st) What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. These two Cinematic Unisystem rules sets and their settings were used for one of the longest and most enjoyable RPG campaigns that I've played in. I joined the game in late 2004, it continued until 2009, and then had a short revival as a forum-based game in 2012-2014. The game was shelved for good before the last big plotlines were resolved. I no longer live in the same state as the two co-GMs and other players, but I would love to be able to continue the game in order to find some better closure for my two main PCs.

I've written about one of those two Buffy characters, Patricia "Trick" Tillinghast, in some past columns of this blog:

• The characters who become a part of you 
• #RPGaDay 2016: Days 1-6 [see Days 3 and 5]
• #RPGaDay 2016: Day 11

Games that I want to run...someday...

With very few exceptions (such as Green Ronin's Freeport: The City of Adventure), I prefer to create my own worlds rather than use someone else's. In my 30 years as a player and GM, I've created several different fantasy worlds (mostly for D&D, but also for BESM and GURPS), but I always have many more concepts for campaigns than I have the time to develop and run. A few of those ideas stick in my head to hopefully see use someday--usually years later.

One of these long-percolating ideas is "Time of the Tarrasque," which I've already mentioned in this column a couple times (here and here). We will finally be starting play on this new Pathfinder campaign sometime later this year, after I wrap up my current Freeport campaign and take a short break from GMing in order to recharge.

Here are a few more ideas I've had for future "homebrew" campaigns, with short blurbs and other comments.

Erebus (Ghosts of Albion [Unisystem])

The heroes are hot on the trail of a vampire lord, who has abducted a Protector for use in some vile ritual. When they finally track him to his lair in Greece, they discover that he has strange allies: tall, copper-skinned men dressed in exotic ancient costumes, whose bizarre magic uses unfamiliar runes. The vampire lord falls in battle, but not before his allies finish the ritual and vanish with the Protector. Who are these strange people, and where do they come from? What do they want with the Protector? And what does this all have to do with the recent earthquakes and outbreaks of monsters straight out of the Greek underworld?

Victorian Theosophy and Classical mythology collide! If I ever do run this, it will have to wait until after I finally wrap up "The Kynthiad," the Greek myth-based BESM game that I run for my wife. There are a couple of specific elements that I have deliberately avoided using in the Kynthiad so that I don't steal any thunder from my plans for "Erebus."

Leonardo's Legacy (system to be determined)

Leonardo's war machines have changed the face of battle in Renaissance Europe, but now the Maestro has died under suspicious circumstances. His proteges in art, engineering, science, and other fields must solve this mystery, and if necessary, avenge their teacher. These investigators must navigate a perilous course through political and religious intrigue in the very period that gave us the adjective "machiavellian."

This is probably the oldest of the campaign kernels I'm discussing here, but it's also the one for which I need to do the most research--both on the Renaissance in general, and on possible game systems to use. None of my previous campaigns have given vehicles, mass combat, or intrigue such a central place as this one will, so I need to find a system that handles them all well--and that won't have too steep a learning curve for me or my players.

The Naughty List (Fate Core)

Monsters have always been among us, but the growth of the internet has made it impossible for humans to ignore their existence any longer. In order to monitor the nonhuman population, two new government agencies were created: Monster Immigration and Customs Enforcement (MICE) and the Secretary of Police for Underworld Denizens (SPUD). One of SPUD's functions is to license bounty hunters who track down and capture monsters who have committed crimes. Of course, not everyone who hunts monsters has a SPUD license, which means that sometimes the hunters become the hunted!

This idea came about from a discussion with my wife and a mutual friend who wanted an occasional, small-scale, comedic game to fill gaps in our regular gaming schedule. They worked up characters for it: a Valkyrie and a Succubus who can pass for human, and who moonlight as unlicensed bounty hunters. I decided to set the game in the Christmas-themed tourist town of Santa Claus, Indiana, which in this alternate reality is the actual home of Kris Kringle and his massive toy factory. We never went farther than this, but it's a back-burner idea for something to try when the holidays roll around and we can't get all of the regular group together.

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I also have a number of ideas for live-action role-playing scenarios that I want to write and run someday, but those will have to wait for another column!