RPGaDay2022, Questions 16-22

It’s been a few more days, so here is another batch of RPGaDay2022 questions — numbers 16-22 (see the image above).

What would be your perfect game? Honestly, my perfect game would be a long-lasting one that meets regularly. I haven’t had that in far too long. To get into more specifics: 4-6 players, all relatively experienced (or at least comfortable with deep in-character role-play).

Past, Present or Future? When is your favorite game set? I have a bunch of different favorites, and there’s no real commonality to when they’re set.

Where is your favorite place to play? I don’t tend to use miniatures or battlemats, so I’ve always preferred a comfortable game played in the living room, rather than setting up at a game table somewhere.

Why has your favorite game stayed with you? As I mentioned above, I have a number of different favorites. I would say that the reason they’re my favorites, and why they stick with me, is that they are in genres that I love, or are licensed games in settings that I’ve always loved.

How long do your games last? My game sessions usually last 3 hours or so. Longer, if you count snacking, catching up, general BSing, etc.

Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy. Although it is inspired by Chinese wuxia and Spaghetti Westerns, the setting of FAR WEST is a fantasy world, not an alternate history setting.

Who is your current character? I am not playing a game currently — and if I was, I’m usually the game master, rather than a player, so I suppose my current character would be “everyone else in the game aside from the PCs.”

Looking ahead, it looks as though most of the remaining questions would have me answering “I don’t have a current character”, or tagging people, which is something better done on social media, rather than via my blog, so this will be the final entry for me for this year’s RPGaDay.

Friday Music

Another week, and we’re back with another weekly internet mixtape, via Spotify.

The first track, “No Fools” is a nice bit of post-punk-sounding Indie from an artist who is apparently the partner of actress/producer Lena Dunham. He records under the name Attawalpa, and I really enjoyed this track when Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” playlist suggested it to me.

She Drew The Gun is a band from Wirral in the UK, and “Behave Myself” is the title track from their recent third album. A razor-sharp piece of very political, feminist rock.

I caught “Day Shift” on Netflix this week, and as I said on Twitter, it’s not a good movie, but it’s a fun one, and everybody obviously was having a blast making it. It also featured some great needle-drops, including this track from Ice-T’s 1992 hardcore band release, Body Count.

In a complete change of mood, this is one of my favorite tracks from TOTO’s 1984 soundtrack to David Lynch’s DUNE. I love the new Dune film and it’s Hans Zimmer soundtrack, but I maintain a nostalgic love for this as well.

Sweet is perhaps better known for “Ballroom Blitz”, but I prefer this track, “Fox on the Run,” which was used to great effect as trailer music for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.

Laura was way more a fan of Wynona Earp than I was, but I really liked the opening theme, Jill Andrews’ “Tell That Devil,” which I ended up putting on my FAR WEST playlist.

And lastly, yesterday was the 58th birthday of Tracy Tracy (AKA Tracy Catelli) of The Primitives, best known for their international hit single from 1988, “Crash.”

There ya go, kids. Hope you enjoy them. See you back here next week for more!

RPGaDay2022, Questions 10-15

It’s been a few days, so I’m back with the next batch of questions for RPGaDay2022.

10. When did you start Gamemastering? 1980. Right from the beginning, with the first edition of TOP SECRET.

11. If you could live in a game setting, where would it be? This is an easy one, as it’s also the answer to the oft-asked “what fictional setting would you like to live in?” The answer, hands down, is Star Trek. A post-scarcity socialist utopia, where humanity strives to increase the boundaries of knowledge and science and better themselves? Plus a career path dedicated to exploration? Sign me up!

12. Why did you start RPGing? Story creation, via a faster and more collaborative method than writing. That’s always been what has drawn me to gaming, and (on the down side) it pretty much replaced fiction writing for me for a long while.

13. How would you change the way you started RPGing? The only thing I’d change is understanding the format of game play a bit sooner. For the first six months, I didn’t understand the gamemaster-players dichotomy, and we played TOP SECRET as a PVP board game, using the map of Sprechenhaltestelle as the board. When I got Basic D&D, which featured better examples of play, everything finally clicked.

14. (Skipping — I’m not tagging people via my blog.)

15. Who would you like to Gamemaster for you? At this point? Anyone. I don’t currently have a regular game, and I miss it terribly.

That’s all for now, kids — check back later for more!