Category: Geek Interest

Day 4 of #RPGaDay2015 beckons! The first question which requires a bit of sussing out: Most Surprising Game. Does this mean a game where you were expecting one thing, but got another? A game which surprised you in and of itself, or a time you were surprised by events occurring in-game? Personally, I’m going to go with this: A game where your expectations where completely blown away, and your way of thinking about games was fundamentally altered in some way.

I’m sure that a lot of people are going to list some indie darling, which approaches gaming in a unique way — the field is certainly full of that; some successful, some less so, but it’s sort of the hallmark of the “brand”, if you will. As for me, though: I’m going to be a doddering old grognard and pick a game that completely changed the way I looked at game design, when I first encountered it over 30 years ago — James Bond 007: Roleplaying On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Gerry Klug, published by Victory Games.

Readers of last year’s #RPGaDay entries will recall that I waxed rhapsodic about this game a couple of times — it even took the coveted “Favorite RPG of All Time” category. James Bond 007 was the game that made me want to become a game designer. Before it, I had never seen a game system that emulated a genre — systems were, in my meagre experience of the time, mathematical models of action, and that’s it. But Klug’s design in this game showed me that you could create systems that not only modeled HOW something happened, but could bring across the feel of a thing — the emotions and sensations. The chase rules, for example, bring the tension and rising stakes of a chase directly to the players through the rules, not just the results. It was an epiphany.

So definitely, that qualifies as my “Most Surprising Game”, since I was not expecting it at all — and everything after it was changed.

Here is Dave Chapman’s video entry for today, along with his special guest, Becky Annison of Black Armada:

So now you know what surprised us. What about you?
 
 
 

Another day, another entry into #RPGaDay2015. Today’s topic is Favorite New RPG of the Past 12 Months, which is a tricky one. Tricky for a couple of reasons: One, some of the best games released during the past 12 months have been new versions of older games, so the question remains whether or not they qualify as “New”; and Two, I haven’t actually gotten to play an RPG in the past 12 months — in fact, due to the combination of no local playing group, my medical dramas of 2014, and a slew of late projects which have been taking all of my time, I haven’t had a chance to play RPGs in a couple of years now. Depressing, innit?

Let’s take a look at Dave’s video entry for the day, with special guest Paco Garcia of GMS Magazine:

My own response to this topic came down to a new edition of an old game. There were a number of cool games released this year, but looking ahead on the topic list, I see some days where the topic would fit those games, and so I’ll save them for later. Plus, this was undoubtedly the biggest release of the year, and the one that I had the greatest enjoyment reading: the new 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I had worked professionally producing 3rd Edition compatible material for years, and the proliferation of feats and bonuses and stats and exceptions made my head ache. The 4th edition was, in my opinion, a drastic swing away from the core of the game in an ill-advised attempt to emulate console & PC games. 5th Edition hearkens back to the simplicity of early 2nd edition (before the “Complete X” Kit books), while keeping some elements of 3rd and 4th, producing a game that undeniably feels like D&D. And within this new-yet-familiar game, Mike Mearls and the design team manage to include some new rules systems that are so good, I lament the fact that they weren’t always a part of the game from the beginning. The Advantage system does away with the bean-counting of bonuses and penalties, and the Inspiration mechanic is a seamless inclusion of role-playing rewards into the nuts-and-bolts of the system. My only regrets so far with D&D 5th Edition: I have not had a chance to play, and there is currently no third-party publishing license for support, despite assurances that one would appear “after the core books were released.” I still have my fingers crossed.

So that’s mine — what about yours?