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Today’s topic is a tough one for me: Favorite Science Fiction RPG. It’s difficult because I’ve always preferred science fiction to fantasy — hell, when I play fantasy, I even lean towards science-fantasy (what do you expect from somebody who was raised on Star Wars?). I’ve played more science-fiction games than any other category. So the question of which is my favorite is a difficult one.

I could answer it several ways, for one thing. If I was going for “which Sci-Fi setting do I most enjoy playing in”, that would narrow things down to Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars. All of these, though, have had several games devoted to them over the years. If I went purely on what rules system I enjoyed the most, that clears things up a bit more: Doctor Who’s three games (FASA’s 1980s Doctor Who, Virgin Books’ 1990s Timelord and Cubicle 7’s current Doctor Who: Adventures In Time and Space are all fine, but in each case, for me, the rules took a back seat to the setting. Of the three, I like the rules of the current system the most. For Star Wars, despite the existence of the WotC version and the current Fantasy Flight systems, my favorite will always be the original West End Games version of the late 1980s. The rules are really, really good — and “feel” like Star Wars to me, making that game a really strong contender. The Last Unicorn and Decipher versions of Star Trek never made much of an impact on me… but the original FASA Star Trek of the 1980s? I think I’ve hit upon the one game that beats West End’s Star Wars, in my estimation.

FASA’s STAR TREK: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME was one of the first games that I specifically hunted down: I saw an ad for it in Dragon Magazine, and it lit a fire in me. When I finally got it, I devoured it. Got everything I could for the game. The rules system was based on percentile dice, like my beloved TOP SECRET, and the system of generating your character’s service history was an early iteration of “Lifepath” systems — similar to those present in Traveller and Cyberpunk, which gave almost a solo game quality: I would have fun creating characters even when I didn’t have a campaign going. When the game first came out, it was mostly set in the Original Series era, but as the line continued, gradually the art began to reflect the then-current post-Khan Star Trek films, which I loved. I actually didn’t play it as much as I’d have liked — at least not until college, when I found people who were as into it as I was — but yes: It’s definitely my favorite science fiction RPG.

Here’s Dave Chapman’s video entry for the day, where he choses my close second:

Today’s topic is Favorite Fantasy RPG — and of course, everybody is going to probably say some flavor of Dungeons and Dragons, since it’s the 800-lb gorilla, the game which created the hobby, and the one that many of us have played the most.

I do love D&D, and yes, as far as fantasy games go, I have played it more than any other variety. For me, it’s like a lingua franca for gamers — something I’m sure everyone is familiar with, so it’s a good go-to game to play. It’s extremely adaptable, allowing for play in any sort of fantasy setting with a minimum of adjustment, too. Other fantasy games that I enjoy (Stormbringer, Warhammer Fantasy, etc.) are far more locked into particular settings or styles, and really, if you get down to it, I could just as easily play those settings in D&D.

So yeah, as boring as the answer may be, it’s Dungeons & Dragons. Not even a contest, really.

Here’s today’s video entry from Dave Chapman, along with special guest, freelancer T.R. Knight.

Today is another quick weekender: Longest Game Session Played. By necessity of age and responsibilities, answers to this question are going to skew heavily towards adolescence and college years, I should think.

For me, the answer is a simple one — I’ve really only done one marathon, back in the misty prehistory of 1983. A bunch of us got together in the summer at my friend John Cochrane’s house, in the late morning, and we played TOP SECRET and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS until the next morning. We took time for eating, and for sleep, but all told it was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 hours of play.

Mostly, though, I keep sessions to a much more reasonable 4-5 hours at most.

Dave Chapman, however, puts my numbers to shame, in his video entry, with special guest Lynne Hardy of Modiphius: