General Gamery: RPGaDay 1-10

I'm a little late to RPGaDay, but I'm going to play catch up today and lead into Gencon. Will I remember to post during Gencon? Probably not, but I might continue my Roll for Initiative posts from the front line.

But, as usual, I digress.

RPGaDay it the brainchild of David Chapman on his blog, and is meant to mimic Borough Press' #BookADay.

So enjoy.

1st- First RPG Played
My first RPG was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It was 1983, I was 8, and my neighbor, Sean, wanted to run a game for me and his two brothers. I believe my first character for his game was a half-elf paladin. But we followed that game only a week later with the old FASERIP Marvel Superheroes RPG (where I was Nightcrawler). The two Games started so close together, that they run into each other a bit in my memory.

2nd- First RPG Gamemastered
The First RPG I Gamemastered was probably Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP, oh yeah), though it might have been FASA's Star Trek or Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't start gamemastering for three years, as I rather enjoyed having Sean for a GM while I lived in New York. Instead, it was slowly introducing my friend Chris into his next lifelong obsession that made me the defacto gamemaster for a while, at least here in Ohio. Eventually, Chris took over those duties with a decades long game of West End's Star Wars RPG that morphed into D20 and Saga as the new systems reared their heads.

3rd- First RPG Purchased
Ah, the smell of dollars lost. My first RPG purchase was... well...incorrect. We were playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (Orange-spined hardback books of beauty, dice, and charts). But me? Well, my first buy was the Dungeons and Dragons basic rules set 1. I was eight! What did I know? Sure, it was the easier game, but it was not the one we were playing.

Little did I know.

Of course, it was only a few weeks later that my mother bought me the Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Fiend Folio. By then, I was fully hooked.

4th- Most recent RPG purchase
The most recent RPG Product to grace my collection is the new Dungeons and Dragons Starter set. It is really nice and evokes the game that got me started in so many ways. And while I don't think it will replace Paizo's brilliant Pathfinder for my go-to fantasy RPG, it's a good product and great game regardless.

5th- Most Old School RPG owned
Ha! My collection is just that. I have books from my old AD&D days alongside the entire line form TSR's Marvel Superheroes and FASA's Star Trek RPG. By sheer age alone, I'd say the FASA Star Trek books are the oldest since they were released in 1982, but they entered my collection after the Marvel Superheroes RPG Box Set from 1984/5, which is in fact the first gaming product I bought of those still in my collection.

6th- Favorite RPG Never get to play
Without a doubt, Pendragon. I've read through the main rulebook 5 or 6 times and I love every word in it. It is the type of game I wish I wrote, but want much more to get to play. It's a tough game though, because if done correctly, lots of characters will die and the game will span generations. Which just adds to its awesomeness. It's just too big and involved for most players, or gamemasters for that matter.

7th- Most "Intellectual" RPG Owned
hmmmm.. This is a tricky one. By "intellectual" I'm going to go with a game that makes me think outside the box, or better yet, a game that makes you ask some tough questions. For this I have two answers. The first is a game by Luke Crane and Jared Sorenson called Freemarket. Besides some truly inspired gameplay, Freemarket makes you ask the question, what do you do if no one ever gets sick, gets old, or dies? And the other is my friend and Saturday Morning Games cohort, Jonathan's, game, Geasa. Like Fiasco, Geasa is GMless- some would say rudderless- game, but it is a great storytelling exercise with enough rules to make it interesting, but not so much as to pigeonhole you into a story structure.


8th- Favorite Character
For my friend Lucas' Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 challenge (which I aptly named Vecna's Knot for him) I played a goblin cook (rogue as far as class went) named Fester, hired by the party to keep them well fed on their travels. He was cantankerous, annoying, refused to do "roguey" things if they were looking, and was an expert with his kitchen knives. It was several days before the party realized he was using the same knives to kill as he did to cook- and even longer to realize he didn't clean them in between. But hey, kobold makes great "flavoring."

9th- Favorite Die / Dice Set
I would normally say it's some pretty FATE dice set or the special dice made for Pathfinder. But this year, I missed out on Origins Game Fair because my daughter, Jocelyn, was being born. My best friend picked up the Origins Commemorative Dice Set from Crystal Caste the morning she was born. Those hideous pink dice are my favorites. I will never use them, they went in Jocelyn's dice bag, but they are definitely my favorite.

10th- Favorite tie-in Novel / Game Fiction
Dragonlance. I'd go into more detail, but I did that already.

That's all for now, more as the week (and hopefully me RPGaDay continues).

~The Doc