aka Blog v4.0
RPGaDay 2019
I’m not sure when we first started using a DM/GM screen to keep stuff from being seen by players. It may have been the first FASA Trek session that I sat in on, as Glenn was running the adventure, another player had a document that he should not have, so Glenn walked over and snatched it from him, exclaiming ‘Gimme that!’ and the document went back behind a screen.
RPGaDay2019
With few exceptions, most of our RPG campaigns took place in space.
More recently we’ve played Hyperlanes (based on D&D 5E system) and Traveller (Mongoose).
Over the years my group tried to get into other Trek RPGs, but we seemed to have a better grasp on FASA Trek’s rules than any of the later incarnations.
We did start a FASA Trek campaign which we may get back to, eventually.
Doctor Who was short lived, as I only recall a handful of printed adventures (internet says 7) and I think we played them all. It was the first system where I created my present day self as a non-player character who hung around the TARDIS most of the time.
Star Wars RPG was a favorite of mine, if only for the way I ended it. Since my PC/NPC was a bounty hunter, I turned the party of Rebels over to the Empire, thus ending the campaign.
RPGADay2019
The first character I ever created was a fighter-type in Steve Jackson’s The Fantasy Trip.
His name: Chris the Conqueror.
Alliteration was a thing for me, even though I didn’t know it then, due to reading comic books.
I think I ended up naming the other two members of our party, Nelson the Intelligent and Anders the Swede. Real original, huh?
We spent a good part of freshman year of high school playing Melee/Wizard and all of the adventure modules that we could get our hands on.
We fudged the rules a bit as we played, giving ourselves magic weapons as we progressed in skills. Nelson ended up with Excalibur (yes, THAT Excalibur) and I had some enchanted sword that I named Phoenix. Anders stuck with a two-handed battle axe throughout our time in that world.
By the time we finished playing, we had another set of characters go through one of the last adventures, Orb Quest. I think we may have had a larger party (4 or 5?) and to this day I think Nelson’s character is still stuck on the second to last floor in that tower, frozen for all eternity.
And while it seemed like it was a long time, I don’t believe we played more than a year with that system. We abandoned it before sophomore year, when something more interesting came along, at least for me, personally.
Star Fleet Battles.
I was watching the closing ceremonies of Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019, and they showed the recap video.
Over Skype I told Nelson that I wanna go back.
He did too, and said that we should go if it came back to Anaheim or to Los Angeles.
After an interesting audience participation exercise involving a large replica of the data disc containing the Death Star plans and a large lightsaber, they revealed the next location:
Hope to see you there!
Recap of a week+ off from work.
3/4 – Start of a week off from work. Not much happened on Monday.
3/5 – Testing day for… reasons. Mostly an assessment of how I deal with computer support issues and stuff like that. Visited a comics/toys store on Geary, which I’d never been to before. Almost bought a really expensive Mazinger Z import from Japan, but talked myself out of it.
Okay, we’re not actually playing a Cowboy Bebop RPG, we’re playing Traveller.
But this gaming session actually felt… right.
The first couple of times we played Traveller, it felt off. I even told the group that the premade adventure felt more like I was railroading the party, more than I usually see in these types of adventures.
There was also a noticeable lack of conflict. Specifically, no combat.
The adventure kept calling for skill rolls as they got their salvaged spaceship up and running out of an active volcano.
Once it was over, not a single initiative roll was made. No to hit rolls, no damage rolls.
This would have made for an interesting pilot episode of some sci-fi series, I suppose.
I read through yesterday’s adventure well over a month ago, and then skimmed over it this past week.
That’s when I remembered one of the lessons I learned (and seemed to forget) when running a role-playing game: as GM/DM/referee/overseer/etc. your job is not to play the adventure vs. the player characters, your job is to help facilitate the shared story using the adventure.
So I pretty much used the adventure as set up while winging it, inserting plot elements were necessary.
And there was combat. With wolves. Or wolf-like predators.
After this session ended, I felt much better with the Traveller system, no longer feeling ‘off’.
Heck, if these characters ever find themselves chasing bounties…
This morning I learned that an ex-coworker, Eileen P., had passed away.
She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, and after a lengthy battle she succumbed this morning.
Eileen worked as an admin assistant in our group (information Technology) at the Judicial Council. She always had a smile on her face. Once she volunteered to cut some cards that I had printed out for one of my desktop hockey games, even though it wasn’t work related. She simply had a desire to be helpful.
She had left our office some years ago, but she had visited once, the last time I had seen her, before her diagnosis, and she was as sweet and happy as she was when she worked with us in IT.
Eileen, I know you’re at peace now, which gives me and your many friends and family some comfort.
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Moments after I found out about Eileen, another co-worker came to my cube to tell me that Michael Q. had passed away this morning as well.
He was also diagnosed with cancer, and while he fought hard and even came back to work, he also lost his battle.
Michael had a gruff exterior, but once you got to know him, you could see his heart of gold. After Mom passed away, he’d always ask me if I was okay. When the first Mother’s Day since Mom passed came around, on that Friday before, I bumped into Michael in the elevator.
My mind was heavy with thought about Mom, and out of the blue, Michael said, “This first one’s going to be tough.”
“What?” I asked.
“Mother’s Day. It’ll be tough.”
I felt some sense of relief in his words.
“Thank you,” I said. He gave me a nod.
Michael, I’ll miss lamenting about our Mets and talking shop with you.
We go through this every GDMF year, yet for some reason, even though we ‘gain’ an hour of sleep, I always struggle for consciousness on the Monday after the end of Daylight Savings Time.
*continue drinking afternoon coffee*
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My co-worker dropped off an NFL Gameday Magazine that another co-worker picked up from the last Broncos-Raiders game, with Case Keenum on the cover.
I may not be able to say it in person, but thank you, Michael Q.
#fuckcancer
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I’m still trying to figure out what to watch during my elliptical sessions in the morning, once I finish off The Expanse Season 3. I’m narrowing it down to the new Jack Ryan series or maybe a rewatch of Babylon 5.
In related news, I’m almost finished with last season’s DC Legends of Tomorrow. It’s the one DC CW show that does not irritate me, which is sad. I may give Black Lightning a shot.
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If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to VOTE tomorrow. Please.
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It feels strange that for the first time in 3 years, I didn’t have to buy Star Wars movie tickets for me and my friends and family.
Meanwhile, SW Resistance has yet to really get interesting.
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Going back to The Expanse, I don’t know which faction or side (Earth, Mars, Belters, OPA) I’d want to be on, truth be told. They’re all fucked up in one way or another.